Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 06:44:15 -0600 From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Jo=E3o?= da Silcva <joaonopsamesa.com> Subject: Re: saab newbie
> what can you tell me against such a car? Frankly, not a lot. I, too, am a sorta new Saab owner -- after a long string of Volvos, a couple '02s, an Audi and this Lincoln Town Car -- I now have this hybrid 900S -- call it 87-ish. The reason I picked-up any of these cars is Bosch fuel injection. The Saab fell in my lap for cheap about a year ago -- a long story I won't bore you with. I now drive instead of the Audi 5kcs all the time, and about 600 miles weekly here lately. I've become quite fond of the Saab's implementation of K-lambda. It's precise and allows easy calibration of its basic settings. In bringing the motor back up to snuff I conclude two things: First, I like having a pet car to tinker on and this one is, mainly, quite direct. There are things like congestion around the oil filter that one wishes were otherwise, but all of the procedures I've undertaken were only with a normal level of complication. In short, these things are easy to work on. Real easy. Second, parts are not particularly expensive, if not always available up the street. There are any number of competitive purveyors on the internet and elsewhere. Normal wear parts (pumps, alternators, brakes, etc.) really cost no more than they would for most other cars. I just redid the whole exhaust w/ OEM and/or in spec. parts for less <$150.00, got all the fuel injectors and seals for $120.00....got an OEM air filter for $8.00....etc. At this point I'm looking at redoing all of the suspension wear parts and the stuff will run ~$350.00. Not much for another "n"k miles or so. Bob gravada: > On Thu, 24 Jan 2002 01:03:14 +0000, Johannes H Andersen > <johsnopsamanytime.co.uk> wrote: > > >That's news to me. Where did you read that? As he said Saab are not cheap to > >keep unless you have plenty of time or is a mechanical genius. > > Since I posted the original thread, I'll reiterate. I _know_ Saabs > cost more to maintain when you need to do it, at least in the U.S. > There are very few aftermarket parts companies, so most stuff comes > from the dealer. Part for part, even maintenance items cost more. > Parts for my Japanese cars are much more common and thus lower priced. > The labor rate for Saabs around here is also at the top of the charts, > although some other 'luxury' makes are similar or higher (same > mechanics, higher charges i.e. it costs more to fix a "Lexus" than a > "Toyota" :-) > > If money is on the shorter side, I'd buy a used Japanese car before > I'd buy a Saab. It has nothing to do with a "snotty" attitude, I leave > that to the BMW owners. It has to do with practicality and > conservation of funds. I also tell folks to buy cars at least 2 years > old to save a whopping amount of money... but they either fear the > used car itself or their ego is too big to fit in a used car. Either > way, it's just what's practical to me. > > Bob
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