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Well... my decision making process kinda went like this...
1. Saab. Crap, these things break. But, it's a nice car with a much better price than the other things I'm looking at (BMW 3 series, Audi A4, etc.)... And I can save money, which will be good for repairs and the fact that I'll be heading off to med school soon and will switch from having a salary to having student loans. Let's think more...
2. Looked at Consumer Reports and some other reliability ratings. The other place, I don't remember where I looked, gave the '98 900 check marks across the board. Consumer Reports gave the '97 checks and the '99, so I figured the '98 should be the same... The '96 didn't fair so well, I don't think. Well, maybe it's reliable. The trick with scandinavian cars, saabs and volvos alike, is that some are bulletproof and some need love and some are money pits.
3. Canvassed forums and enthusiast webpages for what maintenace looks like, what to look for in a new car, etc.
4. Took it to a good mechanic for a pre-purchase inspection. I have a great relationship with my mechanic (Dan Ferris of Ferris Automotive in Warrenton, VA... he used to work at Reston Volvo before it became AutoScandia in Herndon... He specializes in volvos, exceedingly well, and is more than capable with european imports). He actually walked me through the inspection, showing me every little part and everything that might be an issue (2 minor things were all the came up). It was a nice tour of the car.
Major points for a car without maintenance records seemed to be belts/hoses/fluids, just as an indicator of care. Apparantly in the car I'm buying, it's looks to be in the best shape possible, so it looks like the guy maintained it, just didn't keep the records or didn't hand them over on trade-in. Also looking at major wear points and general body/chassis/paint condition gave some indicator as to whether the owner was a careless mook or some timid middle aged guy who went 55 in the fast lane. Looks like I might have the latter.
Then went over the laundry list of things that could go wrong with a Saab, which came from talking to people here and elsewhere.
Everything came up clean and Dan gave me a big thumbs up on that car and gave me some tips for unloading my old volvo.
5. I've had the car on extended test drive since monday. I drive between 50 and 100 miles a day (there's a reason my volvo had over 300k miles). I have a pretty empathic butt that can tell a lot about what's going on with my car. Kinda necessary when driving an old volvo (I've gone through an '84 and an '85)... After that much seat time, for a good diagnostic driver, it's pretty easy to tell a 'sweet' car from an 'ok' car.
So, now I'm buying it.
I wish ya the best of luck. I feel pretty good about it. I'd say the most important thing is to decide what your budget is and to make sure the car is still a good deal for you (assuming it checks out well and impresses you). If it's gonna be a stretch to switch up to the Saab, it could be too much of a burden when maintaining it becomes necessary. For me, this car is a steal... so I feel pretty comfortable I'll have the resources to keep the car well-maintained.
good luck!
-modi
posted by 156.40.114...
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