Giblet's Sensible Saab 9-3 Aero
Discussion
After spending the last 6 months enjoying my XJR and its glorious engine it was time to start being sensible. An average of 18mpg across 3000 miles and repair/servicing bills of £1500 in that time meant I had to sell up and move on. I spent quite a while thinking of sensible cars, I needed something that would give me semi decent fuel economy and cost less to maintain whilst also being brisk enough for the odd overtake etc. I also wanted something that I would keep for more than a year as I seem to switch cars a lot and always end up losing cash in the process.
I eventually settled on a Saab 9-3 aero. I did a bit of research on them and then viewed a local one the day after the XJR was collected. Ended up buying it after the extended test drive as it was more convenient than traversing across the country to look at the other ones for sale within my budget.
53 plate, 3 previous owners and 116k with full history. It had a main service back in April, tested till Jan and taxed till the end of Dec. Not bad for 2 bags.
To my eyes the car looks rather nice when compared to the alternatives in the same price bracket. Yes it's built on the same architecture as the Vectra C but it looks a damn sight nicer. The interior build quality isn't as amazing as I thought it would be but then again my Jag felt like it was carved out of giant lumps of wood and cow. There are a few niggles, the first is that the NSF window doesn't work and the second is the god awful 4 speaker stereo which sounds worse than the audio from my phone.
Took it for a shakedown drive this morning and it managed 27 mpg which is decent considering I wasn't exactly hanging around. It feels a lot quicker than I thought it would given the factory stats of 210bhp and 0-60 in 8.3 seconds. It handled pretty well for a heavy FWD saloon.
A stage 1 remap will bump the power up to 250 bhp and the torque up to 370nm. I'll be having that done after the car has been checked out by a local Saab specialist. Also toying with getting the twin exit exhaust system from the V6 9-3 as it would be a cheap way to tidy up the back end and it bolts on without any issues.
Planning to source the bits to retro fit heated front seats before winter kicks in as they are nice to have and upgrade the stereo somehow. Aside from that I just plan to drive the thing and hope nothing goes wrong. That way I can hopefully save up some cash for something silly next summer
I eventually settled on a Saab 9-3 aero. I did a bit of research on them and then viewed a local one the day after the XJR was collected. Ended up buying it after the extended test drive as it was more convenient than traversing across the country to look at the other ones for sale within my budget.
53 plate, 3 previous owners and 116k with full history. It had a main service back in April, tested till Jan and taxed till the end of Dec. Not bad for 2 bags.
To my eyes the car looks rather nice when compared to the alternatives in the same price bracket. Yes it's built on the same architecture as the Vectra C but it looks a damn sight nicer. The interior build quality isn't as amazing as I thought it would be but then again my Jag felt like it was carved out of giant lumps of wood and cow. There are a few niggles, the first is that the NSF window doesn't work and the second is the god awful 4 speaker stereo which sounds worse than the audio from my phone.
Took it for a shakedown drive this morning and it managed 27 mpg which is decent considering I wasn't exactly hanging around. It feels a lot quicker than I thought it would given the factory stats of 210bhp and 0-60 in 8.3 seconds. It handled pretty well for a heavy FWD saloon.
A stage 1 remap will bump the power up to 250 bhp and the torque up to 370nm. I'll be having that done after the car has been checked out by a local Saab specialist. Also toying with getting the twin exit exhaust system from the V6 9-3 as it would be a cheap way to tidy up the back end and it bolts on without any issues.
Planning to source the bits to retro fit heated front seats before winter kicks in as they are nice to have and upgrade the stereo somehow. Aside from that I just plan to drive the thing and hope nothing goes wrong. That way I can hopefully save up some cash for something silly next summer
Cheers folks. I did look at the 2.8T briefly but they were out of my budget plus the fuel economy savings would have been non existent. My insurers want £400 less to insure this for the year compared to the XJR which is a bonus. I did find cheaper quotes online but I'm less likely to get grief with my current insurers once I have had the car remapped as they seem to be pretty decent when declaring mods.
philmh said:
Nice Aero Giblet, i've had mine for nearly 2 years now. Which part of Leeds are you in, i'm in Otley.
Cheers. I live between Headingley and West Park. Who do you use for servicing etc? I've booked mine in at Aeromotive in Birstall to get the window sorted and a quick once over to make sure that there are no underlying issues. Need to find an audio place to get the stereo upgraded as it seems one of the previous owners has upgraded both the front and rear speakers but it still sounds terrible.giblet said:
Cheers. I live between Headingley and West Park. Who do you use for servicing etc? I've booked mine in at Aeromotive in Birstall to get the window sorted and a quick once over to make sure that there are no underlying issues. Need to find an audio place to get the stereo upgraded as it seems one of the previous owners has upgraded both the front and rear speakers but it still sounds terrible.
Fairly easy to get the better spec satnav headunit in there provided everything is "divorced" correctly, however i havent the foggiest when it comes to speaker replacement as i have the premium audio option which i think is fairly decent. 
Always look nice in dark silver, get it colour coded
I had one of these for 4 years (just got shot) so if you get any mechanical issues just ask - got to know mine fairly well (just routine, nothing horrific). Sold it to my dad when I bought my 645; have just spent the last few days driving it whilst my BMW was getting new tyres. Really impressed that a 150k mile car still goes as smoothly as it does; I really did enjoy mine whilst I had it.
Nice car Giblet! I'm after something similar to replace the Yaris with. I'm assuming you know Saabnoob maps these for less than 100 a pop (I think!)
From what I've herd wonders can be made by upgrading the dash speakers and adding decent audio sound proofing in the front doors. From what I understand the fiber optic set up is fairly decent but crappy speakers and a lack of soundproofing let it down. Bass goes to the rear speakers only as standard, you can do something to force more bass up front, that combined with better speakers and sound proofing makes all the difference. It was over 2 years ago when I looked into this so please check out uksaabs coz this could all be tosh!
Have you got used to the key position yet lol?
From what I've herd wonders can be made by upgrading the dash speakers and adding decent audio sound proofing in the front doors. From what I understand the fiber optic set up is fairly decent but crappy speakers and a lack of soundproofing let it down. Bass goes to the rear speakers only as standard, you can do something to force more bass up front, that combined with better speakers and sound proofing makes all the difference. It was over 2 years ago when I looked into this so please check out uksaabs coz this could all be tosh!
Have you got used to the key position yet lol?
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