Perhaps readers will recall some of the cars that I have been given over the years. An LTD Crown Vic, a Ford Tempo, a VW Rabbit GTI; are you noticing a trend here? Little to my knowledge at the time I was about to continue the tradition by receiving one Saab 9000 CD, gratis. I think you can guess how that went, but let me expand on the “merits” of Saab ownership.
I have a friend named Walky who has a certain something for Saabs. Not just any old Saab; we’re talking the rescue dog equivalent. He can often be found driving a Saab that looks great until you see the other side, or that runs great, until it doesn’t. When he came to this country from Haiti at the age of nine, he had no experience with cars at all. And Walky’s adoptive family has usually bought the most boring products from GM or Chrysler, so I guess I can see why something adventurous and different might appeal to him.
One day Walky comes by my house and says the words I cringe to hear: “can you help me with this car”? He reveals to me his newest fling, a 1989 Saab 9000 CD hatchback. It looks straight; I wonder whats wrong with it, hmm…
Walky
Turns out it had a few issues (surprised?). Firstly, the ABS motor was dead. In a regular (as in not Saab) car this would simply mean that the ABS would not work, but you’d never notice until you needed ABS. Not on this car, where it meant that the brakes were very, very hard. Of course the price of a new ABS unit was something akin to the US GDP for 1989. A used one you say? Not to be found of course, as all of them had been snatched up by other Saab owners who were less moneyed than Bill Gates.
So that’s issue number one. But then there was the matter of the key and ignition. Saabs of that era used a laser cut key that cannot be bought at the locksmith. One has to get one from Saab, and I will let your imagination fill in the blank price tag on that. Someone had lost the key and now only the sharp little foreshortened wallet key remained. But upon insertion into the ignition cylinder any number of things might happen when one turned it.
It might turn over several times and then stop turning over, at which point one had to turn the key all the way to the off position to try again. It might turn over several times and then start, only to immediately die because one was trying to keep it turning over, and accidentally shut it off. Or, it might just click and do nothing; one never knew. But every now and then, just to piss one off, it might just start right up! But once running, it did run very nicely, that is until it came time to stop. Ah, the joys of Saab ownership.
I was baffled so I called the only local Saab mechanic. He seemed not to want any more business and not to give a crap about the one he owned. So I was at a loss and sent Walky away with the same problems he had come with.
Sometime latter Walky left the Saab at at my house because he was tired of its problems and was hoping I could magically fix it. Eventually he called up and told me he wanted to give me the Saab. I told him I would just sell it, but he still wanted me to have it. Ok, I was grateful to him because I know he had paid money for the car. I made one terrible mistake though. I began driving it now and then, when it would start. Indeed, when it was running, it did have a certain je ne sais quoi about it. I wished very hard that it was just a small problem that could be rectified with a minor outlay of cash. But I was fairly certain from my research that it had something to do with the coil pack. An expensive part of course, and I could not be sure that was it.
Coil pack in red
The Saab handled very well indeed and felt rather sporty. One day I decided to see if it would live up to it’s reputation as a fast car. I got it on a long straight stretch of country road and floored it. Acceleration was not impressive. As it gained momentum, the speedometer started to climb. At about ninety miles per hour the car started to vibrate. I kept the pedal to the floor and the vibrations grew in proportions squared to the velocity at which I was traveling. At around one hundred and ten miles per hour I had to back off.
Of course, that was another problem: stopping. The acceleration was so slow that I had used up alot of my road getting up to speed. Now as I was standing on the brakes with my back wedged against the seat, the road was quickly coming to an end. An end that T junctioned into a busier main road, beyond which was a muddy farm field. I visualized being T boned and both cars flying off into the field. Now I began to worry that I would break the seat back, I was standing on the brakes so hard.
But it did come to a stop of sorts. I was now doing about thirty five miles per hour, as I approached the stop sign. I had enough time to see that the main road was clear to my left. If it had not have been, I would have had to have ditched into the shoulder on my right. But I turned it into a fast right through the stop sign and a fast left down another road to bleed off speed. That was enough adventure for a day or so.
Eventually, the solution to my Saab problem became quite evident. I was parked at the downtown parkade. I had just come from meeting with a friend and had a job interview to get to. I was working for our church at the time, and had been in on the discussion about a lack of funds. I voted that we should eliminate my position, so I knew it was time to find some real work! I said a little prayer and turned the key of the Saab; click, click! I sighed a deep inward sigh . I had given plenty of time for this eventuality, so I tried again, and again, and again. It would seemed to start after about the one hundredth or so try, but in tring to make it go, I’d accidentally shut it off.
