1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
He says it sounds like a dream...which it does...until you have to turn the steering wheel, at which point the power steering pump emits a long, slow, painful groaning sound the lasts for the entire length of the turn. It sounds so awful it's funny.
We did have the car checked out by a Saab indy before purchasing, and we have the laundry list of repairs that he came up with, though I have a sinking feeling that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Fortunately my husband and I have worked out a very cooperative system where YOUR car is YOUR problem. Hey, I have my own cranky old Aero to worry about. :o)
However in spite of the many, many $$$$$$ problems we'll have to fix, this is a great car. A quick spin on the highway revealed that the engine is basically a rocket. 100mph no problem, tight and solid, and the car didn't even sound like it was trying.
This whole episode (the quest for the "new" Saab) has been a heck of a ride. We considered buying a 1986 900 for $600 that was basically nothing more than a flaking heap of rust on wheels. We pined over a pristine old 900 (can't remember the year) that we saw in the classifieds, but we couldn't justify travelling all the way to Los Angeles to buy it. We stuck pictures of other people's Saabs all over our refrigerator. He would e-mail me at work, "How does this one sound?" with some classified listing pasted into the e-mail. It is not a stretch to suggest that he was obsessed with the idea. Then there was the marathon day trip to Dallas and the three weeks of nail-biting waiting while the car was in transit. Finally it's ours!
People (my dad, for example) have asked me why we are doing this. Why on earth would you sell a bulletproof young low-mileage Volvo (which you bought because it was a station wagon and you needed a workhorse) and replace it with an old, high-mileage, superbly fussy luxury car that costs a zillion dollars every time it breaks down? Aside from the fact that all you have to do is drive a Saab to understand this, I explain to them, simply, that this is what he wanted more than anything. The man wanted a Saab. I was not about to stand in his way.
So we are now on our third Saab togther. In a few years we'll have our tenth wedding anniversary. I think we should renew our vows as "for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, in Saab after Saab, til death do us part." It's a real love story, isn't it.
posted by 206.40.162...
, Mon, 8 Nov 2004 13:25:40
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