9 out of 10 Hipsters Agree: The 1987–93 Saab 900 Turbo Is a Sweet, Affordable Swede
Saab hasn’t made cars for 10 years now, but in its heyday, the Swedish brand pitched itself as the thinking person’s alternative to BMW, Volvo, Audi, and Mercedes. Compared to a 5-Series or a 244, the Saab 900 Turbo was faster, roomier, and more fuel efficient. Plus, none of its rivals could boast that they built jets, too. The 900 Turbo backed up Saab’s boasts: Car and Driver loved it so much that they named it to their 10Best list four times between 1985, when it came stateside, and 1991, when the car’s price crept above the magazine’s cap of $30K.
Thirty years later, the Saab 900 Turbo is affordable, even if you aren’t the original clientele associated with these cars: Dentists, architects, and college professors. The secret of Saab’s collectibility may be out, but they are still cheaper than their ’80s contemporaries. All models except for the top-dog SPG can be had for $21K or less in #2 (“excellent”) condition. If you like off-beat, capable underdogs, you’ll dig the 900 Turbo.
The 900 is also arguably the last “pure” Saab. The model originally debuted in 1979 as the successor to the 99, essentially a family hauler. According to saabmuseum.com, the Saab 900 shared some components with the 99 but everything in front of the A-pillars was new. Not only was the front of the vehicle longer, to comply with U.S. crash regulations, but the wheelbase was longer and the overall length shorter than the 99. That new nose included some funky stuff: Saab mounted the engine backwards and sent power to the transmission (a four- or five-speed manual, depending on the year, or an automatic) via chain-driven primary gears, writes Haynes. That transmission was mounted not behind but below the engine. All 900s are front-wheel-drive and boast a cabin air filter, which was an industry first!
A turbocharged model was available right from the start. Turbos are all over the road today, but in the late ’70s the only turbocharged cars you had a chance of seeing on the road were the Porsche 930 and Buick Regal. The Saab used a 2.0-liter inline-four originally designed by Triumph with a turbocharger cooled by both oil and water. Originally, the Turbo model made 135 hp, 160 lb-ft of torque, and returned 19 mpg for the 2700-pound Swede. In 1982, Saab introduced its automatic performance control system, charged with regulating boost to eliminate knock. The nifty system also varied the compression ratio, allowing the engine to take advantage of fuels with differing octane levels. In 1985, Saab blessed the Turbo models with a double-overhead-cam, 16-valve cylinder head and an intercooler. The car now made 160 hp and 188 lb-ft of torque…while returning the same fuel economy.
In 1987, by now blessed with the full fruits of Saab’s turbo wisdom, the whole model line received a facelift: The grille took up more horizontal space on the nose, the headlights were new, and the bumpers were different front and rear. You could choose one of three body styles for your 16-valve Turbo: sedan, hatchback, or convertible. You could even spring for the Special Performance Group (SPG) package. Introduced in ‘85, SPG cars gained five extra hp, slightly softer rear shock absorbers, anti-sway bars front and rear, electric sunroof, and leather upholstery. An aero kit lowered aerodynamic drag ever so slightly, too. Adjusted for inflation, the package added over $8000 to a roughly $53,000 car, but, as we’ll see in a moment, those who bit the bullet in the ‘80s made a wise investment.
On paper, the entire generation of 900 Turbo lasted 20 years, but fans of the brand will quickly point out that the last four years don’t count. That was when GM moved the nameplate onto the platform of the Opel Vectra. (Other cooks had gotten into the kitchen even earlier. In 1984, Saab introduced a larger model called the 9000 to complement the 900, but it was a joint effort between Saab, Fiat, Lancia, and Alfa Romeo.)
Given how smartly engineered and capable the 1987–93 car is, those fans have reason to draw a line in the sand. By putting a turbocharger into a mainstream car, and proving that it was durable, Saab had done something new and unusual. The durability extended to the more exotic SPG. One hit a million miles. The cars weren’t just bulletproof, either; they were quick, comfortable, and possessed of a very tight turning circle and excellent visibility. Saab’s intentionality trickles down to the details on these cars: The steering column not only collapses into the dash, should the driver desire to adjust it so, but has deformable steel bellows that encourage it to bend away from the driver in a crash.
If you’re in the market for a 900 Turbo, it’s hard to go wrong with the later cars. Shopping is a relatively simple affair, since values hold steady across the 1987–93 model years and vary only by body style and condition. The later cars all have the coveted 16-valve engine with the intercooler, so your biggest decision, powertrain-wise, is whether you want a manual or an automatic gearbox. From there, you can decide if you care about a purely water-cooled turbocharger (1988 and later), a handbrake that only operates on the rear (1988 and later), antilock brakes (standard on Turbos from 1992 on), and alloy wheels. Several of the interior niceties associated with the SPG, like leather upholstery and the sunroof, became optional on the Turbo in 1983, so if you’re simply looking for a cushier spec, you’ll be well served by the “base” Turbo. Also, it comes in a wider variety of colors than the SPG.
When it comes to value, though, the SPG is the undisputed king. No one really caught onto its magic until the middle of 2020, apparently. For two years before that, the most valuable variant of 900 Turbo was the hatchback. The average value of an SPG in #2 (“excellent”) condition shot up first in mid-2020, to the high $20K range, then plateaued for 2021, dipping slightly before shooting up again, at the end of 2022, to the mid-30s. Recently, they’ve nudged up again, and now sit right at $40K. The hatchback and sedan are the bargain buys, comparatively, with average #2 values of $16,800 and $13,400, respectively. Values of those models have dipped over the last year while values of the convertible have gone up. The drop-top, with an average #2 value of $21,000, is now the most desirable of the non-SPG 900 Turbos.
As you’d expect, these cars are popular with those who associate them with childhood memories—Gen X. Millennials, who were generally younger when these cars were new, like them more than they do many classics: This generation accounts for 22.5 percent of the collector car market, but 25.68 percent of the insurance quotes Hagerty sees for the 900 Turbo quotes. However, the group most interested in these cars, at least by share of quotes, is the baby boomer generation, which accounts for 34.57 percent of quotes. Perhaps the demographic data is consistent with the attention paid to a vehicle associated not with the high school parking lot but the university or business lot. These cars are symbols of later-life success more than youthful brawn.
The cult around Saab has only grown stronger, it seems, since the beleaguered automobile division, tossed between different owners and into different mergers, ceased production in 2014. Today, the brand carries a certain exclusivity—“if you know, you know.” The 900 Turbo represents genuine ‘80s innovation in a package that makes just as much sense today as it did 30 years ago, and is just as fun—for an accessible price.
