The $500 Craigslist Beater Project

"Lomac" (lomac) 10/20/2014 at 00:56 • Filed to: None

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This is the first of hopefully an infrequently updated series of threads about what may or may not be the dumbest purchase I've ever made and whether I come to regret the decision. You may laugh, you may cry, or you may even think to yourself WTF... but I hope that, if nothing else, you will come away from this series with a little more knowledge about the used car market than you entered with.

PART I: The Introduction

While I've generally no aversion or dislike of new cars and the advantages they give to the standard driver of the road, I tend to shy away from them. Oh, sure, I've owned a couple of new cars in the past — and wholeheartedly enjoyed the accompanied warranty they came with — but I always find myself being drawn back to cars from the 80's and early 90's. There's something about the relative simplicity of a Volkswagen 1.8L 8v that I enjoy or the wiring of Mazda's 90's era computer system that makes running a standalone engine management system a breeze. That, and parts can typically be found simply lying in a ditch on any given road you happen to be driving on. Some of my cars have gone on to live a healthy post-Lomac life, while others have found themselves relegated to an automotive grave yard (usually) due to no fault of my own. However, what they all shared was a willingness to always strive to be better. Even if that means one of those cars decided they could be better by blowing a head gasket on the middle of the Coquihalla.

I moved to Salmon Arm in the middle of summer in 2013 while in the middle of my ownership of a seventh generation Honda Accord Coupe EXL. Mechanically it was more or less stock, but I had played around with the suspension a fair bit and ended up with a car that was constantly scraping the frame on every loose pebble on the road.

Unfortunately I knew what winter was going to be like while living at the top of a mountain and this thing was not going to cut it. I regrettably ended up selling it and bought a '99.5 Nissan Pathfinder off a local car club member to tackle to deep snow that was bound to come. Apart from a careless mechanic trying his best to burn my car after working on it, this thing was relatively reliable. Actually, considering it had 400,000km's on it, it was damn near perfect.

However, the winter was pretty rough on it and by the time snow started melting, a bunch of problems started raising their ugly heads. After pricing out the parts required to fix it (nearly the whole rear suspension, minus the shocks... which I had already replaced... a full exhaust replacement and new bushings for most of the front end) on Rockauto, and factoring the amount of money gas was costing me, I decided to do the only honourable thing I could. I sold it to some girl from 100 Mile House who had already crashed and written off four cars this year. Seriously.

By this time I had moved to Kamloops but found myself in a conundrum - I had no easily accessible wheels and after taking the taxi for a week (side note: taxi drivers up here are even more messed up than those I was used to down on the Coast) I decided enough was enough and started looking for a car.

Seeing as my main automotive history had revolved around both Volkswagen and Nissan, I set my sights on either a stock Nissan S12 (200sx) Turbo or a mint '91/'92 Volkswagen GTI/Jetta GTX. A couple weeks went by with me checking out Craigslist and Kijiji ads on "mint" vehicles that were anything but, when out of sheer boredom one night I decided to see how cheap of a vehicle you could find online. The usual suspects came back as search results — Cavaliers/Sunfires with blown engines, completely rusted out K-cars, and a bunch of other crap that's not even worth mentioning. The one thing they all had in common was that I wouldn't trust any of them to drive me to the end of the block, much less use as a LeMons racer or a daily driver. Mechanic Specials that require more money in parts at-cost than you'd ever see back if you thought about flipping it. However, seeing as I wasn't even thinking about buying a cheap vehicle, I simply kept chuckling and browsing.

Then one ad stood out. FS: 1997 Saab 900 SE Turbo. 5spd. Electrical issues, surging idle, rough physical shape, etc., etc. $500

Like 99% of those of you reading this, Saab as an alternative choice never crossed my mind. If someone thinks of a Swedish brand, it's always Volvo. At this point, all I knew of the NG900 was that the A-pillars are freakishly strong and that this one came stock with a turbo. Since the pictures in the ad were beyond useless, I emailed the seller asking to meet up so I could check it out. Even at this point I had no intentions of actually buying. Yes, I was going to be one of those annoying tire kickers. However, if for some reason I decided to actually buy this piece of crap, I thought it best to do some research online about common issues.

After arming myself with a wealth of internet knowledge (remember: always take everything with a grain of salt), I took the hour long drive to Enderby and checked out the car. Yes, there was rust (very minimal)... yes, there were electrical issues (a quick glance suggested than many could be solved by replacing blown fuses)... but no mechanical issues seemed to rear their heads when we turned over the engine. A sheer moment of insanity came over me after chatting with the seller for half an hour and decided to buy the car without even test driving it.

Wait, what?

Yup. I decided to forgo my desires of a mint MK2 GTI (or whatever else my ever changing mind had landed on at that time) and bought myself a $500 beater with the intentions of using it as a daily driver. Oh, sure, I've purchased cars for that price or less in the past, but they were always as either a rolling shell or to use as a parts car for another project I was working on... never as an actual daily driver.I behold to you what $500 can buy you when you're not meaning to buy anything.

