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

[hora]

Left At Orion said:

I'm big fan of my 2004 Aero estate (auto), but this one seems a little bit on the ropey side. I bought mine in September with 105,000 miles on the clock and a stack on history to back it up with service stamps/details every 6 months, the guy who owned it before was an architect too to fit the stereotype.

Anyway, I'd echo a lot of the sentiments on here, it's such a good car, loads of kit (I mean heated rear seats?) very smooth and comfortable with the most comfortable seats (leather laz-e-boy recliners more like) i've ever parked my backside on. The handling is somewhat 'floaty' as mentioned but then I did come from a 208gti which was the most unruffled and clinical car in the twisties I've ever owned, besides it's not what it's about.

It goes well too, pretty slow to pick up with the weight and auto box but as an 'overtaking tool' it's pretty effective, that mid range is well known and it does punch pretty hard, it can catch out a lot of cars, all in comfort, those seats I tell you.....

MPG wise the auto blunts it, but I'm running around 28mpg average which I'm happy enough with, that's mostly for my work commute which is a mix of fast A roads and some town driving, on a long run I see mid 30's plus quite easily and have even had 45mpg (Yes I know) pop up on the SID before thanks to a long empty stretch of 50mph speed limit.

I've no idea what I'd replace it with whenever the time comes tbh......Did I mention the seats?

Auto here too. The autobox has a first 1/4(?) Inch of accelerator travel that makes you think lazy, prod if though from start it surges forward I've found. Mid gear overtake it's crackers. It encourages you to be smooth doesn't it? However steering has good feel and later(?) Aero suspension has no body roll. In Scotland a few months ago on a B road I found it needs the flappy paddle gears otherwise it goes understeer hunting. Otherwise on a 500mile round trip to London before Christmas it just seems to find its groove on motorways and falls into a weird calm progress.


Ontop of the opposite of floaty- my 06 Aero lacks the same level of kit that 03/04/05 had. I only have electric drivers seat and front heated (not rear).

Edited by hora on Friday 6th January 20:48

[PoopahScoopah]

Olivera said:

Appalling handling vehicles, so in no way a PH car, but otherwise decent for the money

Nonsense! Most PHers spend half their life doing tip runs (apparently), so it's perfect!

[BFleming]

V8junkie said:

My 04 Vector estate has just died.

Bought three years ago as a 'set of wheels to get to work' after a career change left me without a company van, it was only meant to be a short term car but having passed MOT's with little difficulty and not needing much work doing I kept it as it was just so comfortable, reliable and plain useful with a huge load area.

Over the last six months it has had an extremely random cold start issue, turning over but just not catching and then without changing procedure or doing anything it would start and run fine for weeks. Until last week! Wouldn't start and eventually ran battery pretty much flat, tried jumping too but still no good. Left it and went to work in missus car. Next day fired straight up, drove all day fine. Next morning - no start again. No codes showing, nothing obviously amiss under the bonnet, can hear fuel pump.

Alas I don't have the time to play with it so its got to go, a shame as its tested till October and drives great so would be ideal for someone who knows what they're doing / has a supply of spares they can throw at it.

I'd have another but the missus can't get on with the key/reverse malarky.

No codes? Crank position sensor guaranteed.

[BricktopST205]

Olivera said:

Appalling handling vehicles, so in no way a PH car, but otherwise decent for the money

Who needs handling when you blast past "Mr look at me in my 420D Msport" off the slip road

[Left At Orion]

hora said:

Auto here too. The autobox has a first 1/4(?) Inch of accelerator travel that makes you think lazy, prod if though from start it surges forward I've found. Mid gear overtake it's crackers. It encourages you to be smooth doesn't it? However steering has good feel and later(?) Aero suspension has no body roll. In Scotland a few months ago on a B road I found it needs the flappy paddle gears otherwise it goes understeer hunting. Otherwise on a 500mile round trip to London before Christmas it just seems to find its groove on motorways and falls into a weird calm progress.


Ontop of the opposite of floaty- my 06 Aero lacks the same level of kit that 03/04/05 had. I only have electric drivers seat and front heated (not rear).

