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First: 1998 Saab 900 Convertible NA
Second: 1994 Saab 900 Sedan NA
3rd: 1999 9-3 SE Turbo Convertible (*current, summer car)
4th: 1998 900 SE Turbo Coupe
5th: 2006 9-3 SC (*current)
You could say I miss them a little... and that I am a BIG fan of the GM era Saabs.
The commercial back in the day said it all: those who test drive a Saab, usually buy one.
My wife went from a 4 cylinder Plymouth Breeze to the 98 Vert. At the dealer, whe the sales guy said "it has the 4 cylinder NA engine..." my wife stopped him right there.
"No way am I driving another 4 cylinder after this Breeze which struggles to merge on a freeway".
He replied: "A Saab 4 cyl and a Plymouth are not even in the same league".
She test drove it. We bought it.
Plymouth Breeze, 4 cylinders, not a turbo: 105HP
Saab 900, 4 cylinders, not a turbo: 150 HP.
Current Saab attached, just broke 40K miles. I will have her a very long time.
First: 1998 Saab 900 Convertible NA
Second: 1994 Saab 900 Sedan NA
3rd: 1999 9-3 SE Turbo Convertible (*current, summer car)
4th: 1998 900 SE Turbo Coupe
5th: 2006 9-3 SC (*current)
You could say I miss them a little... and that I am a BIG fan of the GM era Saabs.
The commercial back in the day said it all: those who test drive a Saab, usually buy one.
My wife went from a 4 cylinder Plymouth Breeze to the 98 Vert. At the dealer, whe the sales guy said "it has the 4 cylinder NA engine..." my wife stopped him right there.
"No way am I driving another 4 cylinder after this Breeze which struggles to merge on a freeway".
He replied: "A Saab 4 cyl and a Plymouth are not even in the same league".
She test drove it. We bought it.
Plymouth Breeze, 4 cylinders, not a turbo: 105HP
Saab 900, 4 cylinders, not a turbo: 150 HP.
Current Saab attached, just broke 40K miles. I will have her a very long time.
My Saabs
1979 99 GLE, college
1992 900S
1999 9-5, when I lived in Adelaide, Australis
2003 9-5 3.0t, Canada
2008 9-5. Aero, back in the US
Kinda new to Saabs, having been a BMW junkie for so long. But ''discovered'' 'em after finding a good deal a few years back on a very nice used NG900 convertible with the larger 2.6 liter 6 cyl., as a birthday toy for the ''ex''. Though needless to say the car outlived the relationship (...lol)! But I came away impressed with the performance and all-around value, along with lotsa torque to rival my then 5 series Beemer.
More recently after relocating to Cali from Seattle, started shopping for a 'vert again as a 2nd car, but wanting a roomier back seat than BMW's convertible. And stumbled on another used Saab convertible, a creampuff '97 Talladega with the 2.0 liter Turbo engine and ~150K miles. Now nearly 40K miles later, the car's been a blast, and so far no complaints.
BTW, while the GM models get a bad rap from the Saab purists, and reliability reports seem to be all over the map, apparently not all were built in the same place, let alone in Trollhättan, Sweden. For example nearly all the pre-1998 convertibles were built in Uusikaupunki, Finland, which has long had a reputation for some of the highest build quality in the world, and also currently assembles the Porsche Boxster and Cayman.
Also especially luv the part in that episode of Top Gear's Tribute to Saab, where they demonstrate just how obsessed Saab was about safety. Or as Clarkson quotes a senior designer at "another" swedish car company, "nobody could ever work out why a Saab cost so much... until they crashed it."
Such a good tribute. I always watch it when I'm bored. I do love BMWs myself. Looked at a beemer before I got the Saab but could not find one in my price range that was sub 100K. The saab 9-3 I got was priced below market value at a Ford dealership. Upon the first drive, I had to get it. Saab purists are weird in the respect that mechanical problems were common on the older models but by the time GM intervened a lot of the cars became strangely more reliable.
Although I'm surprised of their opinion of the 900. Was it that "weak" as a salad as they say?
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
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Apparently it was May who commented that the old 900 convertible was as rigid as a week old salad, referring to the "flexi-flyer" chassis (although all that torque steering probably doesn't help either). BTW, never would have thought it was possible to really get rid of that on a FWD car, until I recently test drove a 2013 Ford Focus ST (with the turbo), and amazingly not a hint of torque steering (the current state of design tech is amazing)!!
My family friends in the 80's owned a bright orange (non-metallic) Saab 99, and I loved that car. I'm guessing it was late 70's. Compact cars just seemed to be made better back then (they also owned a white Ford Fiesta). Their Saab is what got me interested in the marque.
When the 9000 came along, I was a bit disappointed, because I found that to be a very boring, yuppieish car. The 99 seemed like something an eccentric professor at a liberal arts school in the PNW or New England would drive. And I liked that.
I still love seeing old videos of the Saab 99 rallying on YouTube, and I do hope the marque doesn't die. They are sill somewhat unique.
I had a 2003 Saab 9-3, 6-speed manual. It was the best car I've owned. Fun to drive. I had no major problems with it. It had over 185,000 miles on it when I sold it and was still on the original clutch.
I down-graded to a 2012 Ford Focus which has not been as problem free and definitely not as nice to drive.
Just bought a 2001 Saab 9-3 with 115,000 miles for $1000.
It has a couple electronic problems. The convertible top is forever stuck in the up position and the speedometer works only half the time.
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