Which Green Machine Is Your Favorite? 1971 VW Squareback vs 2002 Saab 9-3

I had another pair of cars picked out for today, and I was all ready to go with them, until I remembered the date. The Chicago River is green, so my car choices should be as well, right? In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we’re going to look at two cool green cars, both perfect for driving to the pub for a Guinness or two. (But not more than that – you gotta drive home, too.) I’ll save those other picks for tomorrow.

Yesterday our choices were tiny and 4WD, and I was surprised by the amount of love that Subaru Justy got. I expected its condition and the difficulty of finding parts to fix it to scare more of you off, but the little Subaru took home a comfortable win. It sounds like more of you had concerns about driving the right-hand-drive Daihatsu Terios Kid in the US than finding Justy parts.

I could be happy with either of these, with the acknowledgement that they’re both a substitute for what I really want: a Fiat Panda 4×4. But I think I’d rather take the Terios Kid, just because it’s ready to go. I think I have maybe a couple more fixer-uppers in me, and I’m not sure a Subaru Justy is special enough to be one of them.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Any car looks better in green. But when you find exactly the right green for a car’s shape – think British Racing Green for an MGB, or Metallic Mint Green for a Skylark convertible – it’s just magical. These two jumped out at me as being exactly the right shades of green as well. Let’s take a closer look.

1971 Volkswagen Type 3 Squareback – $5,000

Engine/drivetrain: 1.6-liter OHV flat 4, four-speed manual, RWD

Location: Santa Clarita, CA

Odometer reading: 50,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives, has been sitting

I’ve never been much of an air-cooled Volkswagen guy. I had one, briefly, an orange Super Beetle, and I have fond memories of my dad’s tan ’69 Beetle, but I never really got bitten by the bug, so to speak. If I ever were to get excited over an air-cooled VW, however, it would probably be a Type 3. I like the styling, and I like the fact that they’re just a little bigger and more substantial than a Beetle. Three bodystyles of Type 3 were offered, and they’re all pretty self-explanatory: the Fastback, the Notchback (which you never see anymore), and this one, which seems to be the most common: the Squareback.

The engine in the Type 3 is the same basic VW flat four as the Beetle, with a few changes to make it fit under the floor in the rear. US-market Type 3s had Bosch electronic fuel injection after 1968, but many of them – including this one – have been converted to carburetors. Whether this is an improvement or not I’ll leave up to you. It also has aftermarket electronic ignition, it looks like, which is definitely an upgrade. This car has been sitting for a long time, and the seller just recently revived it, so there’s probably some work to do. But it does fire right up and run well, which is encouraging.

It looks like the front seats have been recovered, and the door panels have been replaced, but the rest of the interior looks original, and a bit shabby. The steering wheel is aftermarket, of course, but it’s a nice addition. I bet it feels better in your hands than the thin-rimmed stock wheel.

The kelly-green paint isn’t original; this car was blue to begin with, as you can see in the door sills and engine bay. But I think the green suits it. The seller says it’s pretty much rust-free, and that the floors are solid. That’s good enough for a weekend driver.

2002 Saab 9-3 SE Convertible – $6,000

Engine/drivetrain: Turbocharged 2.0-liter DOHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Burbank, CA

Odometer reading: 93,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives, but needs front end work

Say what you will about California and its troubled relationship to automobiles; there are some absolutely beautiful places there that are best seen from a convertible. This car is for sale in the middle of Burbank – which if you’ve never seen it is just one big continuous strip mall – but the photo site for this ad, wherever it is, is within an easy drive of there. And there are worse ways to get there than in a sage-green Saab convertible.

The 9-3 is powered by a turbocharged 2.0-liter four, and this one has a five-speed manual transmission like a good Saab should. It runs well, but the seller says it needs front end work. That could mean a lot of things, and I guess a test drive and an inspection is the only way to find out exactly what it needs. Front end work is labor-intensive but not particularly difficult if you have the right tools, and the parts are cheap.

Saab interiors from the late ’90s and early ’00s are really nice places to be. The seats are comfortable, and the controls are ergonomic, though a bit button-heavy as you can see. This one is in good condition, though the stereo “needs to be rewired,” whatever that means. The air conditioning and the convertible top both work just fine, though, so you can stay cool in a couple of different ways.

It’s clean as a whistle outside; the only issue I see is that one headlight wiper is parked in the wrong spot. It might be an easy fix, or it might not. But it won’t keep you from enjoying the car if you ignore it. The paint looks great, and this is just about the best color Saab ever put on a car.

This is another one of those matchups that nobody would ever actually cross-shop, but when has that ever stopped us? They’re both cool, they both need just a little bit of work, and they’re both green. That’s enough to tie them together. So what’ll it be: the vintage Volkswagen, or the modern classic Saab?