My wife and I are looking for a convertible. It would be a summer car for her. I would drive it to save some gas (I have full size truck). I should add that we have to kids 10 and 12.
What is the better choice 94 -99 BMW 3 series convertible 99+ Saab 93 99+ volvo c70
Whats can you tell me about cost of ownership, performance and reliability?
This started because we found a BMW for $2500. We would like to spend up to three. If it gets to be too much we may drop the idea.
I drove a 2000 Saab 9-3 turbo when we were shopping convertibles for teh wife. It was a really nice car, and would have made a nice driver, even with an automatic (which worked quite well). One issue is that the back window, like many modern convertibles, is very small. Top-up visibility is mediocre at best. A relative had a C70 a while ago and while I never drove it or even rode in it, the back window looked even worse.
My vote would be for the E36. Saab parts availability scares me, though at that age, the third party vendors have probably stepped up by now. But there's going to be lots of oddball dealer-type parts that are just drying up completely.
My vote is E36. We had one in sedan form, my uncle had a 'vert when they were much newer. Very nice car, but I wasn't ever handed the keys.
Ask the man who owns one... Actually I own two Saab 900 "classic" convertibles. These are so easy to love. And right in a GRM budget.
Im considering buying a 900 convertible for 800 bucks, it apparently needs new power steering, should I do it?
In reply to ls1fiero:
Those would get my recommendation as well.
In reply to plance1: I don't think that the power steering is a big deal on those. The 88 Turbo Convert that WAS to be my parts car has that issue as well. (now going to be restored) The manual transmissions and head gaskets are the weakest links usually around 200,000 miles. My DD NA 900 has191,000 and is purring along.
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