Shedding in a Bargain Boosted Saab 9-3 Aero
Discussion
Well, despite fighting it off for months, I eventually caved and sold my B7 RS4 to free up some funds for a small house move/renovation.
Bye to the RS4 - a great car, done me proud, looked great, was fast and barely depreciated a £ in just short of the 3 years I had it. It will be missed.
Readers car thread - http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
With the RS4 gone, I needed a utility shed to run around in/carry tins of paint, sleepers, rubbish, tools etc etc... I've never owned an estate either so thought this would be a good opportunity. I wanted something that looked OK but more importantly, allowed me to satisfy my PHness in some capacity.
So, having trawled the classifieds looking for cheap, fast, estates, I kept coming back to the Saab Aeros, they just seemed like so so much car for the money - the equivalent Jag/Merc/BMW estate would be £2k more expensive to have the same spec. As said this was to be a cheap daily driver so why spend more than I had to.
Anyway, here is my new shed. Saab 9-3 Aero Sportwagon with the 2.8 V6 Turbo engine. 250bhp, tiptronic box. 107k miles, FSH, 4 good tyres, leather interior, cruise, heated seats, AC etc etc...
Mine for.... £1400!! Absolute bargain as far as I can see so far! Done approx 100 miles back from picking it up, it's smooth, quiet, reasonably quick, sounds decent and in my opinion... looks good all things considered. 31mpg average too, bonus.
I drove 2 hours to view it, as soon as I pulled into the sellers driveway and got eyes on the car, I had wrote it off in my head... it was unwashed, covered in moss/leaves/tree sap and someone had put a cheap nasty car cover on in the past which had made a right mess of the paint, scratched up the roof and tops of the wings/A pillar/bootlid... a bit of a mess.
It was up for £2550 which I would have had no problem paying had it of been in a bit better shape but no way was I buying this car.
Took it our for a run with the owner anyway and it drove well, surprisingly so. Meantime i'm coming round to the idea, but only if it was seriously cheap... We got back, I had a second look around, paint was still the only issue. He asked me where i'm at money wise, i made clear the paint is an issue for me, he said he'd come down a bit, I said, if you come down to £1300 i'll have it (expecting him to chase me off his property).
To my surprise he actually thought about it! Then came back with £1500, I went £1400 and it was mine. Shocked, happy but still concerned with the paint.
Got it home, wash, polish, removed some crappy stickers and carbon fibre wrap from interior panels and concluded i've bagged myself a right bargain. Paint on the areas mentioned isn't great but it's a £1400 car, who cares.
Tiptronic box is a nice change. Allows me to give it some beans when I want, or just waft around in comfort the rest of the time.
Gave it a good blast this morning after the gym, took the 'long way' home (12 miles as opposed to 3...) and properly scoped the performance out, coming from the RS4 I never expected it to feel at all fast but to be honest, it does feel pretty quick, 100mph comes up quickly and the gearchanges in manual mode are smooth and fast so it does get up the road pretty well.
Not planning to spend any money on it. Will service it this weekend if i get time then just enjoy and use it. Keep looking at remaps... 320bhp and over 400lb/ft of torque from a stage 1 map
we'll see.
Will chip into this thread sporadically to keep anyone who cares up to date with how the car is doing me.
Bye to the RS4 - a great car, done me proud, looked great, was fast and barely depreciated a £ in just short of the 3 years I had it. It will be missed.
Readers car thread - http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
With the RS4 gone, I needed a utility shed to run around in/carry tins of paint, sleepers, rubbish, tools etc etc... I've never owned an estate either so thought this would be a good opportunity. I wanted something that looked OK but more importantly, allowed me to satisfy my PHness in some capacity.
So, having trawled the classifieds looking for cheap, fast, estates, I kept coming back to the Saab Aeros, they just seemed like so so much car for the money - the equivalent Jag/Merc/BMW estate would be £2k more expensive to have the same spec. As said this was to be a cheap daily driver so why spend more than I had to.
Anyway, here is my new shed. Saab 9-3 Aero Sportwagon with the 2.8 V6 Turbo engine. 250bhp, tiptronic box. 107k miles, FSH, 4 good tyres, leather interior, cruise, heated seats, AC etc etc...
Mine for.... £1400!! Absolute bargain as far as I can see so far! Done approx 100 miles back from picking it up, it's smooth, quiet, reasonably quick, sounds decent and in my opinion... looks good all things considered. 31mpg average too, bonus.
I drove 2 hours to view it, as soon as I pulled into the sellers driveway and got eyes on the car, I had wrote it off in my head... it was unwashed, covered in moss/leaves/tree sap and someone had put a cheap nasty car cover on in the past which had made a right mess of the paint, scratched up the roof and tops of the wings/A pillar/bootlid... a bit of a mess.
