OnStar stinks and is a money grubbing filthy entity, as if that’s news…

We have both a 2011 and 2009 Saab 9-3X models which included OnStar modules from the factory.

We subscribed to OnStar for 1 year (yes, arguably a waste of money) but we did it.

During that time we used not only the built in OnStar phone but paired our phones via bluetooth with the car’s radio / OnStar system.

We let both OnStar subscriptions lapse.

OnStar / GM sent letters to us warning us the service would lapse and in one case demanded we call and let them know when one of the cars would be accessible to send a deactivation signal.

Although my mobile phone is still “paired” to the cars when I get in the car, if I try to make a call, even though OnStar says it will use the paired device, the call won’t go through, telling me I have no (OnStar) minutes to use.

Also fun? The Bluetooth menu has vaporized in BOTH cars.

So now I can’t add a new phone (had to replace one of our mobiles and can’t pair it with either car), which is ok, if not being able to use your own phone and the bluetooth we paid for in the car price (that’s sarcasm about it being ok).

I spoke to 2 OnStar “specialists” and we tried a radio reset (shut off the car for 2 minutes) – that’s a reset?

They are opening a bluetooth trouble ticket for me. Will take 3 to 5 days to hear back if they let me know anything.

But OnStar suggests I need to go to a Saab dealer to get a radio reset or bluetooth update for both cars.

Seriously? My cars both suddenly need a bluetooth update to restore the menu that disappeared after we stopped paying subscription fees?

What do we think that will cost to get fixed?

OnStar, YOU owe us working hardware, you broke our bluetooth in 2 cars remotely, you need to fix it, us going to the car dealers and paying to fix what you broke remotely is not right.

Shall I upload the letters to this site and others, which you sent us, demanding to get access to the cars to “deactivate” the hardware?

OnStar and GM tactics pulling nonsense like this are heinous and shameful.

When we replace our Saabs, we will look at anything but general motors cars.

Shame on you OnStar and GM, for breaking a feature that you admit is supposed to be independent of your OnStar service, for breaking it remotely and not being able to fix it and sending me to a car dealer to pay god knows what to get it fixed.

If you know me, hear this: Volvo, Ford, whatever are all looking good right now.

No, I should not pick a car brand based upon some inane feature like bluetooth, let alone give up the safety, reliability, handling and comfort of a Saab for it, or I may as well buy a Camry.

But I am fed up with this specialized brand of nonsense, not blaming my beloved Saab people, just the company that once owned Saab and owns OnStar, and does things like hide facts when they know there’s an issue such as dangerous ignition switches that result in people dying. Bravo GM!

Angry Saab guy of 31 years, out.

More Saab models listed concerning Takata Air Bag Recalls on National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website on 2/12/2016

Check for your vehicle make and model on the list here

Saabs are listed in the General Motors (GM) section:
2005 Saab 9-2x
2003-2011 Saab 9-3
2010-2011 Saab 9-5

You can verify if your specific car is listed using the VIN Vehicle Id Number tool on the website above:  https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin/

2 of ours are due for the recall / driver’s side airbag replacement, but also listed with a status of no remedy being available yet.

I suppose we must trust that GM will track us down when replacement airbags are available, and when the website above says dealer will replace no charge, I hope they won’t make us use a GM dealer such as Chevy or Buick etc.

We are picky enough about who touches our cars I would gladly pay to have our old Saab dealer do the replacement.

Seriously, no thanks to Mr. Goodwrench doing it no charge, I’ll pass if at all possible on a car dealer and tech who do not know whatever there is to know about working on Saabs, been there, done that only a few times and learned our lesson about people who assure us they know what they are doing and damaging our cars, even people claiming to be so called Swedish car or Saab specialists. 😦

What’s left of the Saab collection, and thankful for it.

Actually missed the “red” guy today as I finally escaped a painful and never ending round the clock pile of work for an hour.

But for a change, I drove the 2009 blue car which is not the one I typically drive (either Brown 2011 or Viggen).

Still and always a bit odd to me to jump between nearly identical Saabs and notice little differences, and torture myself with the most mundane questions of, do I like this one or that one better?