It was delivered fully loaded from the factory, including the dreariest shade of grey leather you can think of. But floor mounted ignition! Rear heated seats! Headlight wipers! Deleted cat and cherrybomb! Okay, so that last one was installed by the previous owner, but it makes the overrun sounds mean as hell.After towing the 900 to my friend's place in Salmon Arm, I put it up in the air and started trying to figure out what was wrong with it. The seller mentioned that the brakes were shot. Well, apart from the worse-than-useless tow truck operator who failed to release the e-brake before towing the car, the calipers, pads and rotors all looked new. I simply bled the lines and magically the brakes started working again.

Next up was the second most important thing to check - the tires. Again, the seller mentioned that the tires were old and should probably get replaced within the next year or so. However, he kept telling me that he would drive from Enderby to Vernon and back (40-50 minute round trip, depending on traffic), and that I'd be fine if I kept them on for the rest of the season.

Uhm.... no. Those death traps were instantly discarded and new tires installed.The last major thing I wanted to tackle before actually driving this thing on the road were a few electrical issues. First was the centre console mounted switch pack.

All it required was a good cleaning with a soft metal brush and some electrical contact cleaner. After plugging it back into the car, all four windows suddenly started working again. I also replaced a few fuses controlling things like external lights, rear defroster, radiator fan, and some other things I can't remember.

I did also notice under the hood that a few vacuum lines were showing some signs of wear and tear, so I spent a couple dollars over at Lordco and replaced everything I could, along with the PCV.

And you know what? After a month of driving this thing on the road, a trip from Kamloops down to Vancouver and back, and weekly trips between Kamloops and Salmon Arm, it's running almost flawlessly. It has sadly been more reliable in the first month of ownership than many of my previous cars costing 10-20x as much were. The turbo pulls strong, the clutch grips hard, transmission is decent (2nd gear syncro seems worn, but I'm used to it from my old KLZE days :lol), the auto climate works like a charm, and the e-code headlights give a surprisingly impressive light pattern for those nights when I'm driving on the backcountry roads.Just goes to show that you can't necessarily judge a book by it's cover.

If you've managed to make it this far, congratulations. I intend to use this as a series over the course of my Saab ownership to illustrate the perils (or, hopefully, lack thereof) of buying a dirt cheap car without even test driving it. And not just any sort of cheap car, but one belonging to a brand that doesn't even exist anymore with virtually no dealership network. While I'm busy knocking on wood here by making sure nothing goes wrong with it, any trials and tribulations I come across will certainly be shared with you all.

Decay buys too many beaters > Lomac 10/20/2014 at 02:07

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WTF? Another guy on oppo who recently puchased a green ng900 as a winter banger?

Mine is a 2.3 NA

Amoore100 > Lomac 10/20/2014 at 02:10

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Congrats on the Saab! I guess that makes me one of the weird ones where Saab is always at the top of the list...but what do I know, I'm still too young to drive... :P

Lomac > Decay buys too many beaters 10/20/2014 at 02:23

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I hope this thing survives being a winter beater! Definitely has a been a fun little car, though it rides a little too softly for my liking and it rolls worse than a boat. :(

Lomac > Amoore100 10/20/2014 at 02:24

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Someone might be too young to drive, but they're never too young to appreciate all the weird ass cars on the road!

Amoore100 > Lomac 10/20/2014 at 02:25

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I'll have to start quoting that... XD

Decay buys too many beaters > Lomac 10/20/2014 at 02:35

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My last beater rolled worse, but it had 4 blown shocks... So far I'm really liking everything about the 900 except that reverse lockout, and how unrefined the starter motor sounds.

I'm hoping (and expecting) mine to last through this time next year. I try to change out my banger/daily driver every year (if only to experience a bunch of different cars).

Jobjoris > Lomac 10/20/2014 at 06:49

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These badges are worn out so quick, I don't get it!

Nice buy! Always loved these.

Mattbob > Lomac 10/20/2014 at 08:48

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it looks like you got a hell of a deal. Good for you for probably saving this car!

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Lomac 10/20/2014 at 08:56

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...And so begins your Saab story.

Lomac > Jobjoris 10/20/2014 at 10:09

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I've always held tbe belief that Saab used watercolour paints on the badges . Every single one at the wrecker is just as faded as well.

Lomac > Mattbob 10/20/2014 at 10:10

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Here's hoping!

lonestranger > Lomac 01/21/2015 at 22:41

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Hey, another fellow Kamloopsian Opponaut! Now that Forgetful has moved away from here, it's felt a little lonely. Honk if you see me .

Lomac > lonestranger 01/21/2015 at 22:49

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I'd offer the same back, but considering my current winter beaters consist of either a black Acura EL or a silver Jeep TJ, you'll be doing a lot of honking. lol. Nice to see a fellow Opponaut in town though!