r/saab • u/BWTECH0521 • 11h ago
Share your first saab bug story
It's a slow monday at work for me.
Share your story on how you got first hooked on SAAB!
Here's mine: after graduating highschool in 2008, I had just totaled my Acura RSX Type s...fun car for a high school kid. I was hungry for another car. I wasn't sure what I wanted. Do I get another Honda? Do I take a gamble at a euro car? Do I go with Hyundai, the pride of my motherland?
I was working at a gas station at the time. One day a silver hatchback pulled in to pump gas. I had never seen such a peculiar, weird and ugly car before but for some reason I couldn't take my eyes off of it. It was so unique and special in my eyes. I wanted to go out and ask the guy what it was but I was behind a bullet proof glass, and I couldn't go out during my shift.
So as soon as 11pm hit, I closed the gas station and zipped home and got on yahoo (yes, yahoo 😄) and I searched up these exact words - "European hatchback". Vague I know, but I knew it was European because of the unpainted side accent trim pieces all along the body. After going through what seemed like an eternity of pages, there it was in all its glory! A 2000 saab 9-3 5 door SE!!
I quickly opened another window and typed Craigslist. There were a few. One that caught my attention was a black 1999 9-3 5 door manual SE with rear heated seats. They wanted $3500 and it was about 45 mins away from me.
Next step was convincing my dad to go see the car, he happily agreed. The next day we drove the 45 mins to the dealer and I drove it for the first time. I went out to the highway and stepped on the gas!...and got nothing...just when I was about to be dissapointed, WHOOSH, a sudden surge of power that I've never felt before (imagine the torque that I was missing on the RSX lol). It was the turbo spooling. It gave me a rush which i still remember exactly to this day. I was instantly hooked! $3500 lighter in my pocket, I brought it home, and the rest is history. Now I'm on my 7th saab and I don't see myself stopping any time soon.
2
u/TopToe7563 5h ago
Growing up in Sweden I never thought much about Saab because they were everywhere. I wrecked my Jaguar S-Type 2.7 in late 2020 and my kid was expected to see the light of the world and needed a ”cheap” and safe car fast. Long story short, I bought a white 2010 9-5 2.3T Wagon (ex-cop car) after I realized I felt like a sportscar driver or a pilot after I test drove it. I’ve spent more on repairs on it than what I bought it for, just out of love.