Newbie question

"Scott Stephenson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@adelphia.com...

I am 6'2". Mazda Miata's are not an option. They are built for short people. For a tall guy a Saab, some other European car, or god forbid a truck is the best option. Your only other choices are monster Lincoln Continentals, Cadillacs, and numb nut Buicks. I drive a C900 (prior to 1993 Saab). This car works great for me. I don't drive near the miles you do, and I don't have a real good feel for what a GM 900 will do for a person of taller stature, since I don't own one. Saab's have a love it or hate it type of disposition. If you don't mind tinkering with odds and ends, and occasionally enjoy getting oily, a Saab is for you. If you would rather let someone else work on your pride and joy, I would advise a Volvo, MB, BMW, or some other ragtop. As always I advise a ragtop! A properly maintained Saab will return far more positive feedback than most cars you could purchase as a general rule. They tend to handle better and accelerate much faster than the numbers would indicate. A Saab is much more kin to a MGB than anything else. The odds and ends, like power windows and such, tend to have more faults than most cars. All in all though, if you want an enjoyable and visceral driving experience, it's hard to beat a Saab. If you are worried about pure raw miles, Saabs and most other well built cars will do far more miles than you will want to endure. You will likely get tired of the car before it wears out.

dave

1992 C900s 106k too cold to change oil today!

100 miles, 6'3" here. Yup.

If it's got the 4-cyl, I'd go for it.

Saabs depreciate -very- fast. That's good for you and I who buy used, not so good for people who buy new and sell it after 3 years. On a '99, the previous owner has already taken the depreciation hit for you.

With good treatment, rust will be the deciding factor. 300-500 thousand miles isn't remarkably high.

Check out the "high mileage saabs" list at:

didn't bother to submit my 900 when I traded it in, because it wouldhave been way down on the tenth page or so. Dave Hinz

Owning both a few Volvos and a C900 I can say with certainty that a Volvo (at least a RWD one) is at least as easy for a shadetree mechanic as a Saab. Both are a joy to work on, lots of space under the hood, everything fits together in a logical manner, and the fuel injection and many other accessories are similar or identical. Both are well known to run 250-300k+ miles without major problems as well.

The ragtop thing definitly depends on climate amoung other things, here in Western WA I can't understand why anyone would want one, it's raining and/or cold probably 80% of the time I'm in a car. Perhaps in a warmer dryer area there would be more appeal, though given a choice between a hard steel shell or a flap of fabric protecting me in the event of a serious accident the choice is obvious for me.

requirements, is

Did they offer a turbo that wasn't a 4 cyl?

I remember that one of the early V-6 engines (2.5L maybe?) had the asymmetrical turbocharging setup, so yes.

Dave

Only 32 miles one way, but I am 6'8" '87 Saab 9000T auto, Looking for a '94 up CS turbo without a sunroof (headroom) and 5spd John H.

requirements, is

I have a Classic 900 and a Volvo 245. The old design rear wheel drive Volvo is very easy to maintain and lasts "forever". My 245 is a 1982 and I still use like a pickup truck - it keeps on truckin' with the heavy duty springs :-) The Classic 900 is a great design. It has great visibility with the big curved windshield and the bottom hatch edge does not have a lip. This is great for us "older" Saab drivers who want to protect their backs by sliding heavy loads instead of lifting them over a lip - like the NG900.

Back to the OP. The model was listed as 99 900 S Turbo. This is a good car, not a great car, in my opinion. It has the a flat windshield with big front pillars which block your view - if compared to a Classic. But Classics are getting hard to find and the NG900 body is no better or worse than most other current cars in terms of visibility. If I had to chose between a NG900 and a Camry, I would take the NG900. I would trade off reliabilty, better gas mileage, and lower maintenance cost for the better handling and ride. I drove a Camry and NG900 for while when I was looking for a nice Classic 900. I prefer a Classic 900, which is what I eventually found :-)