No matter, blue did what it is designed to do, and well enough.

These AWD 9-3 cars do still remind me of my Volvo 240 days, sorry Saab, though like a 240 with Turbo and much better handling and modern safety and conveniences.

While the AWD 9-3’s may feel a little Volvo-esque, I will mention that a few opportunities arose to realize, hey, this thing does have a turbo and wow, I’m glad, I needed it to pull out into busy holiday traffic.

I also noticed in typical Saab fashion, mr. blue climbed a notoriously steep, curvy and dangerous local mountain road, and without me trying, accelerated his way up it, and was incredibly sure footed doing so in the rain. Thank you Saab. It also does not handle like a Volvo 240, though I don’t push it at all while it wears winter / snow tires, the point of them being to remain sticky and new for the ice that may someday find New England this year.

And what have I learned this week though I realize only we care?

Blue is our new “Woody”, the rusty red 2002 sold back in Spring 2014 who would have eaten us alive on repairs had we let him.

Sooner or later we will get the kinks worked out in suspension, electronics and so on. Hopefully it doesn’t get stuck in Park again either but I have a feeling that and other transmission anomalies are still there, in fact I know it, I can tell, but what do I know?

Hopefully things like the mp3 jack will work again too, really pointless stuff and yet after driving old cars for so long? I want that factory radio and all of the features including telephone to work. We will keep Saab parts and e-euro and others in business even if we could not keep the whole of Saab in tact as it was 🙂

What else? We’ve owned… 5 Saabs with the OnStar feature.

Some good and bad there. Our 1st OnStar experience in our 2000? never got fully right, the phone never fully worked, and they kept asking if we were in a purple Cadillac for about 2 years, no joke. Hmmm, if we’d had an accident, and the OnStar sent help, would they have found us in the Viggen or kept looking for a purple Sedan De Ville they were sure we were driving?

2 other OnStar activations, wonderful, and darn it, wasteful and useless as the service was (find us a restaurant please, during the free trial with all features) offered us a Burger King 40 miles away. OK, it was 2000 and they were not up to speed.

But the last OnStar activation? Finally done, all for the sake of, well safety / theft tracking but also to not have to mess with bluetooth and our cruddy older mobile phone.

But this last OnStar activation was not smooth or easy, the OnStar was graciously replaced by previous owner but not fully installed / activated… don’t ask me, a second dealer visit and 3 days later it was ready to activate, after me driving around for another hour in the rain while they figured out what was wrong.

They never asked if this blue car was a Caddy but they did ask if Saab was a GM brand and a lot of other questions that make a Saab fan want to cry 😉  Yes, it is a car brand. A sedan, 4 doors, etc.

Thankful to have these 3 wise cars, but weird not having my old stick to drive, and the Viggen… not allowed out in the rain since I don’t expose it to anything other than good weather.

And that, is the week in Saab from our corner. Hoping we can avoid the dealer for a bit but I think Mr. Blue may have other intentions. Winter will tell… but he’s clean and ready to get dirty all over again.

2 drivers, happy enough with the fleet, if things work and no one gets stuck in “park” again.

The 2 dogs? Don’t care which Saab they ride in and may get car sick on any color leather and carpet, unless we drive with windows open and cold air blowing even if in the dead of winter. Dress warmly, if the dogs are going with us!

Happy motoring to all no matter what you drive.

Well, we don’t NEED more Saabs, but it feels that way.

Below, view of our driveway circa 2013

The car closer to camera was “Woody”, the “evil” Saab, only Saab we ever owned that was not a thoroughly enjoyable experience, simply because it was not well maintained and “loved” like our other Saabs. “Red”, the twin 2002 which we sold yesterday is at the bottom of driveway, and the noisy little Scion driving by our home has nothing to do with us.

Below, a view from earlier this year, Mr. Red at bottom of driveway and “Brownie”, our Javamet 2011 foreground.

Why am I posting boring photos of our driveway?

Above is the view of driveway today after my wife took our blue 2009 Saab 9-3X to work.

No cars in the driveway, most important, no Saab.

