Tested a SAAB 9-3 AERO 2.0T Convertible today - thoughts?
Discussion
Hi chaps,
Hope you don't mind me posting this in the general gassing room - wanted to get a broad response if possible.
I went to see a Saab 9-3 2.0T AERO Convertible today on a 55 plate. 60k on the clock. Three service stamps since new. £6,750. Whilst it didn't blow me away, it has kind of kindled an interest.
Car is black with cream leather and looks nice.
Was the first time for a long time that I have driven a Saab. My thoughts:
+ Looks quite smart in an unassuming kind of way
+ Decent mid range shove
+ Its cheap in the grand scheme of things and seems like a lot of car for the money
+ Like the idea of wafting around in it for some reason, even though I am 28 and probably will attract 'borrowing your dad's car?!' jibes as it is perhaps more of an older gentleman's car
+ Seat was comfy
+ Xenon headlights
+ Did I mention its cheap?
+ I like the trader and he seems like an honest and genuine bloke
- Interior felt flimsy and cheap. As I got in I spied the arm rest and immediately thought 'mmmmm armrest', but as soon as I put my arm on it, it gave a very discouraging squeek and flexed! The indicator stalk felt very flimsy too - not a very satisfying 'kerthunk' when activated.
- Only a five speed box. Bizarre for a car like this.
- Not great fuel economy, but hardly soul stirring performance either
- Torque seemed to tail off suddenly as it neared the red line almost like a turbo diesel
- Something in the back of my mind is screaming 'SAABs tend to go BANG - this will cost us!'
- No heated seats.
- Car is fitted with a tow hitch. Potential for added wear to drive train if the previous owner has been towing a caravan/ yacht etc?
- Previous owner has fitted Kumhos on the back and some other cheapo tyre brand on the front that I have never even heard of. Previous owner was a woman though which may explain it.*
On an unconnected note now I remember why that voice is screaming. I had to drive my bosses Saab 9-3 diesel all the way to Newcastle a few years back and shortly after I got back and returned it to my boss the engine destroyed itself utterly, which he informed me of whilst glaring at me meaningfully!
Whaddaya reckon fellas? Any good / bad Saab experiences to share? Basically I want something reasonably classy that is comfortable, well specced, presentable for seeing clients but still reasonably fast.
Hope you don't mind me posting this in the general gassing room - wanted to get a broad response if possible.
I went to see a Saab 9-3 2.0T AERO Convertible today on a 55 plate. 60k on the clock. Three service stamps since new. £6,750. Whilst it didn't blow me away, it has kind of kindled an interest.
Car is black with cream leather and looks nice.
Was the first time for a long time that I have driven a Saab. My thoughts:
+ Looks quite smart in an unassuming kind of way
+ Decent mid range shove
+ Its cheap in the grand scheme of things and seems like a lot of car for the money
+ Like the idea of wafting around in it for some reason, even though I am 28 and probably will attract 'borrowing your dad's car?!' jibes as it is perhaps more of an older gentleman's car
+ Seat was comfy
+ Xenon headlights
+ Did I mention its cheap?
+ I like the trader and he seems like an honest and genuine bloke
- Interior felt flimsy and cheap. As I got in I spied the arm rest and immediately thought 'mmmmm armrest', but as soon as I put my arm on it, it gave a very discouraging squeek and flexed! The indicator stalk felt very flimsy too - not a very satisfying 'kerthunk' when activated.
- Only a five speed box. Bizarre for a car like this.
- Not great fuel economy, but hardly soul stirring performance either
- Torque seemed to tail off suddenly as it neared the red line almost like a turbo diesel
- Something in the back of my mind is screaming 'SAABs tend to go BANG - this will cost us!'
- No heated seats.
- Car is fitted with a tow hitch. Potential for added wear to drive train if the previous owner has been towing a caravan/ yacht etc?
- Previous owner has fitted Kumhos on the back and some other cheapo tyre brand on the front that I have never even heard of. Previous owner was a woman though which may explain it.*
On an unconnected note now I remember why that voice is screaming. I had to drive my bosses Saab 9-3 diesel all the way to Newcastle a few years back and shortly after I got back and returned it to my boss the engine destroyed itself utterly, which he informed me of whilst glaring at me meaningfully!
Whaddaya reckon fellas? Any good / bad Saab experiences to share? Basically I want something reasonably classy that is comfortable, well specced, presentable for seeing clients but still reasonably fast.
- I would just like to say this was not meant as a sexist comment, but in my experience every female I know when faced with an option of a set of £50 a corner Nexens or £150 Pirrelis would go with the former.
Wadeski said:
I know the really early 9-3s of that generation were suspect - anyone want to comment if they fixed em by 05? I prefer the earlier 1st gen 9-3, and having owned one, it was a great old barge. If it's a 2.0T it responds very well to a remap.
I was thinking that. With 210bhp out of the box, 250bhp is surely quite feasible, though not sure how much the front wheels (and those cheap ass tyres) would like it! Anyone remapped a 9-3? How do the clutches hold up?My dad had a 54 plate Vector(?) auto. Mechanically it was fine, but had some electrical niggles - central locking shat itself a couple of times resulting in them not being able to lock it while on holiday in France, and the electronic steering lock did similar stranding them in car parks a couple of times. The engine he had coupled to an auto box didn't thrill, and the interior plastics are a bit cheap.
They're not bad cars, and my Indy reckons that they are very reliable mechanically, but for me they don't have the character of earlier Saabs and are a bit of an also-ran.
