Saab Reviews

This book managed to teach me a great deal about my car that I was clueless on before. I highly recommend this book to anyone, from the beginner looking to understand how their car works to an intermediate grease monkey like myself.

The book is lacking a couple key areas, though. One is the drawings. The sketch drawings of a certain items/views are not very useful for identifying things (if you're just trying to get the lay of the land under the hood, the Bentley is little help when it comes to smaller components). These desperately need to be upgraded to photos, color, if possible. There's not a whole lot on the vacuum system except a schematic, ditto for a portion of the electrical system and also the A/C/vent system.

Some suggestions to improve the book: a complete breakdown of the car (seems some smaller items are left as an exercise for the reader, as was investigating a broken door latch on my 900), lots more photos, and COLOR!

The pros far outweigh the cons, though, and coupled with a good online help community like the Saab Network bulletin boards, there's very little you can't repair on your own with this book. A must have for anyone who wants to keep their 900's running.

My saab was running great - then not so much. The idle speed was running very high most of the time, around 2,000 rpm. When I touched the accelerator it dropped down to around 1,200 rpm, still about 300 rpm above normal. It also (just once) alarmingly lost then regained power, quickly, so I was kangaroo-ing down the road looking like a first-time driver not able to handle the clutch.

Upon receiving the book I started to diagnose the problem. Within thirty minutes I was confident it was one of two things, both easy to check using the information in this book. It turned out not to be the air mass meter, but instead was the throttle position sensor. The car was fixed within an hour and is running (touch wood) wonderfully now. Using this book saved me money. A big thanks for Bentley publishers !

If you have one of these cars and need to understand how to fix it you need this manual.

This is a complete book for the Saab 900, but I have found parts that are seriously wrong - i.e. The firing order of the spark plug wires on the distributor - it seems to have an image from the 8 valve engine - not the 16 valve. There are some interesting pages, but fortunately I had a Chilton Imported Car book around or my 900 might still be in the driveway. It might be better a reference book if it were about $10 less...

This book is a must-have for any Saab owner who even thinks about doing any repair or maintenance work. More complete than other publisher's manuals. The one drawback, and I think this is common in an book of this type, is when you see the words "assembly is the opposite of disassembly" instead of a step by step procedure. But, this book contains info, specs, step-by-step directions, wiring diagrams, photos and drawings, etc for anything you'd need to do to your saab, except possibly rebuilding the tranny!

PS - The reviewer from Villanova, PA commented: "The firing order of the spark plug wires on the distributor - it seems to have an image from the 8 valve engine - not the 16 valve." I'd like to point out that this book is INTENDED for the 8-valve version of the classic 900, NOT the 16-valve versions - as the name implies. Thus, this diagram is correct. Bently publishes a DIFFERENT version of this book for the 16-valve cars, that has the correct diagram for those cars.

This is the best and easiest Saab repair book. This has easy to read wiring diagrams post 85. This gem stays in my car all the time. Just in case.

I love this book. I didn't know anything about how to feed a baby past the breast feeding stage and this book was a God sent! It gives you all info you need on when to introduce foods and how to help with special dietary needs - if you have them. The recipes are delicious and fairly easy, my husband and I eat from them all the time and my 15 month old son has loved the food from the start. I bought it at a baby show and it really helped me to keep my son on an appitizing and well-balanced diet. I will definately buy the next book for ages 2-5. Keep up the great work.

This is one of my two favorite books on feeding a baby. (The other is Child of Mine by Ellen Satter -- a more comprehensive but much less readable book.) This book concisely explains the basics of pediatric nutrition and provides all kinds of suggested meals/snacks for babies and toddlers of various ages. Sometimes I get into a rut when it comes to feeding my child, serving up the same types of foods day after day. This book gave me ideas about a bunch of other recipes to try and, for the most part, they've been foods that my super-picky toddler has been willing to try.

I stumbeled upon this book just when my son (who is 1)had just started to refuse to be spoon fed by myself, husband or my son himself! I was starting to worry that he was not getting the proper nutrition that he required. This cookbook helped! The into was particulary helpful, with the sample menu's and how to start feeding your child "adult" food. I refer to these menu's all the time and they reassure me that I am doing a good job on offering my child nutrition.

As for earlier reviews that the cookbook is filled with sugar and fat filled recipes, well yes there are some that I would not feed my child, but you can also alter these recipes to your preference. However, the majority of these recipes are an excellent way to start your child off healthy.

...I paid a small fortune for this book only to read about the perfect vacation.

It is a photographer's dream come true and a fine insight to an area that I will (someday) be able to fly fish.

I'd buy another copy because of the sheer glory of the story, the binding and the (prior to GM) story of travel in the finest engineered car ever built.

If you have the $$$ buy it. Like Garrison Keillor, Mr. Swanson lives his dreams. Too few of us ever do.

A book of the reality of fishing. The author captures the attraction and reality of fising for the true enthusiast. The reality; the anticipation of the preperation, the rush to fit pleasure into our crowded lives, the hurt of getting skunked while others succeed. The attraction; the instinct to hunt, the allure of pitting ones knowledge and skill against the instinct of a wild animal, and communion with the elements. All set in Gods own country, Norway. A lovely little book.

Other than the factory service manuals, this is the best, and possibly only, manual that covers the 2-stroke models. In addition it there is a chapter that includes the factory recommendations for performance tuning, plus a list of high performance pieces that used to be available through the Saab dealers.

A worthy addition to the library of a Vintage Saab enthusiast.

The author has several automotive books to his credit and it shows. In his history of this classic car, told from a British perspective, the text is easy to read, and the author displays a thorough understanding of how cars work. There are plenty of excellent photos, some in color but mostly not. I learned *why* the ignition key is on the floor (safety feature), and got further insights into this small company's heritage as an innovator, e.g. how, with the 96, they had an extremely aerodynamic car rivalled only by the Citroen DS, or how they insisted, for safety reasons, on using heavier sheet metal than other makers, explaining its enduring status among automotive brands.

Every Saab fanatic should add this book to their collection. While not as complete as "The First 40 Years of Saab Cars" by Lindh, it does have some insight into the elements that make Saab a unique driving experience.

A well balanced "must have" book for the Saab enthuasiast. It's well illustrated with an easy to read layout and contains lots of hard to find photos. Dymock explores some of Saabs innovative contributions to the automotive world - well worth the money. It's not overly technical, but it serves as a nostalgic look at Saab history from a respected automotive journalist.

Science fiction isn't usually my first choice when I want to escape between the covers of a good book. With the exception of Octavia Butler and a few other talented writers, people of African decent don't seem to play much of a role in the future as defined by writers of fantasy/speculative fiction. For that reason, I was intrigued when I read the description for A.D. on Amazon and ordered the book.

Although the premise is interesting (an African American man is cryogenically frozen and awakes 400 years later in a racially segregated New World Order) the author, Saab Lofton, lacks the imagination and talent as a writer to make the novel work.

The reader is immediately challeged to suspend their disbelief to the point that he/she will believe that bankrupt Aryan leader Tom Metzger and NOI despot Louis Farrakhan are smart/influencial enough to split up the country according to their racist doctrines.

Sounds far fetched? It is. By tying the events in his novel to these pathetic figures, Lofton not only makes his futurist novel seem "dated" but wholly implausible. He simply lacks the talent to create a future existence that can borrow from the present and exapand it without creating a heavy-handed and choppy diatribe.

The novel's protagonist, Elijah, rarely rises above Lofton's thumbnail sketch of him. Other characters suffer the same fate. In a story as fantastic as this one it is imperative that the characters be fleshed out enough to make the story believable. Lofton simply never accomplishes this.

Lofton (a far left socialist) can't decide if A.D. is really a novel or a flimsy article for the pages of the Socialist Worker. Never content to let the characters and their actions speak for themselves, Lofton continually stiffles the story by interjecting (read:forcefeeding) the reader his own political agenda.

His writing style is overly didactic, never allowing the reader to become absorbed in the "story" itself. In addition to this flaw, the editing of the novel is so bad it's a distraction. Fragmented sentences and other grammatical errors make A.D. a test of the reader's patience.

Aside from these problems the novel itself isn't very original. Lofton heavily borrows storylines from Ayn Rand and George Orwell without taking note of their ear for dialogue and passion for storytelling. Where Orwell builds suspense in 1984, Lofton is predictable.

In the end, A.D. is a forgettable story. I've read reviews in leftist papers that praised the novel for challenging reader perspectives when in all honesty people are more challenged by well-written, thought provocing pieces. This is not that piece and fans of A.D. are probably already in the choir that Lofton is preaching to.

If you must read this book, I implore you to skip the self-congratulatory introduction . In it Lofton goes on his own diatribe against "Trekkies" and whines endlessly about being homeless (though he never slept in a shelter); not being able to handle school at a local community college and full time work (note to Saab: people do it all the time); and waiting for his "inheritance" to kick it. To make things even worse, he refers to himself as "The Mighty Saab Lofton, King of the Impossible"--I wish I were kidding. The prologue isn't much better (a mini-PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE US without the footnotes) and is out of place in a book that is supposedley a sci-fi novel.

The book is a page-turner and a powerful political pamphlet. The thing I deplored about it is the run-of-the-mill 400-year hybernation scenario and the ensuing 400-year gap in human history where nothing seems to have happened since the late 20th century. Saab should rewrite the second part of the damn novel to make it a masterpiece.

The book has an impressive introduction with a very interesting analasys of the extreme right; both black and white. However, the author makes it clear from the beginning that he is an extreme socialist, therefore his ideas have to be taken with a grain of salt.

The first part of the book, with the description of a utopian society ruled by the Nation of Islam, strongly resembles an Orwellian type of society. It is well written and presents interesting ideas.

The second part of the book however leaves something to be desired. It seems that the author has departed from his original attention to detail and social-political analasys and has transformed the book into a banal story, unworthy of being attached to the first part of the book.

Overall, this is a book worthy of being read, with interesting ideas, and a good writing style.

I have an '84 900 turbo, and I found that this manual left a lot to be desired. As I've found with a lot of Haynes manuals (this is my fourth), this manual is missing a lot of details. For instance, what is that cylinder in the front left fender well? I finally had to search through junk yards to determine that the flexible hose from the air filter does not actually connect to an exhuast port, but just wraps around the exhaust manifold. I really wish the under the hood/car views had better resolution and were more detailed. Finally, the manual often just says "see photos" instead of refering to specific photos. I get the impression this one was rushed to print.

This book is fine for those with a little bit of experience working on motor vehicles. If you don't have that background there is probably enough information to get you in trouble. I have never owned a SAAB and picked one up with a sick gearbox (transmission) for a song. I found that the information was enough for me to easily handle the engine removal and gearbox replacement. The tip to get around purchasing the SAAB specific clutch removal tool paid for itself on its first use. Overall and excellent book for a reasonably experienced DIYer.If you aren't that experienced rope in a mate who is, shell out for a couple of beers and learn as you go. With a little time you will find it an excellent guide. Cheers

I used this manual on my 81 900 all the way through school and saved thousands of $$ on repairs. Not for the timid, but it's based on a tear-down and rebuild of the car, so it tends to have a lot of info about getting at things in really tight places. I got through water pump replacement, clutch replacement, numerous tune-ups, replacing a wheel bearing, replacing the transmission, and doing brake service. The amount of grease and oil on the book is s testament to how many times I used it keeping the car in good running order.

I have an older Saab and decided to get a repair manual for it. This one was a major dissapointment. All electrical and vacuum diagrams are left out. Their reasoning for this is that there is too much to list. However, Chilton incorporates this information into their books on newer cars (such as the Chevy Lumina) that are far more complicated. Some of the pictures are also very vague. I found myself guessing at some of the torque specs, since I have a 16-valve engine and this is written mainly for the 8-valve. This book also tends to over-complicate some items, while over-simplifying others. I don't recommend this book unless all you want to do is change your oil and spark plugs. Anything more complicated, and you're better off going with the Bentley manual (if you can find one) or the offical Saab manual.

While I can appreciate the statements in the first review, I don't think they are entirely accurate or fair. For one thing, one MUST use the correct manual for a given car. The writer was misusing the book if he/she was taking torque specs and guessing at the correct ones for a different engine. The statement that this book is not complete is also true, but one should realize that it is impossible to cover every wire and bolt in less than 200 pages. For that, as that person had suggested, I would recommend the more expensive, but also more comprehensive, manuals offered. I have used these manuals for years, and they do have their place.