Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2002 12:33:34 +0100 From: Johannes H Andersen <johsnopsamanytime.co.uk> Subject: Re: unfair criticisms?????
dmk wrote: > > Delurking... > I've heard that the first several years of the new models have a bad > track record and VERY expensive to fix (this from my mechanic). I drive > a '90 900 that I bought new. About 100,000 miles is when I started > having breakdowns, but nothing terrible. This has been the best car > I've ever owned! > > The guy as the SAAB dealer, himself, mentioned the new models don't hold > their value like the old ones... Guess they're having trouble living up > to their own past.... But what actually constitute quality? I can compare two similar cars, my past Fiat Croma and my present 1993 9000 CSE. You would expect them to be of similar quality, but there is a world of difference. Fiat Croma: All the interior plastics on the Fiat would eventually warp out of shape. It didn't matter for the driving, but didn't look very nice. The speedo stopped working at about 80k, so I had to guess the speed. It had a clutch repair by an authorized Fiat garage, but the clutch was never good as before, even after several adjustments. The alternator went. The brakes stuck; at first I thought the engine was getting sluggish until one night I saw brake disks glowing in the dark. The body and paint was fine, however the doors were tinny and the window frames rusted. Engine was fine, but always pinking out of timing advance adjustment after a service, I had to re-adjust myself every time. All in all a lot of niggles that are indication of poor quality control, although brilliant design on paper. The 9000 oozes quality in comparison. Everything seems to be solid and fitted with care and stays in place. The Saab 9000 bought as 3 year old cost me the same as the Fiat Croma new, but a much happier choice. Johannes the > > On 8/24/2002 3:16 PM, dave wrote: > > There seems to be a debate running over Saab quality,particuarly now GM are > > involved,mostly in the negative,I'd be interested to hear the opinion of > > anyone who has driven 900(classics)and any new models 93's particuarly-when > > I bought my 1986 900 Turbo the guy I bought it from told me that Saab used > > to take 40 hours to build a car and are now down to 24,25 hours-I guess this > > could be taken as meaningless but the point he thought he was making was > > that build quality was suffering-I'm really tempted to buy a new Saab,not > > least for the advances made in general in car construction but am generally > > happy with the "evergreen" 900.Is it really fair to say that quality is on a > > downward trend-I thought maunfacturing was all about quality and > > delivery,considering the 65% domination of the 4-door convertible market(UK > > sales only I think)I hardly see a problem there-obviously a NG like this > > will naturally be dominated by the more problematic sides of Saab ownership > > that's no real unbiased cross section then is it?(notwithstanding the posts > > in praise-though maybe bias there too). > > So lets hear what you have to say..............if it's constructive!! > > > >
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