In summary, a comfortable motorway mile muncher with a few issues for the MOT due 31 05 24.  By my assessment £500 DIY or £2k in a garage BUT you make your own assessment.  I'm not longer willing to DIY so the £2k is above what I value it at.

I have taken it to the local Saab specialist for their opinion and most of the stuff is typical MOT fodder - worn bushes - Front wishbone, bit of welding, CV gaiter, wheel bearing, twisted flexi brake pipe, excessive handbrake travel.  The biggest unknown is the SRS light - a Saab friend plugged various things in and suggested it is the spring behind the steering wheel - if you are reading this far you probably know more than me.

Advisories would include slight PAS leak, slight transmission leak, track rod end boots, and some non MOT corrosion

The tyres are legal (one brand new) but the other three will need replacing soon - not down to the tread wear indicators yet and should last me to the end of May including a planned holiday in it to Ireland.

In addition to the MOT issues you should know:

The screenwasher bottle leaks, the heated seats don't work and the heater fan motor has a mind of its own.  The Silver Bodywork is presentable but has what you might expect for an older car, some rust spots and dings.  The wheels are not perfect by any means but are the original Anniversary Alloys including the spare (which has the wrong size but new tyre on it!) and a space saver tyre too.

The good things - yes there are some!  It starts on the button, is comfortable, handles nicely (I had a couple in the 90s that I really enjoyed), all the electric stuff works (windows, central locking etc), the info centre works, (showing 33mpg at present) it's quiet, in fact all those things you go to a classic Saab for.  The interior is in good condition (someone told me Annivesary interiors are worth £1k on their own) except for a faded parcel shelf.

It has an interesting history featuring positively in a couple of classic car magazines including Bangernomics.  Quite a file of maintenance and MOTs, workshop manual etc and a nice aftermarket stereo with bluetooth and microphone for handsfree.

On a practical note it has done 165500 and that is going up as I'm using it as my motorway car - which I hope shows you I have trust in it completing any journey I set out on.  In fact I've just got back from a trip to Bristol to London and it behaved impeccably munching the miles as intended - steady 70 (ish really officer) and 33.5 mpg on the display.  Sat in traffic on the way back (Friday night... ) so no overheating.

Ideally the car isn't available until after 20th May when we come back from holiday as it's booked on a ferry to Ireland but I have another car I could take, so if you really want it sooner I'm sure we can negotiate.  You are welcome to come and see it (Thornbury near Bristol) before that.

 As usual feel free to ask more about the car and I'll do my best to answer.  Thanks for reading.