Hello everyone, i was just wondering i bought a saab 900 s 2.5 v6 for $2500, there's a part of me that i regret buying the car cos i don't really know much about saab?! can anyone (who owns saab 900 s 2.5 v6) give me an advice or an opinion about this car if it's a good car, or problems you had with the car etc etc. I would love to hear your feedback :)!
thank you
It is not a good car, and will give you problems that are more expensive to fix than the purchase price. I would highly recommend shifting that car onto someone else ASAP. My friend bought a convertible Saab turbo and the thing was the most unreliable piece car I have ever seen, ended up costing him tens of thousands till the engine imploded one day, never to be started again.
Hello everyone, i was just wondering i bought a saab 900 s 2.5 v6 for $2500,
I have an 88 900 Aero Turbo in my collection. Manufactured prior to SAAB being taken over. Very quick, very reliable. In your case you picked the wrong donk. The 2.5 V6 is high maintenance and similar to the Vectra and Leganza V6. If you are going to buy a SAAB you need to look for a 4 Cylinder Supercharged or Turbo Variant. You then have to either know cars or have deep pockets.
This being the case I feel you should sell this vehicle to the next unsuspecting sucker.
The 2.0 turbo is much better. The 2.5 V6 isn't great. 2.0 litre turbo manual is the best Saab engine/trans combo, followed by 2.3 litre.
Saabs are actually better cars than most people give them credit for, and there's some excellent support forums out there (such as SaabCentral).
Good luck!
Thanks guys. Really appreciate. Oh well, guess i have to sell that sucker to someone :P!
You only paid 2500 for it I would just run it until it stops
The 2.0 turbo is much better. The 2.5 V6 isn't great. 2.0 litre turbo manual is the best Saab engine/trans combo, followed by 2.3 litre.
This.
The 2.5 is suss in terms of reliability; it's not a guaranteed failure, but in the 2.5 Vectras (same car, different body) have a tendency to give up on life and shit their pistons out at highway speed.
The 2.0 ecotec is a good motor.
Just keep it. For $2500 it a cheap. If it runs for a year that is less depreciation then most new cars would of accumulated. Most Saabs are extremely comfortable for what they are. Just drive it into the ground.
Most Saabs are extremely comfortable for what they are. Just drive it into the ground.
Up untill GM took over the ship, irrelevant of the value of any vehicle one should be aware that a reliable roadworthy condition should be attained. I used to be lenient with oil burning shit boxes polluting the atmosphere. Now, I take a pic and report the vehicle to the EPA. The OP should be confident that his vehicle is roadworthy and meets emission standards prior to driving.
Thanks guys. Really appreciate. Oh well, guess i have to sell that sucker to someone :P!
Nah, just keep running it until it stops. Then part it out, and use the proceeds to go buy a 2.0 turbo or 2.3 (the Saab 'H' series). These things just keep going, the only thing that will stop a 2.0 or 2.3 Saab 'H' Series engine is the DI cassette fitted to later turbo 900s and early 9-3s. Any Saab enthusiast site will give you all you need to know to work around this achilles heel – it's all in spark plug gaps and keeping a spare DI cassette in the boot in case your car dies suddenly.
I have a 1995 900S with a 2.3 and manual trans. Not as much fun as a 2.0 turbo but it cuts through country k's like a hot knife through butter. When I eventually kill it, I'll be looking to replace it with a 2.0 turbo (and yes, I'll keep a spare DI cassette on me at all times! :P)
Good luck!
Hey OP,
Unfortunately you've gotten yourself a bit of a black sheep of the Saab family. As an owner of a '86 900 Aero which I do use as a daily drive, and an ex-owner of a '93 (pre-GM) non-turbo, and then a '96 (post-GM) non-turbo 900, you've sort of ended up with the worst Saab you could buy.
Obviously, personal experience plays a part in everyone's story, but I do feel I can comment with more legitimacy than most on Saabs. They are actually very nice cars, but the one you've gone and got yourself is probably going to cause you nothing but problems. One of the best thing about saabs, particually 900's, is that up until 1993 ('94 for convertibles) the engines were BULLETPROOF (current '86 turbo's original engine, still had no head work, with a turbo that was replaced at 150k) is about to tick over to 500,000 and it does not drive like it, my car can still smoke most at the lights. Im guessing your car is probably made in the '95-98 region which is unfortunately the worst age you could have purchased – GM had just taken over and decided to cram a bunch of shithouse GM parts in the thing to cut costs. Suffice to say it did not go well and the cars are rife with problems. Post '98-00 Saabs begun to improve again but sadly never got back to their former glory.
If the experience hasn't put you off saabs entirely, or you find yourself with a bit of a soft spot for the car, check out an earlier model 900 (one of the ones that looks more boxy... and less shit). They're very nice motoring and there are great communities out there (the previously mentioned saabcentral for one).
Obviously, personal experience plays a part in everyone's story, but I do feel I can comment with more legitimacy than most on Saabs.
If you reckon this is the case I would hardly call the 8 Valve mechanical injected 2 litre a powerplant to cream over. The hot air valve was a massive issue with constant carbon build up in the throttle body and electrical faults to boot. The 8V variants where shitboxes and all saab enthusiasts agree. OTOH the 16V was a pearler of a motor and light years ahead of the 8V.
My fave was the 1976 99 built like a brick dunny and that very responsive 1988 powerplant in its injected format was excellent. I regret selling that vehicle but I was running low on storage space.
