I know little about the 2000-2004 SAAB models, but I have heard that they are more reliable than their predecessors.

I owned a 1984 900 Turbo for three years in the early 1990's. The car had just 65,000 miles on it when I purchased it from the original owner. It was trouble from the beginning. It was NOT do-it-yourself friendly in the least. Try replacing the waterpump or the clutch. Or doing any front-end work on the car. A royal pain. I drove the 900 Turbo from 65K to 130K and spent over $5,000 on repairs. The gearbox (5-speed) died at 115K and it cost me $2500 to have the gearbox rebuilt and reinstalled with a new clutch. This was a common failure for the 900. The head gasket needed to be replaced at 120K, just 5,000 miles after I spent a mortgage payment and then some on replacing the transmission. And this was a very well cared for car - maintained at a high-end SAAB specialist by the previous owner.

By contrast, none of my 240s needed anything but brakes, tires, and waterpumps (a one hour job on the 240) until 150,000 miles. My '84 245 is still going at 330,000 on the original B23F and M46. I hate to think how much it would have cost me to keep the 900 running for that many miles!!