Are you on the Saabnet list too?

I have a '93 Saab as well, with 186K miles. One difference is that the Saabs
will leave you stranded without any warning when, say, the serpentine belt
breaks, whereas the Vanagons don't let you down so suddenly. There are
probably plenty of list members who will nail me on that one, but it's my
experience. The Saab 9K's will go from running perfectly to not running at
all in a matter of seconds, with no warning...

There was a problem with the 3-4 shifter hub in Vanagon transmissions, but
other than that I thought the manuals were pretty reliable. Mine lasted 155K
miles before rebuilding. Not so bad.