Team O’Neil Rally School, the driver-training operation based on 583 acres in Dalton, New Hampshire, bought a 1985 Saab 900 Turbo for $700 and put it through the same icy mountain course it uses to train rally drivers. The run appears in a video on the school’s YouTube channel, “Can This $700 SAAB 900 Turbo Survive Our Rally Course?”, a follow-up to an earlier video covering the car’s initial recovery and prep work.
The Car
The Saab arrived with 214,742 miles on the odometer and what the school calls a questionable service history – there wasn’t much documentation to go on. It shows some surface rust but passed Team O’Neil’s pre-drive safety check before being cleared to run. Ahead of the test, the crew mounted a fresh set of studded Nokian Hakkapeliitta winter tires.
Being a 1985 car, it has no ABS and no traction control – none of the electronic aids that would later become standard. Team O’Neil’s instructor also notes a Saab-specific quirk: the handbrake is routed to the front wheels rather than the rear, which rules out the classic handbrake-turn technique. Left-foot braking is used instead, with the right foot managing front wheel speed and the left foot managing the rear.
Watch the Run
The Course
The test runs on Team O’Neil’s 1.5-mile mountainous course under icy conditions, with the school’s chief instructor driving. The technique is a front-wheel-drive rally staple: throttle held down through most of the lap, left-foot braking through corners to control weight transfer, and the “Scandinavian flick” to rotate the car into turns. On camera, the Saab is described as coming alive above roughly 30–35 mph and bogging down below that threshold, particularly on the course’s uphill sections.
The Time
The Saab posted a lap of 2:40.4. The instructor places that a few seconds behind the Toyota Corolla, which he describes as the front-wheel-drive benchmark currently held at the school – though no specific Corolla time is given on camera, so the comparison should be read as an instructor’s informal reference point rather than a published leaderboard figure.
What Held It Back
The instructor’s diagnosis centers on the Saab’s open front differential: with power going wherever there’s least resistance, the inside front wheel spins freely through corners and on the climbs rather than putting the turbo’s output to the ground. He floats two fixes that weren’t attempted during the filmed test – a limited-slip differential, and shedding weight by pulling the rear seat, drilling lightening holes, and removing the sunroof. Partway through the run, the crew also hardwired the cooling fan to run continuously after the engine started running warm.
The Verdict
Team O’Neil’s takeaway is straightforward: the car is fun to drive, the cabin is warm and comfortable, and the interior has a character the instructor calls distinctly Saab. He recommends anyone who hasn’t driven an old Saab try one, and points viewers to teamoneil.com for the school’s rally, drift, and car-control courses, along with the channel’s earlier video documenting the Saab’s recovery and prep work before this test.
