Saab

[rich1068]

Am I doing this right?

[Malc1]

Richard, which is the best, your most favourite Saab  ?

Malc

[rich1068]

14 hours ago, Malc1 said:

Richard, which is the best, your most favourite Saab  ?

Malc

Tricky one. I've never owned the "classic" Saabs because a) good ones are out of my reach now and b) I need cars that can be pressed into daily service. Running an 80s/90s car just wouldn't be practical.

I really enjoyed my '99 9-3 Convertible because it was my first unnecessary car if you know what I mean? Had a couple of 9-5 Aeros but they were a bit leggy and too firm I thought. I'm really liking my current MY07 9-5. It's in good nick, low mileage and it's a bit softer because it's not an Aero. Though I have had it mapped to Aero numbers. But I think the most satisfying one is my MY06 9-3 Aero Convertible. It's just such a good drive. Comfortable, practical, can be used in all weathers and I can get my kids in it.

I'm currently on my 7th and 8th Saabs 

[Malc1]

the only Saab I ever had was  N4PRO . a 9000CS  .........   a superb simple and family car that i thought would last forever ....  but then my first Ls400 came along 

always thought to buy another .  as a spare as one does ......  maybe a convertible .  what d'ya think  ?

Malc

[rich1068]

Actually had a 9000 briefly too. A very rare V6 Griffin saloon. A mate bought it, got shouted at and I had it off him. Lovely car but needed loads spending on it to get it right so I moved it on.

The 2003+ convertibles are nice but if you're used to Lexus build quality you may be disappointed!

[Malc1]

thanks for that .  my indy also told me long back that any Saab convertible would probably be a moneypit too ....  and the SC430 really doesn't float my boat ........  so I'll just open the sunroof and windows more on my Ls400 🤩

Malc

[rich1068]

They're certainly not money pits. Not sure why he said that. Post '94 they're cheap to maintain and still fairly cheap to buy. There's quite a bit of nonsense about parts etc but they're easy to get hold of and the cars themselves are easy to work on.

[Malc1]

in all fairness, I think he was comparing costs to my experiences over decades with my Ls400s 😇

Malc

[dutchie01]

On 12/2/2022 at 5:15 PM, Malc1 said:

the only Saab I ever had was  N4PRO . a 9000CS  .........   a superb simple and family car that i thought would last forever ....  but then my first Ls400 came along 

always thought to buy another .  as a spare as one does ......  maybe a convertible .  what d'ya think  ?

Malc

I had 2 Saabs loved them and would still drive Saab if they were around. First one was a 93 4 door some 15 yrs ago the last year of that model before they switched to the new one. Very special car, great engine had it hirsched ( Saab owners do know). Manual gearbox and the torque in second was bizarre. Definitely one of the most beautiful cars i owned. Biggest problem was structural rigidity or lack of it. The entire chassis would twist and flex, dangerous at high speed and on B roads 2 hands at the wheel. Grip in the wet was laughable and power just could not get on the road with wheels constantly spinning. Second Saab was the then new 93 a much much better car but it somehow did not have the charm of the old one. Malc get a 93 convertible of the latest model. They are still cheap, easy to maintain and keep on going.  And are timeless still a looker!

[Shahpor]

I had a 900 back in the day in a very bizarre brown colour!  1987 model I believe but rare as it was the saloon version.  Still got some photos somewhere that I need to dig out.

Loved the quirks such as the key being next to the handbrake.  Less fun was the aforementioned handbrake operating on the front calipers that never seemed to work properly, or the strange clutch on the front of the engine with the gearbox underneath it!

Such a shame that they ceased making cars..

[Mossypossy]

My prettiest Saab....

 

[Mossypossy]

My fastest Saab.....

[Mossypossy]

My silliest Saab.....

 

[dutchie01]

5 hours ago, Mossypossy said:

My prettiest Saab....

 

The color, those wheels, those foglights ( available in blue for better view in snow). I think i have found my retirement car!

[Dippo]

1 hour ago, dutchie01 said:

The color, those wheels, those foglights ( available in blue for better view in snow). I think i have found my retirement car!

I've driven one of those on a frozen lake in northern Sweden - on summer tyres! The foglights don't help when you're going sideways all the time.

[Mossypossy]

Oh go on then. One more for you.

 

[rich1068]

Very nice. Iconic car.

My current Saabs aren't classics but different enough to stand out among the boxes imo.

[dutchie01]

12 hours ago, Mossypossy said:

Oh go on then. One more for you.

 

could be me but from this angle there are similarities with the brandnew Ionic 6?

Remarkable that nobody bought the brandname and continued EV production

[Mr Vlad]

WOW Xmas bling to Saabs. What diversity. Only on the best forum 👍

[Dippo]

1 hour ago, dutchie01 said:

Remarkable that nobody bought the brandname and continued EV production

The problem is that the Saab brand belongs to the parent company, Svenska Aeroplan Aktie Bolegat (Swedish Aircraft Ltd). They continued to use the name under licence when the car division was sold to GM, and then sold again to Spyker; I'm not sure they'd be happy with it being used on a totally separate product.

[Mossypossy]

Not enough Saabs on this forum!

 

[Mr Vlad]

That's because it's a Lexus Owners forum. The subject of Saabs should have gone in General section me thinks.

[dutchie01]

16 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

That's because it's a Lexus Owners forum. The subject of Saabs should have gone in General section me thinks.

Agree Vlad but i think that both Saab and Lexus are appealing to thesame demographic, they are ( were ) fishing in thesame pond of customers. Marketing dept would state - higher income and education ( over 80% of Saab owners had a university degree would you believe that!), independent individuals know what they want, traditional values, attracted to off beat intelligent brands. -

So where did Saab owners go to? In my case Lexus and now Volvo. I think Audi is up there as well

 

[Phil xxkr]

32 minutes ago, dutchie01 said:

Agree Vlad but i think that both Saab and Lexus are appealing to thesame demographic, they are ( were ) fishing in thesame pond of customers. Marketing dept would state - higher income and education ( over 80% of Saab owners had a university degree would you believe that!), independent individuals know what they want, traditional values, attracted to off beat intelligent brands. -

So where did Saab owners go to? In my case Lexus and now Volvo. I think Audi is up there as well

 

Pretty accurate Bernard, I went Audi, Saab Lexus 👍

[Spock66]

47 minutes ago, dutchie01 said:

So where did Saab owners go to? In my case Lexus and now Volvo. I think Audi is up there as well

Audi is copycat of BMW, at least in the UK market.