1993 SAAB 9000 Reviews from Australia and New Zealand

Most defects were known when purchasing; Radiator was blocked, exhaust blowing, worn engine mountings, ABS light came on intermittently, brake discs undersized at front, cruise control inoperative.

Fantastic car; I honestly do not believe that it is possible to go as fast, in as much comfort, so reliably, so safely, and so stylishly, for so little money, in any other vehicle on the road.

The wrap-around leather seats are just astoundingly good, and the Millennium Falcon-style hyperdrive acceleration in second gear is even better.

I was very lucky with my car; it was a one owner from new vehicle with 135000 kms from new in 20 years, with full dealer history.

This is my fourth 9000 Aero, and I will definitely be keeping it.

General scratches on the car typical of a now 17 year old car.

The odd wear (no tear) in the upholstery in the cabin.

Window washer bottle's hose has detached and is in a pretty bad spot to repair.

It is the safest feeling car I've ever driven. Handles extremely well, and sticks to the road like a dream.

It has a pretty poor fuel consumption, but it is a big and heavy car so that's to be expected.

The entire cabin is very nice and comfortable, A/C works exceptionally well.

Apart from the fuel consumption, this car was well ahead of its time.

Gear change is reasonably nice.

The car has never broken down, nor has the engine ever failed to start.

Exhaust pipe Leak. cost: $100

SRS Airbag intermittent contact fault. cost: $400 (for parts only)

Timing chain rattle. cost: don't know, but expensive

Blower motor not working. cost: $20

Sprung an oil leak while not being driven. cost: don't know.

The car drives really well and is very comfortable especially over long distances.

Performance is good, especially for a heavy car with an automatic. However...

I have spent more in repairs in the one month I have owned this 90,000km car than in the entire two years I owned my Honda, which had 230,000km on the clock.

I didn't think about the timing chain rattle when I purchased the car, as it wasn't that loud and I assumed timing chains were generally not an issue, especially on a car with 90,000km. I soon discovered timing chain repairs are not simple and involve head removal. There are also a multitude of parts in the timing chain assembly, so diagnosis is likely to be expensive. Parts are also likely to be expensive. Getting any change out of $2000 would be surprising.

Resetting the airbag warning light after the dashboard needed to come out because someone had put a plug in the wrong socket ($300) lead to discovering the $400 faulty component.

Anything beyond simple general maintenance only appears to be solvable by mechanics trained in repairing SAABs.

Some people appear to have good runs from SAABs, but I would strongly recommend anyone considering a purchase of one of these cars, even low mileage examples, to have it checked out thoroughly by a specialist SAAB mechanic as parts prices are astronomical (e.g. $3700 for an air conditioning computer if it fails). Insure that all engine, electrical and safety (i.e airbags etc) are plugged into a diagnostic computer during this check, as some faults are not easily detected by visual inspection (e.g. airbag issues).

These cars are really nice until something goes wrong with them, and it appears to happen sooner than later.