2000 SAAB 9-3 Viggen 2.3 turbo from North America
Summary:
Fantastic car until 115,000 miles
Faults:
Mass air flow sensor.
Head gasket.
Water pump.
Temperature gauge.
Crank sensor.
Transmission fluid leak.
Worn out transmission bearings.
Bent wheels.
Digital display burnt out.
Seat button broke.
General Comments:
Until 115,000 miles, the car was fantastic.
Good: The seats and seating position are perfect. The utility of the hatchback is unrivaled. High-pressure torquey turbo power is awesome. It steers well, with well-weighted movement. It gets 26.5 miles per gallon in mixed driving (premium fuel of course). The controls are logical. Not surprising for a Swedish car built in Finland, but it handles well in the snow and has nice cold-weather features. It handles well in the dry, for a front-heavy front-drive car.
Bad: The shift action is horrible, the worst I've ever driven; I actually thought the transmission was broken on the test drive. The wheels bend easily. It has more rattles and shakes and vibrations than is contemporary rivals.
Reliability: I had zero problems for the first 40,000 miles I had the car, until 115,000 miles. Then the thing literally started to fall apart. It's now breaking faster than I can afford to fix it. I have several problems that need to be fixed fairly urgently that I simply can't afford to fix.
Conclusion: If you can get a low mileage one, go for it, I highly recommend it. I'd say don't buy one with over 100k though. At the moment I'm in love with it one day and angry the next day, as each problem reasserts itself.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 21st November, 2007
26th May 2009, 16:51
I agree - I bought the same car (in blue) at 47k miles and am now at 96k. Everything is going haywire - AC has gone out, digital display gone, convertible top door fails to come up all of the way - the top hits and sticks - digging into the top itself (tearing), the door does not go down - I have to do it manually - I have oil & water leaks, the car overheats, I had to replace the antennae motor, had to replace the security system when I lost my spare key (a $1500 mistake on my part), my front bumper sits too low (the car is not lowered) and I always scrape it - one day I backed out of a parking spot and my bumper caught on a curb and ripped off! Murphy is laughing his ass off!