Posted on 06/13/2012 7:25:21 AM PDT by C19fan
Swedish automaker Saab Automobile was Wednesday rescued from insolvency when an Asian consortium sealed a deal to buy the brand's main assets with the aim of making electric cars.
The price tag for Saab's assets, which includes the main parts of the automobile manufacturing division, was not made public.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Just as long as I can keep getting parts for my 9-3 turbo convertible.
I thought SAABs were nice cars but I always heard stories about reliability issues. Is this true? I do not know why the Japanese don’t hire Euro designers. Make a car like a SAAB but with solid Japanese engineering.
That has been tried and every time it’s turned out to be a horrific mistake. And yes, Saabs have maintenance and reliability issues.
If you make a SAAB with "solid" Japanese engineering you'll get a car that's only good for 100K miles instead of the 200K + mile Trollhättan SAABS you see driving around.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1750040/posts
Mad Men indeed.
It’s an engineer’s car through and through. Thought was put into every feature. I purchased mine for $9,500 as a 10 year old with 65K miles. It was then a $50K car new. I put in $4K in repairs over 4.5 years and it has 105K miles: Turbo, motor mounts, toothed drive belt.
I can’t complain as it looks and performs like new. 220 hp in a 3,000 pound car.
I think the four stroke cars were better than the older two stroke ones but they were just so unconventional that you needed someone who knew Saabs to work on them. The air cooled VW's were just as weird but they were at least simple to work on.
How about, SAAAB ?
SAABS have been the automobile of choice at the ranch for 24 years without any serious maintenance problems.
At this time we still own three. A 9-5, a 9-3 convertible (both ‘99’s), and a 2001 9-3 four door hatchback. All of these cars perform well for us.
The 9-5 wagon is Mrs. RQSR’s personal favorite, and is her shopping til she drops, load ‘er up and go car. She loves it, and is terribly disappointed they won’t be built anymore.
We’ve had SAABS from year model ‘82, 85, and several 91’s, and either wore them out into the 300,000+ mile range, or in one case the mechanic having done routine service to one test drove it into the back of a Mercedes Benz totalling it.
If SAABS were problem cars, then we’ve been lucky for many years.
Mad Men could sell the **** out of Lucky Strike cigarettes but I doubt they could sell the Chevy Volt.
My parents had several Saabs of the same 80s-90s era and they were all disasters despite not being abused and being maintained by the book. Eventually they learned and stopped buying Saabs.
Saab had HUGE design problems, too. The Saab 900 had the clutch at the front of the engine and the alternator, water pump, drive belts, etc., etc. at the front crammed up against the firewall - made normal maintenance and repair far more difficult than it should have been.
There were reasons why most people weren’t interested in purchasing them - both here in North America and over in Europe. In fact, even the Swedes weren’t real interested in them.
Top Gear gave Saab a send-off that pointed out quite a few of the problems with the marque:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8PT91JWljQ
Interesting. The cars have been very good for us for as I said in my original post 24 years. No complaints with our SAABs.
I had an ‘82 900 Turbo.
The biggest problem was the transmission (manual) blew up at about 80K (broken casting). The front calipers were British, and were crap. I had virtually no trouble with the engine, never even had to adjust the valves in well over 100K miles (not hydraulic lifters). I don’t know what the mileage really was as the odometer broke. The AC never worked right, the heater valve tended to spring leaks, and the dash drove me nuts with the creaking and rattling. The damn transmission lock jammed up on me and I was stuck in reverse. The radio that came with the car was worthless and I had to replace it. The wheels bent at the mere sight of a pothole. The turbo lag was horrendous, it was a hassle to drive sometimes as it was so slow off the line.
The seats were great, and showed virtually no wear. The thing was cavernous, you could get an amazing amount of stuff into it.
Every new car I’ve bought since that one has been turbocharged, but I’ll never own another SAAB.
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