Time to try a hundred more times; the sharp little key began to make my finger bleed. I stopped. If one left it sit all day, it would always start on the first try. The only warm place to go was Starbucks, and I hate Starbucks. After using all of my allotted emergency time in Starbucks, I went back to the Saab. The clock said I would be late for the interview if it did not start in the next few tries. I said a silent prayer, this time with a bit more petitioning and a bit less pleading. I turned the key, it started up, and then immediately shut off, not to start again. God seemed to be laughing at me (who wouldn’t, I was trying to drive a decrepit Saab from the 80’s like it was a real car or something?). I missed the interview, took the bus home, came back letter that evening, collected the parking tickets from the windshield, started it right up and drove it home to park and never drive it agian!
I put it up for sale on Ebay or one dollar starting bid with no reserve. I was careful to describe all of it’s issues and to take lots of pictures. A man from Ashland, Oregon bought it for twelve hundred dollars. He said he wanted to take the train to Salem and drive it back. I told him his chances of starting it were very slim and that stopping it was just as slim. But he insisted, so I picked him up at the train station and took him to the Saab.
He looked it over very carefully. I look of disappointment gradually crept over his face. He turned to me and said “the pictures made it look better”. I said, I just took them and posted them, not betterment involved. He said he was going to pass on it. I mentioned to him that his bid was final and that I had fully disclosed the condition of the car. He said even if I refunded him, he was out for the train ride and that he was aware of that and it was his own foolishness. So I gave him back his money, minus the listing and final value fees and re-listed it. Eventually someone else bought it for nine hundred and trailer-ed it home to be used as a parts car for his other Saabs. He was very happy to get it and I was very happy to get rid of it. And that is the first and last Saab I have ever owned.
Thanks for an entertaining read as usual Michael. Were Saabs badged differently in the US? Here hatchback 9000s were badged CS (or CSE) not CD (only the saloon/sedans were badged CD/CDE)
I wound up owning my 9000 (a ’96 CD 2.0 LPT) almost by default, but unlike you I had no real ownership woes and a great driving experience. I grew to genuinely love it in spite of having bought with my head.
back in December 2005 I’d been running a 2001 FIAT Bravo turbo diesel for my daily commute across the Pentland hills for almost four years when it was written off in the snow by another driver’s idiocy. Around the same time I’d also decided to sell my house out in the sticks and move back into Edinburgh.
Faced with an insurance write-off on my catastrophically depreciated (but otherwise stonking) little Bravo, and knowing I’d soon not need a car, I resolved to spend as little as I could on something as capable, reliable and comfortable as possible for the remaining 6-18 months of likely commute while I sold the house.
Yes. I said reliable. Over here where we maintain our cars, Saabs have a decent enough reliability rep. 9000s especially are known for chugging on for years clocking up astronomical mileages. There is a catch (as I found…) but it’s a well earned rep.
So I trawled the classifieds and found my 9000 CD for sale in nearby Stirling for junker money (advertised £1200, I paid £1000 because the transmission bushes were worn making it tough to engage reverse, & the front speakers were dead).
I remember the drive back vividly, not least the size of the thing (again, we UK drivers are usually used to far smaller cars) but also its athletic movement – driving it felt like being behind the wheel of a car half its size, except on motorways where opening it up was like captaining a jet-liner. It flew!
In spite of myself I kept the car after I sold the house, it was too much fun & made little weekend getaways possible… I did make a half hearted attempt to sell it (at the same price I’d paid!) but was glad when I had no serious interest & pulled the ad.
We finally parted ways a couple of years later when I gave it to a friend (he needed a car and had none, I had one and didn’t need it.) He was quickly as besotted as I, until the cost of fuel made running it as an urban commuter uneconomical – town driving never had been its strong suit…
The catch? I learned in my first month of Saab ownership that complex, quirky mechanicals must be serviced by enthusiastic experts (a lesson that served me well owning a later car…) My local grease-monkeys serviced my 9000 in the first month I owned it (as they’d serviced all my other cars and those of friends for years) within the week it was ill from maltreatment: failing to follow Saab’s quirky service requirements, the local garage had accidentally fouled the coil unit when replacing the sparks…
I discovered this when the car abruptly died on me the following week, needing an expensive replacement coil unit. After that (on the recommendation of the Saab-loving AA man who fixed it) I took to getting it serviced at an independent specialist in Edinburgh for the rest of the time I owned it. From then on I had a completely trouble-free ownership experience, and strangely enough smaller servicing costs as Martin (the specialist) knew the car enough to say (and do) what did or didn’t need doing.
