Comments on: Saab Entry Level

By: SaabKen

SaabKen — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 00:10:33 +0000

While Canadian new car prices may not be as high as they are in Australia or parts of Europe, relative to the average household income they are still considerably higher than in the US. And we pay higher sales taxes, gas taxes and insurance rates due to a much smaller population base. So our overall disposable income is probably less than that of US citizens but equal or higher than our European friends. Having said that, used cars after 3-4 yrs older quickly become pretty affordable due to depreciation, although I’ve never compared depreciation rates in the US vs. Canada and elsewhere.

For me a new-ish car of up to 5 yrs old is acceptable to purchase up to C$30,000, but sinced I’m only really interested in SAABs and many Japanese marques such as Acura, Mazda and Subaru, a good late-model car can be had for about C$20k-ish easily.

By: Mats

Mats — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 23:32:38 +0000

To make you feel alittle better, very few Swedes can afford buying a new 9-5 Sportcombi too. I’m an engineer and have a pretty good salary for someone being 30 years old and there’s no way I can afford a newish Saab, hence i drive a used VW Passat Variant 1.8t.

By: Olav

Olav — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 14:20:33 +0000

Thanks alot, Swade! My new 9-5 Vector SC (it has Aero exterior, interior and chassis and both looks and drives GREAT ;/)) is my second 9-5 wagon, and my fifth SAAB overall after years before that with BMW. As a follow up to my previous comment I can tell you that SAABs here in Norway actually cost less than comparable Audis and BMWs (to pick out a few). I also think the swedes next door pay at least 30 – 40% less than us for cars in general in their country…. Just to give you a closer “insight view” of our pricelevel on cars.

Keep up your great work with http://www.trollhattansaab.net, I love it, and I know many SAAB drivers up here has it bookmarked! Actually it was my local SAAB dealer that pointed me to it ;/)

Live and drive well!

By: Swade

Swade — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 08:27:07 +0000

Hi Olav,

Thanks for your encouragement and I’m really sorry about the high cost – and you live next door!!

Unbelievable.

I really didn’t think that would be the case.

Enjoy your 9-5 Wagon! I drove a 2003 model recently and it really moved around the racetrack we were on. A great experience.

By: Olav

Olav — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 08:18:23 +0000

Well, I am living “next door” to Sweden, more precisely in Norway and I just bought a 2005 9-5 Vector Sport Combi 2,0t and paid NOK 470 000,- (that should be AUSD 98 078,34 (?) for it. Ok, the car is loaded with bells and whistles, but OUR taxes are really something… Hope this information is at least a small comfort ;/)

Thanks for a great site! I always start my day with a visit on http://www.trollhattansaab.net!

Kind regards from a sunny Norway

Olav