Saab 900 Turbo for a bag? Shome mishtake shureley?

[EssDeeWon]

That's nice Vantman - I take it you looked around before buying that? What is sensible money for a 1989-1992 Saab 900 classic 2 door in fair nick with some test??

[Barry Cade]

Gah- I sold my fully sorted black 3 door whale tail flat front leathered T16S with genuine SAAB extra instruments for 400 quid. When did these things get sought after?

 

Ended up scrapping my 900i 'cos nobody wanted it too. 8 months test, couple of months tax and couldn't get 200 quid for it. Pre Autoshite days tho.

[Inspector Morose]

Doesn't seem a million years ago I bought a '86 900 turbo auto five door in metallic blue and grot from the auctions for..........£75 (I think it was about 1998 actually. Time flies, doesn't it?)

[EssDeeWon]

Yes i looked for a long time,mainly due to the fact i can now only drive automatics. Depending on your requirements you could probably get one for £1200-£1500. I paid more than that but with only 15,000 miles,one owner,history and a years MOT and tax i expected to.

 

Thanks that is helpful, I have seen a nice genuine 1990 Aero LPT with 104k advertised but its abit more than I am prepared to pay.

[Barry Cade]

http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/1990-h-saab-900-s-16v-light-pressure-turbo-5-door-white-auto-96761-genuine-miles-900s-saab900/1059539234#photo-content

[Spiny Norman]

As said the worst areas for serious (IE tricky/expensive to fix) grot are the driveshaft tunnels and under the boot floor.. Bodywise they often go round the wheelarches under the plastic strips, along the edges of the bonnet and the inner door bottoms.

I think the LPT is the pick of the bunch, decent power, lots of low down torque but they don't shred the gearboxes. Mine had 150k on it when I sold it and the original box was fine.

If you've never driven one before, be prepared for quite an odd feeling sensation at first, the driving position is quite offset and the view out is strange through that curved screen. Great cars though, I'd recommend one.
£1000 will get you a decent standard S or SE LPT.

£950 would have bought mine last January.

[Spiny Norman]

Sound but scruffy N/A model with a short MOT on the Saab forum for £500.

http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=138991

[forddeliveryboy]

I bought this one last week,16 valve,non turbo,automatic,so it will drink too much fuel and it cost a lot more than a bag. Who cares,it has only done 15,000 miles!

900i 003.jpg

900i 001.jpg

 

Yep, good cars - fundamentally a 99 with longer nose and tail with a posher dash. So the wheelbase is quite short, making it nimble. There were many minor improvements as time went by. Mine was a two tone grey T16 - they made them for a short while in this colour scheme to mark the new engine.

 

Loved it to bits, far better than a 124 in many ways for the UK (and as well made and thought-through), usually managed 30mpg overall including silliness. Very fast in the old school way. Weird mix of imperial and metric nuts and bolts. Tougher than tough, but not perfect. People always grumbled about the gearchange - I accepted it and got on with the driving. Lots of unusual, good noises - triplex chain drive from the crank to the gears, for eg.

 

It was the pre-APC (arrived 1982) turbos which came in with a bang, after that the electronics made them more normal. 16v lpts are the most economical, potentially. 8v turbos will be bargains, no doubt. Unless you're covering mega-miles then I'd plump for a 8v turbo rather than a 16v lpt. More choice, cheaper and a little simpler.

 

 

[jonathan_dyane]

I absolutely love mine, it's quite marvellous to drive and as well as obviously going fast I love the handling particularly in adverse conditions.

 

Mine's an 8 valve which I'm quite satisfied with (and was fairly relieved when I had to do the OMGHG, but it's fairly juicy; I've never seen 30mpg but I guess that's how I drive it...

[Spiny Norman]

They are also TREMENDOUS cars in adverse weather, as has been pointed out on the 'Wet motorway car' thread elsewhere.

Their front heavy, (relatively) narrow tyred design combined with good aerodynamics for an old bus means it tracks straight and true in gale force winds and in pissing rain. I also managed to get mine up an icy hill on its normal road tyres that defeated a 4x4 Mitsubishi Wanker, although I maintain that was more down to the driver than the car.