I’ve been fond of all my cars, but none before or since surprised me with the power of the affection they inspired. In my opinion, owning a well maintained 9000 is one of life’s great joys.
“Over here where we maintain our cars…”
Well, I’m not going to argue that we in the U.S. have a reputation for lax maintenance…but in the case of the Saab, we have a few mitigating factors.
One huge factor is the scarcity of parts. Saabs never sold all that well here, nor had an extensive dealer network. That led to two other issues: With Saab’s pre-GM models, there aren’t that many mechanics who are familiar with them. And when you find a good one, you have the same issue as with parts…be prepared to pay, and dearly.
Oh, and another thing about parts: Remember the key and ignition coil that Michael referred to? I may be able to overlook using an expensive, proprietary coil on a relatively high-end car, but it’s downright sadistic to make a simple ignition key into a special order, dealer-only item when there are not that many dealerships around.
So in the end, the issues of parts availability and scarcity of trained technicians made Saabs into inexpensive used cars. Which only made the problem worse: “Wow! I can get a high-end European see-dan for same price as one of them Jap-nese Camrys!” Without debating the merits of Saabs versus Toyotas, the inescapable issue of cost of ownership rears its ugly head.
And that, sir, is my take on why Saabs never quite made a dent in the U.S. market…
I think I probably got the nomenclature wrong. Your comment makes me wish I lived in Europe, just for the cars.
I had a Saab 99 bought new in 77. It was the same price as BMW 3 series of the era. Had it 3 years, dealer serviced. POS. A year after I traded it in, the dealer calls me up and tries to blame me for the car burning to the ground. The person who bought it was a bit miffed.
I traded it for a Honda, and another, and another and another. 640,000 Miles or 1,029,980 kilometers.
There’s something breathtaking about a car that always starts when there is dew on the lawn, doesn’t overheat, doesn’t stick the throttle, doesn’t leak fuel, doesn’t eat brakes, doesn’t have a radiator that leaks, doesn’t have a valve cover that wouldn’t seal to the head properly. It was so nice not to have to leave a large sheet of cardboard on the driveway and garage to catch all the oil.
I did not treat them any better than the Saab. Probably worse. Changed my own oil and most of time, used the dealer for repairs. I didn’t have to baby them, because they weren’t designed by morons.
30 years of Hondas: a carb rebuild on the 1st one, clutch on the 2nd, starters on the 2 + 3rd (each was around 220,000 miles). Original muffler on the 3rd with 264,000 miles when I got rid of it.
“Maintained” indeed. How about building a car that wasn’t built out of spittle and manure?
Thank you for summing that up so very adroitly!
@dej Can’t speak for the 99 – a totally different model having nothing in common with the car being discussed other than the badge.
What I can say is that the 9000 I owned was certainly not “built out of spittle and manure”. At (just) 10 years and (over) 200,000 miles old when I bought it it felt as solid and well constructed as I’d expect a brand-new luxury car to feel. And (unlike the Hondas I’ve experienced) it was a hoot to drive.
@Buzzdog, fair retort sir! My maintenance comment was deliberately provocative, and I certainly take your point about the scarcity of parts and expertise for these cars in the States. I was lucky living where I do: I gather that – after the GM take over – many Saab main dealers here became increasingly inept at handling older Saabs too, but enthusiast independents like the one I found could make a living picking up the slack because plenty of parts and customers were available here.
dej: Just for what it’s worth, the 99 was notoriously problematic, maybe the worst Saab ever in that regard. It’s not really representative. That’s not to come across as a Saab apologist, which I’m not.
My sister had almost the exact experience as you too: bought a 99 in 1976 or so; loved it, but gave her lots of headaches. She’s been driving Hondas ever since.
I drive Honda cars for exactly the same reasons. They give great driving pleasure and you don’t spend all your time cleaning up after them and all your money fixing them.
Got that straight! I bought a ’72 99e from a BMW dealer at below Blue Book. When she drove good, she drove very, very good, and when she drove bad, she drove horrid!
My alcoholic brother in law helped me change the oil, remember the oil filter cannisters? He didn’t remove the old gasket and the oil blew out on the freeway. The engine blew up shortly thereafter.
