I've  been driving Saab 9000's for the past 10 years and can tell you a bit
about those. First, though, the 9-3's are not true Saab's as they were all
made after GM bought Saab in 1994. The 9000 is a great car--it's the only
one on the market that combines BMW handling, etc.,  with the roominess of a
station wagon. You can put refrigerators in the back of them. My advice to
you is stay away from the 9-3 and get a good 9000. The Aero in particular,
if you can find a good one, has a 2.1 FI Turbo that puts out 230 horsepower
stock from the factory! Drives like it's on rails with power rack and pinion
steering, lowering package, stiffer suspension, and the like--and you can
get three bicycles in the back with the hatch lid down! If you're into more
power, you can tweak the ECU's, exhaust, and turbo for over 300 HP. Why you
would need that I don't know, but people do it. You can also get the 9K's
cheap now if you look araound.

The down side to Saabs (if it is one) is that they need lots of preventive
maintenance. The DI cassettes fail without warning, as do the serpentine
belts. The heater cores and blower motors are weak points and will need
replacement if you own the car any length of time. And, as they say, it's as
if Saab started with the heater core and built the car around it--much, much
more difficult to do than in a Vanagon. The engines themselves are
bulletproof and will go 300,000 miles easily with nothing more than oil and
coolant changes.

Best site around is saabnet.com.

For parts, see Tod Morin at eeuroparts.com. Excellent.

Again, the 9-3 and 9-5's are not real Saabs; they haven't been made in
Trollhatten for a decade now. They also don't have the hauling capacity of
the 9K's. For just a transportation module, you're better off with a
Japanese car. The late model convertibles are nice looking but again,
they're GM, not Saab.

Pmail if there's anything else I can help with.