Hi liajr85 – The Saab 900 s 2.5 v6 is a good car and you got it at a good price. I have a LOT of experience with Saabs (and most other cars). The late 900s and 9.3's sedans have a good practical body with a lot of internal room, they are modern and comfortable and handle and brake well. The 2.5 engine is powerful and economical when in tune & all is running right. This engine needs to have its timing belt and pulleys changed when its due and it will get well over 250K otherwise it will result in major damage (like most other modern motors). A common problem is the plastic cam cover (rocker) boxes which distort and leak oil over the engine and down the spark plug tubes. You fix this by getting metal cam covers from a slightly later Holden Vectra as these ones dont leak. The gearbox (auto) is a good japanese one too.
I also own a 2 litre classic 900 (1990) which I have had for many years but there is no comparison really as these feel prehistoric compared to the later models. The larger 2.3 4 cyl models blew headgaskets as they weren't assembled properly from new and the turbo models in the 9.5s are all sludgeing up inside the motors.
Parts from Saab dealers are stupidly expensive, so you get the same parts (for the V6) from Holden dealers and/or wreckers.
All in all – if you got a good car to start with,and your not stupid with it, you should get a good safe comfortable run out of it. Not bad for $2.5K
If you reckon this is the case I would hardly call the 8 Valve mechanical injected 2 litre a powerplant to cream over. The hot air valve was a massive issue with constant carbon build up in the throttle body and electrical faults to boot. The 8V variants where shitboxes and all saab enthusiasts agree. OTOH the 16V was a pearler of a motor and light years ahead of the 8V.
I've got the 16v oil cooled turbo in my '86 ;) One hell of an engine. I always planned on putting one of the newer water cooled turbos in once this one finally goes, but (probably largely because of my turbo timer) the damn thing refuses to die.
Never actually driven the 8V's so I'm not going to comment on their reliability / performance, but I can imagine they don't have the finesse of their bigger brothers.
Also, Joe Strummer, from your post I'm inferring you had an '88 engine in your old 99? Did you do the conversion yourself?
Hi zelric, thanks for your help =)! I've done my research on the car & i've learned it's important to change the timing belt on time =/! Still unsure when should i change the timing belt? i'm a bit confused cos my husband says every 60km i got to change the timing belt but i thought its every 30km ?
i'm a bit confused cos my husband says every 60km i got to change the timing belt but i thought its every 30km ?
9 Changes of a timing belt on one drive from Canberra to Sydney sounds like too much (even on a Saab).
Hi zelric, thanks for your help =)! I've done my research on the car & i've learned it's important to change the timing belt on time =/! Still unsure when should i change the timing belt? i'm a bit confused cos my husband says every 60km i got to change the timing belt but i thought its every 30km ?
Liajr85,
With the V6 engine in your car it is VERY important you get your timing belt changed on time. I have never looked with particular detail into your specific model/year (never interested by a Saab V6), but from what I understand, the engine CAN be a reliable and powerful engine as long as you get the timing belt changed every 30,000 miles. The timing system was poorly designed, as as such belts wear out much earlier than they should, and a belt slipping off basically = dead car. From what I understand, it was an issue with the tensioner, rather than the belt itself, that caused this.
Again, I'm happy to be corrected on this, but I believe the Saab service schedule was originally 60,000 miles, and after many issues it was lowered to 30,000 miles. Regardless of what the service schedule says, if I owned your car I would definitely be getting the belt done every 30,000. At least it's not a chain!
There are fans of the V6 models out there, just make sure you do those timing changed or you'll end up with serious damage to your engine!
Some good reading for you :
http://www.thesaabsite.com/9
GM engines have a bad habit of eating timing belts. Just ask anyone that failed to get the timing belt on an Astra changed in time ...
I'd be inclined to change the belt every 40,000km to be on the safe side. At least the old school Saab 4 cylinders are chain driven, that's one less thing to worry about.
Hi liajr85. Can I just clarify the V6 "Timing Belt" issue. In fact its NOT the actual belt that is the problem – its the pulleys that the belt runs on (and then the belt turns the camshafts). These pulleys have nothing to lubricate them and the bearings in them eventually run dry and put a huge strain on the timing belt which stretches.
This is exactly the same setup as in many expensive cars – Ferrari included.
Sometimes workshops/customers just replace the belt & not the pulleys as these are quite expensive compared with the actual belt. But this is extreme false economy. This is probably why there is confusion on WHEN to do this job, as its harder to work out when a pulley's bearing is going to fail compared to a modern well engineered belt. see:
http://www.thesaabsite.com/9
On a 2nd/3rd hand car you should try and establish when the last replacement was done & WHAT was replaced (belt & pulleys?), and decide what to do from then on. Sometimes there are stickers on the car, maybe in the engine bay, which say when this job was last done.
I suggest you try and contact the SAAB service department -if they still exist! – and give them your car's VIN details and see what they can tell you from their records. Independent workshops and car yards do this all the time.
Otherwise can you find the previous owner and ask them who serviced the car and in turn ask them? I usually dont trust the person who sold the car to you to be knowledgeable &/or honest enough to give you correct information.
If you think the car is worth it and you feel like you want to keep it, you could could just get this job done, and for peace of mind replace belt and pulleys. For an experienced workshop its very easy job using a few simple 'special' tools. Even a Lube Mobile guy in a van could do it. If you can get non-Saab-priced parts (holden) and a fair workshop it should not cost more than – just a guess – $700 ???
Once again – I emphasise that this is not a saab specific issue, but common to many well regarded cars of the era.
PS: just noticed that you can get a V6 timing KIT from Ebay (Australia) for about $380 = rip off!! And from US for about $200
PPS: After all is replaced, I would not think about doing it again for AT LEAST 50K Ks