RE: Shed Of The Week: Saab 9-5 Aero Estate

[hora]

Mines gone

To a fellow PistonHeader

[Gribs]

996jim said:

Good god. 5 owners, 153000 miles, L.P.G conversion, dodgy gearbox, corrosion, electrical problems and it's green! If you really want to waste £1000 just send it to my wife. Cheers.

I don't think you'd get much argument from any Saab owners that this isn't worth £1k. It's worth £500 tops, however the colour is great and just looks black unless it's clean and in sunlight.

[Grumpygit2016]

Amazing crystal ball gazing by Mr Shed on his posting of 06.01.2017 ref the Saab Aero - the coil pack failed again on the 10th !!!. A mere £240 for an OE one fixed it but now has started to stall when cold. Performance when warm 100% now, took it up 'Cragg' (The Tour De France route of 2014) and ended up with a stupid grin on my face - have never got over how fast such a great numb lump can go in a straight line. Its already had the OSR inner arch welded up, if I decide to keep it - which I now might do- then the NSR arch will get welded for the next Mot in August. Its had the turbo and sump off a couple of years ago, the LPG system works fine as long as you don't wont to explore the last 20% of the power band, so cheap to run as been buying Gas locally at 42p a litre. I have a choice of this or my new German Uber diesel estate with adaptive suspension ticked, and on a sunny day if I am going over the tops I still pick this. Future classic if I can find somewhere dry to store it over winter. The reluctant Saab seller.

[Bunfighter]

Hardcastle Crags is waaay too bouncy

[PoopahScoopah]

RobEB said:

30 mpg??? I would challenge anyone to get anywhere near that in this car in the real world..
I've seen the bog standard 2.0 4 cyl turbo use a 1/4 tank (according to the fuel gauge) to go 14 miles, and that was being driven gently, not above 3000rpm in any gear.
These things drink fuel like Concorde with all 4 engines on Reheat, with a hole in each of the fuel tanks and loose fuel lines.

Sorry for the thread revival but I just wanted to pop in and reiterate what an absolute crock of steaming dog turd the above comment is, and was clearly based on a broken car!

I just bought a cheap Aero saloon. 99 reg, manual. Stuck a couple of gallons of Optimax in it and drove it up the A7 from Galashiels to Edinburgh, a 40 mile trip at a cruise (bad weather that day). Peaked at 36mpg, and that's on crappy barely legal (if not already illegal) tyres. Gave it the beans on Edinburgh bypass to check how it was boosting - pulls nicely in 3rd gear - and it dropped down to 32mpg, but all in all I'm happy. It's a bit better on fuel than my T5 estate. The 2004 manual Aero estate I tested the week before was showing an average of 23 and a bit on the SID and that was a car only used for occasional short trips, and the guy didn't even know how to reset the SID so it had obviously been measuring that avaerage over a very long period.

I paid £825 for mine. Experienced 9-5 buyers may say I paid over the odds as it needs some money spent - sump drop, tyres, brakes - so it'll probably be a £1600 car when I'm finished. But it'll be sorted for a good few years to come once I've done that, and it's a damn solid, clean, well looked after car with only 70k on the clock.

[anonymous-user]

i never got the same mpg as people on the net, i had a 328 and got 27mpg whilst everyone else on the net was getting 30-40mpg. i also seem to get around parkers figures.
i have a tdi and could get 50-60mpgs if i drove like an octogenarian on the way to bingo, but get 45mpg in the real world which matches parkers.
a lot of people will quote better mpg for reasons only they can understand.

[BricktopST205]

The Spruce goose said:

i never got the same mpg as people on the net, i had a 328 and got 27mpg whilst everyone else on the net was getting 30-40mpg. i also seem to get around parkers figures.
i have a tdi and could get 50-60mpgs if i drove like an octogenarian on the way to bingo, but get 45mpg in the real world which matches parkers.
a lot of people will quote better mpg for reasons only they can understand.