It was up for £2550 which I would have had no problem paying had it of been in a bit better shape but no way was I buying this car.
Took it our for a run with the owner anyway and it drove well, surprisingly so. Meantime i'm coming round to the idea, but only if it was seriously cheap... We got back, I had a second look around, paint was still the only issue. He asked me where i'm at money wise, i made clear the paint is an issue for me, he said he'd come down a bit, I said, if you come down to £1300 i'll have it (expecting him to chase me off his property).
To my surprise he actually thought about it! Then came back with £1500, I went £1400 and it was mine. Shocked, happy but still concerned with the paint.
Got it home, wash, polish, removed some crappy stickers and carbon fibre wrap from interior panels and concluded i've bagged myself a right bargain. Paint on the areas mentioned isn't great but it's a £1400 car, who cares.
Tiptronic box is a nice change. Allows me to give it some beans when I want, or just waft around in comfort the rest of the time.
Gave it a good blast this morning after the gym, took the 'long way' home (12 miles as opposed to 3...) and properly scoped the performance out, coming from the RS4 I never expected it to feel at all fast but to be honest, it does feel pretty quick, 100mph comes up quickly and the gearchanges in manual mode are smooth and fast so it does get up the road pretty well.
Not planning to spend any money on it. Will service it this weekend if i get time then just enjoy and use it. Keep looking at remaps... 320bhp and over 400lb/ft of torque from a stage 1 map
we'll see.Will chip into this thread sporadically to keep anyone who cares up to date with how the car is doing me.
ColdoRS said:
Keep looking at remaps... 320bhp and over 400lb/ft of torque from a stage 1 map we'll see.
Do this, it's an absolute hoot! we'll see.Mine's a JZW stage 1 which seems to be the one to go for.
Maptun is not as aggressive but will give you nearly as much oomph.
At the moment mine's in dock having a dent repaired, diff service, replacement power steering pipe and a couple of other bits and bobs, definitely missing the torque. 3rd gear 30-70 is hilarious.
KarlMac said:
Lovely bus. 
As a Saab owner myself I can't help wondering how long these will continue to fly under the radar.
My sentiments exactly, I'm not sure whats better all round for the money? I'm far from a Saab 'enthusiast' but i've quickly came round to the appreciation for the value they offer. As a Saab owner myself I can't help wondering how long these will continue to fly under the radar.
My girlfriends brother is coincidentally also in the market for a cheap estate, it will be interesting to see what he comes back with and how it compares to the Saab.
Hackney said:
Do this, it's an absolute hoot!
Mine's a JZW stage 1 which seems to be the one to go for.
Maptun is not as aggressive but will give you nearly as much oomph.
At the moment mine's in dock having a dent repaired, diff service, replacement power steering pipe and a couple of other bits and bobs, definitely missing the torque. 3rd gear 30-70 is hilarious.
I can't stop reading about the mapping options! Mine's a JZW stage 1 which seems to be the one to go for.
Maptun is not as aggressive but will give you nearly as much oomph.
At the moment mine's in dock having a dent repaired, diff service, replacement power steering pipe and a couple of other bits and bobs, definitely missing the torque. 3rd gear 30-70 is hilarious.
It's supposed to be a cheap runabout hence my reluctance. Also, read that the JZW stage 1 can ruin the clutch?
1400 quid!!!!! Bargain!
Definitely look into a remap, few choices there but I'd go for one of the US tuners for the extra torque so either JZW or Vtuner. A stage 1 map on these really livens things up....they need it.
Only real issue I'd be worried about with the auto box is the valve body going, couple of mapped cars have had this problem and its around a grand to fix.
If you go for JZW (pretty sure Vtuner recommends the same but not sure about Hirsch/Maptun who are the main SAAB euro tuners) you'll need to fit some colder plugs. So expect to pay around £50/60 for 6 NGK LFR7AiX plugs, also recommended swapping these out every 6/7k. Remaps around £400-450 iirc?
1000% worth joining www.uksaabs.co.uk and get in touch with Martin93t who's the UK distributor for JZW.
Coils can die on mapped cars, sometimes they'll flash a cel other times not and you just feel the car misfiring. Just get Genuine Bosch coils, the older ones are '104' type and newer are '112' amd less prone to dying.
Here's mine, with a couple problems to sort, could be the fuel pump (£££)
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Definitely look into a remap, few choices there but I'd go for one of the US tuners for the extra torque so either JZW or Vtuner. A stage 1 map on these really livens things up....they need it.
