1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Compared to my '86 and '88 9000 turbos, My '95 CS has a few big improvements:
1) It has an "off" button where I've always wanted it-- the climate control
2) The dash display LCD is light-on-black, not the reverse (too bright at night, and undimmable). It even turns off at night, black-panel style.
3) air bags-- the biggest improvement, by far
4) a bigger trunk and a rear wiper
5) cloth seats-- softer, temperate and breathable, grippier, too
I do miss the cornering headlights that ligt up with the turn signals on the older cars. The older cars may be better looking than my stretched-and-wedged version. Mine is safer and more aerodynamic. Not more reliable, I'm finding: my mechanic has done a lot of head gasket repairs lately on 9000s. Before 100K miles. Including mine. The heads on the more powerful fours, they say, blow even sooner. The CS suspension is softer, but that's easily changed.
The power of the "little" turbo is more than adequate. With 5-speed, it pulls without complaint from 1500 rpm in three upper gears. I can't floor the accelerator more than a few seconds without reaching frightening speeds, even climbing the Continental Divide on I-70. I can't imagine why you'd need to go faster, in a more difficult environment. A drag strip?
The bottom line on late model 9000s is that they're the latest, lowest-mileage examples of a dying breed, the last SAAB that's a SAAB. You know, a Swedish car. General Motors has such a lousy track record in so many areas, from low product quality to bad taste to lackluster safety to raw sales numbers. In "High & Mighty," the new anti-SUV expose, a cynical GM engineer tells the author, a NY Times auto correspondent, that Ford was dumb to put more costly but pollution-fighting palladium into its catalytic converters than regulations required.
Since I've decided my next car won't be a GM product, my 9000 is more precious still. If you, too, are considering buying your third one, you can understand.
posted by 12.253.182...
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