Have you thought that maybe it is the way you drive? Bear in mind that manuals are a lot better on fuel but while I was driving across the continent 500+ miles to a tank was easy. Fully loaded with 3 people in the car. That range for a relatively powerful heavy car is a testament to Saab bearing in mind my car is what 13 years old now.

Edited by BricktopST205 on Wednesday 15th February 17:07

[egor110]

BricktopST205 said:

The Spruce goose said:

i never got the same mpg as people on the net, i had a 328 and got 27mpg whilst everyone else on the net was getting 30-40mpg. i also seem to get around parkers figures.
i have a tdi and could get 50-60mpgs if i drove like an octogenarian on the way to bingo, but get 45mpg in the real world which matches parkers.
a lot of people will quote better mpg for reasons only they can understand.

Have you thought that maybe it is the way you drive? Bear in mind that manuals are a lot better on fuel but while I was driving across the continent 500+ miles to a tank was easy. Fully loaded with 3 people in the car. That range for a relatively powerful heavy car is a testament to Saab bearing in mind my car is what 13 years old now.

Edited by BricktopST205 on Wednesday 15th February 17:07

Or your doing a different type of journey.

Mine only does around 25mpg but that's because it does a mile and half to work and a mile and a half home so it's never warmed up.

[PoopahScoopah]

The Spruce goose said:

i never got the same mpg as people on the net, i had a 328 and got 27mpg whilst everyone else on the net was getting 30-40mpg. i also seem to get around parkers figures.
i have a tdi and could get 50-60mpgs if i drove like an octogenarian on the way to bingo, but get 45mpg in the real world which matches parkers.
a lot of people will quote better mpg for reasons only they can understand.

It used to really bug me that my old Alfa 166 Super would struggle to reach, let alone better 30mpg on long gentle cruises up and down the M5/M74 between Edinburgh and Devon whilst other owners were apparently able to get just over 30 regularly. And mine was a healthy example.

Since I've started driving thirstier cars in recent years I've dabbled with the hypermiling game, and come to realise just how sensitive economy is to so many factors. I think we all know this anyway, really, but sometimes the obvious slaps you in the face. Tyre condition and pressure, the slightest (barely perceivable) incline, head/cross winds etc can all have a huge effect on economy. So two people in identical cars doing different journeys in different locations can easily see different average mpg.

But that said, I stand by my comment that the observation made at the start of this topic about an LPT 9-5 being crazy thirsty is just nonsense. They can be thirsty cars, I totally appreciate that, but not at the extreme claimed by that poster! IT probably had a duff ECU temp sensor or something.

[Bunfighter]

Fantastic cars. Insulting to use the term 'shed'. That definitely belonged to the old Audi Allroad on here recently with its suspension bags, gearbox and other foibles

[egor110]

Bunfighter said:

Fantastic cars. Insulting to use the term 'shed'. That definitely belonged to the old Audi Allroad on here recently with its suspension bags, gearbox and other foibles

My aeros a total shed , however two more months and it will of lasted a year , it's comfy and for £560 what else could i of got better ?

Although saying that i do keep looking at a bmw 523 that's around the same price locally

[BricktopST205]

egor110 said:

Or your doing a different type of journey.

Mine only does around 25mpg but that's because it does a mile and half to work and a mile and a half home so it's never warmed up.

At that kind of mileage. MPG doesn't really matter. 100% town driving I find it very difficult to go lower than 25mpg.

[mcdjl]

egor110 said:

My aeros a total shed , however two more months and it will of lasted a year , it's comfy and for £560 what else could i of got better ?

Although saying that i do keep looking at a bmw 523 that's around the same price locally

My ones definitely a shed now....well it does still move under its own power but the smoke cloud it leaves behind advises against it.

[egor110]

BricktopST205 said:

egor110 said:

Or your doing a different type of journey.

Mine only does around 25mpg but that's because it does a mile and half to work and a mile and a half home so it's never warmed up.

