T5 Issues

[Geoff]

Yeah, I looked into what it would take to replace the clutch before we got it. I think it can be done in *as little as* 10 hours but typically takes 16-20 if you're working in your home garage. She bought an extended maintenance package which goes up to 100k miles and includes the clutch. Hopefully she'll trade it in before surpassing 100k... Apparently the clutches aren't all that robust either. They made some changes through the years and hers apparently has a self-adjusting clutch that debuted with her model year (2011). We'll see how it goes but I'm glad I won't be changing the clutch. We had the clutch replaced on her 9-3 and it cost around $900 with flywheel resurfacing. I've seen people quoted $3000 for one of these cars.

I've heard nightmares about the clutches on the original Minis too. I can't remember, maybe they were riveted in place?

I put snow tires on it and gained about an inch of ground clearance. The jacking points on the car are stupid. They're these plastic cups that act as receivers for the factory scissor jack. If you want to use a floor jack you end up lifting on the wall of the plastic cup. I was afraid of breaking or bending them so I cut a piece of wood and stuck it into the cup. Apparently the cups fit to the body of the car with a central plastic pin that snap fits into the body and they can pop out while you have the car on a floor jack if you're not careful. Dumb.

Other than that the car is fairly fun. I think I'll start referring to it as the SAAB 9-1 Prototype. I'll keep telling myself, "Well, it is just a prototype."