2001 Saab 9-3 Viggen Hatchback 4-Door 2.3L

'01 9-3 Viggen. Previous owner invested thousands getting it up-to-snuff and the car has been driven daily since I purchased it.

Notable details:

- Engine replaced with good used B235R (128k miles at time of install). Pan dropped and cleaned, new main seals, new oil pump housing before installation.

- Newer turbo cassette, spools great, and no smoke or oil blow-through.

- New brake pads all around, and two worn calipers replaced. All new fluid bled through.

- Flywheel resurfaced, newer OE Viggen clutch, fresh transmission fluid, fresh clutch fluid.

- New engine and transmission mounts. Rear trans mount is a poly unit from Genuine Saab.

- Nankang Noble Sport NS-20 tires with 80% tread life left.

- Front polyurethane bushings throughout, newer sway bar links, good alignment.

- All the windows work! Rear regulators reconditioned and greased, and front track rollers (the green things) are all new.

- Rear sway bar from Genuine Saab, and all shocks/struts in decent shape - the car rides nicely with no clunking.

- Old Genuine Saab intake system with aluminum barrier and K&N filter.

- First cat gutted and second cat removed, strait through exhaust with Magnaflow muffler. Second lambda uninstalled and turned off in tune so no engine light. Sounds good, but parts of system getting old.

- Tuned by previous owner. Car set up to be flashed through harness inside car. CANUSB dongle will not be included with car. SID2 has been opened to provide engine data. Engine is responsive with the current tune and can average about 27mpg, mostly city. Probably better if your foot is lighter than mine.

- Big stereo: JVC Bluetooth touchscreen HU, Rockford Fosgate front components, rear 6x9s, 12" sub, and two amps. Decent sound, good and thump-y. Middle of the road hardware.

- New OE leather shift knob and shifter boot, and machined Viggen insert from Genuine Saab; looks very nice. Newer embroidered floor mats from eBay.

- Newer CV shafts - getting extraordinarily hard to get.

- New heater hoses, newer serpentine belt, new synthetic oil, fresh coolant.

Some less-good details:

- Paint shows great from about 10 feet away. As you can see in photos, it looks shiny, but getting up close to the front exposes the flaws many 200k+ mile cars have.

- Front seats are not in great shape. Drivers side has a tear in the base, and its seat heater doesn't function. Still, they're comfortable to sit in and aren't hideous.

- Only one key, and its buttons do not work. I've never tried to get the TWICE module working.

- The rims are not great looking, clearly. I've never had the factory wheels. These are straight, not dented and ride smooth, but simply aren't very pretty.

Overall, this is a decent old Viggen with tons of character. If you're a Saab enthusiast, this model probably means something to you. It was a culmination of everything Saab was capable of at the time, at least within the meager financial limitations they had. Totally under-rated, deceptively quick, and surprisingly agile, the Viggen will go down in history as one of the rebels that fought the norm. On top of that, it's a very comfortable daily driver.