The SAAB dealer replaced the engine at more than the cost of the car. I pointed out to him that it ran very rough, but he dismissed this and told me it was OK. Then the new engine blew up. He replaced it and when I told him this new engine ran rough, he dismissed this and said it was OK. Then this engine blew up. When this scenario was repeated a third time, I took it to a German mechanic who shook his head and said all the settings where wrong. It ran great after that. For a little while.
SAAB advertised that it was the thinking man’s car. Maybe, but I would rather have a car designed by mechanics than philosophers, any day!
Good to hear from you Steve! A philosopher’s car indeed!
Walky was a rather scary person! I would be apprehensive trying to fix his car, wondering what he might do if I failed…
I imagine your kind of problem will only get worse today, now with the factory no longer producing parts… Any DIY Saab owners are now more diligent than ever scouring up and stashing any parts they might use someday…
If you met him you wold not think so. I think that is the biggest issue with European cars in the States is the parts supply/cost.
i love your stories. they are very funny and exotic to my nyc way of thinking. i think you get these cars after previous owners have so abused them that you can’t fairly judge their quality. i know people that owned saab 9000’s. they were a very nice ride and pretty reliable. they are expensive to fix, no doubt, and the lack of junk yard parts make owning one somewhat quixotic these days.
my dad owned a 2 door 5 speed manual 900 for years. it was a great simple car that was a blast to drive.
This recent article sheds some light on the whole `maintenance’ issue:
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/01/question-are-european-cars-really-more-reliable-in-europe-than-in-north-america/
Excellent reference. Mr. Martin and the comment by Steven Lang hit nail on the head.
I have a friend who loves Saabs, and has even sold them for a number of years. He recently bought a 9000 Turbo that came in on trade. Of course, he did not pay much, but it is a nice car. I would like to do a proper CC on it some time.
A great piece, Michael. A true Saab story. (Well, someone had to say it 🙂 )
I think that Saabs in the US are not so much cars as they are avocations. Just like with people who drove stepdown Hudsons in the 60s and Studebakers in the 70s. Only these are so much more demanding of their owners. It is good that there are a few hearty souls out there to love them. They make my case of old Mopar-love seem so reasonable and normal.
Hah! Yeah makes me feel less crazy for thinking an old M-body might be a good first car for somebody.
I gave some seriously consideration to the then-brand new 9000 turbo in 1985, when I was shopping for my “company car” then. It was as splateagle described it above: very brisk, and lithe too, yet so roomy. But I was a bit put off by turbos just then, having tired of the turbo on-off effect of my T-Bird TC.
But one of my co-workers did buy one, and I sometimes had slight pangs of regret.
Hey Michael, I didn’t get the part about the ABS motor. Are you referring to the Power Brake pump/motor (if any), or is it integrated with ABS in the SAAB? In many (all?) cars I’ve known about, the ABS module is an electronic piggyback to the power brake booster. The hard-as-a-cold-block-of-cement brake pedal occurs when there is no power assist (a quick way to try this is to apply brakes in a switched-off car), regardless of ABS functionality. Of course, I’ve never even sat in (let alone owned) a SAAB.
I was curious too. I got this from the saabsite.com:
“Brake Pedal is hard: In Most cases the problem with a hard brake pedal can be attributed to a faulty Brake Booster or Faulty ABS pump. When the Booster fails there will be a small hissing noise in the dash where the pump and the pedal are attached.
When the ABS pump fails the pedal gets hard because the pump is no longer assisting during the braking process. In most cases the pumps are included in the ABS hydraulic units and cannot be replaced separately. The cost of the New complete units range between 1500.00 to 2500.00 and used units are usually around 350.00 depending on the model.”
That’s how the nasty old Chrysler ABS system worked; I had to get the pump/motor replaced four times on my ’92 Grand Caravan, but it was always free, thanks to a lifetime warranty Chrysler had to put on these things due to their faulty design.
There was no vacuum booster, just an electric motor pump and accumulator to pressurize the system. When it failed (inevitably and regularly), the brakes were very hard indeed. Sounds like the same set-up as the Saab.
Yup. That must be it. Thanks for the heads up.
> In most cases the pumps are included in the ABS hydraulic units and cannot be replaced separately.
The SAABastards.
That sounds a lot like the Teves MK.II ABS system that certain GM cars of that era used.
In those GM cars it isn’t outrageously unreliable, but it is very expensive to repair if you can’t find a working junkyard unit. What some owners do is pull all the Teves stuff off and replace it with the non-ABS system from an equivalent car. That isn’t easily do-able for Reatta owners though- they all came with Teves.
