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Okay, I picked up my '97 SE (2.0 turbo, 3-door, black) yesterday.
Some random impressions:
STYLING. To be honest, I find it kind of ho-hum. Not bad, but hard
to tell it apart from 80% of the cars on the road. I miss that
distinguished c900 look. sigh.
CONDITION. 121k miles. Everything (so far) works fine. Interior
immaculate. Black leather seats a little worn, but has look of a nice
used leather jacket. Exterior pretty good. One dent on rt. rear, sort
of a long "embossed" depression that didn't scratch the paint or
crumple the metal. The roof has what looks like hail damage to the
paint (?), where small (1 cm) very tight craks radiate from a central
impact point. These are hard to see unless you catch the light just
right. Oh, and the exhaust system has a leak somewhere : there's a
distinct sound from under the car that straddles the bounds between
"sporty" and "annoying". That'll probably be one of my early DIY
projects.
CITY DRIVING. Drove it home by back roads, but it was near rush hour
and slow going. Throttle response from a red light was, well,
noticeably less peppy than my sister's 100k+ Tercel. I've read a fair
amount about turbos, but never actually driven one. I'm guessing this
is "normal" turbo spool-up lag, but it could be that some tuning
needs to be done.
MOUNTAIN DRIVING. After filling her up w/ gas and grabbing a bite to
eat, I went up into the mountains (1/2 way around Pikes Peak and
back). The road was still pretty busy at first, but I could feel the
turbo kicking in, and got a real nice feel for the secure handling,
and the "sport" mode of the auto tranny -- a nice little feature. I
had to drive a while past the "suburbs" and onto some empty road
before I could open her up.
HOLY CRAP !!! So *that* is what driving a turbo is like ! This is a
pure stock setup and I just couldn't believe the acceleration. I've
never felt anything like it except on a runway. Going from 40 to 85
on a fairly steep climb was unreal. I only eased up in deference to
those pesky white signs with numbers well below 90 on them. (I must
admit that I look at the "other half" of the speedo with a certain awe
and wonder.) I did some side-to-side swerves, harsh braking, fast
corners, etc. and must say I'm impressed. This car is definitely a
better performer than my other ride.
THIS PART NOT MEANT TO SOUND KINKY. Perhaps the second most pleasant
suprise (after the turbo) was how much I liked the power adjustable
seats. At first I thought it was just a front/back thing. Then I
started twisting the handle in different ways to see what would would
happen, and really liked it. In fact, as I drove, sometimes I would
reach "down there" and play with the controls just for the fun of
it. Is this wrong ?
BACK DOWN TO EARTH. So today before work, I swung by the local Saab
dealer and got the radio code (fast and frienly help, took maybe 2
minutes). Radio works, but the 6-CD changer in the trunk is missing
the removeable cassette. Anyone know if these are replaceable ? I
also pulled up the warranty service history, which only go up to 60k
miles. The car, of course, was missing the alarm remote. As long as
it doesn't magically become armed, I guess I'm okay. But I think I'll
keep my eyes open for a used alarm control unit + remote combo.
So, as of day 2, I'm very happy w/ my "new" car. And it's a good
feeling to be back on saabnet. I look forward to lots of helpful
info.
Oh, and did I mention that I paid $2200 ? Please tell me if that was
a good deal. I need to know, 'cause if it was then I won't mention it
here, 'cause that would be gloating....
Jeff,
whose other ride is a '77 Ford F-250 Camper Edition with no mods,
except for a rear window that was busted out 2 years ago...
posted by 205.170....
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