Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1999 09:37:41 +1000 From: "Gerard" <gerardnopsamwhere.in.au> Subject: Re: The joy of owning a Saab. Do they build their planes as well as this?
You have one poor Turbo that has been pushed HARD... I have owned the following cars 1974 99 Combi Coupe. 1983 900 Gli. 1984 900 Turbo. 1985 900 Turbo Aero. 1990 900 Turbo Aero. I had almost no problems with the non-turbo models although I bought the 99 in a very sad state and spent a couple of thousand fixing it up. The 1984 and 85 Turbos I enjoyed driving all too much and successfully wore out all inner and outer CVs in both, the front bearings in the '84 and both front and rear bearings in the '85. This was from excessive speed and extremely hard cornering, I used to like getting the '85 completely sideways when turning at intersections (yes, on tarmac) went through 2 sets of tires in a year, but had a lot of fun doing it and almost lost my license. The '84 died when I slid through a stop sign and got hit in the driver's door by a Nissan doing 100kph... Luckily walked away without a scratch. Back to what I was saying, I managed to wear out the Turbo, and replaced it in the '85 by 115000km. Spent a hell of a lot fixing various problems and finally traded the car at 220000km when 1st gear failed in the gearbox (manual) and the 2nd turbo was on its way out... This car was driven extremely hard and I feel sorry for anyone who purchased it from the dealer 2nd hand. Oh, and the whole car creaked like hell wth dash and body noise before I sold it. My 1990 900Aero I have driven reasonably gently, with the occasional hard run. It has given me no problems whatsoever aside from one wheel bearing and a wheel rim due to an extremely large pot hole and a worn out fuel pump... This car is beautifully quite and has superb ride and handling. The cars are built extremely well from my point of view however continued torture will leave any car a little bit creaky and unreliable... A little more than $0.02, but my point of view... Gerard... BTW: The CV's should always be one of the first things you check when looking at buying a used SAAB. Find a nice hill and drive the car back and forth at full lock each direction and listen for clunking. Then find a flat surface (petrol station), put the car in 1st or reverse (manual) let off the hand break and try to push the car back and forth by hand. The further it moves, the more the drive train (CV's and gearbox) are worn.
