Learn Me '07 Saab 9-3 manual trans

I now own a Saab 9-3 for $648 all-in

I watched the bidding live on-line. I was the winning pre-bid and when bidding went live, no one else bid.  

Screen shot of the on-line bidding:

Welcome to the club.

Nice!!

In reply to dculberson :

It was the amazingly clean interior that did it for me.  I really mean like superbly clean and like zero wear given the 120k miles.  That just lead me to believe that it was owned by an "owner of means" who respected the car and serviced it correctly.  I took this picture at the yard but it doesn't do justice.  I'll take some other pics once I get the car home.  

Man, that thing looks bran new.

Looks great. Saab’s are becoming extremely hard to unload, but that also means they are great bargains.

Yeah, it could be hard to sell.  

However, today for the first time I got to drive the car at all (I had tow dollied it home from the yard when I picked it up earlier int he week.)  I gotta tell ya, im not sure that I'm gonna want to sell it right away.  I really enjoy the car.  

I would describe this car to an average body.  It's flaws being right rear fender well bubble rust (ala Hondas and Mazdas of the similar vintage) and the front end damage (that I expect to fix very nicely.) 

So, an average body but an EXCEPTIONAL interior and mechanical.  All functions, buttons, switches and knobs work as they should.  The AC is strong on this 83 degree day.  The clutch seems proper in all ways.  I continue to be amazed that there is no interior wear.  Over 12 yrs and 120k you expect some things like the volume button on the wheel or the radio to have a little wear.  Or, the center console to show some scuffing.  Or, the leather of the top of the steering wheel to show.  This car has none of that. From inside if you told me it had 20k miles, I'd believe you.  Not 120k.    Pics that still do not do the justice.

Note that the dash says it has been averaging 32.1 mpg. That was 32.5 before I started to flog it a bit on the test drive. 

The air filter, a Mann, is sooooo new:  

The wiper blades have GM logos: 

Great tires and no brake dust or pitting of the alloys.  Tires are all Goodyear Assurance comfort tread.  All are even and show very little wear even though the build dates are 7th week of '14. 

In reply to John Welsh :

That's the way my S60 was when I got it at 184k.  Interior looked new with only very mild fading at some creases in the (notoriously wear-prone) leather.

When you buy Euro, your main investment is the previous owner.

Great score! There's a lot of value in Saabs right now. Considering they're basically free...

The unique name on the title searched back to a 32 yr old MBA grad of John Carroll University who has been with Ernst and Young for 8 years who's office is in downtown Cleveland.  He is the son of a dentist from Erie, PA.  The address on the title went back to an ultra hip and trendy apt on the 3rd floor in Downtown Cleveland's E 4th St @ Euclid.  This would certainly assure garage parking.    

I can verify no shakes or rattles or concerns all the way up to 100 mph.  I will say that the car arrives at that velocity quite quickly and smoothly.  

An interesting revelation for me today.  This is not the first turbo car that I have driven but it is the first turbo car that I have owned.  It's a nice little power plant!  

Since Saabs are worthless I'll take it off your hands for $700. 

In reply to John Welsh :

SAAB used to boast that they had perfected turbocharging.  From the later model 9-5s and 9-3s that I'd driven, I would tend to agree.

This thread is encouraging me to look at the 9-5 wagon on FB right now. They've been in my perphery for a while as a replacement dd for swmbo

One thing that has bitten me in butt on ours a few times is battery voltage.  If the battery gets lowish, 11.7 volts you can’t start the car or get the key out.  You can bypass the starter relay to get it started so I have a jumper wire in the glove box.   

Now that we are through the 4th of July holiday, I got to working on this a bit.  

I managed to source a replacement bumper cover, in black  for $100 and the washer bottle from same for $25.  Total of $132.50 after tax.  I drove 1.5 hrs from home to get it in Downriver, MI.  There also was similar same in Bedford, OH but it was $100 more and only 15 minutes saved for driving.  IT was worth it to me to travel the short distance further.   I picked up parts on Tues and then dug into the job on Weds (today.)  

Before:

During:

Difference in part.  The new bumper cover has headlamp washers.  The new washer bottle is from the same car also having provision for headlamp washers.  At best, this gives me headlamp washers.  At worst, I have nozzles on the bumper which do nothing.  At this point, I seem not to have the needed electrical connection.  There is a pump and wiring for the headlamp washers but I have not found in the electrical harness of the car where these hook in.  

The new bumper cover is from an '06.  My car is an '07.  Upon close inspection, my bumper rub strips are a textured flat black plastic.  The new part is gloss black rub strips.  I discovered that it is very easy to remove the rub strips so now my '07 will be wearing the flat strips which then match the side rub strip and rear rub strip.  It would not have killed me to have these not exactly match but it was so easy to just make it right.  

After getting into the job it became evident that I need a left side inner fender liner.  I did not get this from the yard but RockAuto now has one on its way to me for $28.24 all total with tax and shipping .  Cheaper by a few bucks than ebay or Amazon and used items go for more than that.  

The new bumper cover does have a crack in the plastic, in the center but unseen because it is on the bottom. Probably from a typical encounter with a parking space bump stop like all the under scraps. Here is a pic of that repair.   From the bottom of the picture, the one drill bit hole is a fiberglass crack technique.  The hole at the current end of the crack will terminate the crack and keep it from continuing.  The zip ties will keep the pieces together.  

In the process of pulling the wheel off for the first time, another great discovery...New Struts.  And, not just new struts but new SAAB STRUTS.  The real deals.  Probably put on at the dealership?  What dealership?  Where do you still get genuine parts from?  These things look like they have not gone through a winter so my guess is they have been installed in the past 4 months.   Is the red some grease intended to be Anti-seize?  

The fender liner is expected to arrive Friday so I held off putting the new bumper cover on.  I think it will be easier to put the fender liner before the bumper cover.

Looks pretty easy from here on out (famous last words.)  The state inspection appt is set for 2 weeks from today.  Weds 24th at 2:00

At this point I will be right at $1k and probably 14 hours of labor including travel time like getting parts.  

Mercedes in North Olmsted is an authorized saab service center as they were a dealer prior to them not existing

I might call them with the vin. 

I do have enough that I could probably make contact with the PO too. 

Is/was there an East Side Saab dealer?

Not sure, I don’t speak east side very well

Now with headlamp washer nozzles that don't really do anything. 

Beautiful car. Seems like a great deal at under 2k! 

Well done! My 07 sportcombi was a great car.  Do you have two keys? Losing both keys would end up costing way more than what you have into it.

Beautiful!