1989 SAAB 900 2.0 non turbo from North America
Summary:
Lame
Faults:
I drove this car gently and took good care of it as much as possible. But in only 15k miles in 2 years, I had to replace the clutch, CV joints, fuel pump, starter, idle air control valve, all belts and pulleys, brakes, CV boots, cap and rotor, and distributor. I gave up with a vacuum leak and more undiagnosed lurching and coughing at only 110k miles. The fuel pump and starter both got me stranded only a month apart, both requiring pricey tows.
What's worse than all the breakdowns - SAAB parts are very expensive. The parts are also hard to find - you can't get them at the local parts store, you have to wait for them to be special ordered. Every other part you need has to be special ordered for twice as much.
I could have kept it going, but there's only so many times you can spend the car's worth in repairs just so it can fail you again.
General Comments:
The SAAB 900 is a good car in theory. Pretty good on snow and ice until you get in deep snow. I got 30 MPG city and 33 highway. Some say they will last forever if you keep up on maintenance. That's a joke. For every decent 900 left on the road, there are 5 parts cars rotting in yards.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 30th August, 2014
31st Aug 2014, 11:53
So what was the mileage? It looks like the car was nearly 20 years old when you bought it. Even Toyota Corollas will give you grief at that age.
31st Aug 2014, 15:12
"coughing at only 110k miles"
In other words it was pretty low mileage.
24th Jul 2024, 01:20
Sounds like you have never had a Saab product in your life till now.
Like any older car there will always be repairs required. Most sellers of their secondary/cars don’t invest in any major repairs prior to selling. Why would they? Or they would keep it!
If you buy an old Saab and it also does not get a proper experienced Saab or European mechanic, you will also run into issues. Most mechanics of North America cars have little experience with Saabs, let alone they tend to mess them up.
If you don’t know Saabs or anything about them you should never buy one. Especially a Classic!
30th Aug 2014, 14:33
Most people are going to tell you "Well whaddya expect it's an old car!" and "Wow! Sounds like the owner before you dogged it around!".
I'm going to tell you that at just 110k miles your Saab shouldn't have had so many issues. I've flipped beaters for years and none of them required the work that your Saab did.
Saab 900s are tough when it comes to safety, but fixing them can be pricey, and I'm sure it's a challenge to change belts on an engine mounted backwards.