At that kind of mileage. MPG doesn't really matter. 100% town driving I find it very difficult to go lower than 25mpg.

Exactly , if your worried about mileage why buy a 2.3 litre turbo charged car?

The good thing about these old mid 90's to mid 00's cars is you can get some interesting stuff but you have to accept crap mpg.

[MarshPhantom]

Gribs said:

RobEB said:

30 mpg??? I would challenge anyone to get anywhere near that in this car in the real world..
I've seen the bog standard 2.0 4 cyl turbo use a 1/4 tank (according to the fuel gauge) to go 14 miles, and that was being driven gently, not above 3000rpm in any gear.
These things drink fuel like Concorde with all 4 engines on Reheat, with a hole in each of the fuel tanks and loose fuel lines.

It was broken then. My Aero estate manages 24mpg on my stop start commute into Bradford and on my previous one did 26mpg driven very hard on A roads and then some stop start town driving. Sat at 80ish on the motorway it gives low 30's and it'll do high 30's if you stay below 70 and drive sensibly.

Fuel economy isn't really the point though. There's very little else that gives similar comfort and performance for price.

I had an Aero Auto Estate for about a month when new. Used to get not much more than 20mpg.

[Bunfighter]

MarshPhantom said:

I had an Aero Auto Estate for about a month when new. Used to get not much more than 20mpg.

I got 23mpg. Weirdly a Stage1 improved it to about 27mpg.

[Engineer792]

At the time of the fuel protests many years ago, I was driving a 9000 2.3T auto, and, because of the difficulty in obtaining fuel, I simply had to make a tankful last a week (around 400mi of mainly motorway driving)
I found that by keeping a constant light throttle pressure, I managed to get 42.6mpg over the week. (calculated, in case anyone asks)
Keeping a constant throttle pressure, I was slowing down to about 50 on some uphills and speeding up to 90+ on some downhills - it worked, though.
I also found that wind direction plays a big part in fuel consumption, the consumption being up to 10mpg worse when driving into a headwind.

Edited by Engineer792 on Sunday 19th February 15:41

[Bonefish Blues]

PoopahScoopah said:

Sorry for the thread revival but I just wanted to pop in and reiterate what an absolute crock of steaming dog turd the above comment is, and was clearly based on a broken car!

I just bought a cheap Aero saloon. 99 reg, manual. Stuck a couple of gallons of Optimax in it and drove it up the A7 from Galashiels to Edinburgh, a 40 mile trip at a cruise (bad weather that day). Peaked at 36mpg, and that's on crappy barely legal (if not already illegal) tyres. Gave it the beans on Edinburgh bypass to check how it was boosting - pulls nicely in 3rd gear - and it dropped down to 32mpg, but all in all I'm happy. It's a bit better on fuel than my T5 estate. The 2004 manual Aero estate I tested the week before was showing an average of 23 and a bit on the SID and that was a car only used for occasional short trips, and the guy didn't even know how to reset the SID so it had obviously been measuring that avaerage over a very long period.

I paid £825 for mine. Experienced 9-5 buyers may say I paid over the odds as it needs some money spent - sump drop, tyres, brakes - so it'll probably be a £1600 car when I'm finished. But it'll be sorted for a good few years to come once I've done that, and it's a damn solid, clean, well looked after car with only 70k on the clock.

Drop back when you've got a calculated mpg figure as opposed to an indicated one.

[PoopahScoopah]

I will, but in my experience most cars are rarely more than a few percent out on the computer, and actually all the ones I've owned int he last few years have been pretty accurate. Even if I was getting 32mpg instead of the indicated 36, or 25 instead of an indicated 28 for example, I hardly call that catastrophic.

[Jimmy Recard]

Some are more accurate than others. I used to drive a Ford at work that would do 30mpg indicating 39 on the computer.

The Astra I have now has never shown more than 0.25mpg different to what it's really doing (I worked out every tank of fuel for the first year I had it)