IDK if a brake system swap is possible on the 9000.
This was a common European system, made by Germany’s very own Prince of Darkness, Bosch. It was used in early Jeep Cherokees and I had many the pissed customer when I worked at Chrysler. They’d go into shock when they were told it would cost the best part of $3000 to get their brakes working again. There was no such warranty in Canuckistan.
The Chrysler units were the Bendix ABS 9 & 10 units, as used on Chrysler products between ’90 and ’93, and also ’89 – ’91 Cherokee. Chrysler had to give a lifetime warranty (motor/pump) because of Fed laws/recalls. The last time I took my ’92 van in, it was over 12 years old (pump #4). The service writer tried to brush me off, but I knew better. Totally free. I figured that it would have been cheaper for Chrysler to buy back my Caravan along time ago; it used four transmissions and four ABS pumps under warranty, probably close to $20k retail! And by this last time, my van was almost worthless.
http://www.allpar.com/fix/ABS.html
My uncle has owned a Saab repair shop for more than 20 years in New Mexico. Either there are lots of Saabs there, or they need lots of work.
That ignition key is $21 from your (not so) local (not so) friendly dealer. I’ve owned two 9000’s. The first one was so good that when a tree fell on it in a storm, I went out and bought another one. My primary ride has been a 9000 since 2001, except for a few months this summer when I absolutely had to have a Panther.
If you have a proper mechanic, you’re golden. Without one (and their used parts stores) you’re done for. Example: alternator went out on first car, dudes down the street charged near $300 and took all day to deal with it. Alternator goes out on second car, the real Saab mechanic shows me the brushes integral to the voltage regulator and has the car working again in less time than it takes him to smoke a cigarette. Which he was smoking while working on the car, while talking on his cell phone…
Was his name Rudy?
Great story as always, you made me laugh. First you talk about the 9000′s brake issues, then you decide to see how fast it goes! Glad you got out of that situation okay. Even so, the key issue had to have been the worst. Was the valet key shaped different than the regular key, like one-sided, or was it just the ignition switch was worn out?
These 9000s didn’t do much for me, I was more partial to the pre-GM 900s. I imagine they have similar expensive problems though. Last summer I saw two early ’90s 900 convertibles and a late ’80s 900 hatchback in the local junkyard, I’m guessing some $700 part could have been the last straw. I wonder how many parts they had in common with the 9000?
pre-GM 900s … I wonder how many parts they had in common?
I’d expect fewer (if any) than the 9000 has in common with the Alfa 164.
🙂
It is a little key with sharp horn shaped ends, but I thik the plastic part was busted off.
Mr. Freeman, thank you for sharing your Saab story. I really enjoyed reading it, and I feel sorry for your bad luck with the car. I guess I am something of a Saab apologist, at least when it comes to the c900(1979-1993, ’94 convertibles). I have 2, and am hopelessly devoted to them. You can’t be both wise and in love, I think Bob Dylan said that.
In the 14 years I have been driving (legally) here’s my history: ’85 Tercel, ’68 Bel Air, ’87 Grand Caravan, and two ’92 900s(nine years).
I wasn’t looking for a Saab at the time, but I test-drove a 9000 once, after the van croaked at 217k. It drove nice, even though the oil looked like a chocolate milkshake, which is why I passed on it. But it had a certain something to it that I remembered, and when, in ’03, a neighbor put his 900(with painstaking maintenance records) up for sale, I jumped on it and never looked back.
It takes a certain kind of person to love an old Saab: a mechanic. And mine have turned me into a decent amateur, but I’d be in trouble if I didn’t have the Bentley service manual, and know a good indy specialist who will sell me parts.
Thanks, Walky told me today that has a 900 for sale now if you want another one!
That’s tempting!…You can’t have just one…or two! If I had a large enough property, I’d have a whole graveyard of Saabs…I’ve got a hankering for an SPG!
I envy you guys that had some good luck with the saab brand. I had a mix of love and hate for that ridiculous saturn vue that spit on me repeatedly. However, I can find only hate for the saab that shafted me unceasingly. While all have been sentimental over the recent death of the brand I can only find humor and relief that I cannot be tempted again.
If I sound bitter it is probably just old age. While I still remember I doubt my tone will change.
I just cannot believe that an advertisement for SAAB clearance is right below the comment box as I type this. Noticed it after the above comment.
Thats going pretty far and is rubbing a lot of salt in the wound.
