In the Uk you could probably sue them in court for supplying 'goods not fit for the purpose'. You'd need an supporting engineer's report to establish it wasn't abuse but I'm sure you'd win. So sure, it's unlikely it would ever come to court here.
Graham
Sad story, especially for a longterm customer! My sympathies FWIW.
Just a thought, does the owner's manual give you any escalation options like contacts beyond the reg mgr that you could bump something up to? It just struck me that a letter to a higher power, accompanied by copies of the service histories for your previous Saabs, might at least prove your credentials and probable sincerity.
Like someone else said, oh for the days of demented trolls building stock at Trollhatten and the Valtab plant. In 1984 IIRC, we had a pretty large accident with a 77 99GL hatch. No bonnet (oops - hood to you) in stock, so rather than take the easy (and legal) option of sourcing a second hand one, it was airfreighted from Sweden to Oz in under a week with free shipping. No wonder they went broke but talk about customer service! Cheers and good luck
Its because its more opel than saab now...... I have a -95 9000 with
310000 km on the clock. And it has never been opened, nor repaired only serviced. Now thats a carI also have a '94 9k CSE with 150k on the clock that I upgraded to stage 3 performance and redid suspension somewhat (adjustable Keonigs, urathane bushings) the I love that car, but the car is starting to feel it's age and the peripheral crap (blower motor, door locks, SRS system) is starting to nickel and dime me to death. The engine and tranny are great.
Fast and lots of room. It's a true wolf in sheep's clothing. I like to say it Hauls Ass and with the seats down it'll haul just about anything else.
Craig
Everything here does carry an "implied warranty of merchantability" meaning that if you buy a car, it should be expected to perform the job. Whether or not you could wrangle this repair to establish that it did not meet the warranty... I don't know. It's not common to see that tact used here. If a lot of cars fail in the same way, then a lawyer will start a class action suit and eventually the company will settle out of court.
Gm has always had a "deny everything" policy. Looks like it's finally being applied at Saab.
A clutch is clearly a 'wear item' but then so is an engine. Neither should last only
7,000 mi !Graham
Pretty typical story for Saab after the GM takeover. They always had quirks, but the basic stuff -- engine, transmission, clutch -- would last forever. Now they are mass market junk, along with the rest of the crap GM makes. Any wonder they are hemorrhaging?
I had a similar experience back in '94 when I bought one of the first GM-made 900's. Crap. I did make them buy it back by invoking the lemon law in my state, and then I bought a 9000, which I drive until this year. Sold it and bought a BMW. Very different car, but (like Saab used to be), an independent and quality-conscious European auto maker.
It's really too bad about Saab. All that is left is the grill, the Griffin badge, and the ignition in the console. What GM does not realize is that treating a loyal Saab client like crap will doom Saab. They don't get it.
Bill
My 1993 9000 CSE 135,000 miles runs quiet and smooth as ever. No squeaks or rattles. That old 2.0 LPT engine must be a very good design. Why should I buy a new car? And which one?
If ever it needs replacing, then Skoda Octavia 200bhp is quite a cool car for the money. Never thought I would say that.
You are not alone - I had the same story with my 02 Viggen - in less then 20k miles the clutch was gone and no response from the saab/GM. Same price ~$2k. I am also a stick driver for more then 30 years. If this was not enough at 55k miles the balancing chain broke and demolished timing cover and oil pump - dealer cost ~$8k. No response from saab/GM. In the same year (2005) saab released bulletin on oil sludge in all saab engines that may lead to early replacement of timing and balancing chains that suppose to last the engine lifetime. I think we will hear stories in this group about total engine damage if the timing chains start going south. I think there was one already...
BTW - my other car is volvo/Ford V70T5 - not much better there - clutch gone at 120k miles. I end up pulling the engines from both cars myself and doing major repairs to avoid dealer bills to the tune of $5-10k.
cheers
-Peter
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