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Date: Thu, 1 May 2003 08:52:00 +0100 From: "Andy Hookins" <andrew.hookinsnopsamamnopsamodata.co.uk> Subject: Re: inspecting a 9000
"Jules" <julesnopsameventhinkaboutspammingme.slidejules.com> wrote in message news:1051472760.237227nopsamke.eclipse.net.uk... > Hello everyone, > > I've test driven a few CSEs in the last few days, and have found one I > really like. 96N, 2.3FPT, auto - £3,295 - 135k miles, very very good > condition throughout (inside and out) and drives nicely. It's had a new DI > box and new brake discs relatively recently, but the specialist selling it > is not sure if it's on the original autobox or not, likewise with the turbo > (see earlier thread "thinking of getting a saab"). Some would say that at this mileage the gearbox is a time-bomb waiting to happen, but then it could go on to do 200,000 miles. You know from your dad's experience that they can fail if worked very hard. Unfortunately auto-box failure is fairly sudden and you don't get much if any warning. The only thing you can check is the condition and level of the ATF - it should be a pink/red colour and not brown and burnt. It is important that the ATF and filter are changed regularly - only about half of the fluid can be drained so some people drain and fill a few times to renew 75% or 88% of the ATF - I doubt any dealers or indy's do this. > I don't really want to stick that much cash down without having it inspected > independentyl - the AA can do it, or I could get a saab specialist to do it > for me. Does anyone have any experience of having cars inspected by a big > organisation like the AA? I mean, I'd trust them to inspect something like > an escort or something, but I'm not sure if they'd have the specialist > knowledge needed to know if a Saab was fine or not? > > Any experiences? You guys are a fount of knowledge! I've never had anyone else inspect my cars so I don't have any experience here. I would expect though that they would find any obvious problems and would also have a list of known 'pecularities' or failure trends associated with specific makes/models. But, like all things in life when you are at the mercy of someone else it's a gamble - the particular inspector may or may not be that rigorous, he may or may not know SAABs in general and the 9000 in particular. That said, If you've ever seen BBC2's 'right car, wrong car' programme then you will know that they've used the AA to inspect anything from a 1960's MG to modern Porche 911 turbo. > Cheers - Jules > > p.s. one thing I forgot about in the earlier post. While braking in all > three of the cars I've test driven, when the gearbox changes down, you can > feel an almost jolt as the next gear engages. Nothing under acceleration > like that, but while braking it almost felt like I'd stabbed the brake > slightly at each gearchange? All 3 of the 9000s did that identically, but no > other auto I've ever driven has been like that. Is that normal? Or maybe > just a Saab/ZF quirk?! I can't say that I've noticed anything like that - certainly not enough to bother me. I assume you just left it in drive and weren't manually selecting lower ratios. As Dexter said, it may be bad engine mounts. Good luck, AndyH '94 9000 CDE
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