Saabless for 7 months

[nuclear944]

Hello all,

still alive here- hope you remember me. I left Denver, Colorado as of may 2012 and have since relocated back to my hometown in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Arrived to find this '93 clio as the main car:


Sold it and bought this '99 Ford KA (genuine go-cart):




And took this low mile 2000 2.0 mondeo out of storage:




While both of these cars are well designed and handle well, there is always something missing when I drive them. Nothing matches the build quality and the precision of a Saab 900.
When I signed into the ford forums I was expecting the same assistance and level of expertise as the Saab forums, but I received no help whatsoever.

I've been looking through every single automobile site in the country, but pre GM saabs simply are not being sold here. A trip to Germany is in the near future, where I'll try to get ahold of a t16S.

I miss the 900 and the saab crowd in general. Once you go Saab, you never go back.

Some memories:

[nordwulf]

Good to see you back here. Even though I have never been to Bulgaria, I imagine it must be quite a change from Denver. I also visited a few other car forums myself when I had my Mercedes, I still prefer the Saab forums as well. (one of the reason automobileworld.org seemed like a good idea) I guess i'll be stuck with a Saab for a while, even though other brands are tempting.

I have driven a Ka a few times before. While it is a pretty decent car to drive, it feels like the rear bumper is right behind the front seats! Wouldn't want to be rear-ended in one of those. I also had a Mondeo like yours (Contour in the US). It was a good car to drive but interior quality was pretty poor. It definitely doesn't compare to a Saab.

Good luck with your search for a Saab. I didn't see many in Germany this week so I imagine they also must be a bit difficult to find there.

[rpiereck]

If you come by Germany give me a holler, I live 35 miles west of Nuremberg. I don't know how much time you'll have for searching for a C900 here in Germany but if time is short you'd be better off buying from a SAAB shop. A good one is Heuschmid, they're pretty famous as far as the SAAB community here goes, and they always have C900s and 9000s for Homepage

If you'd settle for a very nice running, rust free, 8v, 1987 C900, I might be selling mine :/

[nuclear944]

Good to see you back here. Even though I have never been to Bulgaria, I imagine it must be quite a change from Denver. I also visited a few other car forums myself when I had my Mercedes, I still prefer the Saab forums as well. (one of the reason automobileworld.org seemed like a good idea) I guess i'll be stuck with a Saab for a while, even though other brands are tempting.

I have driven a Ka a few times before. While it is a pretty decent car to drive, it feels like the rear bumper is right behind the front seats! Wouldn't want to be rear-ended in one of those. I also had a Mondeo like yours (Contour in the US). It was a good car to drive but interior quality was pretty poor. It definitely doesn't compare to a Saab.

Yeah I really like the KA's handling, its even better as it has lowered suspension. Really no understeer whatsoever. So tossable! Plus it gets well over 4l/100km..
Wonderful design, way too cheaply built though, I had to redo the entire interior.

I'm pretty happy with the mondeo, in the 8,000 kilometers i've driven it (mostly autobahn), I've had no issues of any kind. Pretty fast, too, with the 2 liter zetec.
Also handles very well. Its probably ford's most refined car.

If you come by Germany give me a holler, I live 35 miles west of Nuremberg. I don't know how much time you'll have for searching for a C900 here in Germany but if time is short you'd be better off buying from a SAAB shop. A good one is Heuschmid, they're pretty famous as far as the SAAB community here goes, and they always have C900s and 9000s for Homepage

If you'd settle for a very nice running, rust free, 8v, 1987 C900, I might be selling mine :/

Will do, I've been browsing through mobile.de and autoscout24.eu - plenty of aeros out there..
Thanks for the offer, but I'm interested in a t16 with leather interior and plastic clutter. Although if you let it go for cheap, I might consider picking it up and adding all the aero stuff separately... Rust free is music to my ears.

Some additional photos of Bulgaria (me in the upper far left):



These are from a trip to an amazing mountain range in SW Bulgaria called "Pirin". 10 days at 10,000 feet and frequent trips to 13k peaks!




And from the "Rhodopi" mountains;









Just a preview...enjoy

[rpiereck]

Well, cheap is relative. I will be asking around 1500 Euro for the car, with two sets of wheels (Ronal "minilites" and US-market Turbo wheels), plus I am installing new engine mounts, ball joints and front brakes. An Aero will cost you at least 2500 Euro with some rust.

You mention Plovdiv, and I remember I have a friend from there, his last name is Baychev. Do you by any chance know his family? He's a young guy, low 20s.