Typical abusive response...

If anyone wants to know about Saabs, ask this bloke whose info comes because he did some building work at a garage (once) where he saw a few. Captain Ted: font of all Saab knowledge!

 

I had a 2001 93 turbo SE...It was a great motor,eat miles and gave excellent MPG.No slug either.Think i did around 20k+ and it had 2 tyres and a battery in that time,plus servicing obviously.
I couldnt recommend one highly enough,considering what you get for your cash.
From what i can gather,abused/unserviced examples will cause problems,but i think that goes for all manufacturers.

Even japs have the "odd" engine failure

 

Not trying to be abusive.

Most people think their car is the best money can buy (check out the rest of scoobynet!).

If I asked opinions on certain cars, and I have on this forum before, I would rather hear both sides so as I could make up my own mind and make my judgment.

Ted.

 

I'm not one of them Ted. It's a large Estate car. that's been good value, has loads of space, is comfortable, reliable so far and fairly quick. It's our first and may be our last Saab. Who knows? However, I can make those comments from experience, not speculation and reading about the marque in forums.

 

Fair doos.

Just saying the ones I've seen around me were being pushed and it has put me off them.

Although, if anyone is thinking of buying an Imprezza, do NOT look on Scoobynet!

Ted.

 

I agree Ted!

Cheers!

 

It depends what you're looking for- I've had seven STi Type R's and RA's now, and still keep an STi4 2.5 for track, but they were taking too much of a toll on my spine to drive every day.

I got a new 9-3 aero convertible last year, and I can't wait for it to go back to the contract hire co next spring.

I'm sure it's a very good car but it depends what you want from a car, and the saab just doesn't 'do' it for me unfortunately.

 

I agree. The 9-5 Estate works for us.

However, we also tried the 9-3 Convertible back in February. Had the V6 for a day and then tried the Aero. Neither impressed at all, so we kept our 05 STi PPP.

Cheers

 

Just bought an MY 2000, 9-3 LPT. 60,000 for £4k.

It's a lot of car for the money. Comfy, fast(ish) and looks cool (well I think so).

I looked at Audis and BMW's but all in my price band had huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge mileages. The Saab does it for me.


Oh and still got the scoob

 

I moved up from a Subaru to the new 9-3ss Aero and i'm glad i did it, the newer Subaru models are changed too often and the ohh so loved Classic is so old it should be in a museum.

All car makes have issues lets take a look at Subaru's, what with piston slap gearbox failures, shall we go on, carry out some building work outside any dealership, private or specialised and watch what gets towed in, you cant base a valid decision on that alone.

I also know RRH isnt happy with his Aero cabrio but his car had problems from day 1, he even had his heated rollers stolen when he left the roof off, but mine is 2 years old and is great, ohh and the other best thing about SAAB's are 'They arent German'

Zippy

 

that's the problem with my dodgy neighbourhood it broke again the other week and they lent me an aero with a roof, and tbh it was like a different car and felt an awful lot better to drive.

 

I moved from a blobeye to a 9-5 estate a couple of years ago, and I have to say that I'm v impressed with the saab. We bought 2nd hand as moving house, but it only let us down once (infamous DI cassette).

Ours is the 150 lpt but even so, it doesn't half crack on. Stage one 9-5 aero - 280bhp - not to be sniffed at....

Cat7 - how is the 9-3 dynamically inferior to the 9-5? Are you talking about primary/secondary ride, handling -what?

 

Hi David

Are you just after opinions about the newer saabs ie GM900, 9-3 and 9-5 etc or any?

 

I've just spent the last few days driving around in a spanking new 93, 1.8t soft top - not a bad car at all really

Plus Points:

The Saab was ergonomically excellent, with some really well thought out design. The 'nightpanel' feature probably costs about £1 to wire up but makes night driving very easy. The handbrake is a cool design statement, and overall the interior is great. You can tell they also design cockpits, as there was a button for everything is this particular model.

The roof mechanism was perfect, and you could tell they had spent a lot here. The seats were great, fully shod in grey leather. The ride quality was excellent, incredidibly quiet on the go.

...and it looked

Not so good points:

The interior, whilst brilliantly set out, was a bit low-rent really. Which was odd, as the 2004 93 seemed to be better put together? Perhaps it was just this particular car, but in comparison it was similar to say a post revamp Mondeo. (big gaps, squeaks, bit come off very easily etc.)

All in all not bad at all.

All it needs is a 3.5 litre V6, lose two seats and gain a Nissan badge

 

the ride is fine on all bar the aero but basically all they do is understeer. The full blown turbos also torqesteer which is rather exciting when full boost arrives. I always found the 9000's 9-5's onwards were always a far better drive. The ride is very good (bigger wheelbase) and for a front driver there quite neutral. Combined with there overtaking ability (always a saab strong point) there not bad motors. Saying that I prefer rear wheel drive so would go down the bmw route, which I did after my scoob (went to an e46 m3). what do you think? have you driven the 9-3 as well as yours?

 

The current 9-3 handles way better than the 9-5, but I wasn't that impressed overall, and I've driven a 9-3 Diesel, 9-3 V6 Convertible and 9-3 Aero Convertible. There's plenty of grip, but the steering's oh so light and feel less - not particularly quick lock to lock either. Body control is okay and the ride is good. However, for a car that's called a Sportsaloon by the manufacturer, I don't think it's that sporty.

The 9-5 has no such pretensions; an honest workhorse that works so well for us. Others of course, will prefer the 9-3; each to his/her own.

Cheers

PS Both the 9-3 and 9-5 torquesteer like there's no tomorrow... Traction's not brilliant either.

 

The old 9-3 was a bit awful, but the new (not that new now) one is much better. I'd dispute the fact that the 9-5 is better, it understeers like a bugger, and wallows around - and mines an airflow with supposed Aero dampers/springs.

However, as Castrol says - it does what it says on the tin, and has a bit of torque for punting it around - even with the LPT.

However I'm getting rid next spring - I like the new Chrysler 300c estates.....

 

Must say that I would have been a bit pissed off at paying nearly 20 grand for mine, but at four grand its great, way better than the crumbling Volkswagens I looked at with double the miles, and its quick, went in a mates Astra GSI turbo and it felt very similar to mine performance wise.

 

Import a Saab 92-X from the US. You get a Saab with a Subaru chassis, engine etc. great bit of kit :-)

 

Got a trip with a nearly new 9³ 2.0T. Power was ok, but that a swedish car would be that noisy i´d never expect! (Owning a Volvo V40...)

 

quite patial to SAABS myself!