I once was in love with my '01 saab 9-3 hatchback. It was fun to drive,got good mileage and had zip. At 54,000 miles everything is going wrong- suspension brackets and engine bracets snapped, battery died, traction microchip fried, now check engine light on. I’ve spent more than book value on repairs - Should I walk away or wait for a skull and crossbones indicator?
NEVER fall in love with a car. Any car.
It’s hard to believe the car is worn out at only 54K miles. Of course the battery died, the car is 8 years old. That doesn’t count.
What are all these “brackets” that are broken, and what is causing the CEL to be on. The CEL is sometimes triggered by minor things that are not expensive to repair.
Well, not on some cars anyway. On a Saab, who knows?
Are all of these ailments current, or have some of them been repaired?
All but the check engine light - the microchip was removed and sent to Bose or Bosch(spelling?) $1,000 vs new chip which would have added $2000, brackets were another $1,500 - battery I replaced myself (ok I won’t count that) I forgot to mention the drivers window that fell into the door because of cracked brackets, the local Saab dealer has closed so I have to go to a German car repair guy who shakes his head and says “Saab bad” everytime I take it in.
You need a Swedish mechanic, or an independent Saab specialist.
I’m not a Saab fan, and would never buy one, but some people really like them and wouldn’t be caught dead in anything. I guess the question is, “How much (as in $$$$$) do you love it?”
Im thinking about getting a Toyota - My friends all have over 100,000 miles on their Toyotas and they haven’t spent even half as much to keep them up. I think I will really miss how well the Saab hugs the curves and has quick pick up and despite it’s small size, holds alot of stuff.
Since there’s not much info provided as to the cause of these failures, I will only say that I don’t understand for one minute all of these items “cracking apart” to put it bluntly unless road surfaces and the “zip” had something to do with it.
Excellent point- in the past four years, my town has dug up the street where I live no less than three separate times - once for water, twice for sewers. It felt like a combat zone - I’ll bet that just took its toll on the brackets.
If handling is what you like, look at the Acura TSX or TL. You might not be too happy with a Toyota…
I live in an outlying area and the county commissioner for this district has pretty much disappeared off the face of the Earth.
The road out of town started out about 5 years ago as a 1/2 mile washboard. Over the last 5 years that 1/2 mile became 1, then 2 miles, then 3 miles, and the washboard is now going on 4 miles in length.
There’s no way to even avoid it anymore; the entire stretch is rough on both sides and it literally beats a vehicle to death. Suspension components, interior trim, etc.; it all falls apart.
I’ve gotten to the point where I generally take another route into town in an attempt to avoid the main road even though it’s longer and has a lower speed limit.
It could be worse. In an adjoining district the county commissioner there had 8 miles of 2 lane highway ground up for resurfacing and then left it as is. It was close to 10 years before they even started to resurface it and now 15 years after the original chopping they still haven’t asphalted all of it.
How do you use this car? With 54,000 miles after 8 years, you aren’t commuting long distances on a daily basis. Do you use this car for vacation trips?
There is a statistical distribution concerning failures over a period of time. Casualty insurance companies use this distribution. You may have a rather high number of claims over a short period of time and then go for longer periods without a claim. The same applies to unrelated auto repairs. You are at a point where several unrelated things need attention. With these repairs, the car may go quite a while until the next repair.
If the car fits your needs, the repairs may be worthwhile.