SAAB pricing

[Concordia]

Thinking about replacing a dying second car with a used Saab. There are a ton of used 2004s out there with low mileage, and the depreciation seems fiercest in year 1.

Queries: am I missing something? I.e., are these all sales by factory execs or the impatient, or are there a lot of lemons being passed around?

Also, what seems to be wiggle room on these prices? Already attractive enough to look at, but the 05s are being discounted fiercely, and there's no sense paying too much.

And I hate haggling, which is why I'm asking here and not getting the dealer's face right away.

 

[RJman]

Don't do it.  Saab is dead -- GM fired the dedicated Saab design staff in Sweden last year.  It is now (and has been for the last few years) just rebadged Opels and Subarus with commensurate markups.  Seriously.

 

[whnay.]

I drove one when the new models came out and was not impressed, good cup holder but **** engine and uncomfortable back seat. Try a used Audi.

 

[oscarthewild]

I have had three saabs, 1980 900 (RIP), a 1987 900 that I just donated to charity and my current 1993 900 that I use for around a hundred miles a day. Overall excellent cars if a little quirky. My wife has a volvo 850 turbo which has a great engine and transmission but on a anything but a newly paved, straight road, I would take the saab over the volvo. Just amazing balance of road feel, handling and front wheel drive. I drove a camry for a while and its like going from a nicely selected, colorful tie collection at Louis Boston to plain vanilla. Man, I am not dead yet, I need some sensations. Now to your newer car dreams. You can get great deals on 1 year old and even brand spanking 9-5s. (I would avoid the 9-3 and get an audi instead if you are looking for something small.) See if you can get your hands on an Aero. The other thing is that Saab certification is good till 100K miles and six years. http://www.saabnet.com/ has some very knowledgable people on it. Look at the 9-5 bulliten boards for current prices, common problems and cheaper ways to fix them. By the way, the 1980 gave up its life to save mine.

 

[jekv12]

Not sure which model you are looking at: 9-3, 9-5 or maybe the 9-2. I had a '99 9-5 which gave it up to save me (in a head-on battle with the other Swedish car...and replaced it with a '01 9-5 dealer car with 5k miles on it...in general Saabs don't do well in resale value. The 9-5 is ostensibly the last "true" Saab design (though real saabophiles still cry out for the hatchback): it was complete in 97 or 98, and brought here in '99. It has the clamshell bonnet, the lines carrying over into the doors at the rear view mirrors, etc. At the time, Saab was 49% owned by GM, so yes, there are some GM-isms there too. But hey, besides the rear seats folding down, the rear seat cushions flip UP, so you can get a completely flat loading area if needed. The 9-3 hatch, hmm, maybe that's also a true saab design, again because it was done in the late 90's. I believe the new 9-3 (ie no hatchback) started the platform sharing with other GM models. The chassis here is the Epsilon and it provides the basis for the (hold on...) Chevy Malibu. Some models of the Malibu have a hatch, go figure. I've had several as loaners, and are OK cars, but they wouldn't be on my short list. The 9-2 is a rebadged Subaru WRX, with some additional sound deadening material. I've been in one, not my kind of ride. There's a 9-7 coming up, a rebadged GM SUV... I put on 50Kmi on the first 9-5 and have 67K on this one. I get about 24MPG in city/mixed and 32-34MPG on highway driving. The recent 9-5s are decent cars, and coming as late as they are in their lifecycle, fairly well sorted out. Concur with oscarthewild, saabnet.com is a great resource, and there are classifieds there too. If you do go for a 9-5, I'd stay with the 4cyl turbo - that's what Saab is good at. They had an asymmetrically turbocharged V-6 which if memory serves, didn't work out that well - at least that's a question for the Saab board. If you go the Aero route, make certain you're comfortable with torque steer when you really get on the throttle... Finally, FWIW, my friend who has a body shop says in his experience the 5 safest cars, in terms of crash-worthiness are: Mercedes Benz, BMW, Saab, Volvo, Audi. The order varies from year to year and model to model, but they are the top 5.

 

[Concordia]

Thanks for input, all. Considering the 9-5, for reasons cited.

