Saab 9-3 Turbo X
Discussion
Right I'll be honest, this was an impulsive Ebay purchase rather than me actually looking to buy one of these... at the time I was actually looking at buying an Astra VXR to take on track days but then my dad showed me this and in a moment of madness I thought, why not?
Per the title, it's a 2009 Saab 9-3 Turbo X that I purchased in September for £5500 with 86,252 miles on the clock.
It's had 2 previous owners, has full service history (Saab main dealer and then a Saab specialist) with a large stack of invoices for all the work that has been carried out over the years, one of which was the rear diff being replaced in 2016 at a cost of £3240!
So.. what's it like? It's fast, faster than it feels to be honest, It goes round corners better than it has a right to, the V6 is nice and smooth, and with the exhaust it sounds awesome! Especially cold starts in the morning, although the neighbours might disagree
Overall I'm just finding it really fun to drive.
Whilst it was in good condition overall, there were a few bad bits that needed sorting out when I got it.
First was a coolant leak on cold starts, it was fine once warmed up but the first 10 minutes or so you could see coolant dripping underneath the car, this was found to be the water pump which was replaced along with the belt. It was also due an oil change so I had that done at the same time.
Next the wing mirrors dimming function had failed and so they'd taken on a sort of 'sepia' look to them.
These were promptly replaced as they were useless at night.
Moving on, the drivers rear light cluster had a crack:
Found a used one on Ebay for £30 delivered which I snatched up and swapped the broken one for.
Lastly there was some mild vibration from the steering wheel around 70mph, thankfully all that was required was the wheels re-balancing.
I've not got any immediate plans for the car now, there are a few scratches to the paint I'd like sorting but that will have to wait until the new year, I'd also like to get some Hirsch bits (I'd love a set of the performance pedals!) but that's going to rely on some luck I think.
As for my original reason of buying a second car to go on track days, I'm not sure what I'll end up doing now, I don't think this is the kind of car to take on track from what I've read up on them, but I'll worry about that another time, for now I'm just going to enjoy this for what it is
Per the title, it's a 2009 Saab 9-3 Turbo X that I purchased in September for £5500 with 86,252 miles on the clock.
It's had 2 previous owners, has full service history (Saab main dealer and then a Saab specialist) with a large stack of invoices for all the work that has been carried out over the years, one of which was the rear diff being replaced in 2016 at a cost of £3240!
So.. what's it like? It's fast, faster than it feels to be honest, It goes round corners better than it has a right to, the V6 is nice and smooth, and with the exhaust it sounds awesome! Especially cold starts in the morning, although the neighbours might disagree
Overall I'm just finding it really fun to drive. Whilst it was in good condition overall, there were a few bad bits that needed sorting out when I got it.
First was a coolant leak on cold starts, it was fine once warmed up but the first 10 minutes or so you could see coolant dripping underneath the car, this was found to be the water pump which was replaced along with the belt. It was also due an oil change so I had that done at the same time.
Next the wing mirrors dimming function had failed and so they'd taken on a sort of 'sepia' look to them.
These were promptly replaced as they were useless at night.
Moving on, the drivers rear light cluster had a crack:
Found a used one on Ebay for £30 delivered which I snatched up and swapped the broken one for.
Lastly there was some mild vibration from the steering wheel around 70mph, thankfully all that was required was the wheels re-balancing.
I've not got any immediate plans for the car now, there are a few scratches to the paint I'd like sorting but that will have to wait until the new year, I'd also like to get some Hirsch bits (I'd love a set of the performance pedals!) but that's going to rely on some luck I think.
As for my original reason of buying a second car to go on track days, I'm not sure what I'll end up doing now, I don't think this is the kind of car to take on track from what I've read up on them, but I'll worry about that another time, for now I'm just going to enjoy this for what it is
Absolutely stunning, congrats!
Enormous tuning potential on these with silly torque. JZW are the tuning house of choice I believe.
Check out this lunatic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q4kXrb9a_Q
Think he's running a hybrid turbo, around 415 bhp and 550 lb ft iirc; utter madness.
How's the mpg? Heard mixed reviews, some saying low teens others saying late 20s.
Enormous tuning potential on these with silly torque. JZW are the tuning house of choice I believe.
Check out this lunatic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q4kXrb9a_Q
Think he's running a hybrid turbo, around 415 bhp and 550 lb ft iirc; utter madness.
How's the mpg? Heard mixed reviews, some saying low teens others saying late 20s.
Absolutely gorgeous, I had a Saab 93 Aero 2.8 and that was a great car, probably the best all rounder I have ever had. However, the JZW tune, although great at the time can end in tears in the form of conrods leaving the block. Tread carefully, I wish I had had a custom tune applied to it instead.
Ph1listine said:
Absolutely stunning, congrats!
Enormous tuning potential on these with silly torque. JZW are the tuning house of choice I believe.
