Some Question About Saab.

"Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW." (aya-yu) 11/30/2013 at 23:46 • Filed to: None

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So, oppo, sorry for disturbing your comemorate for Paul Walker, but my friend just bought a Saab from one of his clients, and asking me if i'm interested or not. And i absolutely want it!

(sorry for small pic, he sent me the image from facebook.)

There's one hell of questions running in my head about this thing. First, how on earth the original owner keeps his Saab running for 10 years and 55k kilometers without any support for his car?

Second, is 55k kilometer very high for a saab? or very low?

Third, is it as good as everybody says?

Yes, the design of that thing is really gorgeous, but sometimes good design could fool you. And i never see any saab in real life, let alone driving or sitting inside that thing.

And the last, how reliable is this thing?
I rarely asking about reliability, but because there's almost no any sparepart available for that thing here in Indonesia, reliability is quite a concern for me.

God i can't imagine driving one of these in Indonesian streets that littered with boring Toyotas and Daihatsus.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 11/30/2013 at 23:59

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If the car is a year or two old 55 thousand kilometers is high, but not if it's older than that. As good as everybody says? Well.. NO... but it all depends on the engine, or rather what engine is in it. This seems to have one of the better ones, so I'd say you won't have that much problems with it. BUT.. can you even get parts for it down there?

I have a few friends who drive saabs, hardly any problems with them unless it's a diesel..

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh 12/01/2013 at 00:02

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It's the 2.0 Turbo.

And that's the main concern. My friend said he would help on parts part, altough he told me i have to wait for weeks, maybe months if there's things going wrong.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 12/01/2013 at 00:05

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If you have to wait that long for parts I'd stay away from it, unless you have another car that you use as a DD. Things hardly ever go wrong with Saabs, but you never know.

PRBot II > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 12/01/2013 at 00:07

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My 1999 Saab 9-3 has 265,000 miles and going strong. This is also my third Saab over 12 years to run over 200,000 miles. People who complain about these cars would complain about any car, and typically drive Hondas because they're "reliable".

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh 12/01/2013 at 00:09

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Well, i have a CLS550, Kia Sephia, and Mazda Cosmo Rotary Turbo. SO i think DD is wouldn't be a problem.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > PRBot II 12/01/2013 at 00:10

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Hmmm.

That's true. i think i'll test that thing first.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 12/01/2013 at 00:17

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Then you should buy the Saab. If it breaks down you can just sit there and look at how gorgeous it is :)

Eazy-O > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh 12/01/2013 at 08:46

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Owning a 9000 for a few years now, I wouldn't say things hardly ever go wrong... :D But at least over here it's usually a relatively cheap fix, unless your pockets are as shallow as mine.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Eazy-O 12/01/2013 at 09:09

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whispers we do not talk about the 9000.

I know Saabs aren't perfect, but they don't break down on a weekly basis either :)

Eazy-O > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 12/01/2013 at 09:21

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55kkm is really rather low, especially over 10 years. That does make me think, though, was this only used in city traffic? 55kkm on highways is much less stressful on the drivetrain than 55kkm in the city. Not that it will explode or anything silly like that, just saying.

Anyway, the B205/235 is quite a good engine. Not as bulletproof as the B204/B234, since the 5 was further developed to lower fuel consumption, thus incorporating lighter/weaker components. It's not the end of the world, but for insane horsepower, people usually go with the B234. I don't think 450+ HP is your schtick anyway, no problem there. Do check the coolant, though. If it's browner and more viscous than it should be, chances are, you've got oil sludge problems.

As good as everybody says? I dunno what everybody says. Give it a test drive, see how you like it. You're buying for yourself, no? :) Generally, these are safe, quick, comfortable cruisers, but in the right hands they don't handle too bad either.

One more thing, get somebody to change the mapping on your ECU. 210HP is easily achievable, needs no other upgrades and the engine really shouldn't degrade any faster. Remaps cost a few hundred bucks, usually.

Eazy-O > Eazy-O 12/01/2013 at 10:25

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Oh, as for reliability... OIL CHANGE, OIL CHANGE, OIL CHANGE. Do it early, do it often. Once a year or... whatever the recommended amount of kilometers is. I don't know, because I've got an older version of the engine and sadly I drive so little that the 1 year comes about faster than the km limit.

Stick to this and you should be generally okay. Of course, when the time comes, replace water pumps and the like. You can ride it out and wait 'till they fail on the road, but who wants to snap a belt? Not this guy. Not anymore, anyway.

Reborn Pyrrhic > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 12/02/2013 at 17:32

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What do you mean about "without any support"? Despite Saab Automobile as we know it having been dead for 30 months, Saab Parts has been very active manufacturing Saab parts. There was just a few months were parts supply was an issue, but once Saab Parts got back in gear things have been just fine. Saab Parts was effectively a separate business from Saab Automobiles and did not go bankrupt.

Besides that, the Saab community has some of the most tight knit and knowledgeable people online. Check out Saab World, The Saab Link, Saab Central, Saabnet, Saabs United or any other Saab forum and you are bound to find people who will do what they can to help you with your car.

Furthermore, despite being a deceased brand, there are still plenty of shops that are dedicated to maintaining Saabs in the US, Germany, Netherlands, France, UK and elsewhere. Where do you live? I am sure I can find a Saab specialist nearby, whether you are in California, Arizona, New York, Montana, Alaska or New York.

I really have absolutely no clue what you mean by "without any support".

Also, 55,000 miles is very low mileage for Saabs. My 2000 9-5 Aero Combi just completed 250,000 km this week (155,000 miles), and it's running strong. My 1987 Saab 900i has almost 300,000 km and doing great too. If your car has the Trionic 7 system ( DIC on top of cylinder head is black), then just make sure your engine oil pan is clean of sludge, make sure you are using NGK spark plugs exclusively , and you're good to go.