Is this a GM Saab?
 

It's the I4 motor. Non turbo I presume. Timing chain??

1994 Saab 900S, only 118,000 miles

Yep, any 900 of 94 or later (except possibly 94 convertibles) is GM.

That's a good year (first year of the GM, owning and did pretty well) and a good price. lots of parts available a great net site saabnet.com, and safe. issues sound normal and easily fixable. I had a 900 Turbo, 84 model and an 80 something 9000 turbo, great cars....got the 9000 at 245k miles from a buddy who deployed to Iraq early in the war and drove it back to MN from NC. Think it's still running....http://saabnet.com/tsn/class/

I am curious about the GM-SAAB engine reliability. I constantly scour the CL ads and see a fairly high number with bad engines (though, I must say, in the bargain basement price range seems like anything needs an engine or transmission)

Thanks, I'm waiting for a call back. It sounds like a 1 owner car.

I'd take a pre-GM 900 or pre-99 9000 over anything designed by GM. The GM Saabs aren't weird enough for me.

My (limited) understanding so far is that the V6 was the GM "upgrade" and was the problem. Recommended 30K mile timing belt. Holy crap. The NA I4 was all Saab.

But what do I know?

They didnt stick iron duke 4 bangers in sabbs .
The 9-7 suvs are chevy trailblazers with different fenders and got the doc 6 cyls and after 2005 they got aluminum 5.3 ls's the straight six's are not known to last. the Ls--the aluminum one -the one everyone wanting to tranzplant wants this engine.

So what kind of 4 bangers were they?

take a look at this....

1995 Saab 9000CSE (Posted 7/14/2013)

Color: Scarab Green Trans: Manual Mileage: 199,300 Price: $2,600 OBO
I have made a lot of upgrades to this car since acquiring it in 2001. These include a Jak Stoll Performance Stage 3 ECU tune, 3" JT Downpipe and racing cat, with locally fabricated 3" cat back stainless steel exhaust. On the suspension side it has SAS swaybars front and rear and the Saab SportsChassis suspension kit, for a firm but compliant ride. This car runs beautifully and is a lot of fun to drive. The only reason I'm selling is I recently acquired a 9-5 Aero and now have 4 Saabs, so one has to go. I have used Mobil One at every oil change. Recent work includes all new rotors (F&R) (4/13), front passenger wheel bearing (5/12), new battery (3/12), new serp belt, tensioner and pulleys (2/12), new blower motor and heater core (10/10). Less recently it also had all the exhaust manifold studs replaced and a new timing chain rolled in (while they were in there). The tires are Kumho Ecsta ASX's with plenty of tread life left. I also have a set of mounted General Arctic Altimax snows available separately. There are two very small rust bubbles on the rear wheel arch. It is also missing one rear headrest. Paint has the usual nicks and dings for a car this age, but nothing significant. SRS light is on. It came on once before and I had it reset by my Saab indy, but it recently came on again - likely just a poor electrical connection somewhere. See more pictures at 1995 Saab 9000CSE - a set on Flickr
Contact: Roderick MacLachlan, Toledo OH
Email: Click Here
Phone: 419 320 5054

Fixed

Saab

If its a saab built 4 its a pretty rugged device, nearly as solid as an mb.

I didn't mean to start a dump-on-Saabs that aren't this model thread.
My apologies.

This is the only REAL SAAB...