This wandering, pointless story about one man’s worn-out, poorly maintained 9000 says too much about the author and too little about the car. The SAAB 9000 was one of the great cars of my lifetime, too. Two of them in fact. Added to two 9000s owned by a buddy of mine, that makes about 20 owner-years with the breed, so I’m qualified to say a word or two.
My friend and I agreed– the SAAB 9000 was what a GTI grows up to be. It was the biggest high-performance car with the smallest 4-cylinder engine. Both GTI and 9000 drove small and packed large; the SAAB added even greater cargo and passenger capacity, plus turbo zoom. My bone-stock 9000CS was capable of 140-mph bursts, 30 mpg Interstate cruises and first-gear crawls up rocky mountain roads. And when you arrived at that remote campsite, you could lay out and sleep in the back! That’s versatliity, like having a racehorse, a Tennessee Walker and a miner’s burro in the barn, all in one.
Repair costs, however, were about as bad as reputed. Though it was easy to find expert help; here in Denver, there was an ominously high number of quirky mechanics making a good living fixing a more modest number of cars. Every year I’d have to replace either the clutch slave cylinder or the heater core, fixing designed-in defects. The following year, it would be time for the other $600 repair job. Annually I’d average $2000 worth of repairs & maintenance, but I justified it because that was so much cheaper than a new car payment. Few cars were even available that combined the 9000’s sport, utility, style and fuel economy.
The last straw came when my speedometer flatlined. A cheap plastic drive gear was broken, deep in the bowels of the transmission’s output end. The bid to drop the transmission, dismantle it to get at the gear, reassemble and reinstall came to $3000. I sold the car for half its blue book and bought a Subaru Forester, which had all the 9000’s utility but lacked its its luxury, style or power.
My new used car, an Audi Allroad, does surpass the 9000’s luxuries and abilities. Too bad it uses 50% more gas. If a SAAB 9000 was built today, warrantied and made reliable, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy one…
Hilarious story that sort of parallels some of my experiences with my first car in high school, an ’83 Saab 900S 5-speed. Hand me down from my parents.
The fuse that controlled the power windows and horn had a nice habit of blowing randomly. Not a big deal except that it often blew with the windows in the “Down” position. This caused many impromptu excursions under the hood to replace the fuse. I carried a pack of about 20 replacement fuses in the glove box.
The car didn’t like being in 3rd gear. It would randomly pop out of 3rd gear under load.
But the best part was that one day I woke up to find the Saab backing out of my parents’ driveway under the power of the starter motor. I parked it in reverse with the handbrake off, and the car apparently decided to leave us and return to its Viking home. Jumped into the car and started the gasoline engine. The starter continued to grind away. Turned off the car and put it in neutral. Disconnected the battery. Problem solved.
I don’t recall exactly what caused it, but a local auto repair shop specializing in electrical issues solved that issue. Their take “These ferrin’ cars do weird things”.
Yup. Had the same experience, and it was never fixable, with my ’72 99e. And just try to find a reliable mechanic if you do not live in SAAB country!
At least the fuses were easy to get at. In the 9000, they’re right inside the glove box, so you don’t have to stand on your head and bend your hand backwards under the dash.. Clearly labeled, too– that was part of the air of practicality in a SAAB. Beneath the hatchback, the rear cargo cover was made of wood, IIRC. The doors overlapped the chassis sills, the better to keep winter muck from your trouser legs.
So why couldn’t those Nordics build a reliable heater?
Plenty of ignorance, plenty of arrogance with UN-realistic expectations.
The problem with the ABS in this 9000 is most likely due to the ABS accumulator being flat. These are common in many ATE systems and similar ABS systems from that time. No the electric motor or pump is more than likely just fine. If the accumulator is flat, there will be next to nil power assist for the brakes.
Beyond that, what fool would try driving any car with brakes that don’t work properly at triple digit speeds? Did you even check the brake pads, rotors or tires before going on your triple digit joy ride?
DI cassettes do fail, but many times it is due to using the wrong spark plugs or not using Krytox as specified by SAAB between the spark plug insulators and the DI cassette insulator boots. Failure to do so will result in spark leakage and in time cause the DI cassette to fail.
I take issue with this poorly minded collection of words as you clearly have no idea what is required to properly care for a SAAB 9000 or even begin to understand what real SAABs are about. It is also extremely apparent the SAAB 9000 or ANY saab is not for you. So, find another car brand that fits your YaHOO driving and ownership style.
And yes, a properly working heater in a 9000 will toast your tootsies in freezing sub-zero weather..