1994-2002 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Your observation is so true. I am about to give up on Saab. It's insanely expensive to own. I used to service mine at the dealership, and it's like no other car I have had. I owned 4 saabs in my life - both used and new, and the pattern is always the same:
First, air conditioner stops working -- $350 each year!
Antenna gets stuck - $100 twice a year.
Then muflers start to go -- $1,400 each second year.
Regular scheduled maintenance ... never less than $600.
Then the clunking noises begin (like you describe), then water in the trunk and so on and so on...
It's particularly disappointing once you begin to realize how badly you are getting ripped off. Turns out it costs $11 to replace the antenna; $16 to refill the refrigerant for the air conditioner. (Great thanks to the people who posted the instructions on this bulletin board!)
I also had nasty problems that my dealer was not able to diagnose or fix.
One -- on highway speeds, the shifter was loose, rotated all over the place and I had a great difficulty putting it into fifth (I could not find the position). I drove like this for 2 years. Then one day I was replacing my shifter knob that lost its cap with a leather model (thanks again to the people in this group)! I removed the rubber boot and what do I see?... the plastic collar that fits into the groove made for it and guides the shifter into the fifth gear is 10 mm too high! So, I just pushed it down and voila -- the shifter firmly goes into the fifth now!
The second problem that was driving me insane was the squeaky breaks. They were LOUD! I have been persistently told that this was "normal". I reached the point where I started to hate driving that car. Then, one day, after reading this bulletin board, I found the solution: My wheels where torked too tight. All I had to do is to loosen up the wheel lugs. A week later, all squeaking disappeared entirely.
I feel so sympathetic to regular people, who have to pay thousands each year just to keep their saabs operational, or who end up driving with broken mufflers, squeaky breaks, no air conditioners and no radio signal (like I was forced too not so long ago ...)
posted by 68.228.14...
, Fri, 20 Aug 2004 13:19:05
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