Woody, the problematic 2002 Saab we owned was perhaps the only Saab we ever sold that we weren’t sad to see go.

But since 1999, we have had at least 1 Saab outside in the driveway, and 2 in the garage.

At one time is was our 1994 900SE Turbo sitting in the driveway, or the 1993 900 Turbo, but since 2007, it was “red” our trusty and trusted 2002 9-3 SE Turbo among them, staring at me, begging to go for a ride (ok it’s all in my head, I was the one who wanted to go for a ride).

And now? No Saabs to be seen.

We both miss seeing the gorgeous 1978 99 Turbo in the garage as well driving that machine.

…and I miss “red” already too.

I wonder about things and remember having neighbors ask, do you work for Saab? Seeing all of the Saabs here over the years.

My favorite stupid question? “You like Saabs?”, asked by more people than you might think when they saw 1 or 2 outside and perhaps 2 more in the garage.

No, I hate them, that’s why we own so many. (sarcasm, I never said that to anyone).

In some strange and perhaps foolish way, the cars defined who I am, who we are.

With one fewer, it feels like I’ve lost a part of myself and had to raise a white flag, giving up our battle to help make Saab a success, even though they already went bankrupt, and came back from the dead a few times, over the years.

I have loved these cars since before I was legal to drive, that’s quite a chunk of time.

Seeing “red” gone and being reminded at least as of now we can’t go buy a new Saab, is just depressing in a way.

…and as if to protest missing its driveway mate this morning, our blue 2009 9-3X had a little brain malfunction of sorts and did not want to get our of Park. Perhaps the blue car knew I did not want a completely empty driveway today (I am of course joking).

Oh, the ridiculous things that bother me.

But I am and always will be one of the biggest fans of these cars and the people who built them so well for so many decades.

On a less morose note, I received a text with picture our dedicated, talented and kind Saab Master Tech yesterday.

We gave him “Red’s” car cover purchased to keep red safe in 2005, and our mechanic is using that cover to protect his gorgeous 1997+/- 900 Turbo which is beyond modified into the realm of Saab rally / race cars.

Picture below, it did my heart good to see the car cover put to good use.

P.S. I love that poster on the garage wall (below) with caption “A Saab forever”.

It beats my “parking for white Saab 900 turbos ONLY” sticker from 1994 which still adorns our garage wall, from when we had the white 1993 and 1994 Saab 900 Turbos.

Perhaps I’m not the only one who caught the bug and has a bit of Saab fever. 😉

Lyrics quote from a 1925 song:

“Yes sir, that’s my ba – by, no sir, don’t mean may – be, Yes sir, that’s my ba – by now….”

We said goodbye to one of our “babies” today, the 2002 Red Saab 9-3 SE, known to us and on this blog as “Red”.

“Red” was the first of two, nearly identical, twin red 2002 Saab 9-3’s we owned, and was # 5 of our 9 total Saabs.

While I sort of don’t care about or for naming cars, the name was given to this car because we had 4 Saabs in total when we bought this car, and color was the easiest way to refer to the cars between us, and there was confusion otherwise between us trying to commnuicate to one another who was taking which Saab on any given day.

While we only put 33,000 miles on red in 10 years, it was a stellar car to own. Never let us down, never got us stuck, always started, always rode and ran well and did not make a lot of money for our dealer at our expense.

Originally bought as a plan ahead replacement for our then aging 1993 900 Turbo, red ended up living in the garage while our 1993 and 1994 900 Turbos lived outside. Red was the 2000 Viggen’s second garage mate.

Red was purchased as part of our plan to keep enjoying manual transmission, hatchback Saab turbos long after Saab stopped producing hatchbacks in 2002.

As of today, red is moving north to a new home with a new Saab owner, replacing their 1995 900S.

While I am glad some sense to move towards the more mundane life of having two drivers and only 3 cars to care for, I am, we are deeply saddened to see this car leave.

Mrs. Saabnuts agrees, if we had the money, we’d have a Jay Leno grade facility FULL of Saabs of all ages and maintain them all as close to factory fresh condition as possible.

