The Saab 9-4X is one of rarest production car in the world! In fact more rare then Ferrari F40, Porsche Carrera GT and Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing. Only about 500-600 cars was made before GM pulled the plug. It was built on the same platform as the Cadillac SRX in Mexico. I never imagined owning the 9-4X but when the priced dropped to around 10 $K. It was maybe possible? The Saab 9-4X project had started.
The SAAB 9-4X Project: The mission! Find a Saab 9-4X in an OK condition. Import to Sweden make it road legal. It´s already a head turner for any car fan but next thing is to replace all the car lights and rims and touch up the finish of the car. Make it look like new and make the 100 000 + miles on the odometer vanish. Next mount all decals looking like it´s coming straight from the dealer. Mission goal. – A back from the past car! Next!? Enjoy! 🙂 Update mission success? Unfortunately the car was not in an amazing condition. The check engine light was on and the repair cost was around 5000+ US $. This and the fact that I had to change tires and pay tax and customs led to that this year 2018. I had to be satisfied to being a proud owner of a Saab 9-4X. Sadly the plan was also to take the car on our Iceland trip but this could not be done. Afterwords I am very happy about this because I could not even imagine how poor the roads on Iceland is.
Finding, buying and importing the car.
A have read a lot of buying the car in US stories and it made me realized it will take maybe 5-6 months and possible failure to register the car road legal. So no stress when I find the car it will take 6 months I thought. Thanks to cargurus.com I managed to find a project car after a few months. I found a great shipper! Nordtrafik they where really amazing and helping out with any issues. Usually there was only about 6 cars for sale simultaneously and only maybe 1 or 2 was an aero. I have never imported a car from USA before.
I was looking at the east coast to find near as port as possible to save money on freight but it was not so easy. Managed to find one in Cleveland, Ohio and ship it to the docks in Baltimore. The car freight to the docks was almost as expensive as the sea freight but the car seemed to be a good find. I did not have the budget to travel over and take it for a test drive but still it could have been sold at any moment. Cash first! It would have been more ideal to find a car in L.A or Houston near port then probably rost free but even more rare to find such a car at those locations but still you can get lucky.
Bought the car in december and it took two months! Before i received the title papers. The dealership was not used to sell cars for export so there was a huge amount of troubles but it all worked out in the end and finally I had the title and the car was ready for pickup!
Car arrives in my hometown
Many thanks to Nordtrafik who made the pickup on location in Cleveland and transport within Sweden. Ideal to make all shipping via them perhaps a bit more expensive but still more simple.
Road legal in Europe?
How do you get a car road legal when it was never sold new in Europe? Will it get registered or had i just bought a very expensive sofa? I asked around and came to the conclusion that no one really knows what they are talking about and everybody was refereing to eachother it was very confusing. You like in a country that has it legislation but also adapt to european laws. I really hate this like a yes or no answer.
Checklist for EU adaptation.
– Dekra or TüV document papers on the car. Ordered from Dekra.
– Rear fog light. CE approved. Found on ebay europe, Eurohandel Pegasus. See picture below.
– Rear fog light button that resets upon every startup. Cartown foglight kit.
– Change tires to E-approved tires.
– Remove front seats windows tinting.
EU fog light. Actually only needed for the registration I found out afterwards.
On route to Mannes Bilservice in Sölvesborg one of the very few good Saab 95 NG, Saab 9-4X repair shops in Sweden. Also make a stop in Hässleholm for registration test at the Swedish DMV. I had a check engine light and he fixed it and the car was approved 🙂 Thank you!
Arrived and found a Saab 9-4X made for Europe also in for a visit in the repair shop 🙂
Update from the mechanic. Changing timing chains etc etc etc…
Car is ready for the open road! 🙂 Thank you!!! 🙂 If you need a good mechanic: Mannes Bilservice!
Total cost of the car
Car 10970$, Document fees 250$, Pick up to port 775 $, Sea freight 1250$ total 13 245$ Plus cost of insurance etc and custom 12% and tax 25%. Delivery in Sweden, Documents for registration, new tires, registration cost and cost of repairs at the mechanic. Total cost for getting the car road legal 225 000 KR SEK. Around 25 000$ when car is ready for the road. I could have maybe found an 9-4X in Europe but this was FUN! 🙂
Want to buy a Saab 9-4X?
It´s an amazing car. Buy it but be aware any Saab unique parts on the car might be out of stock!
More images?
Visit the Flickr album.
Saab 9-4X links:
– GM Pulls Plug on 9-4X Crossover Production as Saab Moves Toward Chinese Ownership.
– For $19,000, Would You Own This 2011 Saab 9-4x That You Never Even Knew Existed?
– The Last Of The GM Saabs: Looking Back At The Rare 9-4X Aero.
– Saab 9-4X Production report 2018.