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I own a 2001 Viggen as my primary daily driver.
I also own (and have owned since 1993) a 1987 900 8v 4 door. Slow but steady. Probably 195K miles on it, but the odometer broke in late 1999 at 181. I use it for weekend driving, hauling heavy or dirty stuff, and snow driving (which rarely happens here in DC, but I hate how much they salt the roads and don't want that on my Viggen).
The problem with the 900 is that while it's still pretty solid -- clean, engine runs well enough -- there are small problems that are piling up, the more complicated of which I don't have the time to fix and which I'm not sure I want to spend the $$ to have someone else fix. These include dings, rips, trim falling off, heater fan constantly squeaking, dash lights working intermittently, tranny noise getting louder, tranny shifting very poorly (like cold molasses, even with Redline MTL in there since 1998), A/C button working intermittently (which sucks in DC summers). With the turbo rush of the Viggen the sluggishness of the 110 hp 8v engine is becoming annoying, although around town for weekend errands it's not a problem.
My parents, who live overseas, visit a couple of times a year and as a wholly-inadequate repayment of the many cars they let me beat up I like to have this one here as their reserve car in the States. But they drive around a lot and I am starting to have less and less confidence that the car is a reliable long-haul driver.
So question 1 is should I get something new (which is where I'm leaning).
Question 2 is, what should I get. Price range is no more than $10K, probably more like 5-8K. My preliminary choises right now are:
1. VW Golf TDI, 1999 model or so. Blue book at around $8-9K. Gas efficient. Durable. Versatile with hatch. Torquey engine great for around town stuff and highway cruising. And I love the blue dash lights. Love the look, too.
2. Saab 9000, maybe mid '90's vintage. Any model, Aero, CSE, or CS. Want the hatch. Love the look. Love the refinement. But it's older and I get the impression they are a little fussy on the small things -- electrics, etc. Plus they're on the high side of the price range unless I get a high mileage, but then durability/reliability concerns increase.
3. Subaru Legacy wagon. AWD for snow, wagon for hauling. Plus not terribly expensive in recent vintages (late 90's).
I can't go for another C900 -- I won't fit in one with a sunroof and base model 900's are very hard to find. Plus not sure I want one anymore; might as well keep the old one. Also don't want NG900 -- the years I would need for the price range I need are the less reliable years.
Other requirements -- no hondas, euro cars if possible (except subaru of course). Must be able to fit in the car (I'm 6'6", 280lbs. Lineman sized). I don't mind the reliability riss as much because the car will only get about 3-4K a year in driving (maybe more as it will give my Viggen more of a break to drive a nice second car more often than a struggling older 900).
Thanks for your wisdom!
posted by 208.200.185...
, Fri, 10 Jan 2003 21:27:57
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