Chuckles

Hey all, was looking for a car to use at college. Have slimmed down my choices, and a 96 saab 900 se turbo is a consideration.. Anybody have any experience with these? hows the turbo? Pretty much any info anybody can offer from personal experience would be great

silent_jay

I have no personal experience with Sabb's but I have always been a fan of them, here's a site with some driver reviews, hope they are helpful http://www.epinions.com/auto_Make-19...splay_~reviews

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THGL

My father bought an '86 900 5-spd 4-door new (at the of the model year) and promptly put 130k miles on it in 3 years. When it was time to trade it in, the only things that were broken was the central locking system and the stereo LCD's backlight. It was a freakin' tank!
He then bought a '90 900S (auto). 180 degrees from what he had. Biggest P.O.S. my family has ever owned. Brakes, tranny, electrical systems, you name it. My father has not owned a Saab since.

I've always like the look and driving experience of Saabs up until GM bought them, but the experience with the '90 really scared me off of them. Make sure this one was taken care of... turbos are expensive to replace.

MSD

It's ok for a while, but you'll end up finding that once the new car fun wears off, there's nothing all that great about it.

snowy

My friend drives a '92 Saab with a turbo and I occasionally get to take it for a spin. Other than the clutch being too tight, the ignition being in the center console and the heater turning on full-blast when you first get it, it's a pretty good car. I enjoy driving it when I get the chance. He hasn't had any problems with it, but his mechanic keeps that thing pretty together (and Saab mechanics don't come cheap).

Honestly, I'd recommend a Volvo over a Saab, but I'm a long-time Volvo owner. The cars are similar in some respects (even sharing some common parts from outside manufacturers) but it's easier to find a mechanic who deals in Volvos.

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Chuckles

Thanks for the info so far guys :P I've been so confused as what car to get for my future (which is pretty fuckin soon). my limit is probably around $6500, and I want the car to have some speed to it, has to be manual, with some style to it. Anybody have any suggestions? How bout 96 bmw 325i's, etc?

BadNick

I had a '95 Saab 9000 turbo and it was fun to drive when it worked, but it had so many unacceptable problems I wouldn't recommend that model to anybody. I heard that quality really dropped off after GM acquired a stake in the company with an option to buy and the flow of money to improve production and quality stopped; but more recently after GM excercised their option to buy, they put a lot more money into it and the quality is quite good now. So avoid the interim years, whatever those were.

Chuckles

anybody know what those years were? :P

shakran

if you're the typical college student - - i.e. you have no money to spare on a bunch of car repairs - - avoid turbo cars. You NEVER know what the previous guy did to 'em, and there are lots of ways to kill a turbo if you don't take care of 'em.

exizldelfuego

Going along with onesnowyowl's recommendation of a Volvo over a SAAB (if you wanted to stick to the Swedes) I'd recommend looking into finding a mid-90's 850 T5 or R (both a turbo-charged). A manual is a bit more hard to come by in these cars, but they're out there. And as far as getting an older car with a turbo is concerned, I'd guess that if you see their service records are in order, chances are they knew what they were doing with the turbo -- or at least their mechanic did.

And if you ARE a student, you'd have the option of a Volvo wagon in which you could fit an entire dorm room's worth of stuff for transportation.

Anyways, check out SwedeSpeed's Classifieds forums and see what's being offered.

zen_tom

I used to drive a non-turbo Saab900, and loved it to bits - they are built like tanks, but have plenty of power if you're happy to get the revs up. Mine was rear-ended once by someone who failed to see me stop at a junction and it didn't even have a scratch on it, the other guy's car was however, a complete writeoff.

I'd buy one tomorrow in an instant if I was looking for a new car.

THGL

I second the Volvo idea. I love my '94 940 Turbo. The 240, 740 and 940 all the use the same 4-cylinder engine, transmission, and rear-ends so you know parts are available... and getting a Volvo worked on is cheaper than you'd image.

the 850's are also reliable, but stay away from the '93 (first year of prod.) I've been told they have transmission problems.

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Ilow

I too would recommend a Volvo. My 940 Turbo was still running very fast when i sold it with 150,000. BTW, the 240, 740 and 940 are pretty much the same, but the 240's mostly used the B21 2.1 liter, the 740's used the 23 and the 940's used the B230 2.3 liter. slightly different. Having had both a 2.1 turbo and a 2.3 I'd take the 230 any day!

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shakran

The mechanic can't keep them from flooring it when the engine's cold, or from running hard then shutting the car off with no turbo timer.

If you'll have enough cash to replace the turbo, then by all means go for it, but if you won't, then you could be setting yourself up for problems.

3zos

Ive a '98 9000 Turbo, last year they made those, so its basically an aero. man alive, the get up and go it has when turbo kicks in is ridiculous. i love toasting all these guys with suped hondas/subarus, damn thing gets up to 150-160 pretty damned quick.

add to all that the fact i get 30mpg in city driving, im really quite happy.

check http://www.saabcentral.com 's forums for more info

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j8ear

That is not entirely true. The only 740 that used the b23 (bullet proof forged crank short block) was an 84. After that it was all b230's, with several head, intake, and exhaust manifold changes. Not to mention the various different turbos (if at all) these things came with. There are many similarities, to be sure, but it's defintaley usually not a straight swap between them.

Sorry, I'm a volvonatic rolling in a new v70r, having punished gls, 240's, 745s, 764s, and 944s severly over the years.

As far as Saabs are concerned, they can usually be picked up rather cheaply used since they are terrible holding any kind of resale. There's probably a reason for that.

I've always been freaked out by the ignition in the center console, and the requirement to put the vehicle in reverse before you could remove the key.

That said I would second (or third or fourth) the volvo recommendation. Stay away from R badged cars though, if your on a budget, as they were always cutting edge, top of line, and fancy-schmancy gizmo laden that ALWAYS had problems and was more expensive to repair.

Get a naturally aspirated Volvo, pre-96 (rear wheel drive) 9xx, 7xx, or 24x. Three pedal versions of the 9 or 7 series are very rare in the US. Not as rare for the 200 series, but definately not abundant.

$6500 btw is a good chunk of change for a used car and you could do very well, with a carefully researched, well planned purchase.

Happy Motoring,

-bear

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