How Much HP Does A Saab 9000 Turbo Have, And What Is The Car Worth Today?

Trygve Finkelsen/Shutterstock

It’s been more than a decade since Saab exited the automobile manufacturing arena. Despite the Swedish company’s decision to refocus on its defense and security roots, those who’ve owned a Saab over the years tend to remember their cars with fondness. Saabs were, after all, in production for more than six decades, with the first rolling off the line in 1949. Over the years, the manufacturer delivered a steady stream of passenger vehicles that favored style and comfort as much as power and performance.

Advertisement

While in production, Saabs were popular in Sweden, and became a bit of a status symbol of more discerning drivers elsewhere, including the United States. Among the most popular offerings to grace the Saab lineup was the 9000, which the company debuted in model year 1985. Even in the earliest models of the Saab 9000, the Euro-size vehicle was packing some decent punch under the hood via a 2-liter, 16-valve turbocharged engine with double overhead camshafts. That engine was capable of producing 175 horsepower and just over 200 pound-feet of torque.

While those are hardly mind-blowing numbers, for a vehicle the size of the Saab 9000, they’re pretty impressive. Perhaps not surprisingly, the company would bolster the power output significantly over the course of the vehicle’s production run. Indeed, by the time the 1998 Saab 9000 hit the streets, it was packing an uber-reliable 2.3-liter turbocharged B234R engine that pushed the ponies to 200 hp or better.  

Advertisement

Art Konovalov/Shutterstock

Those powered-up 1998 models were the last of the Saab 9000 line. Two years after the company pulled the plug on them, Saab became a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors. When hard times hit GM amid the 2008 economic downturn, Saab didn’t fare much better, with the brand folding altogether by 2011. 

Advertisement

Nonetheless, Saab fans continue to keep sporty Swedish builds like the 9000 and the banned-in-the-USA 9-5 SportCombi on the road. If you’re looking to get behind the wheel of a Saab 9000, you’ll be happy to know that a used one can be had for a fairly reasonable price. That’s partly because they haven’t been in production for nearly three decades, leaving them decidedly on the older side of the used-car market. That also means a good used 9000 might be tougher to come by, with only one listed on Classic.com.

That Classic listing is for a 1996 9000 in Sweden, and no price is listed for the car — which has over 184,000 miles on the odometer – as the seller is accepting bids. If history is any indication, the owner may not get much, with sales of Saab 9000s averaging $7,927 on Classic. However, one 1995 model with under 100,000 miles did fetch an impressive $30,000 in 2023. Whatever the case, those numbers are a far cry from Kelly Blue Book values, which average a 9000’s value about $1,500 to $3,000, depending on make and model.  

Advertisement