Once you wrap your head around the new orientation of things, it’s actually really well designed to work on. I figured the mechanics just didn’t want to learn anything “new”

Nah, Americans just don’t like to read the manuals, and they got a bad reputation in the late '70s and early '80s when they first put turbos into the cars, because you had to pull into the driveway, and let the turbo spin down for at least 30 seconds to a minute. If you didn’t, the turbo would seize and then shred itself when you turn the car back on.

Also American mechanics don’t like the fact that the engine is not in the configuration they are used to. It’s rotated 90° on the z axis and 45 on the x axis. Absolutely solid tanks if you actually read the manual, and followed the routine maintenance recommendations.

It’s not the actual turbo that gets gummed, the fuel system is what gums up, but for some reason it’s far worse on the turbo versions of the cars. I could put low octane into the non turbo SAABs I had, and it didn’t gum up the intake the way the turbo versions did. I don’t know why.

Pre GM SAABs. I’ve personally gotten 2 of my 5 to over 1,000,000 miles on the original engine and transmission. Both manual transmission. A couple hundred of them have made it to 2,000,000 world wide. The lowest milage I killed a SAAB at was 789,000 miles. I hydroplaned into a semi on I-75, and the car still technically ran, but I gave it to my parents as a parts car. Just read the owners manual, and be absolutely religious about basic maintenance.

Oh, and the turbos don’t like low octane fuel. It gums them up.

Front for money laundering?