Considering 2005 Saab 9 -3

[skeptical]

Test drive a Saab for the first time and I loved it! It has 161k miles but a very clean and thorough CarFax. The dealer is a small local place that specializes is European cars and is a big advocate for Saab. Asking price is $4k and it is much nicer than any other car at that price.

Everyone is telling me not to do it, but I'm very tempted. I do have service stations nearby that can help me so that's not an issue. But how often will I need to be in the shop and how much week each trip cost me? This is a third car for a family with a third driver and I only expect to use the car for 1-2 years. Anything beyond that is bonus.

[Dave T]

I had a 2005 9-3. I spent less that $75 in repairs for the entire time I had it until 2013. The disclaimer is that I did need rear brake pads but that is a wear item, not a repair.

If the car is in decent shape, it will last more than 1-2 years. I had a 1999 Saab 9-3 with 160k miles from 2013-2015 and it was fine.

That car may be your last chance to experience a Saab. If you can get the 2005 car for $3,000, you may break even after 2 years. If you can keep the car from 161k miles to 200k miles, that might be 40k miles and you can sell the car for $2000. So $2000 for 40k miles (plus repairs) and 4 years is cheap. Just make sure the car is not able to be scrapped. Saabs are cheap compared to the car you are getting. Try getting a 2005 Audi or BMW 3 series and the price will be much higher.

[Xbooow59]

I actually just got a 05 9-3, 4K is a little steep (I way over paid for mine, but it's got 62k miles. Here's some things to check!
1. Oil
2 trans fluid(green handle passenger side front of engine, kinda hard to see)
3 check the ac and make sure it doesn't leak
4 power steering pump (they fail often and leak oil into the reservoir. Check fluid to be clean and look for a pool of fluid on right hand side of engine, there's a small dimple that tends to collect the fluid) the pump is on the right side of the engine it runs off the cam shaft.
5 check for steering pull. My front right rotor sticks
6 give some spirited driving and make sure it doesn't throw a code.
7 I would have a compression test done, or do one with the dealer. Very easy to do. My results were 130-135 after crank (they peaked at 150-155)

Last thing, with the windows down and using the manual mode get to about 45/50, enough to build boost and third gear and listen to how the turbo sounds. Mine either has a turbo going bad or an exhaust leak. Good to find before you buy lol also, make sure they were running premium gas or as close to 90 as possible. It's built to run on at least 90

Also, I expect these are good for around 200k, and I've been getting as good as 36mpg high way, and about 22 city, so mogs kinda suck. These are very safe and generally very reliable cars. They usually go big when they go bad. Are the people telling you not to do it people who have owned Saabs? Do they all drive BMW's?