Hej dÃ¥ Saab

Mon Dec 19, 2011 8:02 pm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16252503

Is the guy in the photo of the concept car related to John Cleese?

I've fond memories of this for cheekie runs to Lighthouse Point from Ft. Laud.

My best time was 16mins

Mon Dec 19, 2011 8:26 pm

Will be a shame if the brand disappears.

Never felt the urge to own one though.

Mon Dec 19, 2011 9:14 pm

That one belongs to a shi7 hot marine engineer from SA who resides in Florida. He only buys Saabs and in all the time I spent over there he never had to work on any of his. Even the 9000 his mrs drives is still going strong. Her procedure for reversing is reverse touch the brake shove it in drive whilst still going backwards and drive off. Her excuse is 'well Mikey does it in his F350'

Tue Dec 20, 2011 11:24 pm

i had a 99 turbo a good few years back loved it so very solid

Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:34 am

I had an '83 900 Turbo and the build quality was second to none. Was a good car expect for the chronic lag!!!!

Be a shame if they disappear. It all went pete tong when they started using Vauxhall bases IMO

Wed Dec 21, 2011 9:57 pm

the only thing about the 900 was the 5 speed box was not as strong as the 4 speed
i had a little work shop next door to a saab specialist they use to do the bearings on the 5 speed a lot

Thu Dec 22, 2011 7:26 am

parkin10 wrote:the only thing about the 900 was the 5 speed box was not as strong as the 4 speed
i had a little work shop next door to a saab specialist they use to do the bearings on the 5 speed a lot

And they still do it!! The gearboxes were weak back in the early 80's. My mates '98 900S has just lost reverse and 5th. Looks like i'll be putting a box in it in the new year

Thu Dec 22, 2011 10:28 am

Saab auto and manual boxes were always fragile, even back in the 80s, one of the many reasons why the trade usually avoided the sorry lefty chariots. Good riddance !

Thu Dec 22, 2011 10:38 am

My mum still rolls around in a 900s Turbo on a 97" and to be honest it's shit hot! done 170k and pulls like an absolute train!

Theres a really nice one on RR
http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.c ... 289&page=3

Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:44 pm

B7 wrote:It all went pete tong when they started using Vauxhall bases IMO

Says who?

The GM stuff is more reliable, easier to work on, cheaper parts and they drive better. The only real issues on the GM based cars are the Sensonic trans (Selespeed type wrongness) and bulkeads fracturing by the pedal box. Using tried and tested Cavalier underpinnings gave it a chance of being robust and the standard 2.0 900 is an extremely strong and reliable car that drives quite well. GM did Saab a favour.

The old 900 was a wobbly old shed that was 20 years out of date by the time GM gave it the bullet. It was only a facelifted version of the 99 Combi and the 99 came out in 1968.

Fri Dec 23, 2011 7:59 pm

now i think of it i had a 99 combi too got that for £40 put 2 tyres on and did the hand brake and straight through its test as i remember it was very solid no rust at all even around the air vents on the rear 1/4s

Fri Dec 23, 2011 8:43 pm

Andyboy wrote:
B7 wrote:It all went pete tong when they started using Vauxhall bases IMO
Says who?

The GM stuff is more reliable, easier to work on, cheaper parts and they drive better. The only real issues on the GM based cars are the Sensonic trans (Selespeed type wrongness) and bulkeads fracturing by the pedal box. Using tried and tested Cavalier underpinnings gave it a chance of being robust and the standard 2.0 900 is an extremely strong and reliable car that drives quite well. GM did Saab a favour.

The old 900 was a wobbly old shed that was 20 years out of date by the time GM gave it the bullet. It was only a facelifted version of the 99 Combi and the 99 came out in 1968.

My opinion Andy. Every Vauxhall I've ever owned has been a pile of shit mate. Even the old mans FD victor was a wrongun in 1971 (although it was a pretty car)!

At least the old Saabs had some character and real build quality. The fit and finish on my old 900 was streets ahead of a Cavalier of similar age.

If i was spending my own money I would'nt touch a Vauxhall for all the tea in china. I only drive one as my company fleet buyers get them at such a discounted rate, we all have to suffer them.

Fri Dec 23, 2011 8:45 pm

Could be worse Trevor if your fleet manager saw the prices a 406 sells at

Sat Dec 24, 2011 7:02 am

TouringTash wrote:Could be worse Trevor if your fleet manager saw the prices a 406 sells at

F*ck me don't even go there! Thats the day I'd need to find another job.....

Going back to the Saabs. I was diagnosing the fault on my mates 98 900s and the build quality was completely different to the Saabs I remember. It does still have some quirky bits though. Dash black out? At night you can lose all dash lights apart from the speedo, at a push of a button. Why? F*ck knows but it's different! Which was what Saabs were always about.

Sat Dec 24, 2011 10:22 am

lol

The blackout button is a crossover from the Viggen jet, pointless really but the quirkiness of these sort of 'extras' will be missed once we all whiz about in capsules guided by computers in the future.

There are things worse than a Pug though, being dragged out of bed at the crack of dawn on Xmas eve.
I'll get me coat.