[honesthoff]

Only 3hrs. old!  Sweet!

[R_burke]

  Nice looking, what are the specs?

[Bob in St. Louis]

Buy a service contract. Preferably from Saab.
Trust me.

Bob

[mcgsxr]

Nice piece - buy or lease?

[meby]

I second the service contract.  I have had mine for only 2 months and it is on it's 8th trip to the dealer for repair and mine was a certified used car.  My next car will be Japanese again.

[ctviggen]

I have to say my Saab has been great.  Plus, his car is brand new, so he has 3 years free service and warranty.

[oldzmann]

Very Nice! Is it an Aero version? Also do you still have a Viggen?
...Z

[honesthoff]

I have to say my Saab has been great.  Plus, his car is brand new, so he has 3 years free service and warranty.

Even better, my brother-in-law is the GM for the dealership!

[Bob in St. Louis]

Service is 3 years 36,000 miles
Warranty is 4 years 50,000 miles
Drivetrain is 5 year 100,000 miles

I'd humbly recommend to talk to your brother in law about a discount on the Saab CPO service contract
 (assuming you plan on keeping the car that long).

meby - What year/model/mileage do you have?

Bob

[JLM]

I had a 1979 Saab 99 two door sedan.  It was one of the last cars sold in the U.S. to burn regular (not unleaded) gas.  I recall the bank having a hard time believing that I would pay $8000 for a car that wasn't automatic, didn't have power anything, no A/C or radio, and only 4 cylinders.  Back then Pintos sold for about $3500 that, on the surface, spec'd out about the same.  BTW this was not a turbo.

It was an old design (from 1957 because Saab only had one assembly line and were still building the 96s).  Customers had to pay another $65 for a replacement panel under the dash so you could add a built-in aftermarket car radio.  But it was built like a tank with the heaviest sheet metal used on cars and it had chair like (tall) seating which provided a seemingly impossible amount of interior space.  Actually it was comparable to the GM X-cars, but miles ahead in terms of build quality, strength, safety, and intelligent design.  Back then they had a below average reliability record due to using them in rallys, owner neglect, and poor dealer service.  My dealer has sold nothing but Saabs (a small family run business) for 50 years.

For years after we parted company I lusted for another, but today's Saabs don't do much for me.  The Saab charm is gone.

[Bob in St. Louis]

The Saab charm is gone.

They (we) have cool marketing though.  And some of them are still pretty to look at.  aa


Bob
p.s. Just ONCE, I'd like an automotive engineer to ask someone "in the trenches" how to build a car......

[TomS]

The Saab charm is gone.

p.s. Just ONCE, I'd like an automotive engineer to ask someone "in the trenches" how to build a car......

Me too, but I believe that's where the notion of QFD (Quality Function Deployment) became so prolific (Deming/Toyota) and much commercial success followed for Toyota/Lexus.  Considering the whole value chain/product throughout the lifecycle is critical to their whole design process.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Tom, are you in the industry?

[JLM]

Saabs have never looked better and they have all the financial advantages of being with GM, but the design quirks are simply concessions to the loyalists.

OTOH Toyota cars are boring.  They barely build a truly sporty model (the last IMO being the 2nd version of the MR2).  Boring (like reliability) can be a good thing.

[TomS]

Tom, are you in the industry?

Not now, but in and out of it for a few years as a applications engineer for a big supplier to automotive suppliers.  I'm also a car (and truck) fanatic, as in " power user" that is typically very demanding of the service department.  More than anyone, I know you only have so much to work with when the design just isn't very robust.  You can only assemble and service what you're dealt.  I can't tell you how many of those frustrating conversions I had with GM engineers during the Roger Smith era of counting beans.  I really wish Bob Lutz could have more impact to make me want to buy their cars.  I do own a 3/4t Avalanche for towing and love it (other than 10mpg).

Tom

[ctviggen]

I would prefer that GM not be a part of Saab (or vice versa), as I think GM has too many penny pinchers and not enough designers.  While I like Saabs, I'm not sure my next car will be a Saab.  We'll have to see what else is out there when I go to buy my (used, probably) car.  Some of the reasons I bought my car had to do with it being a hatchback.  When you get out of the hatchback models, there's a lot more competition.  I do like how Saab puts (or used to, anyway) safety at a high position, including real world safety and not just "let's slam this car into a barrier at 35 mph" safety.  I was hit in my car while I was sitting at a stop.  I was hit by a passenger van doing 35+ mph (never saw me), and I had not a scratch on me, although the car had 11k in damage.  The seats in my car are whiplash reducing seats, and they apparently did their job.

[TomS]

I would prefer that GM not be a part of Saab (or vice versa), as I think GM has too many penny pinchers and not enough designers.  While I like Saabs, I'm not sure my next car will be a Saab.  We'll have to see what else is out there when I go to buy my (used, probably) car.  Some of the reasons I bought my car had to do with it being a hatchback.  When you get out of the hatchback models, there's a lot more competition.  I do like how Saab puts (or used to, anyway) safety at a high position, including real world safety and not just "let's slam this car into a barrier at 35 mph" safety.  I was hit in my car while I was sitting at a stop.  I was hit by a passenger van doing 35+ mph (never saw me), and I had not a scratch on me, although the car had 11k in damage.  The seats in my car are whiplash reducing seats, and they apparently did their job.

I loved the "old" Saab too.  I actually had one of the very early Saab 9000 "Aero's" (long before 9-5).  It was a blast to drive and totally unique at the time, but the resale was like spoiled meat.  I later moved on to an M5 and was totally happy with that decision.  Tom

[Bob in St. Louis]

10mpg, sounds like you have the 8.1 liter.   aa  

I don't want to rant again about the industry, been there done that here before.... But it is a very frustrating subject.

Not sure what you mean by "power user", but it sounds like you're giving the service dept. some job security!  

Regarding GM and Saab, I wish they'd "divorce" also. ANY recent product that wears a bowtie is by far more reliable that a recent Saab. I didn't have this much stress in my life dealing with Chevy customers as I have with Saab customers. And I'm not blaming the people themselves, it's the product.

Bob

[TomS]

10mpg, sounds like you have the 8.1 liter.   aa  

Yes, 8.1L plus the 4.10 rear end instead of stock 3.73.  Really great for staying on top of the torque curve for towing, really bad for gas bills. 

This is our second Avalanche and we've had 2 later model Suburbans - all of them were great vehicles for our needs.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Yup, wonderful vehicles indeed.  aa
They pass everythng but a gas station. 

Bob