Saab safe buy or not?

Author
Discussion

Divvyboy

Original Poster:

450 posts

118 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
I have made a few what car posts recently and the cars mentioned have fallen through.so today I'm only spending up to 2k on something .saabs seem to pop up a lot for my price range.so I'm starting to like the Saab 9-3 1.8t Vector Sports.


Are these going to be a safe buy.parts availability etc.you seem to get a lot of car for £'s
Cheers all

Fattyfat

3,301 posts

196 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
I've had a couple of 9-5s in the past few years. No problems at all with parts availability as there are plenty of specialists holding stock.

vx220

2,689 posts

234 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
IIRC lots of vectra in there?

I guess body panels might be tougher?

Divvyboy

Original Poster:

450 posts

118 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
Is a lot of vectra a good thing.....

SV8Predator

2,102 posts

165 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
Divvyboy said:
Is a lot of vectra a good thing.....
Certainly, what's your point?

Baryonyx

17,996 posts

159 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
Great cars, loads still on the road and pretty good value for money too.

griffin dai

3,201 posts

149 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
Get yourself over to www.uksaabs.co.uk for more info.

Nice cars but if it's performance your after....you need the v6 wink

DJP

1,198 posts

179 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
Dunno so much about the latter ones, but I had the earlier 9-3 for a couple of years and didn't have any issues with it.

The important bits were all made by Saab whereas the consumables (brakes, suspension components etc) were Vauxhall and therefore cheap.

Seemed a pretty good combination to me.

I have some friends with the 2.0T (Aero) version of the car you're looking at. Owned from new and now pushing 100k miles. They've had nothing beyond routine maintainance either.

I would.

Divvyboy

Original Poster:

450 posts

118 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
SV8Predator said:
Certainly, what's your point?
No point really.just did not know what the vectras were like...

parabolica

6,715 posts

184 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
Plenty of parts and fairly reliable. Platform is shared with the Vectra but around 60% of the innards are specific to Saab. £2k would buy you something more interesting that the 1.8 (the only non-turbo in the range). I sold my 2005 Aero last year for 2k - should have plenty of choice.

ETA just remembered I think they did do a turbo 1.8 but there is a NA one as well.

Edited by parabolica on Sunday 31st August 20:06

PlayersNo6

1,102 posts

156 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
Always been a fan of SAABs but never got round to buying one.

I have a 53 Vectra with the 2.0T SAAB engine (LPT) I've owned it for over 10 years and it now has 123k on it, it's been a very good reliable car but I haven't skimped on maintenance.

sday12

5,053 posts

211 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
Vectra in a skirt.

Divvyboy

Original Poster:

450 posts

118 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
Would liked the 2.0 but the 1.8 has the better mpg which is what I need.not fussed about performance to be honest either

Baryonyx

17,996 posts

159 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
I always thought the LPT models were supposed to be the better choice for economy?

Private Pile

754 posts

195 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
SAAB (parts) never went bust, it was the manufacturing arm that did. I get most parts from specialists for my 900 Classic. But, when I have ordered through my SAAB dealer, the parts are normally delivered to my door within 48 hours of phoning.

anonymous-user

54 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
Earlier ones in that price range have a terrible & unupgradable stereo (worse than my 1989 Ford! )(fibre optics etc that even defeat boffins)
Interior trim very poor, will rattle & creak like an old ship. But @ 2k what do you expect!

DJP

1,198 posts

179 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
parabolica said:
Plenty of parts and fairly reliable. Platform is shared with the Vectra but around 60% of the innards are specific to Saab. £2k would buy you something more interesting that the 1.8 (the only non-turbo in the range). I sold my 2005 Aero last year for 2k - should have plenty of choice.

ETA just remembered I think they did do a turbo 1.8 but there is a NA one as well.

Edited by parabolica on Sunday 31st August 20:06
The turbo "1.8" is actually a 2.0 but in a lower state of tune.

AFAIK, only the NA 1.8 is really a 1.8.

rscott

14,751 posts

191 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
sday12 said:
Vectra in a skirt.
Typical uninformed response. About as accurate as saying an Audi TT is a Skoda Yeti in a dress - after all they both share the same platform too.

DaveCWK

1,989 posts

174 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
Jimboka said:
Earlier ones in that price range have a terrible & unupgradable stereo (worse than my 1989 Ford! )(fibre optics etc that even defeat boffins)
Interior trim very poor, will rattle & creak like an old ship. But @ 2k what do you expect!
The stereo may be difficult to upgrade but is it actually a bad system? In my experience SAAB have decent sounding systems as standard.

DaveCWK

1,989 posts

174 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
Jimboka said:
Earlier ones in that price range have a terrible & unupgradable stereo (worse than my 1989 Ford! )(fibre optics etc that even defeat boffins)
Interior trim very poor, will rattle & creak like an old ship. But @ 2k what do you expect!
The stereo may be difficult to upgrade but is it actually a bad system? In my experience SAAB have decent sounding systems as standard.