# Let's welcome our Saab friends. GM shuts down Saab



## bikenski (Jun 16, 2002)

330ximd said:


> I ALWAYS get cut off by a SAAB driver in Boston. My colleagues and I have discussed the phenomenon to such length, that we compile a daily list of cars that cut us off, and 95% are SAABS.


The drivers are likely trying to get out of your way, but the infamous Saab turbo lag makes them dawdle for a few extra seconds before rocketing off. 

J/K - I'm actually a big Saab fan (pre-GM)


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## dalekressin (Sep 3, 2008)

I travelled for a week throughout Switzerland in September in an 06 Saab Turbo. Very comfortable ride and hit ~123 mph with lots of power to spare with reasonable handling too. Not a BMW# but not bad.


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## jmsent (Sep 26, 2006)

I had 1 Saab, a pre-GM 1985 900 Turbo. It was truly one of the worst cars I ever owned. Coming from Hondas, things that I took for granted like decent fit and finish, mechanical reliability, no rattles and squeaks, a decent shifter, were totally alien to Saab. I felt like I was driving a car that was designed 15 years earlier, which basically it was. Clearly, Saab didn't have the money even then to keep up with the progression of rest of the industry, and without a partner, would have been gone by the mid 90's. The GM based cars were a huge improvement over the old ones in terms of build quality and reliability, but they lost much of their character in the process. In the end, few people will have problems finding suitable alternatives, and Saab will be just another in a long list of defunct car companies.


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## thebmw (Oct 19, 2006)

captainaudio said:


> I met Victor Muller (founder of Spyker Cars) a few weeks ago. He is a very interesting man and is passionate about automobiles. It is a shame the deal did not go through.
> 
> CA


Off the topics, but where/how did you meet him?


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## captainaudio (Jul 17, 2007)

thebmw said:


> Off the topics, but where/how did you meet him?


He did a presentation about Spyker Cars to the Madison Ave. Sports Car Driving and Chowder Society last Autumn. We meet for lunch at Sardi's Restaurant In New York on the first Tuesday of every month.

There was a Spyker parked outside the restaurant on 45th Street.

It attracted a huge amount of attention.

CA


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## the328 (Apr 2, 2009)

thebmw said:


> Off the topics, but where/how did you meet him?


They wash their cars together


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## FCBayernFTW (Oct 10, 2005)

Oh OH! That was sarcasm, I get it....

:bustingup

As a kid I never gave them a 2nd look nothing about them made me want one. IMHO Garbage.



captainaudio said:


> +1
> 
> Now that the Super Rich are all driving 3 Series BMWs there is no longer a need for Saab.
> 
> CA


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## DSXMachina (Dec 20, 2007)

captainaudio said:


> +1
> 
> Now that the *Super Rich are all driving 3 Series *BMWs there is no longer a need for Saab.
> 
> CA


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## ///MyLittlePony (May 22, 2008)

At a mall today, there was one of their maligned SUV's on sale for 24K from a local garage, from a sticker price of 44K... wow! The sedans were dropped ~7K (31 to 24)


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## AndyC (Aug 16, 2009)

I'm sorry to see Saab go. They had interesting cars and a fairly small but strong following. Nothing good really comes from their passing. When I was a kid in the late 60's a neighbor had an old Saab and a Volvo that were much more interesting cars than the Buick and Oldsmobile that my parents owned.. RIP Saab.


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## ///MyLittlePony (May 22, 2008)

Saab used to be somewhere between a Volvo and an Audi/BMW in the UK. That was when the Scandinavians built cars like the Viking longships that you could pillage small villages with.


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## thebmw (Oct 19, 2006)

captainaudio said:


> He did a presentation about Spyker Cars to the Madison Ave. Sports Car Driving and Chowder Society last Autumn. We meet for lunch at Sardi's Restaurant In New York on the first Tuesday of every month.
> 
> There was a Spyker parked outside the restaurant on 45th Street.
> 
> ...


Lucky bastard:angel:


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## dhstadt (Apr 14, 2008)

Had an '82 900. One of the last of the SAAB drivers cars before the yuppies discovered them had all kinds of junk added to them. Extremely reliable, great handling, solid as a rock and great fuel mileage for the time. They did have a tendency to rust around the wheel wells. 

GM strikes again. Sure wish they had been allowed to fail and go away.


