As much as I love my Saab (900S convertible) I never buy anything from the
dealer unless absolutely necessary. I was sitting in the parts room to
pick up a muffler and listening to the parts guy quote a price of some
$200/tire to someone, and I know a co-worker who was bemoaning spending
$250/tire from Saab for her car (apparently it didn't occur to her to get
tires elsewhere). I have Goodyear IceGrips on mine for $89/tire mounted &
balanced.
Saab makes great stuff, but they don't give it away. Of course, I'm just
doing this one comment and not looking to re-open the "manufacturer profits
at buyer's expense" thread. They can charge what they want. I don't have
to buy if I have an alternative. However, sometimes I *don't* have an
alternative. Of course, that's my choice for choosing a vehicle that's
often proprietary.
My mechanic was saying one of the frustrating things about Saab is that it
can take a number of years, sometimes 10 years, before things show up on
the aftermarket (such as a muffler), and worse, the computer code modules
(or codes) are proprietary. He can read lots of codes from certain makes
(like Hondas or whatever), but Saab and Volvo and such don't make them open
information. This is similar to the computer industry and how open formats
eventually paved the way for widespread success - companies looking to keep
proprietary formats ended up not being so popular. Unlike computers,
though, cars don't have to "interface" with each other, so it's less
critical if Saab wants to keep its info private, but it makes it harder or
more expensive to fix, thus leading to a reputation for being difficult.
My mechanic did get a dealer discount of nearly a third on the muffler, I
think, about $520 (!) and not the $780 the dealer would have sold it to me
straight for (including $1.40 per screw/bolt).
Still, not much better cars for winter. Saab in the winter, MG in the
spring, summer, and fall.
- Tab
'96 Saab 900S Conv.
'83 Ford ranger pickup beater car
'78 MGB daily driver
At 07:45 AM 12/11/02, Larry Hoy wrote:
>Patton, I used the Saab center caps. They are an octagon and use a
>similar label to the MG. I peeled the Saab Label off, and trimmed (with
>scissors) an MG label purchased from Moss, and in an instant you have MG
>wheels.
>
>Beware, IIRC the Saab dealer wanted $15 for the caps. I used my resale
>license and bought them for under $6.
>
>Larry Hoy
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