Discussion
Decided a couple of weeks ago to sell the CL, passed its MOT with no advisories, probably as nice a condition I was ever going to get it in so a good time to offload.
Was a great car and achieved another tick in the list of cars I have wanted to own.
Slight change of direction required for its replacement - whilst the CL was gorgeous it was also massive and that made it impractical, plus the potential running costs were scary, having the Westfield to run I decided that the fun angle was covered so next car needed to be something that was not "run of the mill" but practical, comfortable and with reasonable running costs.
Considered many cars, BMW E65 7 series (but just as big and expensive to run as CL), Mondeo ST220, another Celica (last one was great fun to drive but not really spacious enough), Clio 197 (too small and 3 door only), E46 330Ci (looked at a few and it would potentially take ages to find a good one), I actually really fancied a Panda 100HP but OH was adamant that it was not going to happen.
Ended up with this - another car to add of the list of "not rated well when new and that's why I want one"
March 2006 registered (so lower road tax) 9-3 V6
Full service history
88k on the clock
JZW remap to 320bhp, 410 lb ft torque
Brand new Bola B1 alloys with Uniroyal Rainsport 3's
Most front end suspension renewed late last year
10 months MOT
Couple of little jobs need doing to it, bonnets needs a paint due to bird lime etching and my OCD will not settle until its done but car is pretty immaculate and drives extremely well (for a 320 bhp FWD Saab)
Was a great car and achieved another tick in the list of cars I have wanted to own.
Slight change of direction required for its replacement - whilst the CL was gorgeous it was also massive and that made it impractical, plus the potential running costs were scary, having the Westfield to run I decided that the fun angle was covered so next car needed to be something that was not "run of the mill" but practical, comfortable and with reasonable running costs.
Considered many cars, BMW E65 7 series (but just as big and expensive to run as CL), Mondeo ST220, another Celica (last one was great fun to drive but not really spacious enough), Clio 197 (too small and 3 door only), E46 330Ci (looked at a few and it would potentially take ages to find a good one), I actually really fancied a Panda 100HP but OH was adamant that it was not going to happen.
Ended up with this - another car to add of the list of "not rated well when new and that's why I want one"
March 2006 registered (so lower road tax) 9-3 V6
Full service history
88k on the clock
JZW remap to 320bhp, 410 lb ft torque
Brand new Bola B1 alloys with Uniroyal Rainsport 3's
Most front end suspension renewed late last year
10 months MOT
Couple of little jobs need doing to it, bonnets needs a paint due to bird lime etching and my OCD will not settle until its done but car is pretty immaculate and drives extremely well (for a 320 bhp FWD Saab)
LeoZwalf said:
Looks nice, especially those wheels, oofff!!
It's turbocharged, right?
The wheels are indeed very nice, unfortunately front nearside has been kerbed, having trouble getting paint code so it can be refurbished so looking to buy a new wheel insteadIt's turbocharged, right?
Yes the V6 is turbocharged, its a GM unit that was shared with the Vectra VXR and formed the basis of the post Busso Alfa V6
dandam said:
Most 9-3s have collapsed driving seats but that looks ok.
Nice car, with my pathetic 150bhp 1.9 9-3 tid I only dream of the performance at your disposal !
No, they don't. Nice car, with my pathetic 150bhp 1.9 9-3 tid I only dream of the performance at your disposal !
Their design actually wears quite well, as the seat is more curved rather than more pronounced bolsters on other seats.
The material does wear out, as it isn't the highest quality.
Anyways:
Good choice by the OP. I've had two Saabs and will probabaly have another at one point.
Prey the stereo keeps working as they are quite pricey to replace and you can't run anything aftermarket apart from a Parrot bluetooth kit.
Great looking cars though
bakerstreet said:
Good choice by the OP. I've had two Saabs and will probabaly have another at one point.
Prey the stereo keeps working as they are quite pricey to replace and you can't run anything aftermarket apart from a Parrot bluetooth kit.
Great looking cars though
Cheers, this will be my 4th Saab, had two 9-5 Aeros and a 9-3 Aero cab. Would not say I'm a particular Saab lover but I like the fact they are the underdog and the first three gave me no issues that I was not aware of when I bought themPrey the stereo keeps working as they are quite pricey to replace and you can't run anything aftermarket apart from a Parrot bluetooth kit.
Great looking cars though
HybridAero said:
Nice purchase! This thing must absolutely go like a bullet train, so much torque. Would love to try one of these next. What's the auto box like on these?
Its a 6 speed auto, fairly bog standard for the mid 00's, found it pretty smooth and responsive when I tried it on test drive, probably suits the car better than a manualBMRuss said:
Might be prudent to change the timing chains?
They stretched on my Vectra VXR and many others, it was an absolute nightmare trying to diagnose the problems, strange how it doesn't seem to happen to the Saabs!
They go well when mapped
I'm not sure what the differences are between the two but chain problems seem a bit more rare on the saabs? Loads of Vec's have it. Must be something different on there? Main problems are the coils so best to upgrade these to Bosch 112's when you change the plugs (you need NGK LRF7AiX plugs with the JZW tune)They stretched on my Vectra VXR and many others, it was an absolute nightmare trying to diagnose the problems, strange how it doesn't seem to happen to the Saabs!
They go well when mapped
Mine took a massive dump on Saturday, got a feeling it's thrown a rod
Just been looking at a replacement engine for mine, can't find many used saab b284's but a few vec engines....just a worry if the chains have been done or not.
griffin dai said:
I'm not sure what the differences are between the two but chain problems seem a bit more rare on the saabs? Loads of Vec's have it. Must be something different on there? Main problems are the coils so best to upgrade these to Bosch 112's when you change the plugs (you need NGK LRF7AiX plugs with the JZW tune)
Mine took a massive dump on Saturday, got a feeling it's thrown a rod
Just been looking at a replacement engine for mine, can't find many used saab b284's but a few vec engines....just a worry if the chains have been done or not.
Was fitted with brand new coil packs and plugs late last year and there is no timing change rattle on start up. I know Saab (as they always did) changed a number of things from the base GM engine, can only presume that some of these changes have had a positive impact on the timing chain reliabilityMine took a massive dump on Saturday, got a feeling it's thrown a rod
Just been looking at a replacement engine for mine, can't find many used saab b284's but a few vec engines....just a worry if the chains have been done or not.
I didn't have any rattle on mine at all, each chain was stretched by 4mm, car had done 27k and FVSH, the EML was on and said cam position sensor, swapped them over from front to back, no better, went to Vauxhall, they didn't have a clue and packed me off without any guidance.
I was fortunate at the time that 1 other Vec VXR had similar symptoms, running hotter than usual and hesitant, then all of a sudden it was like a disease and loads of them had the dreaded chain stretch.
Easy enough to do if you have the engine out (Griffin Dai) all parts very reasonable from the US, mine ran great after.
I was fortunate at the time that 1 other Vec VXR had similar symptoms, running hotter than usual and hesitant, then all of a sudden it was like a disease and loads of them had the dreaded chain stretch.
Easy enough to do if you have the engine out (Griffin Dai) all parts very reasonable from the US, mine ran great after.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff