Bought to eat miles, not because it was a convertible
Saab is quite a convertible brand, first with the 900 and later with the 9-3. Saab is no longer among us, but thanks to men like Kees Schafrat, the Swedish brand is still alive. He clocked more than half a million kilometers in nine years! No, not all ‘open’ of course. His Saab 9-3 Convertible goes on the bridge today.
To start with: how does someone get more than 50,000 kilometers per year? “I live in Zeist and I work in Twente,” says Kees. “So I drive that route back and forth every day. Highway on and off highway, like a line through the Veluwe. That means 1,000 kilometers of commuting per week,” he says. Saab drivers are usually special and often have no obvious professions. Mark Rutte is a striking example of this. Kees calls himself a bookseller. He is director/owner of six larger bookshops (Broekhuis) in the center and east of the country. You don’t come across them every day either. At least they have something with their cars, those Saab enthusiasts. This also applies to Kees, who drove a … Saab 9-3 for this 9-3 Cabriolet. “Well, two friends of mine drove Saab, my father always drove Volvo by the way. I really think the Saab is a car with which you can be seen. Not flashy, but stylish. It suits me.”
Kees has his Saab well taken care of. A service twice a year, arranged by a good car wash and the car is never parked outside. Kees therefore does not expect any crazy things during the inspection by Joep Schuurman.
Kees was not looking for a convertible but ran into this 9-3
It is special how Kees got his 9-3 Cabriolet. “After my previous 9-3 at 350,000 kilometers was about finished, I started looking for a replacement,” he says. “That was when Saab was declared bankrupt. After some research I found a Saab in new condition at Automobielbedrijf Zeeuw in Zwijndrecht. That car was built in 2011 and had been in the showroom for two years – there was no buyer because of the conditions surrounding the brand. For example, that production was stopped. So it threatened to become a wallflower! My regular Saab garage Karssen in Driebergen assured me that sufficient parts would remain available for the coming years, so I bought the car anyway. I paid €38,000 for it, including everything. It had 3,000 kilometers on the clock.” Kees took for granted that it was a convertible. “Yes I just wanted one of the last produced Saabs. I couldn’t find a diesel, but I did find this convertible. I think I’ve driven open about ten times in all that time, because I don’t like that on the highway. Occasionally I do throw it open, also to keep the system running,” he explains. Good deal from Kees, by the way, because this two-liter was in the books at the time with a new price of €51,000.
People want to buy this 9-3
By the way, you experience quite a bit as the owner of a Saab Convertible. “In Hengelo, at work, I have already found a note under my windshield wiper three times with the text ‘If you intend to sell this car, please call me?’. And three years ago someone attached a lucky doll to the door handle of the driver’s door. Special. That doll is still there, because removing it is of course asking for trouble!”
By the way, the Saab will soon have a weekly ATV day. “I had planned to take my wife’s Citroën to work one day a week as soon as the Saab reached half a million kilometers. That is now the case. So he has a day off every now and then.”
Future for this Saab 9-3 Convertible
Well maintained, not a hard life (because a lot of kilometers on the highway), and a neat, calm driver: there are many positive ingredients to expect a smooth inspection under Joep’s supervision. And that’s how it turns out. It is a bit of a shock from the imbalance of the curved brake discs in the front, which are now due for replacement for the first time. Furthermore, the windshield is ‘worn’, something we don’t encounter very often. And he sweats some oil, but that doesn’t seem to be a very big problem. 
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl