Anyone have any experience with a Saab 9-3?

[vadeit]

I have an opportunity to get a 04 Saab 9-3 sedan for a pretty good deal. It is on lease now until August. The guy will give me almost enough cash to cover the remaining payments. The buyout at the end of the lease is $17,000. He wants to get rid of the lease becuase he found a 06 9-3 Aero that he wants. Warranty lasts till August this year. I have searched the net and come across their common problems, which this car has had already and had them fixed under warranty.

I am leaning towards buying it but what I am looking for is anyone who has owned this generation of 93, their experiences, opinions, etc.

[Mitsu3000gt]

So you can buy it for $17,000? Not sure I quite understand.

Anyways, the 9-3 is a pretty nice car, it's definitely a little different. The turbo 4cyl they use are extremely smooth and well done, but there is definitely something to be desired in the power department. That said, I don't know how important that is to you. With a little more info I think we can help you more, but in the end it doesn't matter what we think as long as you really like the car.

[vadeit]

Sorry if I was unclear. There are 5 remaining lease payments of $630 each, for a total of $3150 remaining on the lease. He will give me $3000 to take the lease over, which ends in August. So, it will cost me $150 out of pocket for lease payments. When the lease comes to term in August the buyout option on the car is $17,000 or it can be refinaced or it can be given back to the dealer. I thought $17K was decent since the current market value for the car seems to be about $22-24000. If I was to do this I would probably buy the car at the end of the lease term.

I drove the car last Sat. for a few mins. Didn't get a chance to drive it hard, but it seemed decent. Power isn't that big of a concern, handling is farther up the list for me.

The jist is, I like the car, but this is the only guy I know that has ever owned or driven a Saab and he loves them. Therefore I was looking for a broader range of opinions on 9-3s.

[Slashin_]

seems kinda iffy if hes willing to pay you to take the car

[aznexec]

I've got an 04 Aero ...I've only had it for ~7000km's, so still relatively new to me.. however, i like it and have had no issues with it.

The only thing I don't like is having to pay more for premium/higher octane gas and fully synthetic oil/hengst filters for change(used to drive a 92 accord)...but it's worth it in the end....

Either way, just remember that everything will cost more to fix..even routine maintenance $$$... with 9-3's, expecially 2003 model there were a lot of lemons. 2004 should be good, butI would check the history of repairs to make sure that there have not been many other repairs other then the recalls.

Before you buy, you should get a carproof and make sure there are no other liens on it...

As for performance, if you want more power you can get a ppc Nordic to push your hp from 175->210..for aeros from 210->245..

[ninspeed]

Check to see how the lease company is. There may be a fee for changing owners on the lease.

As for the car, great cars as long as you keep up the maintence.

[Mixalot27]

According to what you said if you get it off him for $150 and get to drive it till august I don't think you can really go wrong. I mean if you don't like it don't buy it out and you've still had a nice car to drive for 5 months for only $150. And if you do like it you can then buy it. sounds like a win win situation to me, basically like a 5 month test drive. Am I missing something? Why would this guy want to do this, what does he gain? He's doing it to get it off his name so he can get credit for the new car, is that the deal?

edit: If you decide not to do this have your buddy pm me, I have someone who will take it forsure. Shit I might take it myself.

[vadeit]

To answer ninspeed, GMAC charges $450 to change the name on the lease. I am trying to get him to pay for that.

For Mixalot, he found an 06 9-3 Aero that he wants. That is why he wants to get out of this lease.

The car I am looking at has a large service due soon. The current owner is supposed to check with his dealership to see what this service entails. As long as it is not something crazy like +$1000 I will most likely take the car.

If I don't take it I will pass the contact info along to you Mixalot.