Saab 9-3 Aero shedding... Am I mad?

Saab 9-3 Aero shedding... Am I mad?

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Discussion

nitrodave

Original Poster:

1,262 posts

137 months

Thursday 28th April 2016
quotequote all
I'm in the market for a £1k-ish car that's practical, a bit of a hoot and generally reliable. It will be for the wife, so needs to be dependable but I will be using it so want it to be a bit of fun.

Due to an impending house move, the budget is low. I've been looking at various cars such as the Corolla 1.8 Tsport, Civic Type s, even Subaru wagons... but then stumbled across the Saabs 9-3's.

I've seen a tidy 2004 9-3 Aero, 6 speed manual from a trader, full service history, great condition, fresh MOT, even comes with a 6 month warranty. All for a grand.

I'm going to see it tomorrow so need to know if there are any typical things I should check for.

Am I mad considering one of these? Are they a ticking time bomb? It's got over 100k, which doesn't really phase me, but I can't help but worry I am buying into something that will go bang and be costly to run.

Any advise is much appreciated smile

-crookedtail-

1,559 posts

189 months

Thursday 28th April 2016
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I have one, albeit a V6 and cost 2K a year back.

Great 'sheds' in my opinion, comfy and reasonably well equipped. The interior creaks like an old pirate ship and is made of lesser materials than the contemporary German running mates. However it looks nice and the seats are great.

The suspension is quite hard and the parts seem to be made of chocolate, I had two broken springs last year and something is knocking on the near side from again now, the crap roads in London don't help - Still the parts are quite cheap and easily available.

The Stereo on the early cars 2003-2007 is crap, no other word for it. It has a fibre-optic setup which is near on impossible to upgrade. Try to get a car that has at least the mid range unit if you can, identifiable from the little green screen, rather than just buttons.

I don't think you can go wrong for the price unless you fancy a 9-5 Aero tbh!

tonyvid

9,869 posts

242 months

Thursday 28th April 2016
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Is that a V6 one or a 2.3HOT 4cyl like the 9-5? The only real issues with the 4cyls are oil starvation due to the sump pick up clogging with carbon deposits. If it has always been fed fully synthetic and had regular servicing it should be ok but the those two thing are pretty important to longevity and can be fairly cheaply checked with a sump drop. I don't know anything about the V6 petrols, sorry smile

If it's the older 9-3 shape they can suffer from bulkhead cracking around the steering rack(creaks!) but I think this is probably one of the latest shape models.

That was all pretty useless in that case! Good luck, lovely fast cars.

nitrodave

Original Poster:

1,262 posts

137 months

Thursday 28th April 2016
quotequote all
Cheers for the reply smile I'm going to see it tomorrow. It sounds a good car and yes, it does have the screen on the stereo. Does that mean it has an upgraded system? Would that be the 13 speaker system I've read about?

MOT history check showed snapped springs earlier this year, so hopefully they have been swapped for new.

I'm not expecting Germanic quality, just a dependable bit of fun hopefully. I've spent the past couple of weeks looking at £1k sheds and this is my favourite so far.

I have a 330 e92 which i will be selling and will miss it, but needs must right now with the house move.

It's a 9-3 Aero ss late 2003. Looks like this:

http://spid.imagedir500x375.motoring.co.uk/b4/33/f...



Edited by nitrodave on Thursday 28th April 17:03

Need_A_Username

20 posts

101 months

Thursday 28th April 2016
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What tax group is it?

I got a shock that my 9-3 2.0t auto costs £485 per year in tax. Something to consider if you are on a budget.

paulmakin

653 posts

140 months

Saturday 30th April 2016
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can't really comment on the SS 9-3's but if they're like the OG9-3 then no reason not to buy it as all the faults are known so you can check that they've been attended to. i like the look of the SS Aero's but can't get myself away from it's lack of performance compared to the OG

i do like the OG 9-3's for shedding though. i've today bought an OG 9-3 Aero in black, 51 plate, sunroof, turbo embossed seats etc for within your budget. literally just driven it 420 miles home (erm, in less than 6 hours)non-stop without it missing a beat.

there's a black 52 plate OG SE coupe (185bhp) on UKSaabs right now at £995 - in Carlisle iirc. quick T7 suite and the bulbs will light up a bit better for zero extra £

the bulkhead issue doesn't affect the 9-3 SS's. it's not a crack per se - actually a weld that comes unstitched secondary to the torque stresses through the affected area. not a cheap or easy fix but you can protect against it cheaply enough if it's currently OK

paul

nitrodave

Original Poster:

1,262 posts

137 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
quotequote all
For the first time in a while, I have entered the world of shedding!

This is all because of a pending house move and supposed to be a cost cutting exercise. I'll be selling my e92 and the wifes mx5 and we will be sharing this.

Went to see a few Saab 9-3 aeros this weekend and there are some real rotters out there. We saw one with a blown head gasket that the trader tried to cover up, and they really don't wear well on the inside. I was about to give up until we found this one though!

1 owner from new, never smoked in, maintained impeccably and it really is in fantastic condition. It's the exact spec we wanted, which is:

5 speed manual
Full leather... the fabric inserts we'd seen look manky, the leather in this is like new.
upgraded entertainment
sub 100k miles
years mot
fsh
post 2005

It drives superb, next to no wear the interior, boosts lovely, got a nearly new set of eagle f1 tyres and is actually pretty quick! It does want for a few things and I'll be sure to update this thread with my progress on it.

It needs a new windscreen as it has a crack, both wing mirror casings are cracked, the headlights are misted and need restoring, the badges have lost all their enamel, the shark fin aerial needs replacing, the spare key casing is ruined and it is crying out for a full service.

Other than the windscreen I ordered everything i need to sort the above from fleaby for £55 and for £40 i got the following service parts from eurocarparts. Their bank holiday sale saved me a lot of money!

x4 ngk spark plugs
bosch oil filter
bosh fuel filter
shell helix oil
cabin filter
air filter

Just got to wait for the bits to arrive and I can crack on with it. This is what £1400 buys you smile