RE: SOTW: Saab 9-5 Aero HOT

RE: SOTW: Saab 9-5 Aero HOT

Author
Discussion

P2BS

3,606 posts

143 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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The EVAP malfunction described in the main article is overcome by pulling the top hose off the boost control valve (BCV) and plugging it with a suitably sized bolt. As crude as it sounds, it works, no more boost loss through the EVAP system. Plenty of info online.

Rollcage

11,327 posts

192 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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mikeyr said:
Interesting, never had any desire to own a Saab before but that seems a bargain way to cruise around. Fuel consumption poor I guess?

BTW, most amusing SOTW article for some time, normally flick through and then read advert but genuinely had my attention the whole way through. Good article that man! thumbup
For the manual at least I'm sorry to say that they can be surprisingly economical hehe

40mog achievabke with care.

nosuchuser

837 posts

216 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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Mr E said:
That is a very good price. We paid more than twice that for a similar vintage estate (few less miles) a year ago...
Yeah, same here. Still, nevermind.

It's all about 3rd gear in these. Will happily pull from 40 to 90 on the slip roads at a very nice rate. Never fails to make me grin.

Had the CPS fail on mine causing start issues and also a tube pop off the manifold tree causing loss of boost. Other than that its been fairly good.

P2BS

3,606 posts

143 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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Rollcage said:
For the manual at least I'm sorry to say that they can be surprisingly economical hehe

40mog achievabke with care.
Not the auto with a stage 1 remap... prob about 1/2 of 40mpg. Agree with you on the manuals though :-)

J4CKO

41,566 posts

200 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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And all the while the great unwashed will be spanking themselves into a frenzy bidding like crazy on a 1999, worn smooth, 180k mile, lightly bazzed Golf Mk4 tdi because it has the holy grail of a rattly diesel lump, which will sell for twice what this does.

That advert is shed perfection, honest and making all the right noises about maintenance, that is the kind of person to buy a car off, not like the girl at work whose KA is dying due to a HG fail so she has advertised it as fine and sold it for £800

Mr E

21,617 posts

259 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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nosuchuser said:
Yeah, same here. Still, nevermind.

It's all about 3rd gear in these. Will happily pull from 40 to 90 on the slip roads at a very nice rate. Never fails to make me grin.

Had the CPS fail on mine causing start issues and also a tube pop off the manifold tree causing loss of boost. Other than that its been fairly good.
We've also had a CPS, a temperature sensor (£30) and some minor weirdness with the xenons.
It's been a bloody good car.

ryanMIL

180 posts

139 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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What a fantastic start to 2013! The best shed in as long as I can remember.

The sellers attitude is fantastic and very reassuring - exactly where I'd put my bag of sand if I was in the market!

toppstuff

13,698 posts

247 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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I had one of these ! Almost identical to this one.

A perfect station carpark, motorway run, airport carpark car and general daily snotter.

It is lovely to drive, particularly as an auto.

Compared to even modern metal, such as E class Mercs or BMW 5 series, it is still a very comfortable, quiet and pleasant car to travel in. Heated seats, leather, aircon and a decent stereo. And the value of the car is roughly equal to the price of a couple of major services of a newer car.

This is the perfect example of shed motoring.

The 9-5 is prone to the occasional electrical brain fart and the dashboard will throw some warnings at you, telling you to stop the car or check the brakes. Disconnecting and reconnecting the battery resets everything and the bogus warning lights all go out ! It happens about 3-4 times a year. Other than that, the car was utterly reliable over 30,000 miles from 80K, when I got it, to 110k, when I sold it.

It is also surprisingly fast. It makes excellent progress indeed.

And it is also completely invisible, attracts no attention or says anything about the driver. I like that. Not having to worry where you park is very liberating.

I want to get another one.

stuckmojo

2,979 posts

188 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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Good car for the money. For a penny more than £1,000, forget it.

LincolnLovin

2,774 posts

218 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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I love mine, will be keeping it for the foreseeble now that I've fixed the niggling problems with it smile


Eddh

4,656 posts

192 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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I loved my old 9-5 Aeros! Apart from the one that blew up in France... top shed though, although the auto 'box does kill them a bit. My second was a manual and so much better.

toppstuff said:
And it is also completely invisible, attracts no attention or says anything about the driver. I like that. Not having to worry where you park is very liberating.
Agree with this, I now have an S2000 which is far more shouty and miss the inconspicuousness of the Aero.

mikeyr

3,118 posts

193 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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Rollcage said:
For the manual at least I'm sorry to say that they can be surprisingly economical hehe

40mog achievabke with care.
Surprised by that but guess the auto box bites away a decent chunk of that fuel sipping parsimony!

Are the estate versions more expensive? Always thought the convertibles look like a cheap way to get a family sized motor with soft top fun.

Mark Benson

7,515 posts

269 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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Saabs do seem to be good value at the moment, I recently bought a 2007 9-5 estate (diesel unfortunately, but at the price I wasn't too worried...) for £3k with a full main dealer history including recent EGR and DMF replacement as well as bushes and discs, so we're set for a good few miles without the usual issues that occur on 5 year old diesels.

As it's a second car, mainly used for long motorway journeys visiting friends and family down south and the odd tow of the race car I'm hoping it's going to be with us a while, it should only do about 4k a year.

I have to say though, having owned a 9000 in the past, build quality is nowhere near what it was, the penny-pinching GM era does show on this car, although the ride and comfort are the same, but the car feels altogether less solid than it's predecessor and there were a few rust patches on the inside of the tailgate due to a poorly painted panel.

Overall though, it's a cheap enough car not to worry too much, new enough to be comfortable and have the gadgets (ipod socket for instance) and roomy enough to take all the luggage for a week away or spares for the race car - the equivalent 5 series would have been almost 3 times the price.

Mr E

21,617 posts

259 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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Oh, I have one correction. 9-5 is a GM2902 platform.

It's based on a cavalier/calibra GM2900 platform (1988 baby). The Vectra also uses it, but it was in the Cav first.

Twoshoe

854 posts

184 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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mikeyr said:
Always thought the convertibles look like a cheap way to get a family sized motor with soft top fun.
There's no such thing as a 9-5 convertible. I think you're thinking of the 9-3?

Mark-C

5,092 posts

205 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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Hurrah - shed has started 2013 onj top form. An interesting car and a good write up as well thumbup

Mr E

21,617 posts

259 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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hora said:
Hmmm thing is its approaching 10yrs which means its had plenty of opportunities to visit backstreet garages with questionable oil....
Service history is key here.

MarJay

2,173 posts

175 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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If that was rear wheel drive (and maybe manual) it would be the best shed ever! Even so, its certainly the best shed in over a year probably.

2013, the year of the awesome shed! biggrin

dukebox9reg

1,571 posts

148 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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I'm probably going to get shot as I just can't fall in love with the Saabs. I have driven plenty of different models and where they are fine in a straight line and I have to agree with a previous comment about how comfy the seats are but the rest of the package is so below par.

The ride and handling are appalling and genuinely scary down twisty back roads, the highest mileage example of either 93/95 iv'e driven had 70k on the clock and all of them had missing trim, rattled, squeaked and felt like a poor man's product. The ergonomics and quality of the interior I feel is particularly poor as well.

They are truly rapid and on a run the auto's are actually alright on fuel but town work really shows up the old design Tq Convertor. Even driving a 170bhp 2t auto on a run would creep towards 40mpg but through a bit of town work in and you'll be struggling for mid 20s overall.

tomoleeds

770 posts

186 months

Friday 4th January 2013
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There is a 2001 similar aero on ebay for £600, done 180,000, but has virtually all main dealer stamps