I found a 1985 saab 900s with 248,000 on it for about $450 the other day. It seemed like a good little car. It kicked right over with a slight charge as it had been sitting, and gave no hesitation when starting or accellerating I drive 4 miles one way to work and need a beater to get me through next year, or until I get my VW jetta fixed. Only problems I found with it were a Slight twitch as it liked to pop out of
2nd gear on occasion, and a leaky top radiator hose(which the seller said he'd replace for me.)
Please write back with your comments. They would be most appreciated.
The quick answer is, anything that rolls for half a year and costs less than
1000 dollars is probably a good bargain.
To offer you any sensible comments, you really need to fill us in on some details, e.g. presence of rust in various critical places - chassis and panels, the condition of tie rod ends, ball joints, brakes, exhaust system, clutch and slave/master, engine compression, functioning thermostat and fan switch. What roadworthiness checks have been done and what were the results? The second-gear issue might be a problem. Saab gearboxes of that age do not get better the more they're driven. See how often it jumps out of gear and see if you can live with that. Fixing the gearbox on a car of that price would not be worth the effort or money.
And then again, if you can assess all the above, then you already know whether or not you should buy this car ;-)
If you haven't owned a Saab before, it's a fun experience, provided the one you buy has been well-cared for. On a car of this age, you'll need to be handy with a wrench, but the 900 (of this vintage) is pretty straightforward to work on, compared with all the latest electronics-infested stuff that's come out during the past 10 years.
If you have a Saab spare parts dealer and a car wrecker / junkyard with scrapped Saabs in it, you then have easy access to parts . . .
not a bad price... but with a busted gearbox and high miles it is one repair away from the junkyard...
low ball the guy with an offer of $150... you'll be surprised what people will take, when you are still offering more than twice what a junkyard would pay...
and as for a non-turbo 900 being better as a 'driver's car' than a MKII Jetta.. thats debatable... now a saab turbo - that's a whole nother story!
Well.. it didn't seem like a bad little ride. I don't care if it's a better driver's car than a jetta mk2.. just some even semi-decent transport to get me to and from work.(4 miles away) Besides, it keeps the wife off my back from her having to drive me(only one car now).
From what a lot of people have said in this group and other places the transmissions are the major downfall of the Saab 900's design. Personally I think the uniqueness outweights the limitations, but I haven't needed to life the engine or transmission out of my C900 yet. 8-)
Regards,
Craig.
-- Craig Ian Dewick ( snipped-for-privacy@lios.apana.org.au).
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