What's the GRM consensus onthese? I actually owned a 1995 Saab 900S for a short, trouble-packed time after driving a base 1986 900 130,000 relatively dependably. The '95 (non-turbo) burned lots of oil and kept jumping out of reverse even after a couple repairs. I dumped it after six months and bought a new VW Golf. That was 15 years ago. The '94-'02 900/9-3s sure are cheap these days, and it's making me wonder if I got a lemon or if they were all junk. I liked the car otherwise.
I had a 99 9-3 that we got with @75K miles on it and I ended up giving it to my brother with @295K on it and it was very dependable. If I remember I had to do a fuel pump and a DIC but other than that it was just normal maint stuff. In fact it was\is still on its original clutch.
There have been a handful of threads about these recently, you can find a lot of info if you poke around for them. Generally speaking they can make a LOT of power for cheap and are pretty well screwed-together cars, but the stock chassis is a bit noodly (though there are plenty of aftermarket fixes). The '00-02 cars can have sludge issues due to the stock semi-synth spec and ridiculous 10k OCI, but using a good full synth with more frequent changes helps a ton, and there is an updated PCV system that can help as well. The '99 SE is the arguably most desirable because it has the same turbo as the Viggen but has the less sludge-prone oil system, stronger bottom end and more tunable T5 engine management. Yes, you always want to carry a spare DIC, but they don't really fail unless you run crappy plugs and/or run them improperly gapped, way too long, etc.
Check out GenuineSaab.com if you want to see the surprising amount of aftermarket performance options they've got.
I had a 2001 Saab 9-3 Coupe, Manual and heavily modified. I can tell you I miss that car at least once a week. It was reliable, a blast to drive, and saved my back when I was rear ended by an Expedition (Me stationary, him 50 mph+).
I cant say enough good things about these cars.
Mine was the 99 SE and yes it was fun. IF you end up looking for one of those be sure to get one with a stick, the auto SE did not have the Viggen bits as far as I know.
In reply to Rusted_Busted_Spit:
Hey, this is encouraging; good to know the one I had was a dud.
Rusted-Busted, despite currently driving an auto M-B W126, manual gearbox is a requirement of every other car for me.
Just go for any old 99. I got one for a steal ($250 w/clean title, drove onto my trailer - and paid five times as much as another member on here did for his), and viggen/SE or HOT parts are dirt cheap. Viggen turbos go for $150 or less easy, and intercoolers go for $80 or less easy. (heck, I got two intercoolers in a parts deal so let me know if you want one CHEAP).
So far haven't been driving mine much, but its a slow winter build.
You can get HEATED REAR SEATS for your chilluns in these bad dogs.
I'm slightly embarrassed by the lack of progress in my current build thread, or I would link it for you 
Hey, I like what I'm hearing.
As a guy who DDs an '88 Merc 300SE, I have no aversion to underpowered cars. What think ye of this one? It's my '95 exactly, except mine was silver.
The 2.3 isn't that underpowered, IMO. If anything it's a pretty appropriate engine for a car of that size. My girlfriend had a '96 900S that we bought for $1000 in a pinch that ended up lasting her the better part of four years and 60k without major issues, despite having 218k on it when we bought it.
Hers never had reverse issues of any kind (maybe yours needed a cable adjustment or the reverse collar was goofy), but it did use a little oil, which was no surprise at ~220k. Hope you never have to do an alternator on one, that job SUCKS. But otherwise it was a great little car and the guy we sold it to crested 300k before running it low on oil and blasting a rod out the side of the block.
I do recall that the NG900 had a few changes made under the skin for the '96-97 years including revised front suspension and an upgraded shifting mechanism at some point, so you may want to hold out for a newer model, though that would mean dealing with OBD2 if you have emissions testing locally.
I had a 94 turbo SE, and I hated that car. Yes, it was quick, but the noodly chassis made it an accident waiting to happen. Any acceleration resulted in the most violent Torque steer I have ever encountered.
Would the chassis kits have fixed that, probably. I was younger and much more broke at the time. I was very happy to see that car go.
You'll need to log in to post.
