Water pump leaked and squeaked.
Rear drivers side central locking didn't lock.
Top hose from the heater blew.
Sunroof would stick, requiring brute force and lots of oil to get it going.
Engine kept going off tune.
Very comfortable car.
Looks good in a menacing way and has road presence.
Handles well in the dry.
The gear box feels like it will last for a million miles, however it's really slow (no flick of the wrist to change gear in this baby) and there is a huge gap between 1st gear (too low) and second gear (too high) which drops you right off the power band. Also 5th gear is too low, if my memory serves me right 80 MPH was about 4000RPM.
Nice engine, not powerful enough for such a big car though.
Trying to get out of a junction on a wet day is a nightmare, this thing will wheel spin, wheel spin, wheel spin and then a bit more wheel spin, needs a LSD.
I completely agree with many of your complaints and compliments of the car with the exception of the lack of handling in the wet. I personally own an ’89 as well, and my car is probably more at home in bad weather than it is in the dry; however, I do have the automatic transmission which may vary the productivity of getting out of a junction, but in my experience, the car has incredible grip in the wet. Perhaps, you should look into purchasing new tires or avoiding greasy intersection.
My point is that the car is well known for its bad weather handling (you simply see dozens of Saabs on the road in the northern United States during the winter). Therefore, there must be sometime of problem of tire traction or driver error (no offense).
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