New car to replace Saturn

[qwikz28]

With 115k hard earned miles, I traded in my Saturn today. Sure, it needed some love, but it was far from dying. I simply got a deal I couldn't pass up. It's a brand new 2011 Saab 9-3 with awd. No warranty, obviously, but got the car for a song. I've been driving 600-700 miles per week with new job, so this came at a great time. I had a day off of school, walked into the dealer, got a quote, two days later, got a job offer, my parents told me to go back and get the car. That was exactly two weeks ago.

Going to miss that Saturn. The car was amazingly good to me and had great memories in it. It took me to college, and all but the remainder of this semester of grad school. It has towed my toys, hauled couches and other freight, and still ran a 15.8 quarter mile at 88mph. I couldn't even look at him when I pulled out of the dealer. I had named him Theo, by the way.

[BullittSVT]

Parking merchandise on a fire zone

Congrats on the new buy, that car has a nice rear

[S.J.SLEEPER]

confused as why you would buy a Saab.... isnt that company having issues or outa business besides the cost for maintence & parts.

[qwikz28]

Originally Posted by S.J.SLEEPER

confused as why you would buy a Saab.... isnt that company having issues or outa business besides the cost for maintence & parts.

We've owned a Saab before. They are great cars. The company went out of business already, which is why I got the good deal. Parts abound, and maintenance costs are quite reasonable from what I gathered. Besides, I've owned a Saturn and a 4th gen, I'm quite familiar with defunct car nameplates.

[V]

Nice score, Good luck with it. I kinda like the taillights of those cars.

and as for the Saturn, I remember when you ran it at Island. We pulled just about everything possible out of it, lol

[Jersey Mike]

Got the chance to meet Theo Huxtable. Nice chap, a little shy, but always allowed in my driveway.
The Saab looks nice though! I've driven a few of them and I like them a lot. Manual car, right?

Originally Posted by qwikz28

I've owned a Saturn and a 4th gen, I'm quite familiar with defunct car nameplates.

[BigAls87Z28]

Wait...did you get the 2.8T XWD 9-3? IF YOU DID, I'M SO COMING UP FOR A RIDE!

[maroman88]

deffinatly a car u dont see often, and i also like the lighting, front and rear

[sweetbmxrider]

I just gotta ask, why? I really hope the aftermarket supports them because currently parts aren't available. Looking into the future, I think it might be a tough resale too. Hope it works out on your behalf though and it is a clean looking car. Best of luck!

[qwikz28]

Mike- Don't judge me, it's an auto. Daily driver is gotta be an auto. But thanks for the good words about the Saturn. Like my buddy said, that car certainly paid it's dues. I am very hard on my cars.

Al- No aero, but I did get the XWD. I just couldn't justify the added cost for a daily. I didn't know the non-aeros didn't get the rear LSD until yesterday, which was almost a deal breaker. The car will get a tune by the end of this year, though, that is for sure. Coilovers shortly after that. Haven't pushed it yet, but I can feel the car can boogey in the turns. It's piss slow with the 2.0 and the awd. It's the Cobalt SS motor, right? It takes the same oil filters from what I've read.

And thanks on the compliments. In regards to parts, Saab Parts is still in business. I'm not worried. They are forced by the Swedish gov't to remain open for ten more years. Also, the car has been around since 03, used parts are everywhere. Servicing the ECU is what concerns me, but I will cross that bridge when I get there. Resale will be tough, but I usually end up driving my cars until they have nominal value anyway, so it doesn't concern me. I have gap insurance as well.

It really isn't a car for everyone, but for what I needed it for, it's great. I drive alot, and need something to last me a few years while I establish a career. I thought about this car alot, and did a ton of research. To give an idea of what I paid for this car, I paid 1k less for this car, than I did for the Saturn in 05, which also had GM incentives at the time. Deal was too good to pass up

[chrisfrom nj]

nice car to replace the saturn with my uncle recently rebuilt the trans in his 04 saturn vue he spent 4 grand the car isnt even worth it

[BonzoHansen]

stop driving on the sidewalk and it will last longer.






lol, nice ride.

[elle]

I actually thought about how cheap someone could buy a Saab for. After reading an article in Motor Trend it seemed they were willing to almost give vehicles away. What did you end up paying and did they offer financing?

[BigAls87Z28]

I know they are giving almost 20k off 9-5's.

Jake, I still want to drive the car.....
It is an Ecotec 2.0t, so yeah it should all be the same stuff as a Cobalt SS, HHR SS, or even the new Regal Turbo and GS.
Chassis stuff is GM's Epsilon 1 platform, but with some tweaks.
Parts aren't really the problem, it just that you will be paying out of pocket for any problems.

[sweetbmxrider]

I guess I was thinking more along the lines of body parts as I was at a body shop the other day and Saab said go ef yourself.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by qwikz28

Mike- Don't judge me, it's an auto. Daily driver is gotta be an auto. But thanks for the good words about the Saturn. Like my buddy said, that car certainly paid it's dues. I am very hard on my cars.

