Buying an old Saab. Any pointers?

If you’re buying cheap to get to work I would just forget great handling or interiors and just get something that works rain or shine

He speaketh sense. No one crawling alongside you at -3degrees on the motorway is going to look sideways at you and think ‘hah! he cant afford the large monthly repayments of a new Audi on HPI like me’

My tuppeneth for what it’s worth.

Got a mate that runs a Saab specialist and a father in law with a 9-5 on an x reg

the specialist says all individual models have different problems but each model will have certain problems.

As for the 9-5 it has problems with the filter in the sump sludging up which can kill the engine. Changing this filter means removing/possibly destroying the lovely original double skin exhaust plus labour so father in law has chosen regular fully synthetic oil changes instead.

His car had a problem losing water when he bought it which turned out to be a batch of models that the factory hadn’t tightened the headbolts properly. Local garage tightened these and no problem since.

Good luck

sorry if I’ve rehashed previous threads and my moneys on a 2l mondeo with the timing chain!

Oh and here’s a pointer:

And a pointer from my perspective 🙂

That’s what our black lab would look like if we skipped feeding her for a while 😉

She gets mistaken for a dobermann, but not a lab. A dobermann, with those ears, I ask ya!

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-cheap-car

The thing with SAABs handling has always been on the ‘understeer’ side. They do handle very well, espcially for a big car like the 9-5, its never going to be as nippy as a focus – but then it is longer, and weighs 400kg more.

But you can do a full geo set up on the suspension. as standard the suspension of the non aero models is softer, motorway cruiser style. But i do enjoy throwing mine around country lanes.

And you can turn them around on a single carriageway road unlike a V70!

I once testdrive a 95 estate from a Saab dealer whilst I’d dropped off the missus at the nearby supermarket. Went to pick her up and beeped a few times. She thought I was a taxi driver picking up his fare 😆

Discussing the handling of old cars reminds me of the possibly apocryphal story of how the MX-5 was designed.

The clever bods in Japan got a bunch of acknowledged ‘great’ cars and hammered them on a track with proper racing drivers, and picked the best characteristics from each (gear shift feel from a 635csi I think….)

Anyway, everyone involved agreed the handling and general ‘feel’of the late 60’s Lotus Elan was the best, and they modelled it on this.

Some months later, they discovered the suspension bushes were shot on the test bed Lotus!

MX5- simple, non-interference and amazing. The only car that I used to pop out in after tea ‘just for a spin’.

Hora. I’m not looking for a car for my mobile hairdressing practice. MX-5?

A very simple and easy car to sell on though. You’d also love the way it drives. Honestly. Just don’t drive it like Lord Ben did 😆

What are the “rules” for whether a sports car is a hairdressers car or not?!

Why is the MX5 one but not the Elise?
Why is the Z4 one but not the Boxster?

It’s a funny old World.

To dismiss an MX5 on “image” is missing out on a World of very fun yet cheap motoring.

An Elise is much much flimsier, had an old tech engine, is noisy (in an unpleasant way), has an interior made of choccy box plastic trays and WILL break down. They handle well but they need a lot of TLC. An MX5 (or mk3 MR2) is a “buy, enjoy then leave out in the rain” kind of car. It just works and works very well.

I’ve never thought of a MX5 as a hairdressers car… my brother used to sell them and we’d take one for a spin occasionally, just for the fun of it. Got a “****” sign waved at us from a couple of blokes in a van once, for some reason!
Not very practical, but decent little “sports car”

Surf-Mat – sssssssssshhhhhhhhh – HAve you not fathomed out that I’ll just take the opposite opinion to Hora on every available subject 🙂

Ahh – I see… 😉

Don’t forget to mock Subarus at every opportunity too…

I agree with Mat, for a change. And on a car thread no less!

I have no idea wtf people are on about with this hairdresser thing. MX5s are nippy and can take a thrashing, why is this hairdressery?