My favourite Toyota line, spoken by my mechanic to a woman who had a particularly unreliable Cavalier: “Just buy a Corolla and you’ll forget you even own a car.”

NOT BMW, MB, Lexus, Infiniti, or Caddy.

I’m also curious about how all your Saabs are not expensive to repair. Where do you take it, dealer or local shop? My Saab costs twice as much to repair as my Toyota.

Here in Minnesota, home of the achievement-oriented, yet modest, white-collar worker, Audi, Saab, and Volvo compete for the buyer who wants European sophistication, but doesn’t want to be too flashy.

Audi’s are really common here in the Twin Cities – I see more of them than BMW, for example.

So yeah, it’s all about perception and marketing. Brand identiy does wonders. When out on the market with X amount of K I have at my disposal, I first and foremost look at the brand – what am I going to be associated with if I bought an Audi? Or – hell, even worse – a Bimmer? It is against my nature to show off, therefore Saab is my natural choice.

However, the large majority of premium brand customers would absolutely need for their car to scream status! And this is where Saab fails – in actuality, neither of the Swedish marques is about status – Saab (as well as Ovlov) are more about the lifestyle, and – particularly in Saab’s case – the nerdiness.

So, to put it shortly – people perceive Saab as a nerdy, yet fast high-maintenance automobile. You guessed it – the problem lies in the latter perception!

(Btw. I am in agreement with you as to Saab’s chief competitor in North America is Audi indeed.)

Kroum: I have had the same thing happen to me FOR YEARS of owning SAABs (all the way back to when I owned a 1981 900T in the early 90′s). I don’t know how SAAB got a reputation for being so much more expensive to maintain (and the rumor that parts are so much more expensive). I wonder what SAAB can do to try and dispel this myth once and for all.

If I had to pick one brand that SAAB competes most with in the U.S. market I’d have to guess AUDI. You’d naturally think Volvo, but I think people are pretty polarized regarding the two Swedish manufacturers. Either you’re a SAAB person or you’re a Volvo person typically. There’s a mutual respect, and there are SOME people who buy both, but it’s like a Ford vs. Chevy pickup truck thing. A potential buyer isn’t going to be on the fence deciding between the two.

As for Mercedes-Benz, I think they’re priced so much higher than SAAB that there really isn’t much competition there. And I can’t see SAAB taking many sales from the Japanese luxury manufacturers (Infiniti, Lexus, Acura). Lastly, though many people think that SAAB competes with the “low end” BMWs I kind of doubt that too. I don’t think too many potential BMW buyers “shop” SAAB before making a purchase. They know in advance they want a Bimmer. They’re not “smart shoppers” who do their research for the most part, I don’t think.

You can get a base BMW 3-series for close to that, too, or an Audi A4.

The thing with cars is, it’s not merely the price tag, it’s the brand perception among buyers that’s a lot more important. Saab has an image for high repair costs and tricky maintenance – thereof, if you drive a Saab, you better be prepared to pay hefty for repairs.

A myth or not, it doesn’t really matter because that’s what 90% of the people tell me: “You drive a Saab, pricey repairs!”