 

And yes, the heater can fry bacon for your sandwiches....

[Mr_Bo11ox]

The first Fatha_bo11ox_in_law used to live on a hill farm in Alston, cumbria with a horrible rough steep rocky drive that he used to have to tow trailers full of sheep etc up. He swore by these 900's for years and wouldnt use anything else, not interested in a 4wd at all.

[bub2006]

I don't know why but to me these cars have always looked small. Are they small inside too? I have always liked the 900 though. Some really smart cars here.

[The Moog]

Compared to modern cars they are. Inside they can be a bit tight if you are well upholstered although it has a massive bonnet the engine is longitudinal so takes up the space. Easy to do clutches though

[Spiny Norman]

They're not huge inside as they have a short wheelbase with massive overhangs, but in typical 70s car style you sit quite upright in them so the illusion is of a reasonable amount of space, lengthways/heightways at least, if not side-to-side. The boot in the hatch is huge though.

[Bobthebeard]

Yep, good cars - fundamentally a 99 with longer nose and tail with a posher dash. So the wheelbase is quite short, making it nimble. There were many minor improvements as time went by. Mine was a two tone grey T16 - they made them for a short while in this colour scheme to mark the new engine.

 

Loved it to bits, far better than a 124 in many ways for the UK (and as well made and thought-through), usually managed 30mpg overall including silliness. Very fast in the old school way. Weird mix of imperial and metric nuts and bolts. Tougher than tough, but not perfect. People always grumbled about the gearchange - I accepted it and got on with the driving. Lots of unusual, good noises - triplex chain drive from the crank to the gears, for eg.

 

It was the pre-APC (arrived 1982) turbos which came in with a bang, after that the electronics made them more normal. 16v lpts are the most economical, potentially. 8v turbos will be bargains, no doubt. Unless you're covering mega-miles then I'd plump for a 8v turbo rather than a 16v lpt. More choice, cheaper and a little simpler.

 

52.PNG

 

Oh stoppit!

Having sworn to keep my chod collection to a maximum of three I now want a fourth! Begone demons.

[bub2006]

It must be my conception of size,just thought they looked slightly larger than escort size. To say they was a family car in the day and compare it to say a Volvo 240,sd1 or granada

[HMC]

They are quite narrow by modern standards, a legacy of being essentially being based on a lengthened version of a 60s bodyshell. I always found them great for that reason in city traffic and manouvering about.

[The Moog]

They also had very slim pillars and curved screen which always made the car feel more airy

[forddeliveryboy]

I absolutely love mine, it's quite marvellous to drive and as well as obviously going fast I love the handling particularly in adverse conditions.

 

Mine's an 8 valve which I'm quite satisfied with (and was fairly relieved when I had to do the OMGHG, but it's fairly juicy; I've never seen 30mpg but I guess that's how I drive it...

 

Yes, everyone says the 16 valve engines are a good bit more efficient - very clean exhausts too apparently, for the era. I actually prefer the older ones, they sound more in keeping with the rest of the car. Would like a pre-APC turbo for the OMGLAAAAGBANG

 

 

I don't know why but to me these cars have always looked small. Are they small inside too? I have always liked the 900 though. Some really smart cars here.

 

They feel compact but you never feel squeezed at all. Very old-fashioned, different algorithms were used back in the sixties to maximise space. As people have said, the screen has a huge curve to it which alters the layout. Absolutely fantastic on longer journeys due to all sorts of refinements which only become evident after thousands of miles in all conditions. Much more suited to UK conditions than anything German or French. Scots adored them - you still see a few further up in daily use.

 

Terrible axle tramp in dry conditions if you try and spin the wheels from standstill has a flip side - a bewildering ability to set off up hills on snow and ice, when all others slither backwards. No accident, I'd say - and the engineers were wise enough to ignore the more childish journos who wanted to light the tyres up at T-junctions.

 

The ergonomics make a W124 feel as if it was designed in the 50s.

[Richard]

I don't think any of the extra length of the 900 went in the cabin. You can change the clutch without removing the radiator and work on the timing chain with the engine in situ though, neither of which you can do in a 99. You can have PAS in a right hooker too, another thing the 900 has over the 99. I still prefer the 99 though.