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If you are knowledgeable (which, since you hang out here, you either already are, or are at least in the company of plenty of people who are) and can avoid some of the larger financial pitfalls, you might be surprised how affordable a SAAB can be... a base 9-3 is not a whole lot more new after incentives (about $3,000) than a GTi... VW parts are hardly cheap, and for what work you can't do yourself, a good indie SAAB mechanic shouldn't cost too much different than a good VW indie. Now, I'm not saying it will cost less to run a SAAB than a VW, but, as with most things, there is an expensive way and an inexpensive way to go about doing most things (I'm sure there people out there paying close to sticker price for 9-3's right now, and thinking they got a good deal because they paid $1,500 below list price, and got metallic paint thrown for free...)
I agree that SAAB needs a smaller car than the 9-3 to have available to the recent college grad market - I think something Astra sized rather than Corsa sized would be best - this would compete head to head with the Golf, and undercut the Volvo S40 in price - obviously our neighbor form Goteborg is going after this market, though they have completly overpriced the car, and I don't believe that the S40 is available with a 5-speed transmission which should be kind of important if you are trying to sell a small sport sedan. I expect the replacement will be more like the S60 is, and be a vast improvement over the existing car. The other vehicle that should exist in SAABs range is a crossover vehicle, a la Volvo XC and Audi Allroad... these will still thrive long after SUVs have gone into the crusher, simply because they are vastly superior vehicles for 90% of people... if you don't want to get stuck in snow, you don't have to have a 5,000 lb truck, for the same money as an Expedition, you can have a sophisticated European performance wagon...
posted by 63.217.1...
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