Car Throttle

So recently, it came to my attention that my water pump on my '88 Saab 900 SPG was going bad. It wasn't exactly a difficult diagnosis.  The car was leaking coolant like a sieve, it was trying it's damnedest to overheat at every given opportunity, and the pump itself was making an awful grinding noise, much like an innocent clunker's crankcase being filled with sodium silicate mixture.

Now, like any sane person, I went and got an estimate on getting someone who knew what the hell they were doing to replace the water pump, from my friendly neighborhood eccentric Saab mechanic.  He quoted me two hours labor ($160) plus the pump ($129) and coolant ($35.)  Total cost: about $325, give or take. 

If you've been following my writing on CarThrottle, you know I obtained an old Saab 900 Turbo a few months ago. You haven't heard all that much about it since then, and here's the reason: this car has kept me very busy.  I know, I know: insert "Saab story" jokes here.  Well deserved.  I've gathered up a few observations on owning and daily-driving an old car, and I figured I'd share them with you, dear reader, so that you may come away feeling wiser.  Here's hoping I've succeeded. Observation 1: Old Stuff Breaks. I know this falls under the category of "no, duh?" but you'd be surprised exactly how much old stuff breaks.  To date, here's the list of broken stuff I've replaced on my 900 Turbo. -Thermostat -Right

So, one of my favorite automotive mind-stretchers is hypotheticals. "What if...?"  What would you buy if you had $500,000 to spend on automobiles, right now?  What's your favorite great car from an awful brand? (It's a toss-up between the Genesis Coupe and the Buick GNX)  What would you drive if you were Conan O'Brian?  You know, hypotheticals.  It's that tired conversation you have at Denny's at 1 in the morning over a cup of coffee with a car buddy.  It keeps your mind going. But they're usually far-fetched.  So let's be a little more realistic about it.  What's gonna be in your driveway in 5 years?  10 years?  What would you like, that you could feasibly attain?  That one's more challenging.  When the invisible hand of fate

Sometimes when there's nothing else to do, the best thing to do is get in the car and drive. So yesterday, myself and a group of car buddies went and did just that... Step one, meet up at a local burger joint and talk smack for a while: On the left is Patrick's Audi TT 1.8T Quattro with modifications, to the right is John's Nissan (S14) 240SX with a Skyline GT-T motor swap (for real!), and on the right is Brandon's Volkswagen GTI VR6.  Not pictured: my Saab. Here we are departing town, headed out to where the nice roads are.  And look!  The Saab hasn't even broken down yet! Another shot from inside John's car of us getting into traffic on I-98.  The weather was just

These days, the 1980's have something of a bad reputation. There was Rick Astley,MC Hammer pants, Metallica (personal opinion here!), a minor recession, massive inflation, and a general air of bad taste was prevalent.  However, you have to give the 1980's it's fair share of credit.  Cars were quite bad in the 1970's; by the 1990's the automotive world was well on it's way to the glorious state it's in now.  Cars of the 70's were awful almost entirely without exception; they were inefficient, unattractive, poorly performing, poorly built, crippled by emissions regulations, and filled with tacky tasteless features. The 1980's bridged that gap between then general feeling of Malaise in the 70's, and the revival of the automobile as we know it.  It was a

Well, if there's one thing that's eternally true about old Saabs, it's that they keep you busy. True to form, my Saab has been keeping me busy (and draining my wallet at a horrific rate!) this last week.  Here's what I've been up to lately. Foglights This was fairly easy for me.  My car came with one working foglight, and another one with a cracked housing that was dead as a doornail.  Until I can find some of the OEM Bosch foglights (long since out of production) I figured I would get some sweet 80's looking fog lights to fill the gap.  This wasn't too hard. So basically for your money you get two plastic-cased fog lights with reversible lenses, wiring, switches, and some basic mounting hardware.  The

So I picked up an '88 Saab 900 Turbo to replace my '05 Jetta as my daily driver.  As you'd expect, this isn't quite as simple as it sounds.  Even with a very well-maintained car, when you get to this kind of age (this car is as old as I am!) there are a few things that need taking care of.  I've barely gotten my hands dirty with this car, but here's what I've been up to so far. With any turbocharged 80's car, it's important to keep an eye on your boost pressure levels.  This is because all the systems and associated plumbing that keep boost in check age and fail over time, and it's important to keep an eye on things.  The car comes with

After resting up in Asheville overnight, we set out at 7am westward - towards the Tail of the Dragon.  If you're not familiar with the Tail of the Dragon (also called Deal's Gap), here are the statistics: 318 turns in 11 miles.  It's a section of US-129 that crosses over the North Carolina-Tennessee border, and it's just about as intense as a public road can get.  Although to be honest, the drive up there was quite breathtaking as well. the Great Smoky Mountains presents challenging driving and some rather distracting scenery.  Here, the turbo Saab really came into it's own - the only need to downshift out of 5th was for the steepest of uphills (boost builds quicker in 4th) or the hairiest of downhills

One of the greatest freedoms allowed by having a driver's license and access to America's highways and byways is the "Great American Road Trip." As the owner of a new car (a 1988 Saab 900 SPG, the one with the 16-valve turbo motor) and a student on spring break, a friend and I decided a road trip was in order.  Plans were laid, money was made, and preparations were undertaken - and now we're on the road.  I'll be posting pictures, videos and observations from the trip in separate parts as we go along - so stay tuned! We fired up the packed up Saab and left from Raleigh, North Carolina at 11am, with the destination being Asheville, NC.  Raleigh rests in the Piedmont of North Carolina,

It's difficult to approach reviewing a vehicle objectively when it's been an object of desire for the majority of your adult life. Never the less, I'll do my best.  I had the chance to drive a 1988 Saab 900 Turbo SPG recently, and suffice to say it left quite an impression on me. The Saab 900 was the darling of "yuppies" during most of the 80's, duking it out with the evergreen BMW 3-series as the ride of choice of the recently prosperous.  It wasn't hard to understand why: solid build, inherently safe structure, capable but safe handling, massive cargo capacity in a unique (read: not a wagon) body, and of course... turbo power.  The attributes that made investment bankers fall for the 900 Turbo at a