Check out this lunatic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q4kXrb9a_Q
Think he's running a hybrid turbo, around 415 bhp and 550 lb ft iirc; utter madness.
How's the mpg? Heard mixed reviews, some saying low teens others saying late 20s.
That is a beast! Although I've heard mixed reviews on JZW, I think if/when I go down that route I'll err on the side of caution and go with Maptun/Nordic/Hirsch as I've not heard of any problems with those.Enormous tuning potential on these with silly torque. JZW are the tuning house of choice I believe.
Check out this lunatic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q4kXrb9a_Q
Think he's running a hybrid turbo, around 415 bhp and 550 lb ft iirc; utter madness.
How's the mpg? Heard mixed reviews, some saying low teens others saying late 20s.
Regarding mpg I don't think it's too bad, my right foot is fairly heavy and my normal town/motorway driving I get 25-27mpg, but I've only driven around town for short journeys the past couple of weeks so it's a bit low at 21mpg. The smiles per gallon make up for it though
Ph1listine said:
Absolutely stunning, congrats!
Enormous tuning potential on these with silly torque. JZW are the tuning house of choice I believe.
Check out this lunatic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q4kXrb9a_Q
Think he's running a hybrid turbo, around 415 bhp and 550 lb ft iirc; utter madness.
How's the mpg? Heard mixed reviews, some saying low teens others saying late 20s.
That is some poor driving right there. Enormous tuning potential on these with silly torque. JZW are the tuning house of choice I believe.
Check out this lunatic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q4kXrb9a_Q
Think he's running a hybrid turbo, around 415 bhp and 550 lb ft iirc; utter madness.
How's the mpg? Heard mixed reviews, some saying low teens others saying late 20s.
Nice! Stay away from JZW, his tunes are popular with some, loads of stage 1 cars here and in the states but a fair few have had issues when they go higher, mine (V6 Aero) was a JZW stage 5 with the 18t from the insignia VXR (bolt on swap) ok it was pretty ballistic but I had loads of issues trying to get the mapping sorted then it went bang a few months later 
Never again!
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I wouldnt go with Hirsch, expensive and there’s better out there, I’m. It even sure if it’s still available.
Take a look at Maptun and Nordic, there’s also Vtuner and BCB in the states but personally I’d stick with someone you can take the car to for a remap. A few others to look at plus some VXR tuners (if they’ll do it)
Any questions just ask I did a fair bit to my Aero and they’re pretty similar when it comes to tuning
Never again!
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I wouldnt go with Hirsch, expensive and there’s better out there, I’m. It even sure if it’s still available.
Take a look at Maptun and Nordic, there’s also Vtuner and BCB in the states but personally I’d stick with someone you can take the car to for a remap. A few others to look at plus some VXR tuners (if they’ll do it)
Any questions just ask
I did a fair bit to my Aero and they’re pretty similar when it comes to tuning TheAngryDog said:
Ph1listine said:
Absolutely stunning, congrats!
Enormous tuning potential on these with silly torque. JZW are the tuning house of choice I believe.
Check out this lunatic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q4kXrb9a_Q
Think he's running a hybrid turbo, around 415 bhp and 550 lb ft iirc; utter madness.
How's the mpg? Heard mixed reviews, some saying low teens others saying late 20s.
That is some poor driving right there. Enormous tuning potential on these with silly torque. JZW are the tuning house of choice I believe.
Check out this lunatic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q4kXrb9a_Q
Think he's running a hybrid turbo, around 415 bhp and 550 lb ft iirc; utter madness.
How's the mpg? Heard mixed reviews, some saying low teens others saying late 20s.
HumanSteamroller said:
TheAngryDog said:
Ph1listine said:
Absolutely stunning, congrats!
Enormous tuning potential on these with silly torque. JZW are the tuning house of choice I believe.
Check out this lunatic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q4kXrb9a_Q
Think he's running a hybrid turbo, around 415 bhp and 550 lb ft iirc; utter madness.
How's the mpg? Heard mixed reviews, some saying low teens others saying late 20s.
That is some poor driving right there. Enormous tuning potential on these with silly torque. JZW are the tuning house of choice I believe.
Check out this lunatic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q4kXrb9a_Q
Think he's running a hybrid turbo, around 415 bhp and 550 lb ft iirc; utter madness.
How's the mpg? Heard mixed reviews, some saying low teens others saying late 20s.
Went for a ride in one of these that's remapped with a custom full exhaust, sounds sweet with a nice burble at idle at V6 whine when pressing on, should hopefully still pass MOT as saab are good at keeping emissions down even with the main cat removed.
Goes really well in the wet with the 4wd though the owner had to pay out recently for a repair to the rear diff as it gets clogged, the Haldex diff can be uprated as it's a known problem for other manufacturers as well.
Goes really well in the wet with the 4wd though the owner had to pay out recently for a repair to the rear diff as it gets clogged, the Haldex diff can be uprated as it's a known problem for other manufacturers as well.
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