Just looking at getting a second car and i'm quite taken with the idea of a saab estate (must be getting old!). Have been looking around and they appear to be great value for money. Now I'm looking at 04/05ish, won't be doing huge mileage, so what engine would you recommend? Seem to be lots of choices. which are good, bad etc? Anything to look out for?
The v6 tdi doesn't have a good name, the petrol 2.0 and 2.3 turbo models are good. More or less the same engine.
Make sure it has fsh , they had oil sludge issues , mine never did.
Go for the HOT estate with 250bhp. Will do 30mpg, and will surprise you with the amount of torque it has. If you haven't driven a Saab before,
you should find them very comfortable. Their seats are excellent..
The DI cassettes sometimes give up, happened on mine twice. Other than that nothing broke.
Saab is the only car ive ever bought one after the other, first was a 900s, then i had a very swift Aero Coupe, Would have another one tomorrow
[Edited on 4/2/13 by T66]
^^^^^^^
What T66 said, I have a 2001 9-5 Aero HOT Estate, 97,000miles paid £850 for it a year ago, just love it!
Wife has a 2001 9-3 with 230,000miles on it, she just loves it
.
I always had Beemers, until I got a 9-5 4years ago, prefer the SAAB, fast,very comfortable and much cheapness
quote:
Originally posted by 40inches
^^^^^^^
What T66 said, I have a 2001 9-5 Aero HOT Estate, 97,000miles paid £850 for it a year ago, just love it!
Wife has a 2001 9-3 with 230,000miles on it, she just loves it
I always had Beemers, until I got a 9-5 4years ago, prefer the SAAB, fast,very comfortable and much cheapness
I'm running a 9-5 2.3 turbo saloon, just about to bring it up to 285bhp and some silly torque figure ~450 Nm I think - started at 175 BHP and
280 Nm 
total cost to upgrade around £350
I've had this car for over 5 years now, I've never had a car this long! I fancy an estate now too.
I would have a look on the Saab forums for a pampered estate with a few nice tweaks and good history . Most that come up from enthusiasts will have had the sump off and the breather mods done plus some suspension and engine tuning
Im running a 9-5 2.3 petrol saloon, as far as i know its 185bhp
Its an SE which has heated & aircon'd leather seats, climate control, fully loaded etc
Fantastic car - im only managing 27mpg but its only really used on short runs, on a good run it will touch 40mpg
Super safe & built like a tank, most common faults like sid display & alarm siren can be sorted at home if your good with a soldering iron.
As said before, look out for oil sludge, regular oil changes keep it under control
SAAB 95
Sorry not meaning to hijack
I'm looking to break my 9-3 
Just sorned it though was a real toss up to tax it else use the Terrano.
Neither are particularly economical on my work run, saab 29 on petrol, terrano 26 on diesel
Hailstorm got it last year http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=171885
Needs 2 tyres, knocks on hard lock, turbo smoke and whine at start up, error code if you turbo it too hard too long, chip in windscreen, (not a fail)
main exhaust changed 12 mths ago, towbar 3 years old. new battery (would come off)
SIDs failing, Aircon bypassed (compressor clutch pulley noisey)
Otherwise bodywork good, apart from roof and bonnet.
Shame really as its still got 6? months MOT
Not sure how much a weigh in is these days?
Or to break it on the bay, but with the list above, I wouldnt sell bits as good that are not..........
Anyway:
As they go they are great cars, ive had this for years and has cost me nothing more than tyres, oil, breather kit, exhaust and battery, but as much as
I'm tempted by an estate its time to move on, ive done saab now, but i'd definatly recommend. 13 years old and still not a spot of rust on
it.
[Edited on 5/2/13 by ReMan]
This is all very positive. Not overly worried about fuel, other car is a golf diesel for when i'm feeling particularly tight! Really just after decent space, comfort and build quality. They seem to tick the boxes.
From another SAAB addict (9000 2.3T and now long term 9-5 SE Estate).
Ideally any car you buy shoud have been run on Fully Synth oil all its life.
That avoids the sludging issues but in any case not too difficult a job to drop the sump and clean the oil pick-up filter.
Check for smoke on start-up. Being turbo the turbo seals can go if improperly serviced.
Changing the cabin filter regularly (mine is done every year or so) and the associated pipework especially the drain tubes running down the sides of
the centre console is important.
Ignore the filter and the air-con will flood the passenger foot-well, happily inundating the main ECU and writing the car off.
Other nuisance faults can be the air distribution valves in the heating system. Again not a difficult job just a pain.
Having said all that - great cars, comfortable and reasonably quick without being silly even in standard form.
Cheers, Pewe10 
PS A couple of other thoughts:-
2.3T (read SE's) are cheaper to insure than Aeros. As Mook ^^ has done you can still chip up to 230bhp and shouldn't get stung.
A local specialist is a good idea as most are SAAB nuts and willing to share their knowledge/enthusiasm. If no-one local to you mine are DCA
linky and very helpful.
[Edited on 5/2/13 by pewe]
quote:
Originally posted by pewe
From another SAAB addict (9000 2.3T and now long term 9-5 SE Estate).
Ideally any car you buy shoud have been run on Fully Synth oil all its life.
That avoids the sludging issues but in any case not too difficult a job to drop the sump and clean the oil pick-up filter.
Check for smoke on start-up. Being turbo the turbo seals can go if improperly serviced.
Changing the cabin filter regularly (mine is done every year or so) and the associated pipework especially the drain tubes running down the sides of the centre console is important.
Ignore the filter and the air-con will flood the passenger foot-well, happily inundating the main ECU and writing the car off.
Other nuisance faults can be the air distribution valves in the heating system. Again not a difficult job just a pain.
Having said all that - great cars, comfortable and reasonably quick without being silly even in standard form.
Cheers, Pewe10
(obviously when they were worth more) Very good cars, just starting to look a little dated now
imho and the earlier ones are built better than the latter ones BUT things like the SID are better quality in the later ones so it's swings and
roundabouts. I never really got more than about 35mpg out of them though unless I drove the length of the country when they would just get over 40.
i had the 9-5 3.0l V6 diesel, it was an amazingly comfy and quick car, until the engine started playing up, at which point i got rid of it as heard the horror stories about the loom falling to bits and the price of the injectors.
quote:
Originally posted by T66
quote:
Originally posted by 40inches
^^^^^^^
What T66 said, I have a 2001 9-5 Aero HOT Estate, 97,000miles paid £850 for it a year ago, just love it!
Wife has a 2001 9-3 with 230,000miles on it, she just loves it
I always had Beemers, until I got a 9-5 4years ago, prefer the SAAB, fast,very comfortable and much cheapness
I think I recall you asking here the same question ?
How many Beemers you left sitting with it ?
I had the 95 2.3 V6. They have a real reputation for seizing at 75k miles, which mine did. It was so much hassle to put a new engine in that I
scrapped it.
Only afterwards did I find out about the sludging and sump mods - turns out GM changed the spec and reducing the pipe bore, creating the problem. My
local dealer said they always took the sump off and cleaned it and the pipe every major service.
On the plus side, it was a really comfortable motorway cruiser. they're great cars to sit in, and I've had three (my last only just gone, a
270bhp convertible in which I loved every mile I drove).
We bought a 56 plate 9-3 estate a few months back. 2.0T Auto.
Very nice and at £3500 something of a bargain!
I have done discs and pads and a full service and it's been great. With the dog guard, load liner etc now stands us at less than 4k.
The drawback is the road tax. £450! If it was 3 months older it would be half that.
I bought a 9-5 aero hot almost 5 months ago (06 plate £2200) and I love it! They are quick but don't expect the previously quoted 30mpg unless you drive like a little old lady. My new game is keeping the information display on mpg and trying to get it up to 25mpg over a tankful.
quote:
Originally posted by probablyleon
I bought a 9-5 aero hot almost 5 months ago (06 plate £2200) and I love it! They are quick but don't expect the previously quoted 30mpg unless you drive like a little old lady. My new game is keeping the information display on mpg and trying to get it up to 25mpg over a tankful.
