At $3,950, Is This 2000 Saab 9-3 Viggen A Friggin’ Bargain?

Not only is today’s Nice Price or No Dice Saab a drop-top, but it also has performance chops, as it sports the reasonably rare Viggen package. Let’s see if that makes its price anything worth getting worked up over.

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A common idiom derived from baseball is to “swing for the fences.” That means to put one’s all into an effort. In choosing $34,750 as the asking price for the 1974 BMW 1802 Touring we looked at last Friday, the dealer offering that 02 certainly was swinging for the fences. As interesting and well-presenting as the car appeared, most of you felt that price to be a whiff, sending the Bimmer back to the bench with a 92 percent No Dice loss.

Do you remember what happened to comic strip Little Orphan Annie when Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks took her in? Yes, she still had the creepy, dead, soulless eyes of a Haitian Zombie, but she also got to experience what a life of wealth and comfort could be like.

That’s the same experience that Saab received when the foundering Swedish company realized its savior in General Motors. No longer relegated to decades-old chassis or those co-developed with 30 other market competitors, Saab was able to shop within the General store, picking up a platform only used by other members of the GM family. Saab was no longer an orphan. It was now a member of that global family.

Of course, all good things must end, and just like Annie getting dumped back in the orphanage by Warbucks’ nasty wife time and time again, Saab eventually returned to the streets, a cold and lonely orphan.

But before that happened, the company popped out cool rides like today’s 2000 9-3 Viggen convertible. The 9-3 of this era was based on the competent corporate GM2900 platform, which also underpinned, most notably, the Opel Vectra and Saturn L of the era. Hey everybody, remember either of those?

This one happens to be both the convertible version and the desirable 5-speed Viggen (thunderbolt) edition, named after Saab’s Viggen fighter jet. That means it rocks a Volvo RM8 turbofan with an afterburner for mach-2 capabilities, and…. wait, that doesn’t seem right.

Actually, the Viggen (car) got a turbo 2.3-litre (B235R), blessed with a bigger intercooler, higher-flow exhaust, and unique ECU mapping. Initially making 225-bhp, the 2000 model year edition got an extra five ponies just for poops and giggles.

To make that added poop more giggle-worthy, the Viggen also was imbued with a stouter clutch, beefier half shafts and CV joints at the front axle, and suspension upgrades to make the car handle the road as well as it did the engine. At the time, the Viggen was the fastest road car Saab had ever built.

This one has all that, and the pictures in the ad do evidence the unique Viggen cam cover logo and body kit that supposedly improves aerodynamics over the standard 9-3 by over eight percent.

On the downside, the car rocks a substantial 169,000 miles on the clock, and the seller claims it could stand some paintwork because “the paint has its share of scratches and blems.”

Aside from that, there don’t seem to be any significant issues with the car. The top appears to work as it should, and the seller claims it’s “otherwise good to go right out of the box. A clean title and the promise of pleasant top-down driving are additional attractions.

The seller has set an asking price of $3,950 for the Viggen. That’s a $500 reduction from a previous attempt to sell, or so the ad claims. Was that enough of a drop?

What do you say? Is $3,950 for this 9-3 a bargain? Or is this a Viggen that’s still too friggin’ expensive?

You decide!

Seattle, Washington, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to FauxShizzle for the hookup!

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