Only real issue I'd be worried about with the auto box is the valve body going, couple of mapped cars have had this problem and its around a grand to fix.
If you go for JZW (pretty sure Vtuner recommends the same but not sure about Hirsch/Maptun who are the main SAAB euro tuners) you'll need to fit some colder plugs. So expect to pay around £50/60 for 6 NGK LFR7AiX plugs, also recommended swapping these out every 6/7k. Remaps around £400-450 iirc?
1000% worth joining www.uksaabs.co.uk and get in touch with Martin93t who's the UK distributor for JZW.
Coils can die on mapped cars, sometimes they'll flash a cel other times not and you just feel the car misfiring. Just get Genuine Bosch coils, the older ones are '104' type and newer are '112' amd less prone to dying.
Here's mine, with a couple problems to sort, could be the fuel pump (£££)
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
ColdoRS said:
I can't stop reading about the mapping options!
It's supposed to be a cheap runabout hence my reluctance. Also, read that the JZW stage 1 can ruin the clutch?
I think that's when you get into stage 2 or 3It's supposed to be a cheap runabout hence my reluctance. Also, read that the JZW stage 1 can ruin the clutch?
I haven't had any problems and nor did the previous owner.
GriffinDai on here and on UKSaabs is a good source of info on this stuff.
And the JZW agent is on UKSaabs on a regular basis - I can't remember his name but search for JZW on there and I'm sure his name will pop up in the threads.
TotalControl said:
Griff, I thought the auto box issues were only an issue if you tried to take it to stage 3?
One of the JZW 1 guys had it on his, I don't think it's happened much though so wouldn't be too worried about it, just need to be aware of it. Loads of mapped autos in the states running without any problems.Coils are the main things to fail on the tuned cars. Cheapest I've found was from Rock Auto in the states, if one of the rear bank go (cylinders 1/3/5) I'd just swap all 3 out while your at it as its a pain in the arse.
OP- forgot to add better brakes!!! I cooked mine the day after the map playing with a M3
Standard set ups fine on a standard car, but worth upgrading if you remap. Vectra VXR 345's 'just' fit under the Aero's 5 spokes, really nice set up with some decent pads like ds2500's, HEL lines & RBF600 fluid but can be expensive as you'll need the bigger calipers & carriers. Or just look at better discs (314mm on these) plus bettter pads, lines, fluid. I had Mtec discs & yellow stuff pads with the lines & fluid which were fine at stage 1 and didn't cost too much. Handling can be improved with some Eibach springs & Bilstein B8's plus a decent wheel alignment.
Coming from the RS4 I'm guessing you'll want a little extra oomph!! JZW3+ is a nice cheap upgrade, just a 3" DP (standard DP has a cat built into it and very restrictive) then either ditch the mid pipe that's go the 2nd cat for a 3" decat or have a 3" MP with race cat. And then it's a bigger IC, some options there from a cheap 90mm EVO Chinese IC off eBay but have heard it can rub if it's pushed right up front, I've got this fitted but sandwiched between the AC & rad....working fine at stage 5 but need a few 2.5" hoses to mate up to the standard pipework. Or go for a drop in replacement from DO88, or splash out on a Forge IC but even that needs a bit of work to fit.
Then the stage 3+ map from John (JZW) which will be free btw!
With JZW once you've bought the iflash unit (plugs into the OBD2 port & laptop) all stages up to 4 are free then it's an additional £100 for the stage 5 tune (bigger turbo/injectors) as its a custom tune. He's really helpful though and sometimes emails map updates foc to try.
Imo best bang per buck is stage 3+.....stage 5's great (v.quick!!!) but costs a fair bit extra when you factor in the turbo upgrade (£600ish) 550's (£350) map (£100) and possibly the HP Tuners scanner so you can log the runs and have the car mapped by email (£400ish)
Good fun though!! Standard to stage 1 feels miles quicker!!!!
Cracking choice. As previously mentioned, these cars have epic tuning potential. I actually think these are very handsome estates. Reasonable boot capacity, but still keeping some curves at the rear.
They did release the V6 Aero in 2005, so you can get some cars that fall under the cheaper tax bracket. Sadly they are quite rare, as I would probabaly snap one up.
I've had two Saabs now and I will be selling the current one in the summer, but I know I will get another Saab at some point and I quite fancy going all out and getting the facelift convertible with the V6 Turbo engine with a decent tune
They did release the V6 Aero in 2005, so you can get some cars that fall under the cheaper tax bracket. Sadly they are quite rare, as I would probabaly snap one up.
