Indiana Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Saab 9-3/cars in general anyone???
I am thinking of trading trixie (my toyota matrix awd) in for a more fun and lower car payment car... I am looking at late 90s/early 00s Saab 9-3 convertables, ford mustangs convertables.... convertables with decent gas mileage basically... any thoughts? experiances? do share. TIA
Re: Saab 9-3/cars in general anyone???
My parent's had a Saab when I was younger and repairs were high when something went wrong. It also had to go to the dealer since they have an unusual engine placement. It was basically backwards and reversed all of the fluids. You had to watch oil changes like a hawk because we actually had the transmission fluid drained and replaced with oil at a Jiffy Lube. The car made it barely out of the lot before it started acting up. They almost ruined the engine. Do the research and see what the placement is and know that many mechanics will not be familiar with it.
We just got a MINI Cooper in January and love it. Ours is a '05 with the hard top and sun roofs. We are getting a convertible for our next one. We get 30MPG or more on Premium gas. We have the regular one as an automatic with a paddle shift. It is a blast to drive. Acceleration is great and service is awesome.
Dreyer and Reinbold were really good with the last service. It is still under warranty and they replaced anything that needed a replacement free. It has a "reboot" button for the computer and an 800 number to call for roadside assistance. If a light goes on, you stop, call, and they give you instructions on what to check. If everything is clear, you push the button and the light goes off.
We can't go anywhere without another MINI honking, waving, or flashing headlights at us. Many people stop to ask about mileage and performance and the people we have rec'd them to fell in love at first drive. I've actually cursed SUVs (under my breath) in front of me and had the driver get out in a parking lot, make a beeline for the MINI, and rapid-fire questions at me about mileage and efficiency. It is the most fun we have ever had with any car.
I've driven a Mustang and this handles better IMO. My friend who looked at Mustangs is sold on MINIs too. She loved the paddle shifter in the automatic and the feeling of driving a "high performance go-kart." It also handles really well in ice and snow. We have been the only car left on the road driving in ice storms last winter.
Just be very careful with Saabs. It's not that they aren't good. It's that they are not common. Getting parts sometimes took a month without a car due to a defective one shipping from overseas the first time. Also, if we had not caught the fluid issue it wold have cost us some serious money to fix. Mechanics are few and far beween which also means money. It could lower the payment and raise tha maintenance cost way over your Toyota.
You may want to look into a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder or VW Cabrio. They are more common than Saabs and easier to fix. Also, I have driven the Spyder and it handled pretty well. I would check CL or Autotrader.com and look for Private Owners and sell your current privately if that is possible. Our MINI would have been about 5k more at a dealership and the owner was desperate to sell since she moved to NY and her parent's wanted the car out of the driveway. MINIs tend to go under Book value when an owner gets pregnant. They wait to sell until the baby is almost here since they don't want to part with them and have to sell quickly to get something they can put a baby in.
We bought a used Saab (I think ours is a 9-5) a little over a year ago from Saab in Fishers. We've been really happy with ours so far. The oil changes are pricey ($85). We've just had our first "problem" last week and actually thought the dealership was reasonable with repair cost.
We decided to check out Saab based on a friend's recommendation (she also bought at Saab in Fishers) and it was an excellent buying experience. No salesman come out to pressure you with slimey tactics. You basically ask questions, test drive, negotiate...no swindling involved. After car shopping for a long time that was so refreshing.