opinion
My brother is an anxious, conservative sort of fellow. Not politically, but financially. Fretting about making the best and most sensible of major purchases is the sort of thing that keeps him up at night. Recently, we spoke at length about whether or not he should replace his ten year old Honda Civic coupe with a ten year old Honda Civic sedan. The recent arrival of a daughter has made him see the virtues of an additional pair of doors. A neighbor offered him a 2010 Civic sedan with 67k on the odometer for $6,800, he wanted me to confirm that it represented good value. I felt it was a bit high, but it transpires that in our part of California used Hondas are catnip to car buyers. My brother vacillated and the Honda ended up realizing $8,000. This for a decade old economy sedan with a salvage title, ostensibly due to a “small accident” on the left rear side.
While Honda has a well deserved reputation for quality which justifies a strong resale value, a decade of depreciation opens the field to much more interesting machinery, sometimes for even less money. Given my druthers, I think I’d buy a nice little SAAB 9–3. “But they’re exotic Europeans and cost a FORTUNE to keep on the road” I hear you demure. In the words of Oscar Hammerstein, “it ain’t necessarily so !” The second gen 9–3 is based on GM’s Epsilon platform, powertrains have GM roots too, so it’s not as “couture” as it first appears.
Unless you are one of the 1% the first consideration when car shopping is purchase price, our Honda brought $8k, so that was my price cap. A brief search on Craigslist netted a beautiful 70,000 mile 2008 SAAB 9–3 Aero in West Hollywood. Finished in silver with charcoal leather interior it still looks contemporary and definitely a notch up from a Civic. Under the hood was a gutsy turbo 2.8 V6 driving the front wheels through an automatic transaxle. According to the seller, it’s frequently washed and waxed and has a clean title. Asking price $6,350. I’d lay even money that six grand would take it. Six thousand subtracted from eight thousand puts you two grand ahead of the Civic buyer. I didn’t have to work hard to find this car, maybe ten minutes of searching.
We’re two grand ahead of the plebiscite in their Civic, but there are running costs to consider. Fuel, insurance, tires and repairs have to be factored in. I’m going to level the playing field a bit by assuming that you, dear reader, can spanner sufficiently to do much of your own maintenance. Not surprisingly, the Civic shames the SAAB on mpg. According to a major consumer advocate magazine the Civic will deliver 28 mpg in mixed driving, but the SAAB is only good for about 20 mpg under similar conditions. However, you’re repaid for this thirst with 250 bhp to play with. You may have to fill the SAAB more often, but you’ll have more fun on your way to the pump. I checked a popular auto parts website for prices on common service parts. SAAB parts, were on average roughly twice the cost of their Honda counterparts, but they were by no means expensive. A Beck-Arnley front pad and rotor kit for the Honda rings up at $68. A Power Stop pad and rotor kit for the SAAB is $108. You can spend considerably more or less money for parts for either car. I chose mid level replacements for the sake of comparison. Both the Honda and the SAAB feature timing chains in all their engines (for the year models compared) which eliminates costly timing belt replacement. Since both of the cars we’re looking at are around ten years old, the cooling system might require attention. The Honda really scores here, a replacement Denso radiator is only $65, whereas the SAAB part from Nissen commands $207. If your SAAB happens to have a manual transaxle, a replacement radiator is less expensive. A water pump for either car will run $40-$65.
We’ve only compared the price of used models, if you consider that a SAAB 9–3 Aero rang up at $35k new compared to a Civic DX’s $18.5k the second hand SAAB buyer comes out $16,500 to the better. Thus, the Honda’s appeal disappears in a cloud of turbocharged European sports sedan tire smoke. Sure, the Honda takes less gas but there’s more to life than MPG. Never mind that the two grand purchase price differential will buy a lot of dino juice, even at California prices. Don’t misunderstand me. If you really feel compelled to live your life by the gospel according to Consumer Reports, buy the Honda. As for myself, I’d happily take advantage of the public perception of SAAB as a dead marque and the resulting devaluation to drive something with personality.
*Author’s note: I didn’t obtain insurance quotes as costs vary considerably depending on personal circumstances.