I've had two Saabs now and I will be selling the current one in the summer, but I know I will get another Saab at some point and I quite fancy going all out and getting the facelift convertible with the V6 Turbo engine with a decent tune
griffin dai said:
Then the stage 3+ map from John (JZW) which will be free btw!
With JZW once you've bought the iflash unit (plugs into the OBD2 port & laptop) all stages up to 4 are free then it's an additional £100 for the stage 5 tune (bigger turbo/injectors) as its a custom tune. He's really helpful though and sometimes emails map updates foc to try.
Just had a look at the JZW website again, am I right in thinking that where he lists the stages:With JZW once you've bought the iflash unit (plugs into the OBD2 port & laptop) all stages up to 4 are free then it's an additional £100 for the stage 5 tune (bigger turbo/injectors) as its a custom tune. He's really helpful though and sometimes emails map updates foc to try.
Stage 3 Full Exhaust, 335bhp and 439ft-lbs
Stage3+Add IC and custom tune, 357BHP and 456ft-lbs
Stage 4 Full Exhaust, 19T Turbo Upgrade, stock injectors, 375bhp and 483ft-lbs
Stage 5 Full Exhaust, 19T Turbo Upgrade, larger injectors 415bhp and 532ft-lbs
that's the additional requirement, so if I go from Stage 1 to 3 I'd need a n intercooler?
Hackney said:
Just had a look at the JZW website again, am I right in thinking that where he lists the stages:
Stage 3 Full Exhaust, 335bhp and 439ft-lbs
Stage3+Add IC and custom tune, 357BHP and 456ft-lbs
Stage 4 Full Exhaust, 19T Turbo Upgrade, stock injectors, 375bhp and 483ft-lbs
Stage 5 Full Exhaust, 19T Turbo Upgrade, larger injectors 415bhp and 532ft-lbs
that's the additional requirement, so if I go from Stage 1 to 3 I'd need a n intercooler?
Yep, stage 1 is software only, either using the iflash unit with a laptop, that plugs into the obd2 port/USB and takes a couple minutes to map the car:Stage 3 Full Exhaust, 335bhp and 439ft-lbs
Stage3+Add IC and custom tune, 357BHP and 456ft-lbs
Stage 4 Full Exhaust, 19T Turbo Upgrade, stock injectors, 375bhp and 483ft-lbs
Stage 5 Full Exhaust, 19T Turbo Upgrade, larger injectors 415bhp and 532ft-lbs
that's the additional requirement, so if I go from Stage 1 to 3 I'd need a n intercooler?
http://uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=...
Or the powergate touchscreen programmer, not sure how this works as I just use to iflash, so best ask Martin
http://uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=...
Then if you add a 3" DP/MP you can remap again to stage 3, add the IC with this and it's stage 3+, bigger turbo with standard injectors is stage 4, or bigger turbo plus Bosch 550cc injectors it's stage 5 custom map. So once you've paid for the initial map, stages 3/3+/4 are free but stage 5 is $149 on top.
Bolt on turbo choices are a bit limited as its an dual scroll td04 so completely different to what's fitted to other saabs and doesn't have the usual t25/t3 type flanges so if anybody did want to fit something like a Garrett gt30 or holset hx35 etc they'd have to get an adapter plate made up to fit.
Most seem to go for a rebuild/upgrade on the standard 15t to either billet 19t or 20T, there's also the 18t that's standard for on the insignia VXR and it's a bolt on swap (what I've got) There's also a gt30/td04 hybrid available from one of the VXR specialists but not a lot of info on that one. I'm tempted to sell my 18t and go for the hybrid rebuild on my old turbo
Basically the standard turbo has a bracket built on there which attaches to the block, then there's two up pipes coming from the manifolds either side of the turbo.
Cheers guys, lots of info to ponder over. A map would definitely liven up my period of cheap motoring!
I've had a lurk on the UKSaabs forum, whilst researching the purchase and since, trying to work out little bits - it's a great resource.
So far so good with the Saab, 250 miles in with nothing untoward occuring. The missus even took it to work yesterday and gave it the seal of approval.
I've had a lurk on the UKSaabs forum, whilst researching the purchase and since, trying to work out little bits - it's a great resource.
So far so good with the Saab, 250 miles in with nothing untoward occuring. The missus even took it to work yesterday and gave it the seal of approval.
This belongs to a mate. It's BALLISTIC! Stage 6.
Incredible what can be done with these engines.
http://aplsaab.co.uk/car-sales/apl-approved.php?s=...
340BHP. It's a beast.
Incredible what can be done with these engines.
http://aplsaab.co.uk/car-sales/apl-approved.php?s=...
340BHP. It's a beast.
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