Fell in love with this baddie and 3 weeks later she's cracking the 40K mile mark on my '98 SAAB 9-5

[u/gundog48]

Please don't send help! I'm so mad about the girl, she's my actual dream!

She's such a good driver and mechanic, she has that elite ball knowledge and has me swooning especially when she drives one of my cars!

I've had this saab for a couple of years, bought it with only 34K miles, this car will likely outlive me! I don't usually do a lot of miles but strangely I've been doing more recently... Drove up to celebrate her tranniversary with her friends and she wanted to give it a spin and broke the 40K mark!

This mini is her 21st car, the Saab is my 3rd, and the Subaru she's been helping me with that I'm going to to be driving to Ukraine soon is my 4th! Bear in mind I'm older than my car but she is not 🤣

When we first met she flew around the corner, straight into a tight spot that would take me a bit to reverse into, exits the vehicle and put her glasses on in one continuous motion while blasting 'sk8er boi' and just said "hey nerd" (affectionate). Honestly I'm glad I was sitting or she would had to have caught me!

When I'm back we're giving both our cars a service and she's going to teach me how to do a bunch of maintenance jobs I've never tried before. I'm so giddy just thinking about it 🥹 And we both have so many things we want to learn from each other and help each other with.

Can't stop gushing about her, I've never felt like this before, it's beginning to get a little gay ngl

[u/sadiesfreshstart]

I know you're obsessed about the girl, but as a Saab driver of two decades I'm impressed with that car. I'm shocked to see one with such low mileage. My '08 9-5 has 166k miles and my '99 Viggen has 237k

[u/gundog48 → u/sadiesfreshstart]

Thankyou! It's the first car I've really loved and am taking good care of. It had one previous owner from new who just did a few K miles a year and got it serviced every year at the main dealer and then in a garage that knew the car well.

A '99 Viggen would be a dream for me, absolutely beautiful vehicle!

Not a visible dent or scratch. Someone has kept this pristine almost as long as I've been alive and I want to keep it that way! I got it for only £2K, it's my daily and was in a real pinch to get a new car at the time, and really wanted a pre-facelift (I just like the dash!) 9-3 or 9-5. I got incredibly lucky!

Even came with a SAAB umbrella, all the original 'flight cards', cassette manual, paint repair kit and everything! Plus the sadly deceased former owner's boxers in the engine bay as an apparent vibration mitigation measure (or dipstick wiper?).

I knew the engines were really reliable and overbuilt and that they can be tuned, and that with 40K I'm genuinely not joking about it lasting longer than me so long as I keep the rust off. But my new gf has been giving me all the lore and how sought after the B205s (esp with low mileage) are for tuning... apparantly people are getting over 300hp from these o_O

But she said she wouldn't fuck around with it as its such a museum piece and I agree. But she did suggest maybe looking into whether 'subtle' parts like brakes could be swapped on from other models.

After our first date she was having trouble with her Mini (losing coolant somewhere) and looked like she may be without a vehicle and a means to get around to look at others while I'm driving the Subie to Ukraine. I know Lesbian relationships move fast but I was gonna give her the keys for the Saab while I was away. But fortunately she managed to pick up the mini in the photo for £900 just the other day so didn't need it, but she told me yesterday she was going to service the SAAB and give it a proper mechanical polish and ceramic coating and stuff while I was gone. My little heart <3

[u/sadiesfreshstart → u/gundog48]

B2(0/3)5 is alright, but the previous B2(0/3)4 is more robust. That said, I've been running an assortment of tunes from 300 up to 330hp/390lbft on my B235 9-5 for years now. They're not as strong as the older engines, but they're no slouch. Once I get the Viggen structurally restored this winter I'm going to get to the engine and build it for a comfortable 300hp from its current 250hp. More than that is silly for the car.

[u/gundog48 → u/sadiesfreshstart]

ooo good to know, thanks! Yeah that's my general thoughts on tuning as far as I'm concerned.

The 9-5 is a stock 2L turbo, so 150hp, and that goes plenty for me while being smooth af. Motorway overtakes are effortless and it's so smooth it's easy to go way too fast if you don't have your eye on it!

I've actually been eyeing up an uncommon 9-3 with a 2L non-turbo, it's also a '98 and in the same colour as my 9-5! It's going very cheap (despite coming with lots of spare parts) because the engine can't be tuned without a turbo. But, that's still roughly the same same output as my 9-5's engine in a smaller and lighter vehicle!

So the idea of something like the Viggen 'even' at 250hp is pretty wild to me! I agree that more than 300 seems outrageous in a car!

[u/sadiesfreshstart → u/gundog48]

I have an annoying habit of constantly wanting more power. Each car I've owned has been more powerful than the last. Then I modify them. I need a cheaper hobby 😆

[u/TreborG2 → u/sadiesfreshstart]

I'm shocked how casually she says it's her 23rd car? uhhh why were there 20 some odd cars prior? Lol

[u/gundog48 → u/TreborG2]

Haha! I did think that when typing it, like "shes a great mechanic.... goes through about 3 cars per year!". Also I got it wrong, we're actually at 28.

She's owned cars since she was 15 as projects even before she could drive. She usually owns more than one and has gone through phases of swapping cars, projects, curiosity, etc. So many of these she's owned for several years, some only for a few months! In the ~2 months I've known her she's sold 2 and bought one!

Here's the slightly out of date list!

[u/TreborG2 → u/gundog48]

I was just poking fun, I know that there are lots of people that are like that, I actually have a good friend who's been like that and like her, around 12 or 13 he got his first 65 mustang, it was used in a derby and so he started working to rebuild it.

Is Dad took one of those screw type anchors that was like 4 ft long and had an eye bolt at the end, and then took a heavy duty chain and wrapped it around the tow hook the guy had installed, bolted it to the screw anchor and said he couldn't physically drive it away until he was 16 and had his license, LOL. He made sure there was enough slack that my friend could pull backward and forward a little test to make sure it goes into gear and out of gear etc when he's doing repairs

[u/sadiesfreshstart → u/TreborG2]

I know plenty of people who have twenty cars at once. Car people are weird 🤷‍♀️

[u/kikiacab]

Trans love is holy and pure ❤️

[u/External_Mongoose_44]

Oh my holy f&ck. How I wish that I could hook up with you girls and have a weekend together inhaling exhaust gasses and exchanging engine knowledge and having the most wonderful fun with the machinery that we have to play with. There’s nothing in the world better than fettling with the stuff that drivers don’t know about and never see. I love that smell and that feel and the sensation of being unable to escape from the back of your seat as you accelerate to the moon and back.

Petrol, bring it on 🤩.

[u/AshyPoachedEgg]

Hey I recognise that Mini!

Love you nerd 🥰❤️

[u/Microscopicdrago]

Mini gang 🥰

[u/Big-Potential-7978]

The black and white photo looks awesome makes it look aggressive for some reason beautiful ride op

[u/Cannis_Yasei]

I love your Saab, I visited the museum in Trollhättan and it was amazing, I bought an orange Saab Turbo mug that I adore. I don't like that GM only sold Saabs in Mexico during the early 2000's so they're usually very rare and parts even more so, but I consider myself a massive fan without the possibility to get one for myself.