Quote Originally Posted by cjhutch View Post
I drive an 04 Saab 9-3 as my daily driver. It's a good car and I haven't had any major issues with it. My car is part of the GM base which shares the engine with the Cobalt SS in the Ecotec platform. Parts are not that expensive and I haven't had to do anything more than scheduled maintenance. If she is looking for a Saab in that price range it would definitely be a old gen 9-3 or what Saab enthusiast call the GM 900. I would not buy a Saab with more than 150k miles unless it was owned by an enthusiast and has some kind of service records. The turbos last a long time, but the direct ignition cassettes are usually shot around 100k miles and unless it's replaced you're looking at a couple of hundred dollars for a new one. If I were you I would checkout saabcentral and saablink for more information.
Yeah the ones I've been looking at are in the 140k - 160k mile range and the 9-3s may be out of her budget. I did however find some 2.3L 900s with ease. Are those engines from GM as well?