Sadly, Saab the car maker went bust a few years ago. Older 'proper' Saab's are quite cult cars here. Set me up in a properly sorted 900 Aero convertible and I'd be a very happy chap.
Standard engine, The Saab 9-3 1.8t Convertible Vectra is a 2 door convertible/cabriolet-bodied car with a front located engine powering the front wheels. Its 4 cylinder, double overhead camshaft turbocharged engine has 4 valves per cylinder and a displacement of 2 litres. It provides power and torque figures of 148 bhp (150 PS/110 kW) at 5500 rpm and 240 Nm (177 lbft/24.5 kgm) at 2000-3500 rpm respectively. A 5 speed manual gearbox transfers the power to the driven wheels. Maximum speed quoted is 205 km/h or 127 mph, officially quoted fuel consumption figures are 11.7/6.7/8.6 l/100km urban/extra-urban/combined, and carbon dioxide emissions are 206.0 g/km. My Turbo was remapped to give about 160 bhp and on the speedo in Germany she clocked 145 mph which probably was 136mph. This is a better shot of
I bought her for my wife from this Saab dealer in Wrexham, she rarely left the garage 8 months of the year. Hence even with the drive here she only has 61,000 miles on the clock. http://www.saab-higheroak.co.uk/
I have owned a few Miatas (Mazda MX-5 in Yurrip). I bought one that was eight years old, and had 24,000 miles on it. It was like a new eight-year-old car. I saw it on a Chevy dealer's lot, and went in to check it out. The salesman told me it was already technically sold to a young guy. But, that buyer needed financing, and getting financing on an eight-year-old car is really hard. So, being older, and having money in the bank, I wrote the dealer a check for the car, handed it to the salesman, and told him to call me if the other guy's deal didn't go through. I left the office, and before I could get to my work truck, the salesman came running out and told me the car was mine. I felt a little bad for the kid, but not enough to keep me awake at night with that car in my garage.
I got home from work and told the wife I bought a car on my way home. She was a bit shocked, but when she first saw it, she was very happy. She loved riding with me in that car, which never left the garage in the rain. The only time it got wet was when I washed it.
CD
GM brought the Commodore to the US, first as the Pontiac G8. Pontiac went out of business. Then, as the Chevy SS. I never actually saw one of those in person. Nobody bought them. They were too expensive for a Chevrolet sedan. They were more expensive than a loaded Audi A4 or BMW 3-Series, and priced about the same as GM's own Cadillac CTS-V, which had a supercharged Corvette engine. Exporting Australian cars to the US just hasn't worked out.I have that Ve commodore in a wagon, wife drives XR8 falcon AU series III. Both red.
Russ