Having said that, a decent spec Aero in black with a remap would be a very nice cruiser, and you wouldn't get an equivalent BMW for that money.
You would get an absolutely mint 900T16S convertible for that sort of money! Or an e36 328 convertible and some change!
They're not bad cars, and my Indy reckons that they are very reliable mechanically, but for me they don't have the character of earlier Saabs and are a bit of an also-ran.
Having said that, a decent spec Aero in black with a remap would be a very nice cruiser, and you wouldn't get an equivalent BMW for that money.
You would get an absolutely mint 900T16S convertible for that sort of money! Or an e36 328 convertible and some change!
Wadeski said:
I know the really early 9-3s of that generation were suspect - anyone want to comment if they fixed em by 05? I prefer the earlier 1st gen 9-3, and having owned one, it was a great old barge. If it's a 2.0T it responds very well to a remap.
They had some problem with the oil pickup in the sump clogging up under some (not that uncommon) conditions leading to oil starvation. Think that was fixed around MY 2002 if not earlier. The Fiat (?) sourced 3.0 Diesel was broken by design, but I don't think that was available in the 9-3 at all. So a 2005 should be pretty safe. Best look this up on some dedicated Saab Forum though...Alfa159Ti said:
I was thinking that. With 210bhp out of the box, 250bhp is surely quite feasible, though not sure how much the front wheels (and those cheap ass tyres) would like it! Anyone remapped a 9-3? How do the clutches hold up?
Sure, BSR and others have that covered, eg http://en.bsr.se/products/tuning-kits/saab/9-3-ss-...But IMVHO, an open top FWD four seater with a high output 2 litre turbo engine and a tow hook just comes across a bit like spaghetti bolognese, french fries & salad on one plate. Good dishes seperatly, but...
craigjm said:
Best car Saab made IMO. you can easily tune them to 250ish but I wouldn't bother with FWD. There was a factory backed tuning service available to get you to around 250 but I can't remember what the company was called.
You're probably thinking of Hirsch Peformance - Swiss Saab tuners. Saab dealers sell some of their upgrades.Also worth looking at Maptun as well for upgrades.
Kolbenkopp said:
They had some problem with the oil pickup in the sump clogging up under some (not that uncommon) conditions leading to oil starvation. Think that was fixed around MY 2002 if not earlier. The Fiat (?) sourced 3.0 Diesel was broken by design, but I don't think that was available in the 9-3 at all. So a 2005 should be pretty safe. Best look this up on some dedicated Saab Forum though...
You're thinking of the first generation 9-3 (the hatchback). That had serious oil starvation problems unless you didn't use fully synthetic oil, usually leading to a dead turbo.my Dad has the exact same car..think that may answer one of the questions in your post?!..but like you say it is a lot of car for the money. My Dads has been very good, and compares very favourably with his previous VW Bora V5. He has had some minor niggles, despite buying from Saab Dealer. The cupholder snapped without provocation, the front suspension also required some fairly expensive remedial work which Saab wouldn't cover, despite only 40k miles!..aside from this it has been very reliable, and the roof/seats are especially good. Surprised the example you are looking at doesn't have heated seats as I thought that was a Saab feature!?
I had this one
for a while back in 2007.
Really disappointed in it, I'd previously had a couple of the 2.3 HOT Aero hatches from the previous generation 9-3 and they were excellent cars that I'd happily have now.
This however wasn't... it felt heavy and underpowered with lifeless steering.
It was a biggish car with not much room inside and it just seemed to lack that "SAAB factor"
The company manager that it was bought for couldn't wait to get out of it either... it came back to me at bang on 70k, his previous 530dSE didn't come back until 85k!!
The brakes were good though and other than regular servicing, the only expense was tyres and a clutch at about 60k
for a while back in 2007.
Really disappointed in it, I'd previously had a couple of the 2.3 HOT Aero hatches from the previous generation 9-3 and they were excellent cars that I'd happily have now.
This however wasn't... it felt heavy and underpowered with lifeless steering.
It was a biggish car with not much room inside and it just seemed to lack that "SAAB factor"
The company manager that it was bought for couldn't wait to get out of it either... it came back to me at bang on 70k, his previous 530dSE didn't come back until 85k!!
The brakes were good though and other than regular servicing, the only expense was tyres and a clutch at about 60k
T84 said:
Looking at a 9-3 Aero 2.8 V6 turbo, anyone driven one of those?
We have one of these on an 07 plate in blue. The 2.8 gives several benefits over the 2.0; 6-speed box (ours is a semi-auto) which seems to suit the car better. It also adds twin exhausts and the most important bit is the noise of tje V6 which is intoxicating with the roof down.It is my wifes car and will only do a few thousand miles a year. it spends most of its life round town and as a result is doing 19-20mpg circa 220 miles to a tank.
We like it, it is not neck-snappingly quick considering it has 280bhp but i don't get too many issues with getting this onto the tarmac.
As the op said, the deciding factor is you get loads of kit for your money (heated seats excepted), there is loads of interior and boot space (we have a 4 and 2 year old) and it is far better value than the german equivalents.
Do it, buy one!
To answer the OP there's nothing wrong with the reliability of the petrol engines. Diesels are suspect.
It seems a grand over priced, though. I paid a lot less than that for my 2.8T
To the above poster is wife's mapped to 280hp as they're 250 standard? Mine is standard but seems bang on the money for quoted power...
It seems a grand over priced, though. I paid a lot less than that for my 2.8T
To the above poster is wife's mapped to 280hp as they're 250 standard? Mine is standard but seems bang on the money for quoted power...
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