Al- No aero, but I did get the XWD. I just couldn't justify the added cost for a daily. I didn't know the non-aeros didn't get the rear LSD until yesterday, which was almost a deal breaker. The car will get a tune by the end of this year, though, that is for sure. Coilovers shortly after that. Haven't pushed it yet, but I can feel the car can boogey in the turns. It's piss slow with the 2.0 and the awd. It's the Cobalt SS motor, right? It takes the same oil filters from what I've read.

And thanks on the compliments. In regards to parts, Saab Parts is still in business. I'm not worried. They are forced by the Swedish gov't to remain open for ten more years. Also, the car has been around since 03, used parts are everywhere. Servicing the ECU is what concerns me, but I will cross that bridge when I get there. Resale will be tough, but I usually end up driving my cars until they have nominal value anyway, so it doesn't concern me. I have gap insurance as well.

It really isn't a car for everyone, but for what I needed it for, it's great. I drive alot, and need something to last me a few years while I establish a career. I thought about this car alot, and did a ton of research. To give an idea of what I paid for this car, I paid 1k less for this car, than I did for the Saturn in 05, which also had GM incentives at the time. Deal was too good to pass up

If you get a tune via Hirsch (I think that's the name) be sure to get it dyno'd afterward and have the A/F checked. My buddy had a tune added to his 9-5 and it was dangerously lean afterward.

[BonzoHansen]

better yet, it's your DD and repair support is somewhat questionable on it. leave it alone. you have a camaro to mess with.


Adam is right, it's the model/brand specific parts you will run into issues with as time goes on. so don't hit any trees. lol

BTDT with my 2002 Olds Intrigue and it's 3.5 OHC motor - which got only 2-3 mpg less at 75 then my fancy new echotech turbo car. Way to kill a really great V6 GM. I digress, but mechanical support for that engine was spotty.

[BigAls87Z28]

It's spelled Ecotec...

[qwikz28]

Sticker on the car was 37,3k and marked down to 24,2k (I just realized that is 1k more than my saturn, not less, my math was screwy) and financing was through a private bank, and I got 2.9% for 72 months with no penalty to repay early. They gave me 3500 for the Saturn too, which I think is fair.

Al- you are more than welcome to take the car for a spin whenever the next time I see you. I knew it was on the epsilon platform, but I wasn't sure if the 2.0 was the same motor as our old body style 9-3 vert. I'm quite certain that wasn't a gm motor. Either way, the car handles very very well.

It's probably a good idea to keep it stock, although I did order a roof rack for my bicycle already. The OEM one is cheap and I wanted to grab it before it became hard to find. I'd love a tune, but after driving it today and pushing it a bit, it is significantly quicker than I remember from the test drive and I don't feel as urgent about the tune. There are some "stage 1" tunes for a few hundred bucks. It seems like quite a few people on the forum have a tune without issue. We'll see.

Drove it quite a bit today and I absolutely love it. I'm driving up to work tomorrow, which is the town over from Chuck at SSP and then to Monticello, back to work, home, then going out tomorrow night. I'm going to have the car broken in by the end of the weekend!

[sweetbmxrider]

Originally Posted by BigAls87Z28

It's spelled Lameandslow...

Thanks for clearing that up pal!

[Tsar]

Congrats!

Where did you get a job at?

[qwikz28]

Originally Posted by Tsar

Congrats!

Where did you get a job at?

Thanks man. It's a small commercial litigation firm up in Goshen, NY. It's still up in the air whether I will be hired as an attorney after graduation but the way the economy is picking up, I'm working hard to impress them to make me the first choice if they decide to pick up an extra attorney. Meanwhile, I'm loving the experience I'm getting.

By the way, there are jobs out there. You just need to be willing to stick your neck out there and take a job that may not be what you had in mind beforehand if you must. Don't listen to those doomsday people that say no one is getting jobs. You only need one job, you just need to one-up your classmates.

[WayFast84]

I love Saturns and Dislike sabs but that's just a clean car.

Originally Posted by qwikz28

By the way, there are jobs out there. You just need to be willing to stick your neck out there and take a job that may not be what you had in mind beforehand if you must. Don't listen to those doomsday people that say no one is getting jobs. You only need one job, you just need to one-up your classmates.

I've been saying the jobs are out there all along, its the people who have silly degrees or no work experience that expect a 60k job out of school with a bachelors degree that are bitching(talking about recent grads its obviously a hard choice to make $11/hr if you have a family) I disagree with the last statement though. What do you call the last person to graduate medical school? Doctor.

[qwikz28]

Originally Posted by WayFast84

I love Saturns and Dislike sabs but that's just a clean car.

I've been saying the jobs are out there all along, its the people who have silly degrees or no work experience that expect a 60k job out of school with a bachelors degree that are bitching(talking about recent grads its obviously a hard choice to make $11/hr if you have a family) I disagree with the last statement though. What do you call the last person to graduate medical school? Doctor.

This is wildly off-topic, but Vitals and I are both in law school, and grades are everything for recent law grads. Incurring six figures in debt and a miserable three years after undergrad makes it difficult to accept a job at the pay that is offered now. The legal field gets hit harder than most others in a bad economy, and usually is slower to rebound. It is very unique.