new Saabs or Volvos

Are newer Saab 9-3 or 9-5 and Volvo 850 or V70 in any way reliable?

Define "newer." The late 90s early 00s 9-3s were good cars to the best of my knowledge. If you're shopping for one, look for the 99-ish 9-3 turbo 4-door "H.O."

Near viggen performance without the "Viggen Tax."

The newest Volvo 850 is 1997 model year, soon to be 14 years old. Early V70s were largely a cosmetic refresh of the 850. Reliability dropped off when they switched to the P2 platform in '01 and then slowly recovered. By '07 they were getting very high marks.

Saab and Volvo's reputation for reliability was largely defined by the 240 and pre-GM 900 (and earlier) cars.

I've owned an '95 850 Turbo and a '96 900 Turbo and both were enjoyable and 'fairly' reliable

The newer cars just haven't captured my interest, though.

For some reason new in my mind starts with the 90 model year.

93celicaGT2 wrote: Define "newer." The late 90s early 00s 9-3s were good cars to the best of my knowledge. If you're shopping for one, look for the 99-ish 9-3 turbo 4-door "H.O." Near viggen performance without the "Viggen Tax."

That would be about the year I am talking about. That generation of Saab.

The 9-3 2.0t is nice. IIRC the 97+ is improved in some respects over the earlier NG900s.

In the 9-5, the 2.3t is a good engine with a bad rep: sludging in the 07-02s. Easy fix, though - 1) do the EGR update (not an expensive part), 2) drop the pan and clean the pickup screen, then 3) use good oil and change @ 3k instead of the 5k Saab specified.

Base versions of both cars have good power/weight, but Aero/Vector/HO versions are more fun.

http://bham.craigslist.org/cto/2080826039.html

I am thinking about contacting this guy.

In reply to The poster formally known as 96DXCivic:

I almost completely sure that I run by that car in my neighborhood a couple of times a week. My only thoughts on it have been that the wheels and tires look a size too small.

I wouldn't expect much in the way of reliability out of it. I think you are better off with an Escort.

Well, I stopped and looked at the Saab this morning. It was covered in ice, so I could not see a lot of detail. As far as I could tell, it appears to be a nice, clean car.

If anybody wants me to check it out further, I'd be happy to.

Of the NG 9-3s that is the one to have. It has the Viggen intercooler and turbo. like 210 hp and about the same tq and with a few cheap mods mine was able to chirp 1st and second.

Aside from the the AC stuff mine was very reliable, I gave it to my brother with almost 200K on it and it is still a nice car. We got it with 75K on it and in the time we had it I put a fuel pump, DIC and I think that was it.

If you have any specific questions post them up.