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## energetik9 (Sep 9, 2008)

Had a friend who had a 93, chipped and with some suspension and exhaust upgrades. He used to brag that it was the last of the "good" Saab's. That is, before GM took over. I drove it a few times and it was pretty impressive. I never really could get past the console mounted ignition.


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## bmw325 (Dec 19, 2001)

My fiancee's mom stil has a 92 900. Despite having plenty of money, she still says that there's nothing new that she'd rather have. It's still a great looking car.


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## happypanda (Jul 13, 2009)

Its sad, I really like the new body style on the 9-3 and the 9-5. These truly seemed like enthusiast cars since all could be had with a turbo, I test drove an 9-3 Aero before buying my M-3 and it was a blast. R.I.P.

Kinda makes you wonder what GM is doing since all of their sell offs of their brands are going sour first Saturn and now SAAB.


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## AndyC (Aug 16, 2009)

happypanda said:


> Kinda makes you wonder what GM is doing since all of their sell offs of their brands are going sour first Saturn and now SAAB.


What the "big three" have been doing for the last several decades is an embarrassment. While Ford has had a few minor successes, and individual vehicles can be lauded, in general they have simply not responded to the world around them.


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## Bethesda E39 (Sep 23, 2008)

My stepfather bought a new 2007 9-5 for something like $12,000 below invoice in '08, and was proud of the "deal" he got....at the time. He now regrets not buying that BMW 3-series....
RIP Saab. 
Fcuk you, GM.


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## DSXMachina (Dec 20, 2007)

energetik9 said:


> Had a friend who had a 93, chipped and with some suspension and exhaust upgrades. He used to brag that it was the last of the "good" Saab's. That is, before GM took over. I drove it a few times and it was pretty impressive. * I never really could get past the console mounted ignition*.


Makes more sense to me than what Porsche does.


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## ///MyLittlePony (May 22, 2008)

DSXMachina said:


> Makes more sense to me than what Porsche does.


The legend is that it is from racing so you can start your car with your left hand while selecting a gear with your right. I thought in a performance hot-bed like southern New Hampshire, these things would be known?


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## AndyC (Aug 16, 2009)

xrated335 said:


> The legend is that it is from racing so you can start your car with your left hand while selecting a gear with your right. I thought in a performance hot-bed like southern New Hampshire, these things would be known?


+1 A leftover from the old LeMans style race start where the drivers run to the cars, jump in and start... I used that technique leaving work yesterday for holiday break! :rofl:


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## DSXMachina (Dec 20, 2007)

xrated335 said:


> The legend is that it is from racing so you can start your car with your left hand while selecting a gear with your right. _I thought in a performance hot-bed like southern New Hampshire, these things would be known_?


While we may be lore-lacking here in snowy southern NH, we are not lacking in common sense. Let me do some quick Prof Cook type calculations to see how it comes out. Hmmm, assuming maybe 100 LeMans starts times 50 cars = 5000 starts. In the real world 10 million starts for half a million cars = 5 trillion starts. Ja! Let's put the ignition on the LeMans start side! Makes sense to you does it Xr?


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## alpinweiss (Sep 13, 2009)

I have never owned a SAAB, although I have seriously considered purchasing one twice. I have also worked on a few of them.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I almost bought a SAAB 9-3. She liked the car. It had a turbocharger and manual transmission, which is a combination that works well here in the Rocky Mountain region. The interior was nicely trimmed and well laid-out. We ended up buying a VW Passat (turbo and manual), which ironically owes some of its turbo technology to SAAB.

Interestingly, I had misgivings about SAAB (GM) financially even at the time of our Passat purchase. We would have definitely leased the SAAB if we had gone that direction.

SAAB was an interesting car. It provided choice and variety for drivers. We will miss them on our roads. May they Rest In Peace. 

SAAB owners: welcome to BMW!

:drive:


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## SARAFIL (Feb 19, 2003)

DSXMachina said:


> While we may be lore-lacking here in snowy southern NH, we are not lacking in common sense. Let me do some quick Prof Cook type calculations to see how it comes out. Hmmm, assuming maybe 100 LeMans starts times 50 cars = 5000 starts. In the real world 10 million starts for half a million cars = 5 trillion starts. Ja! Let's put the ignition on the LeMans start side! Makes sense to you does it Xr?


It's a heritage thing...


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## ///MyLittlePony (May 22, 2008)

DSXMachina said:


> While we may be lore-lacking here in snowy southern NH, we are not lacking in common sense. Let me do some quick Prof Cook type calculations to see how it comes out. Hmmm, assuming maybe 100 LeMans starts times 50 cars = 5000 starts. In the real world 10 million starts for half a million cars = 5 trillion starts. Ja! Let's put the ignition on the LeMans start side! Makes sense to you does it Xr?


