If you had to choose...

For a daily driver a Saab 9-3 from the year of 2004 vs. a Civic Si from the same year which would you choose and why?

What are the pros and cons of the Saab; what are the pros and cons of the Civic?

I've found great deals on both, I have other priorities in life right now and need to get rid of my beautiful and awesome Mustang. It will hurt but priorities are priorities.

I vote Civic on the grounds that it will be dependable transportation with very low maintenance and running costs.

Civic for only one reason, when you go to sell it you'll have a much bigger pool of people willing to buy it which will make it sell quicker and for more money.

As much as I hate to say it, Civic.

definitely Civic Si. i love those little hatches.

Aren't you a paid Honda technician? Civic my man, Civic.

I agree with the others on the Civic if those are your ONLY options.

What is your price range? I promise I can find you something realiable and local for the same money.

Dont move over to the dark side without examining other options.

Love Saabs but I also vote Civic. Probably better in just about every way.

Wow. It's a tough decision. The opinions are running all over the place. Impossible to pick a clear winner!

I loved SAABs until GM got in, anything pre-1992 is good. I'd go with the Civic for its reliability.

Dan

i don't know how a 2.2 ecotec isn't reliable lol and yes I'm a paid Honda tech but actually working on Ep3 Si Civics is a rarity so I don't know much about them. The hatch would be much nicer like when I had my Fit. Max price range is 12,000 (which I've found a 8th gen Si for, but needs some work) but I would honestly like something in the sub $8000 range to open up my budget even more so.

There is a 04 Forester XT in FL with a blown turbo for 7k obo. Only problem is that is an auto.

I also know of a babied one owner 80k mile 02 WRX wagon for sale with slight body damage (scrape from a parking garage) for $4k. Again only issue is that it is auto.

For some reason I just wouldnt go with either of the SAAB or Si for that kind of money.

the honda always makes more sense, except that they don't do anything for me.

which one are you going to get out of, walk 15 feet from, and turn around and look at one more time before you go do what your doing?

I still do that to my P71

Saab. More car; this platform is shared w/ the current Malibu/G6; this engine hasn't had sludging issues. Yes, resale will be a drag.

Edited for D'oh!

g6 you mean?

I say civic in this case too.. but its an odd case.

I vote for the Miata.

Cummon, someone HAD to say it right?

when i get back from vacation im going to look at both cars, the saab is $6000 the Civic is $7000. I have gotten back into one of my old hobbies of surfing as well....I know I could find a roof rack for a saab easily, could a smaller board fit in the ep3 or do they make racks for htose?

they make racks for the EP3.

Even tho I own a Civic....I'm not so sure it is THE choice here. One reason folks here cited for picking it over the Saab was that there would be a larger "pool" of prospective buyers than there would be for the Saab, if you needed to sell it. Considering how unpopular that model of Si was, I'm not so sure that it can be considered more popular than a Saab. The aftermarket, if you are going to modify either car, is obviously much larger for the Civic.

To be honest, if these 2 cars were my ONLY choices....I'd look farther afield, and at something else. A 2004 Saab 9-3 is pretty far along in it's model life. The bugs are probably worked out, but as a "driving machine" it would not be THE greatest sedan for the money you can buy.

In my area, a local used car dealer has several 9-3s and a couple of 323s.....the same price and nearly the same mileage. Even tho the BMWs are autos and not all that great of a color (one is a dark green), which car do you think would get my $10K ?

What are your other requirements? To me, the only thing Civic wins on is reliability. But it wins BIG on that one.
<<<<<<Has a SAAB

The saab 9-3's from that generation really aren't rather that terribly for reliability. There aren't that many folks that freak out about them like they did the late 90's early 2000's.. So I guess they are better than they were.. I want one, but.

That said.. I love the practicality of a hatchback and the reliability of the big H.

tough call.

DaveEstey wrote: they make racks for the EP3.

need to buy the extender but yes you can get a yak rack.

really just something to drive that has decent space and a little spunk. I've driven the Saabs before and love them, but a hatchback would be nice to have again as well, plus in manual would be great, even though Ep3s aren't all that popular.

I looked around at some Mk IV GTis and the reliability of the VWs really concerns me. Other vehicles that I have looked at that are a bit pricier are of course 8th gen Civic Si, Mk V GTis, Cobalt SS, and the Fit again. Looked at a few Solstices as well as S2ks (no no no Miatas...NO!) but the space of a roadster wouldn't please me.

The real reason I chose those two cars---price, low mileage, both one owner cars. Civic has 48k, Saab like 65k, on the clocks. Both manual, both clean, both have lots of new tires and services. Like i said in last post, im going to go look at both when i get home, drive, then make a decision.

They are two completely different cars. One is in the so called economy class the other is more of an uprated mid size car. So it depends on what you want in a car. I never bought a car for it's reale value.