Slow Fleet – SAAB 900 Sept – November Update

Latest Costs: £3.50
Miles since last update: 378

After all of the work and the run to Norfolk it seemed that the 900 was suitable for a trip to Wales for a long weekend. A few local trips had reinforced the reliability of the car, but I was getting a little squeaking of the alternator belt when starting and the coolant level was dropping a little, but not too much. You can tell when it’s dropped enough as it won’t blow warm air through the vents.

So, packing the car with everything needed, and more, it was off to North Wales from Derbyshire. The destination was a caravan site near to Porthmadog, just beyond the famous town of Harlech. It’s a decent location with the sites on the beach road being right next to the beach. Black Rock Sands as it’s known is a little unusual as it has vehicular traffic on it.

A late lunch stop in Barmouth on the way was pleasant with the weather being dry, bright and not too cold, before continuing the rest of the journey. The 900 continuing to work well and giving a decent drive through the mountain sections.

It’s not a fast car but can make decent progress and importantly then drive and handle rather well. Decent feel from the steering and a good turn in without this modern over assisted and too quick steering that seems to adorn many newer cars.

Arrival on the Haven Greenacres site was efficient as usual, but the poor 900 was making a little more exhaust noise than earlier. Must have been all that enthusiastic driving on the way up… Still, wasn’t too bad, until driving through the site later in the evening when it was quieter did I realise the need to attend to it. This being a Sun holiday meant that it wasn’t the only noisy car and possible not the most worthless one either. So I was in good company.

Visiting the local sites, riding the Ffestiniog on the Saturday followed by a day trip to Portmeirion on the Sunday was worth the time and also going around Portmadog itself. Which is a useful town, having a large Wilkinsons that sold Gun Gum paste to help quieten the exhaust down, which I did buying some and using it a couple of times outside the caravan.

With the noise abated for a while the 900 turned into quite the bird puller….

It also seemed a good idea to take it onto the beach, it had been a while since I had driven on it and it can take a while to walk one end to the other.

Too soon it was necessary to return back home and on the Monday morning we set off back to Derbyshire. The bridge across the estuary was closed so a detour around to the other road into Harlech was used.

We were followed by one of those Toyota/Subaru coupe’s through a rather twisty section, which the 900 couldn’t outpace, except in the corners where I was able to pull a couple of car lengths on it each twisty section. Quite satisfying really, but it helps that the 900 is quite a narrow car and the front end is rather well sorted with the double front wishbone suspension. Also, this was all within legal limits, it’s not fast enough for a start and nothing daft was done. Didn’t have to.

Reaching Harlech the back way meant going through the town and I could hear the exhaust noise bouncing off the walls. I need another load of exhaust paste to sort it, so I stopped in a car park and had a look. It wasn’t great so I figured on heading to a flatter area to attend to it, but whilst I had stopped I checked the fluids wondering where all my water had gone…

Simon