98 Convertable for £1500

[Speed addicted]

I've been offered a 98 convertable for £1500, it's the 2.3 auto with leather, 115K miles and no air con. Judging from the pictures I've seen it looks like it's in decent condition. The car is about 180 miles away so I thought I'd get opinions before viewing.

Firstly, is this cheap? (sounds cheap to me!)
Would the lack of air con make the car unselable later on?
I'm thinking about getting it for a laugh, running it for a while or so then seeing how I feel about keeping it. If I decide to sell at the end of summer would it be hard to shift?

Having emailed the guy he's said there is an issue with the hood alignment where the hood sometimes wont set properly without pushing down a small flap. It sounds to me that this would be an adjustment item, I take it that it's a total money pit if there is something major wrong?

Other than that he's reporting no problems, but a fairly comprehensve viewing would obviously be carried out.

Cheers

[Prof Beard]

It sounds very cheap indeed. The 2.3 non-turbo (I assume this is a 9-3 and not a late 900?) is one of the least desirable versions though and no air con doesn't help either. Have a look on Autotrader and you will see what I mean.

Hood faults come in all sizes of cost - so beware...

[Speed addicted]

It's a late 900, the guy is emegrating and needs to sell it quickly so he's knocked £500 off the price.

I'm a bit put off by no air-con, but there may be room to haggle on the price further (he will be desperate next week!!) and I don't intend to sell my X5 so it would be a toy for summer.

[Prof Beard]

The 900s are not as good as the 9-3s in my view (but that is NOT say they are bad - my wife's 900S 5-door did 220,000 miles). The 2.3 900 is not a fast car. There is a 900 buyer's guide here:

http://www.saabcentral.com/techhelp/gm900_93/NG900...

[John D9395]

I have a 95 estate, AC is essential when it gets hot.

I also have a 93 rag top, hardly use the AC, as when it is warm enough (generally anything above 15 deg C), the roof is always down.

The main use for the AC is when raining, ie you wouldn't want the roof down, and as July has proved, it can be hot and rain!

At that price it is probably worth putting up with, however, that said, it may still put off a prospective buyer when you come to move the car on!

[Rags]

No point buying it just because its cheap when you will be sweating like a we on crack at every drive!

[BAHN-STORMA]

AC was a fairly rare option on 900's - not standard on any convertibles.

[Prof Beard]

BAHN-STORMA said:

AC was a fairly rare option on 900's - not standard on any convertibles.

Whilst "rare" is stretching the point a bit, of some 150 GM900 convertibles on Autotrader only around 35 or so seem to have air con

[K321]

dont buy the car. auto can break and is costly to fix
most importantly, you say that the guy emailed you to say the hood alignment needs tweaking and sometimes you have to push down a small flap. i would walk right away, the same thing happened to my cab and it cost 1500 quid to fix only for it to break again a year later, and its crap having to drive a cabriolet when its hot but with this years weather it should be fine!

edited to add, there are about 5 saab cabs for 1500 quid on autotrader, air con doesnt matter on the cabriolet as there is a switch in the centre to put all 4 windows down on one touch and with the wind noise there is surprising lack of wind noise, i cruised down motorway at night with all 4 windows down if i wanted some fresh air (when the roof broke)

Edited by K321 on Tuesday 5th August 22:17

[BAHN-STORMA]

If you can get it for a grand or less it's worth a punt!