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Thanks for the concern, Andrew, but we are talking different cars and different markets here. I'll be looking for a full service history, which is the norm here in the UK. The Saab warranty, in common with all other manufacturers selling into the UK, requires that the car be dealer-serviced for the duration of its warranty to keep the warranty valid. This goes for warranties on used cars sold by Saab dealers too. A rip-off, yes. However this means there are a lot of good high-mileage 9000s here with a full Saab service history, or at least a long one, followed by a full service history from a non-dealer. I'll be maintaining it myself, so maintenance costs should be low. He does less than 6000 miles a year, and I'll have the opportunity to crawl over (and under) it a couple of times a year to make sure it stays in good condition.
Low resale value is exactly why I'm looking to buy a 9000. I intend to take advantage of this resale value when I buy. It'll probably be his last car, so even if it's worth nothing when he's finished with it, it doesn't matter and I'll only have lost a few thousand pounds. By contrast, his Nissan Primera, which he bought less than three years ago and has 18K miles on it, cost £20,000 and is now only worth £6000-7000. Yes, it's probably worth the price of a couple of 9000s, but it has lost 2/3 of its value. My Aero lost the same fraction of its value in its first 3 years (which is when I bought it), but it had 112K miles on it!
From what I've seen, cars in the UK seem generally to be better maintained than those in the US, especially premium cars. The people on this board are the exception, but unfortunately most of us originally buy our cars from people who do not frequent SaabNet.
I'm going for a '94 at the earliest, and a conservative one at that. All three 9000s I have owned, including an '87 2.0T like yours (which I bought at 168K miles), have been very reliable over a total of probably 130K miles between them (under my ownership, and about 450K miles total), and I have seen few of the issues mentioned on this board.
If I go out now and circumnavigate my town (a 15-minute drive), I guarantee I will see at least 3-4 9000s (maybe 6 or more on a good day). The majority of these will have an "old dear" at the wheel (usually the new-shape 9000s or the CDs), and will probably be either LPTs or non-turbos (you can usually tell by looking at the exhaust). It's obviously impossible to tell, but I'll bet the majority are automatic.
posted by 62.253....
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