1986 Saab 900 User Reviews

Fantastic Car, But Showing Its Age. —

I owned my 1986 Saab 900 over ten years ago, so the mists of time may have romanticized the ownership experience. Even so, I must admit in all truthfulness the 1986 Saab 900 was a wonderful car: characterful, safe, enormously practical, economical and dependable. Its worst aspect was acceleration, or lack thereof. The old 8-valve non-turbo wasn't excruciatingly slow, but it certainly wasn't any ball of fire. Even with the 5-speed manual transmission, anywhere you went was a leisurely drive. The automatic would have been even worse! Braking was decent, as I remember. ABS wasn't available, at least not on non-turbo Saab 900s in 1986, so skill and judgment are necessary to prevent skids. The parking brake acted on the front wheels, a really odd feature that was discontinued in 1987 or '88. The interior is cavernous; Fold down the back seat and anyone 6 feet or less can sleep comfortably on the completely flat cargo floor! These things are built like tanks. The sheetmetal is thick, and if you whack the roof with your fist, you'll hurt your hand before you leave a dent. The doors have a heavy feel, and even on base models like mine, the quality of materials and workmanship is impressive. Saab people are weird, though. You can get sucked into owners' clubs, and things can get weird quickly there. Seriously, though, many Saab people are a little fanatical and exclusive. Mention you like BMWs or Audis and you might find yourself disinvited to the Christmas soiree. That said, quite a few wonderful people are in Saab clubs, and if you keep your mouth shut about wanting a Mini Cooper or VW GTI, you'll have a blast. Problem Areas: These 900s are more resistant to rust than most mid-80s cars, but the newest "classic" 900s are about 17 years old. Rust is a problem at the bottom inside of the front doors, in the fenders, and pinch weld joints at the bottom of the rocker panels. Rust is difficult to repair on 900s because the front fenders are welded on; very few parts just bolt on these cars. Manual transmissions are known to be weak. I never had trouble, but it does occur. Some higher-mileage 900s exhibit final-drive pinion whine, which can be quite expensive to put right. Higher mileage 900s with front-parking brakes can suffer the dreaded Saab "caliper clunk" when applying the brakes while moving backwards. It's merely a problem of annoyance; nothing serious is affected, but it is nevertheless a little embarrassing and annoying.

Primary Use: Commuting to work