SOTW: Saab Conv
Be a Sloane Ranger on the cheap...
You can be the most stylish cheapskate in town
Well, in some way it may not be as silly as it sounds because you can get a bit of a bargain, drive round cursing your purchase and then sell it on for a profit next spring. Maybe.
By the time this 900 came along everyone knew they were re-bodied Vauxhalls with awful handling and more than a hint of badge-engineering.
Gone was the quirky, offbeat Swedish engineering that had kept legions of fans from the days of the blast-me-off-the-road early turbo models.
In was basically a Cavalier/Vectra in drag that had dodgy handling and awful residuals.
However, standing slightly away, almost embarrassed of its ugly siblings, always stood the 900 cabrio.
If the saloons were just about shifting out of the showrooms into the hands of school teachers who thought they were too ‘individual’ for a Mondeo, the cabrio didn’t look out of place in Monte Carlo.
The 900 Convertible was driven by people who said ‘yah’ and ‘ra, ra, ra’ a lot and went for lunch at the tennis club.
The small window in the back seemed to add to the sexiness and you had a vehicle that not only moved a notch up from its tin top brother but into a whole different social circle.
It seemed that those who drove the cabrio to their King’s Road eateries were not concerned by trivial things such as chronic scuttle-shake or woeful handling.
The bigger engined models had too much torque steer but this would matter little on the cruise to the polo club.
The only problem facing those who bought one would be whether to get it in a conservative blue or black, or go for the garish yellow.
The Saab up-sides were there though, including good reliability and the ability to cover monster mileage.
The cabrios seemed to hold their value far better than the hatchbacks ever could too.
Not so this 1995 900 2.3 SE we found on Autotrader, because it could be yours for a measly grand.
It’s the later model in a desirable black, with alloys and leather.
There’s tax and MOT, electric windows, power steering and central locking too.
It does say it needs ‘light bodywork’ but that must be round the other side because it looks pretty good in the pic.
So join the croquet club, call your kids Tarquin and Rupert, and go get it…
Ad says: SAAB 900 2.3 SE Convertible
M reg. 2drs,5spd, Convertible, Black, Alloys, CL, leather, EW, PAS. light bodywork needed hence only. tax & mot. £1,000. p/x to clear.
as to reliability, mine borke down on the day i bought it, picked it up from the garage and it broke down again, a different problem this time, all in all i bought the car for 6K and spent 6k in the local saab specialists! im sure i kept him in business for that 1 year.
the things that went wrong
window ratchet the teeth broke off
one of the pulley cams broke
thermostat went
DI cartridge melted (HT Leads)
Gearbox lost 2nd and 3rd gear
Heater broke
the roof started to catch on the box lid so wouldnt go down properly
new electronic ignition
the ECU had to be replaced as sometimes it wouldn't start
air conditionning needed re-gassing once a week
rear interior light would randomly fall out
pixels on the disply would randomly dissapear
all of this mixed with the fact that the handeling was horrendus and you could watch the dash board bend up and down if you went over a cobble stone, the seats were flat and leather, so if you went round a coner a bit too fast you would fall off them!!
all in all i think it about £999 too much, i'd rather buy James May's austin princess!
The original had a north-south engine layout and well-located rear suspension and handled brilliantly. Saab was (and is) in financial difficulties when the NG900 was launched and did the obvious thing which was to plunder GM's parts bin. That meant that almost no parts were carried over from the old model, including enthusiastic owners...
The later 9-3 was a vast improvement but even that needed help to handle anything over the base model's 115 or so BHP (Bear in mind that Saab was a pioneer of turbocharging and 9-3's had up to 250BHP).
Having said all of the above, the NG900 and 9-3 held the position of best-selling convertible in the UK for many years and for a grand this is probably a good buy.
And don't worry about the mileage - my old 900 T16S had 246,000 miles on it when I sold it...
Excellent shed IMO just not for racing. Best fanny magnet for £1k around. Seems very cheap though, even with scratches, flood damaged? What are the rules for declaring if it is flood damaged and/or insurance claimed? Any tricks for spotting 'em? (aside from ring line on carpet)
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