Love 'em or Hate 'em: An Offical Saab thread?

[Das Delfin]

Did you feel that way about the Minivan, too?

Lol, this was taken at my dad's house. That's actually a Pontiac Montana Thunder edition, which means chrome wheels and two-tone interior. What you can't see is my mom's '04 Bonneville GXP which must have maybe 55k miles at this point. Just a nice, big car.

[rcsoundn1]

I have always had some attraction to them since my uncle owned one. For some reason I have it in my mid that these are maintenance nightmares, is there any merit to that?

[ajhostetter]

I'm not a big Saab guy, but a really good friend of mine has 2. An '89 red SPG daily with about 130k on it and a garage queen SPG with something like 25k. I'll post a pic or two of the red one. The fancy-ass one lives in a garage in Boulder

[Exodus_2pt0]

I have always had some attraction to them since my uncle owned one. For some reason I have it in my mid that these are maintenance nightmares, is there any merit to that?

Ours has been trouble free other than things that happen to all cars.

One strut has blown out, and we had a evap solenoid stuck open. Ended up cleaning it out, a few drops of wd-40 and now a year later it hasn't been an issue.

Other than that, trouble free.

[djjerme]

I am rockin' a 2006 Saab 9-7X now. Picked it up at Auction earlier this year with only 106K miles.

Sad thing, this was an SUV that seemed to offend everyone - GM dealerships won't touch it, because they say they don't have the tools (try again GM) and Saab shops don't recognize it as a true Saab.

That being said, it's really fun to drive. Basically, it's a really fancy Trailblazer..
When I picked it up, it had a collapsed lifter, so I had to pull the heads and swap them all out and update the DOD Loma. After retuning the ECU to eliminate the cylinder defeating mechanism, it's been my daily driver without any issues all summer..

The DOD defeat didn't kill the MPG much, still managed 25 mpg two weeks ago with the whole family in the car on the way back from Bend up over Mt Hood. That's pretty good for a V-8 powered heavy SUV with full time AWD, and surely beats my old Dakota (which got 12 MPG no matter how I drove it.) Plus, it's got leather, heated seats, power everything, sat nav and can still tow 6500# - more than enough to haul my PRO3 car to the track.

The only thing really Saab about it (besides the faded badges on the front and rear) is the fold down cup holder in the center of the dash, mine is missing, and the ignition key on the consoles in front of the shifter, which I actually kinda like..

I am expecting this thing to last for a while, it's got the usual GM squeaks to all the plastic bits, but the all aluminum 5.3l LS motor is damn good. In fact, if I ever get bored with the M20 in my PRO3 car, I will probably cram an L33 or LS6 in it.

[Stanley Rockafella]

I'm not a big Saab guy, but a really good friend of mine has 2. An '89 red SPG daily with about 130k on it and a garage queen SPG with something like 25k. I'll post a pic or two of the red one. The fancy-ass one lives in a garage in Boulder

***awaiting pics***

[ST1G]

pls no op

qft.

[jrossowvue30]

I am rockin' a 2006 Saab 9-7X now. Picked it up at Auction earlier this year with only 106K miles.

Sad thing, this was an SUV that seemed to offend everyone - GM dealerships won't touch it, because they say they don't have the tools (try again GM) and Saab shops don't recognize it as a true Saab.

That being said, it's really fun to drive. Basically, it's a really fancy Trailblazer..
When I picked it up, it had a collapsed lifter, so I had to pull the heads and swap them all out and update the DOD Loma. After retuning the ECU to eliminate the cylinder defeating mechanism, it's been my daily driver without any issues all summer..

The DOD defeat didn't kill the MPG much, still managed 25 mpg two weeks ago with the whole family in the car on the way back from Bend up over Mt Hood. That's pretty good for a V-8 powered heavy SUV with full time AWD, and surely beats my old Dakota (which got 12 MPG no matter how I drove it.) Plus, it's got leather, heated seats, power everything, sat nav and can still tow 6500# - more than enough to haul my PRO3 car to the track.

The only thing really Saab about it (besides the faded badges on the front and rear) is the fold down cup holder in the center of the dash, mine is missing, and the ignition key on the consoles in front of the shifter, which I actually kinda like..

I am expecting this thing to last for a while, it's got the usual GM squeaks to all the plastic bits, but the all aluminum 5.3l LS motor is damn good. In fact, if I ever get bored with the M20 in my PRO3 car, I will probably cram an L33 or LS6 in it.

I've looked at a few 9-7x's lately. I like them but I have a hard time getting past the GM thing. I pretend that if I call it a Troll Blazer it is somehow not a GM but I'll always know it has never set wheels in Sweden.

That said, if the right one came along I would snatch it up. One with an LS motor would rule. They seem like comfortable cars that are capable. At least it has a Saab badge and the interior feels kind of like a Saab, I'd never own a Trailblazer or any of the other GM's that share the same platform.

[flyboyx]

i am a hater actually. why is it that to me the later ones all look like pontiacs?

[Das Delfin]

^ There's a Top Gear episode about Saab which explains everything. What gets weird how the 9-2x came about. Something about how GM had a stake in both Saab and Subaru. THAT is a bucket list car for me.

[Exodus_2pt0]

Yup, the Top Gear Saab tribute will make a fan out of anyone.

[djjerme]

I've looked at a few 9-7x's lately. I like them but I have a hard time getting past the GM thing. I pretend that if I call it a Troll Blazer it is somehow not a GM but I'll always know it has never set wheels in Sweden.

That said, if the right one came along I would snatch it up. One with an LS motor would rule. They seem like comfortable cars that are capable. At least it has a Saab badge and the interior feels kind of like a Saab, I'd never own a Trailblazer or any of the other GM's that share the same platform.

Honestly, I never would have purposely looked for this prior to owning it. When they first came out, they were 40K+ (!!!) so they didn't sell a whole lot of them.

That being said, I really do like driving it. Anyone else I have talked to who has owned one or owns ones seems to feel the same way. Compared to a regular GMT360, it is different. Very different. The only close exception is possibly the Trailblazer SS.

Part of that is the suspension, it's tight. Tighter than a stock E30, tighter than my wife's A3.. So around town, you do feel the pot holes and speed bumps (Portland has some serious wood for speed bumps - or traffic calming devices.) The only tighter car I own, is my PRO3 racecar. Push it on the freeway at speed in to the corners and it's stupid stable. No tipping feel and I can toss it around roundabouts hella better than a two ton SUV should.

This may be why many people didn't buy then, they may have wanted Nissan Armada bouncy ride in back (the 9-7x has air adjustable) and floaty steering..

IF you do find one for under 7K, you should at least try it. You may just like it..

First thing you should do though if you pick up one with the DOD equipped 5.3 is replace the Valley Manifold for the DOD to the new style one. It's about 2 bills for the part, but is an easy swap. If you do have a lifter collapse, you can swap the lifters, it's not that much more difficult than a head swap on an M20 - the biggest bitch is dealing with the exhaust manifolds once you get them loose.