Edited by hora on Friday 6th January 20:48

Yep, love that mid range surge, it's really quite something.....it feels like a class above performance wise in that scenario.

Pleased to hear about the suspension on later Aeros but really I'm not overly fussed, I quite like the fact I feel like I'm piloting it (Aircraft pun intended) and yeah I do like the steering feel so I'm with you on that. I know what you mean though about calm progress, I did a long journey just before Christmas from Surrey to the North-East and back and it just cruises along without any fuss, it's long legged alright.

I've barely used the paddles tbh so can't really comment fairly, from what I have used though it still feels a touch on the slow side, maybe I should play a bit more with them, again though I used to have an E46 M3 with the SMG box which I'm probably comparing it too, otherwise I tend to stick it in sport mode which livens things up nicely I find.

I guess the lady who bought my car when it was new (From Saab Fulham and only put 12k miles on in 6 years) must have pretty much ticked everything when it came to options lol.

[405dogvan]

I always had a soft-spot for Saabs - even once I knew they weren't 'proper' Saabs, just Vectra-in-a-party-frock rejigs, I still liked em - maybe would even buy one at some point.

Then I had to work on them - in particular 9-3s but the odd 9-5 comes my way and they are, without exception, awful things to work on.

Simple stuff like removing the headunit (screwdivers in the vents 6 fingers on each of your three hands is useful) or accessing the HLB is only possible by sacrificing blood to the trim god - electrics can also be nightmarish (rear modules seem to throw themselves on the pyre with tiresome regularity) and woebetide you need access to Saab's flavour of the Tech2 as our local former Saab dealer asks for one of your first-born in return for that sort of st...

So a class Shed in the "drive until something fails and then burn-it-with-fire"

p.s. also, keys made of cheese...

Edited by 405dogvan on Friday 6th January 23:23

[British Beef]

Kentish said:

I think the V6 Turbo is the same engine used in the Vectra VXR and V6 Elite models.

If so, the performance is really rather good!

I missed mine as soon as I sold it

Because of mine I swore to never get another auto, turbo or Swedish car again. I replaced it with an E39 M5, better in every regard, even cost less (depreciation accounted for).

I might have to go back on the "never getting another turbo car" at some point in the future!!!

[eidacam]

I've got the same car, LPG an' all, I love it, it's fast an' comfy and the Prins LPG makes it economical 45mpg in petrol terms. I'll run it until something goes horribly wrong, now 160000 and going like a train, my last 9000 ( same engine) did 360000 and ran perfectly, but the screen fell out....Oh well. Another underrated car, very fast, safe and roomy. SAAB going bust is a real shame.

[BFleming]

eidacam said:

9000 ( same engine)

Not quite, the 9000 has the 204/234, the 9-5 has the 205/235. The 204/234 has a stronger bottom end, so a common mod for those is to hybrid them by putting the better 235 head on there. Then they're bulletproof & can be tuned for silly bhp.

[HannsG]

I had a Saab 9-3 Aero for 4 years. Was a great motor until parts were expensive as fook.

I paid 700 quid for a fookin door latch mechanism and then there were other issues such the creaking dash and piss poor plastic quality interior.

Much preferred my Fabia VRS Mk1!

Is the quality 'feel' of the 9-5 far superior to the 9-3?

And wtf were the keys coated in? The rubber would literally melt away in your hand. Never got my head around why the they would fuk up something as simple as a key.

Over engineered my arse.... It's a bloody key

Edited by HannsG on Friday 6th January 23:45

[405dogvan]

HannsG said:

I paid 700 quid for a fookin door latch mechanism

Hello, I have some interesting things you'll want to buy

• opens suitcase*

I bought TWO cars last week for less than 700 quid - you paid that for a DOOR LATCH!? Jeess....

[bearman68]

Arnold Cunningham said:

I'd actually say probably not the ECU - at it's core at least. Based on the above, (fuel pump coming on), I think the fuel pump only spins up when the ECU tells it to - for about 2 seconds on ignition on & then when cranking. So if the pump comes on, I doubt it's the ECU itself. Although could easily be wiring.

You can't say the ECU is good just because the pump comes on.

[bearman68]

Lady Summerisle said:

bearman68 said:

V8junkie said:

My 04 Vector estate has just died.

Bought three years ago as a 'set of wheels to get to work' after a career change left me without a company van, it was only meant to be a short term car but having passed MOT's with little difficulty and not needing much work doing I kept it as it was just so comfortable, reliable and plain useful with a huge load area.

Over the last six months it has had an extremely random cold start issue, turning over but just not catching and then without changing procedure or doing anything it would start and run fine for weeks. Until last week! Wouldn't start and eventually ran battery pretty much flat, tried jumping too but still no good. Left it and went to work in missus car. Next day fired straight up, drove all day fine. Next morning - no start again. No codes showing, nothing obviously amiss under the bonnet, can hear fuel pump.

Alas I don't have the time to play with it so its got to go, a shame as its tested till October and drives great so would be ideal for someone who knows what they're doing / has a supply of spares they can throw at it.

I'd have another but the missus can't get on with the key/reverse malarky.

Prob the ECU failing - not an enormous cost or hassle

Sounds like a duff battery or at worst a crankshaft position sensor. CPS is one of the 'they all do that' things. The CPS doesn't throw a code either, but cheap to fix. A good specialist will be able to sort for minimal hassle/ cost.

Not throwing a code on an 04 plate? Really?. I thought they stopped that dullard thinking in about 1975. But there is some kind of sense in it being a crank sensor I suppose.

[hammo19]

We've got one as out company hack. Just about to get a tow bar so we can move cars around. Epic car, quick comfortable and appears unbreakable.

[nicfaz]

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.

I'm sorry but that's utter rubbish. Mine used to average 28mpg and could get 35mpg easy on a motorway run. They really are quite fuel efficient for a petrol car of that size and performance.

[Arnold Cunningham]

I'm not saying it definitely is, any more than you're saying it definitely isn't. But I appreciate that for the purposes of this thread, we're both internet keyboard warriors.

In seriousness though, I've not checked the 9-5 wiring diagram but made an assumption that they're wired as per classic EFI (manifold injection, coil on plug) - so if the pump can be heard running on first turn of the ignition, the ECU must be triggering the relay to run it? So this does suggest the ECU isn't completely dead since power in to the coil of the fuel pump relay comes off the main relay (activated by the ignition), and the earth side of it is switched by the ECU. I accept other things could be wrong in the ECU as well though on the output circuit side, for example.

bearman68 said:

You can't say the ECU is good just because the pump comes on.

[JustinF]

My Manual 01 Aero is now on 286,000 miles after an engine rebuild, and an everything else rebuild, she a bit trigger's broom.
With a remap and running 270-280 ish she's great fun when you drop a cog, lifts her skirts and says goodbye to pretty much anything. The gear box is a low point, might be the age but slotting it in is not always guaranteed
25 mpg on mostly a 8/2 split A road/town commute

Edited by JustinF on Saturday 7th January 21:11

Edited by JustinF on Saturday 7th January 21:45

[anonymous-user]

Never buying a Saab again.
Sold mine to the scrapper for £75 today, although it started first time he drove it away in a cloud of black smoke and general borkage it looked simply horrific.
Glad to see it go, I would of wanted the bd of a car to go to a person who would run it but some things can't be helped if no one wants it.
"Turbo Sport" my arse.

[eidacam]

There's a lot of discussion about sludge. I had a early Aero auto and thought it would be a good idea to drop the sump, I did it just in time, the pickup screen was nearly blocked with carbonised oil, See pic. A fairly easy job. Sold it as it drank fuel. The later ones have a rerouted exhaust so it doesn't cook the oil, mind you I haven't dropped the sump on my latest Aero yet....to check! My manual aero will do 30mpg and loads more on LPG!! 162000 and going well. Scrubs rear tyres on the inside and as they wear it gets noisy sounds like a wheel bearing, new tyres and it goes quiet!!

[hora]

Spoke to my local Saab Specialist and they said yep 05 onwards is fine. I had the sump dropped anyway during the oil change for peace of mind.

Mine drinks fuel (23mpg av) but I did 500miles to London and back over Christmas at av.32mpg at 80mph max.