Comments on: Down to business – Part 2

By: 1987 Silver Saab 900s driver

1987 Silver Saab 900s driver — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 02:16:57 +0000

This is a good article on Saab cars and what they are; I do believe, as a Saab owner and general observer, that a car must be designed by the company, built from the ground up by the company, and have the image and scent of luxury, smoldering from the car on first appearance; living in Alaska, which is similar to Sweden, I know what it is like to wake up and find that I forgot to plug the Saab in and have it not start at -40F. I also know the feeling of being in a place where almost nobody knows anything about, or is willing to work on Saabs, like mine, which has some annoying and small, but terminating on the road electrical problems, with the starter solenoid; last summer, the problem was with the small little plug-in things in the fusebox; those took about a month for shipping. That’s the main burden Saab owners have to deal with out of Europe-almost nobody knows much about them, and the engine in mine is what my hardcore GM fan friend called “backwards”. They are a little bit different, and the hood opens up backwards also, which might make it safer if it opened in transit, but I like my 1987 900s silver Saab, because it gets 30 miles to the gallon and looks stylish. The one con I thought of for cars made from the mid eighties to the late eighties is that that was the time when computerization just started so primitively in cars, and mechanical and electrical were not only the two main problems to start having to be dealt with; luckily, my Saab isn’t very computerized as far as I can tell, which is good, but I definitely prefer cars to be mechanical and electrical only, instead of the addition of computerization hassles, which is why my Saab is much harder to work with and diagnose, than my 1981 Volkswagen pickup or my 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle which have no computers baby, just the basics! As far as the new Saabs go, I would have to say, they go which is the first important thing, but, all other cars that are new do that; so, what are we looking for here? We are looking for a unique design , that is classy, sporty, luxurious, and has good mileage and ease of use. Simple. It has to look, feel, handle and be Saab. The late 1980′s Saabs were are perfect example.

By: Swade

Swade — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 23:10:24 +0000

Thanks Ben, and thanks for drawing my attention to the fact that it’s here. I might have to re-publish it again in the light of the 9-5 being released.

By: Ben K

Ben K — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:38:51 +0000

Great post! (I know I’ve found it late.)

Coming from Mazda rotary and Peugeot enthusiasms, I could tell a similar tale.

By: Swade

Swade — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 16:36:19 +0000

I should add that I’ve owned a 900 and love em, but they are what they are, a part of history. The future rests on other vehicles.

By: Swade

Swade — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 16:35:08 +0000

Hi Mike. It’s funny. For all the crowing you here about the 900 and how it’s the most Saaby Saab out there, at our recent track day we had a decent Saab representation and not one 900 amongst them. Most of the cars present were less than 5 years old.

By: Mike Saunders

Mike Saunders — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 17:46:42 +0000

After some introspection, I stopped hammering away at the un-Saabness of the 9-2x because of some of the reasons you mentioned. It’s a step in the right direction, albeit a flawed one, but it’s definitely opening the eyes of car buyers who wouldn’t ordinarily think of Saab as an option. I think my position now is similar to yours: I’m fine with almost anything that saves the brand from becoming another Packard, Nash, Cord, Borgward, etc.

By: Swade

Swade — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 07:12:27 +0000

And you’re very gracious to not mention the spelling and grammar errors that I was correcting while you were making your comment!!

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 07:08:39 +0000

Some people have a hard time dealing with change.

I’m pleased with the new direction Saab has chosen. I’m especially excited for the 9-3 sport combi.