Aero is a really nice piece of driving machinery, but is VERY stiff and transmits lots of road noise. So it's the Arc. Those are reputedly better in snow, anyway. If I cared more about driving, I might choose differently.

 

[kabert]

My brother recently traded a '99 or 00 Saab 9-5 in order to get an Audi A4. He loved the 9-5, but the miles were getting close to 100K, so he thought it was time to cut her loose.

I agree on the new Saabs. Saab is now part of General Motors, more than ever. They are made with lots of GM parts, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but ... it's not the same Saab that used to exist. I don't really trust Saab anymore either, now that it's owned by GM. Same with Suburu for that matter -- have any of you seen the new Subie SUV?? - it is nothing but a rebadged Chevy (whatever the Chevy Blazer replacement is called now-- Freestyle or something).

 

[Concordia]

Word that I've heard is not so hot for the SUV. 9-3 OK but a tad small for my needs.

In my book, the 9-2 being a rebadged Subaru is no bad thing, as I've always had a generally good opinion of Subaru. But it seems that when the last 9-5s roll off the line that the company will have lost a lot of its character.

Update on pricing: the model I've been looking at (which would be 34.5 new, with the GM employee discount) seems to be available used near here with less than 10K miles. Price just lowered 1K from where it's been sitting for months AND they have certified it, which buys an extra two years of warranty, plus free money from the finance company. So I might have a car by the end of the week.

 

[matadorpoeta]

i have nothing to add to this conversation other than that i'm a big saab fan who's never owned one. when i was a kid i lusted after the mid '80s 900 turbos and the 9000.

 

[Concordia]

Hands were shaken, and $500 put on plastic. An '04 Arc 9-5 sedan w/ vented seats, certified, for a shade less than $29K. Original MSRP was a little over $39.

There was probably some room to press, but it was exactly what I wanted and there weren't any substitutes for some distance. And the certification, between the extra warranty and more or less free financing, effectively takes off another $2-3K from the price. All told, about a $6-7K savings over the cost of a new, very discounted car. I can live with that, especially as the sales guy was not at all unpleasant to deal with.

 

[retronotmetro]

I agree on the new Saabs.  Saab is now part of General Motors, more than ever.  They are made with lots of GM parts, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but ... it's not the same Saab that used to exist.  I don't really trust Saab anymore either, now that it's owned by GM.  Same with Suburu for that matter -- have any of you seen the new Subie SUV?? - it is nothing but a rebadged Chevy (whatever the Chevy Blazer replacement is called now-- Freestyle or something).

IIRC, GM only owns about 20% of Fuji Heavy Industries. Last I read, the Subaru B9/Tribeca is actually built on a stretched Legacy platform, which is not a GM design. I actually kind of like the new Legacy.

 

[kabert]

Quote:

(kabert @ June 21 2005,13:00) I agree on the new Saabs. Â Saab is now part of General Motors, more than ever. Â They are made with lots of GM parts, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but ... it's not the same Saab that used to exist. Â I don't really trust Saab anymore either, now that it's owned by GM. Â Same with Suburu for that matter -- have any of you seen the new Subie SUV?? - it is nothing but a rebadged Chevy (whatever the Chevy Blazer replacement is called now-- Freestyle or something).
IIRC, GM only owns about 20% of Fuji Heavy Industries. Â Last I read, the Subaru B9/Tribeca is actually built on a stretched Legacy platform, which is not a GM design. Â I actually kind of like the new Legacy.
You're right -- what I was thinking of is the new Saab SUV. Here's a quote from a press release about it: "The [Saab] 9-7X marks a major milestone in the relationship between Saab and GM. To be built in Moraine, Ohio, on the same underpinnings as GM's midsize Chevy Trailblazer and GMC Envoy, the 9-7X will be the first Saab produced in the United States." Here's an article: http://www.detnews.com/2004/autosins...b01-115243.htm

 

[jekv12]

Sounds like a nice deal, congrats. If you want to squeeze a little more you could try to get a couple of items from the saab catalog thrown in - rear window shade (installed, of course), rubber trunk mat, whatever. saabcatalog.com

 

[Concordia]

Damn-- didn't think of that. Now I'll probably spend the $100 on the window shade and kick myself for it-- which is really dumb, considering the cost of the whole enterprise.