New Car and it's Swedish...

So the fiance and I picked up a mint 1993 SAAB 9000 CSE Turbo. I was a bit apprehensive but the guy has owned it for the past 7 years, 80,000km and did a lot of maintenance, changes the oils all the time with full synthetic, replaced the ignition cassette and apparently the old one still works so it's in the trunk in a box. He also included a pair of rear brembo rotors and some brand of pads. It will eventually need front brakes and tires. Even though it's an auto (the wife will be driving it more), it is a blast to drive! You start off and it's a bit laggy after idle, but once you get over like 2500-3000 it just takes off like mad. I love all of the features like the adjustable electric memory leather seats, trip computer, climate control, it's just a solid car. Tonnes of space inside too for not being too big a car on the outside. Also the paint is in pretty good shape since some construction company got junk on it and paid to have it professionally polished. The car is just great and we got a really good deal on it. I've always wanted a swedish car like a saab or a volvo and it's just awesome!

What do you guys think?

Cool! Looking for a turbo Saab myself.

Gotta fix that headlamp wiper-it looks like its winking at me.

sweet swede... and yes, fix that wiper.

How are the engine mounts.. I just discovered yesterday how expensive they are to replace (ouch!)

Nice koenigsaab! :D

m

Fuzzy dice?

Yea apparently the headlight wipers don't work so i'll either pull them off or see whats wrong. He replaced the motor mounts not too long ago so i shouldn't have to worry about them. And the fuzzy dice were for the wife, they come off when i drive.

I am impressed with how clean the engine bay is. Fully detailed it looks like. I will own a Saab, but probably a 900.

Nice score

Yea the guy kept it in really good shape. It seems like the front rotors were replaced 13,000km or 2 years ago, would it be worth it to have them refinished rather than replaced? I don't think the pads were done then. Ha I'm so used to my cavalier where a rotor costs like 20 bucks.

I love driving it!

I've had 2, the last being a 91 Turbo, which had the Aero suspension.

They are an outstanding combination of practical, luxurious, fast, and cheap. They hold an amazing amount of stuff, really get moving under boost (Had mine to 130+), are a comfy all day cruiser, and get good fuel economy.

They are downright cheap to buy, too, and parts prices are reasonable, and the problems are all well known.

If I had the need for another car that size, I'd get one again in a heartbeat.

I totally agree, i was a bit deterred by the "school me on 9000" thread but the car was so well maintained and such a good deal I couldn't pass it up. I read a fair bit on them before and I'm starting to check out saabnet and saabcentral.

stop making me want european cars...

stop stop stop.

PaulY wrote: I totally agree, i was a bit deterred by the "school me on 9000" thread but the car was so well maintained and such a good deal I couldn't pass it up. I read a fair bit on them before and I'm starting to check out saabnet and saabcentral.

Book mark all the links mentioned in the "school me" thread. The two most usefull for 9K owners are this one and this one Also, some one mentioned motor mounts, I,ve done them all on my wifes car by myself in the driveway, it wasn't that bad. The quasi motors site has a very usefull toutorial on that job.

Thanks a lot! Yea the guy changed the mounts himself a few years back, i don't know how long they last but if that was the first time then i have a fair bit to go hopefully. After this week of midterms i'm just going to be reading all about these things.

I had a '92 CSE 5-speed non-turbo for a few years. Loved the practicality of it and it rode and drove well but in 2 years I never really got comfortable on the seats. I forgot about replacing the motor mounts but I now recall working late at night through the passenger side wheel well to do one. When the a/c stops working remove one of the shims from the compressor. I remember having to fix the wipers but I don't remember how :( Wheel bearings weren't any fun either. It's a good solid car though - mine left me after I got rearended at 30 mph which bent the rear end but it still drove straight.

Sounds good, yea i find i still haven't found that right spot in the seats, i feel a bit high and the steering wheel seems a bit high too but i think i could definitely do a long haul and not have back pain.

That sucks about loosing it but thanks for the advice.

Also my fiance has been driving it about and she loves it, she's really starting to get addicted to the turbo.

In reply to PaulY:

I thought the seats were great. On my last 91 I had to clean the contacts in the seat switches and window switches and then they worked great.

I logged several 900-1200 mile days in mine, and was never uncomfortable or tired out from the car, it was a great highway cruiser.

Yea I think i need to play with the switched a bit more but yea they are really nice. It's also just getting used to the car as well. You don't know how much I appreciate these compared to the ones in my cavalier, some days all it takes is 10 mins for lower back pain.

PaulY wrote: Sounds good, yea i find i still haven't found that right spot in the seats, i feel a bit high and the steering wheel seems a bit high too but i think i could definitely do a long haul and not have back pain.

Ding ding - that was my exact problem. I always felt as if I were riding on the car rather than sitting in and driving it. Going from the 9k to my SVT Contour was night and day in that regard. Then again I was coming from a Miata so any car would probably have felt the same way.

So i just realized something today, I don't know how I missed it but the odometer doesn't work! I feel like a fool for missing it but the speedo works fine, the trip computer and millage computer work just fine, just not the tripmeter or the odometer, they're frozen. I can reset the trip meter but it didn't help. I would think it's a cable driven unit but I'm not sure and if it was, wouldn't the speedo not work. That's how it was in my turbo fly, i just had to hook the cable back up to the gauge cluster.

Any help or advice on this would be great, I'm going to call the seller and ask him what's up, why it doesn't work and how many kms are actually on the car.

I still love the car but it feels a bit off now, knowing I've been lied to like that.

Nice find. Keep the trans fluid changed and enjoy.

Regarding the odometer, it's a known issue with the old VDO gauges that happens when it the odo is reset while the car is in motion. A gear inside the cluster gets stripped. You can repair them, but I've always just replaced with a spare cluster in the 900s.

Thanks for the advice, that explains why only the odo is affected. I still plan to figure out how many k are really on this thing. Where can I get a replacement gear if i can't find a replacement cluster?

I thought it wasn't a problem to reset tripmeters while driving?