If we are going to get onto what makes sense, this is gonna be a long frikkin' thread...maybe as long as the 335d one. That's probably something to do with gas mileage for a diesel.


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## KentW (Aug 1, 2005)

It ain't over til the fat lady sings. Spyker is back with a final bid...

http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/20/autos/saab_gm_spyker_offer/index.htm


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## DSXMachina (Dec 20, 2007)

KentW said:


> It ain't over til the fat lady sings. Spyker is back with a final bid...
> 
> http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/20/autos/saab_gm_spyker_offer/index.htm


I don't see how this is going to work. It's going to take a huge amount of capital just to fund day to day operations, let alone investment in the future. Vendors are going to want cash in advance for tooling, and parts are going to be delivered COD. The only entity which could come up with any legitimate reason to shore up Saab is the Swedish government and they have repeatedly said no.
Any investor in their right mind would steer clear of Saab, that leaves only the Chinese who might take a chance on a dying brand. Chinese investors, flush with vaults full of Sam Walton greenbacks, could see a way to produce the car in China and sell it internally, though the ChiComs (now ChiCaps?) don't seem overly protective of their automobile market. Could it sell in competition with Buicks, Geelys and TATAs? Maybe if the labor content is reduced 80% and that just might be do-able. 
My bet is Spyker passes and the Chinese buy the tooling for pennies on the dollar at the fire sale. If Spyker pulls off the purchase I will truly believe there are no sane people left in the Western World.


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## captainaudio (Jul 17, 2007)

DSXMachina said:


> I don't see how this is going to work. It's going to take a huge amount of capital just to fund day to day operations, let alone investment in the future. Vendors are going to want cash in advance for tooling, and parts are going to be delivered COD. The only entity which could come up with any legitimate reason to shore up Saab is the Swedish government and they have repeatedly said no.
> Any investor in their right mind would steer clear of Saab, that leaves only the Chinese who might take a chance on a dying brand. Chinese investors, flush with vaults full of Sam Walton greenbacks, could see a way to produce the car in China and sell it internally, though the ChiComs (now ChiCaps?) don't seem overly protective of their automobile market. Could it sell in competition with Buicks, Geelys and TATAs? Maybe if the labor content is reduced 80% and that just might be do-able.
> My bet is Spyker passes and the Chinese buy the tooling for pennies on the dollar at the fire sale. If Spyker pulls off the purchase I will truly believe there are no sane people left in the Western World.


Don't underestimate Victor Muller. He is a very shrewd businessman.

CA


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## minicrazy592 (Sep 12, 2008)

I wanted a Saab for the longest time. In fact I had my heart set on a 9-3 Aero for a number of years. I don't know why, but there was something about them I liked. I would go to the Houston auto show and sit in one for hours playing with all of the buttons, etc. Last year's auto show I went and sat in the new 9-3 Aero. That was when I realized I no longer wanted a Saab. It lacked the quality and feel that I had loved so much in the previous 9-3s I sat in. Basically it was GM'ed to death. It was horrible. I really wish the best for Saab. I hope this redo deal works, I want them to stick around and go back the way they use to be.


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## e.biemold (Jul 11, 2003)

captainaudio said:


> I met Victor Muller (founder of Spyker Cars) a few weeks ago. He is a very interesting man and is passionate about automobiles. It is a shame the deal did not go through.
> 
> CA


According to the newspapers here Spyker is still trying to buy Saab.


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## wbbaz (Nov 24, 2009)

*Saabs demise*

I have owned 8 in my life time. Fantastic cars; a little quirky, but loveable. My last was a 92 9000. I got out of them when GM got involved. I knew it wouldn't be good. Lets see.....
Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Saturn. How about Buick, please,please!!!

97 328IC, 2000 Tundra 4X4, BMW K-100, Yamaha 400 WR

BB


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## mujjuman (Feb 2, 2009)

that sucks.


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## drewski (Nov 30, 2009)

after >25years as a tow operator i've driven a saab or two and was impressed after the countless number i've towed - there owners all had SOB stories .You deserve an upgrade try a BEEMER!


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## Coconutpete (Feb 7, 2008)

My brother in law has a 93 - nice car. I knew it was downhill for Saab the first time I saw the "Saab Equinox" though ..........


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