So after selling the Sidekick, I assumed the ownership of my partner John’s Saab 900. It was the last year of the long-lived original 900 platform, having originated in 1969 as the Saab 99.
It was an interesting looking car, a three-door hatch in a gunmetal grey colour. The interior was a comfortable grey velour, and Saab’s legendary front bucket seats with integral front headrests were as comfortable as their reputation would lead one to believe.
Great seats. For sitting while waiting for a tow
Mine was a non-turbo 2.3 liter engine with a 5-speed manual transmission. I would say the engine was pretty gutsy from a performance standpoint, definitely a league or two above the smaller fours in either of my previous Suzuki products. The shifter itself was rather odd, it felt imprecise and needed to go into reverse in order to remove the key from the ignition on the centre console.
I also remember thinking the interior sure looked old-school for a vehicle made in the early 90s, although the general interior quality was not bad. The headliner, however, was starting to droop (something I’ve since learned is a common affliction of 900s of this vintage).
While the trunk area of this car was huge, the interior itself was rather small. However the visibility was great; I think the best of any car I’ve ever had.
I’d like to say that this car was great and I had many adventures with it, but sadly that wasn’t the case. Only a few months after John gave it to me, I was driving down a street in Prescott (where I was working as a reporter at the time) and I suddenly heard an awful clunk and then a scraping noise. The entire exhaust from the manifold back was dragging on the ground behind me.
After that, the car became a maintenance nightmare. First the alternator quit on a trip back from Kingston, then the starter went as I was driving back from my garage to have the alternator replaced. After that the front CV joint on the left wheel broke, then the electronics started doing funny things, blowing fuses and leaving important features like the cruise control and then the windshield wipers inoperable.
I was close to the end of my rope with this car. It had left me on the roadside three times in eight months, and cost me more than $2,500 in repairs. I was done.
Around that time I started looking for other vehicles. I’d always liked the 2000-2005 Pontiac Bonneville and found one within my price range at a used car lot in Ottawa. I paid $6800 for a 2004 one with a leather interior (but, curiously hubcaps instead of alloy wheels, and lacking a spoiler). It was a daily rental but, I reasoned still had some life in it at 160000 ams.
The used car lot gave me $600 on trade for the 900. Ironically, about the same amount John wasn’t willing to let it go for a year before.
More than anything, my 900 was an important lesson about the cost of ownership of an older European car. It sated my appetite for any sort of vehicle from across the pond for quite some time – but not forever, as a future COAL will illustrate.
Sorry to hear that you had such a poor experience with your car, but I suppose that was the general story with Saabs: a lot of things done right but undermined by inconsistent reliability. The shifter wasn’t a problem isolated to your car either; a friend of mine had an otherwise very nice 9-3 convertible with unpleasantly noodly gearshift feel.
It is true what they say: There is nothing more expensive than a cheap European car. Sounds like you had to learn the hard way.
Every now and then I wonder what life would have been like had I splurged on the new Saab Turbo with which I briefly fell madly in love in 1985. Then I read something like this.
We have all had those “black holes” that will take your money and give you nothing but heartache in return. At least we get to keep the stories. 🙂
The answer ? Simple cars that aspire to be basic transportation. My 1990 Cavalier has a motor that is incredibly rugged, and has never left me stranded. No, it doesn’t have a “TV” in the dash that talks to me, but no one really needs those anyway.
Well, I suppose one could also argue that a large barrel makes durable and reliable housing, but it’s a hell of a price to pay for reliability.
My $600 ’84 Saab 900 was actually dead reliable! Seems to be untypical….
One of my all time favorite cars.
I knew many who owned and love these cars .
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I was never impressed .
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In general, European cars need a certain amount of attention ~ the rubber donuts that held the exhaust in place were a big PIA until I discovered Mercedes R107’s used identical ones with a loop of bicycle chain inside, these never, _EVER_ fail ~ anything I own/work on that uses those rubber hanger loops not gets a full set of the improved ones, $pendy @ $11 each for the Mercedes Factory ones, $5 ~ $8 for the off brand ones that work fine .
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It appears that Enthusiasts will enjoy SAABS more than the average ‘ gas & go ‘ vehicle owner .
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EDIT : BTW : unless it grenaded noisily, that 87 Ampere BOSCH alternator only needed a $35 part that’s a 5 minute to change job IN SITU ~ removing the alternator is one of my all time disliked jobs .
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-Nate
Love the 900! Learned the hard way that the 93 was the only model year 900 to include a rubber bushing in the shift linkage to improve shifter feel. (Borrowed from the 9000 perhaps) I suppose this was in response to previous negative feedback, but when the bushing shreds and you can only nurse it home in 3rd and 4th gears, you begin to miss your ’92 900. Other than some quirks, my ’85, ’92 and ’93 900’s were bulletproof, and helped me survive my idiot teens and 20’s. Miss them all.
Sagging headliner is a problem with all kinds of cars from that period after ten or fifteen years. My sister’s Saab had about a hundred staples in it. I’ve used spray mount on a 80’s and 90’s Chrysler and GM car. Nothing seems to work on my Trans Sport. I’m about to just tear it out. There’s black molded foam underneath I think.
You didn’t mention the mileage on the Saab. Having to replace alternators and CV joints is not that unusual after a lot of miles, although I’ve never had to replace a starter on anything. Ever need a new water pump? Although I suppose the Euro parts might cost twice as much as American car parts. And certainly the labor cost varies a lot from car to car.
About ten years ago my Trans Sport was suffering from a rattly rack and pinion. It’s from the period when so many GM racks failed that they put in new ones for free way past warrantee, but this was way past that. An aftermarket one was $350 (GM $700) with about $200 in labor – and this was at a GM dealer. I was surprised that they offered the aftermarket one. Probably about $3000 on a BMW, or am I underestimating?
I love the wheels.
One of the teachers at my high school had one of these, looked almost exactly like yours. It was a beautiful car, I admired it across the parking lot many times. Something about that deep charcoal gray color. It’s the ONLY time that I have ever liked a 3-spoke wheel.
I’m driving now a 1989 900 which cost about 250$ when purchased, and I have spent around another 250$ for repairs and maintenance (oil changes, brake pads, windshield wipers, couple ball joints, stuff like that). It’s been a daily driver for two years and has been driven around 20k kilometers per year. So quite reliable.
For me that 2500$ sounds a lot to repair these things because the parts are affordable and some of the second hand stuff can be bought by a handshake. But we have the same problem in here, like american cars and their parts cost here around 5-10 times if what they cost in US.