We don’t have the budget for that and 4 cars for 2 drivers? A lot to balance to make sure they ALL get driven, maintenance and loved and enjoyed equally. A few less treks to our dealer for routine maintenance, much as I love the dealer? Easier all around.

I don’t know that we will ever be able to buy new or even slightly used Saabs of the sort we like again. This is a milestone we did not enjoy, parting with another Saab, and honestly each Saab we’ve said goodbye to was a difficult experience. We really love and appreciate these cars every single time we drive them.

We have to be and are thankful to have owned 9 of them so far.

I’m also thankful for the nice people we met along the way, even in the process of selling this car and during the recent sale of our 1978 Saab 99 Turbo, thanks to Saabnet.com classified ads.

One of our neighbors and one of the many fellow Saab owners saw us saying goodbye to red today and gave me a knowing a sad nod, having recently parted with his 2002+/- 9-3 convertible himself.

So it stinks that we don’t get to drive that “red” car anymore and revel in how much we love owning and driving that Saab, or even to see Red sitting in the driveway awaiting our next road adventure together.

We’ve owned as many as 6 Saabs at the same time, we’ve had 4 or 5 at a time since 2007, so to have only 3 now, just feels weird and sad.  I am a Saabnut, and I freely admit it. Don’t care what anyone thinks about it. WE BOTH appreciate these cars thoroughly, aesthetically, but also as nothing else for our tastes, drives or feels like a Saab, nothing else is as much fun, while still being incredibly practical and safe. Nothing.

I am happy that we found another incredibly nice buyer who seems to appreciate the car(s) as well and wish him / them many years of safe, trouble free and enjoyable motoring with mr. Red.

I’ve already received a report that Red made it to his new home safely, smoothly and comfortably. 🙂

Thanks once more to Scott, the man behind Saabnet.com for providing such an incredible place on line for Saab owners to help one another, to buy and sell, learn, and so much more.

I could not imagine the process of buying or selling a Saab without Saabnet being there to provide a steady supply of people who also appreciate these special cars.

Thanks also to my loving wife for letting us be the people with too many Saabs for so long, and for loving and appreciating these inanimate objects as much as I do.

Happy motoring to all, from a slightly (very) saddened Saabnut.

…and then there were 3.

Above is a partial view outside the windows here, sun coning up, still low 40’s temp wise (feels like 38 according to local weather).

Our 2009 9-3X and 2002 9-3 SE are waiting to be driven and loved, and…

Who cares? I do. As winter approaches slowly here in New England, my Viggen driven days are dwindling, and having had some rain this week, I’m excited to see sun and no rain forecast.

Once the roads dry it should be a Viggen day, and a light weekend for me work wise, a welcome change.

Wishing everyone else who has a car strictly for enjoyment is also able to get theirs out.

Driving the Viggen again will be a highlight of the day.

Raking more of the leaves that fell in our backyard this weekend? Not as much fun.

It will be nice to get out and enjoy nature today though as much as I like nature, we both despise ONE tree in a neighbor’s yard where the leaves all seem to blow solely in our direction, generating tons of clean up for us, while the neighbor gets only the beauty of that tree and shade in summer, we get their leaves.

Thankful to have power equipment to assist in cleaning up that mess… and to have the diversion of Saab driving on the agenda as all work and no play, makes this “Jack,” insane 😉

Turbo up! I will need some turbo grade energy to get those leaves done after having done many days of leaf cleanup already in the last 3 weeks.

Many have mentioned to me the latest “advice” that we should not pickup leaves, and I’ve been thinking that for years myself, no one rakes the forests, let nature do what it does naturally.  But we have a lawn, and if you don’t pick up the leaves, well you know, you won’t have a lawn to enjoy come Spring and our tiny dogs do need someplace to “go”.

I’m also insane enough to snow blow our yard during winter because we have very short, tiny dogs who otherwise can’t go outside without an area cleared of snow for them, and the leaves are not compatible with the snow blower.

Again, who cares? 🙂  I do.

Driving the Viggen still seems far more appealing than the rest of my household to do list this weekend.