RE: Saab 9-5 HOT Aero Estate | Shed of the Week
Discussion
I have a slightly newer one of these sitting on my drive with 120K on a 58 plate. There decent enough cars but this is my second the first was a 2002 aero which I sold prior to buying this one.
The pre-DE cars were much better screwed together, the later model fit and finish inside is poorer, consumption is also worse. My older aero auto got around 25MPG, the current one 19-21MPG most of the time doing the same types of journeys.
The price on that one is optimistic at best, I paid a little over double for my current one 3 years ago which at the time was 8 years old, 1 previous owner and 80K miles on it. Was I to sell it now (not that its up for sale) if I could get around £1K I'd be happy with that.
The pre-DE cars were much better screwed together, the later model fit and finish inside is poorer, consumption is also worse. My older aero auto got around 25MPG, the current one 19-21MPG most of the time doing the same types of journeys.
The price on that one is optimistic at best, I paid a little over double for my current one 3 years ago which at the time was 8 years old, 1 previous owner and 80K miles on it. Was I to sell it now (not that its up for sale) if I could get around £1K I'd be happy with that.
You'd have to ensure the engine was a B235 (B235R in the aero hot variety). If so, then the full bottom end of the B234 will fit directly in the B235. With a big turbo and injectors, better front mount intercooler and 3" exhaust, along with a few other little supporting mods, you could safely extract 600bhp from that engine.
Andygray27 said:
I'm sure the later DE cars were actually a B207 2.0t, which is a GM engine (z20net). Would explain fuel economy
I think the B207 was fitted to the 9-3 only; the 9-5 was B205 & B235 (in various guises) along with the early 3.0 V6 and various diesel offerings.And yes, in response to someone's post earlier, the CO2 rates & tax rates for the 2006-2010 9-5 Aero is as follows:
- Manual - 213g CO2/km, £325
- Auto - 244g CO2/km, £555 (or £325 if registered before 23.03.2006)
I think the difference in CO2 levels between manual & auto variants shows how inefficient the auto gearbox is - which explains the big difference in MPG figures between manual & auto cars.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say these are overrated on PH, and the later the model the more effort GM had put in to ruin them. The party trick of mid range torque is old hat now that everything has a turbo, so all you're left with is a very dated, very inefficient, expensive to tax, poor to drive FWD bus. My experience of the DE 9-5 is that it was woefully unreliable and troublesome when new too.
This weeks SOTW is a good example of how different strokes suit different folks. Saab as a brand engenders an awful lot of love on PH and if its a 900 or a 9000 I get why as I always had a soft spot for the former and some of the latter (9000 Carlsson for example), but this weeks Dame Edna looking estate personally leaves me cold. Against the grain, this car does nothing for me and I found last week's choice much more appealing! Like I said, its just a personal opinion/taste thing and as a shed. I am sure this car has many merits, hence the generally gushing comments on this weeks thread, compared with say, the general hatred towards the Corsa of a few weeks ago, slightly ironic when you consider that Saab were GM owned during this period!! Anyway, that's just my view and if we all liked the same things, bla bla bla...
greenarrow said:
Against the grain, this car does nothing for me and I found last week's choice much more appealing!
What, the 
The thing with the Saabs is that for a long time they were dirt cheap compared to anything comparably quick, comfortable and spacious with a German badge. Which made them pretty good sheds.
Gez79 said:
If it had only been registered 3 days earlier then it would have qualified for the lower VED rate rather than £555 a year!
I like 9-5 Aero's but for me this has the wrong wheels, wrong gearbox, wrong VED rate and it's the awful facelift model. That GM interior is terrible. Plus it's a cat d.
Plenty of others available at shed prices without those issues.
Was thinking the same thing. 'Tax' gets you looking at pre06 cars-still. Pity it isn't on a changing scale. 07-08-etc as years pass.I like 9-5 Aero's but for me this has the wrong wheels, wrong gearbox, wrong VED rate and it's the awful facelift model. That GM interior is terrible. Plus it's a cat d.
Plenty of others available at shed prices without those issues.
Especially as cars get taxed so much in various ways.
Keep looking for the equivalent road improvements?
As others have said, it's the higher tax bracket and the wrong gearbox. I also think the facelift model is more GM than Saab, which isn't a good thing. I have, a classic 900t16s, a 1972 Saab 99 and a 9-3 aero. I also own a 55 plate 9-5 aero estate. It's manual, has lower miles and someone stuck a 3 inch downpipe and a noob ECU, so it now spits out around 305bhp. The frustration on the faces of Audi drivers as they attempt then fail to overtake me in their expensive euroboxes never fails to delight me. Why is it I wonder, that all german premium cars, have angry headlights? I average around 32mpg too.
chazza114 said:
It's seems all I do is post in Saab threads on this site, but I just love sharing my love of these old sheds. For the money you really can't go wrong, however I'd look elsewhere before buying this example.
I just picked up a '53 plate 9-5 Aero with 91000 miles for only £1100 with FSH, so better bargains are out there! Also, don't believe the talk that the B235R can hold 350bhp, any more than 320 will result in the rods and pistons saying goodbye to this cruel world. Ask me how I know this...
Didn't happen to be in Scotland did it? Had my eye on a manual saloon of that description on Gumtree but waiting on funds to be freed up from my Panda HP (still for sale on Gumtree if anyone fancies it) and the ad went dark a short while ago so guessing I missed out I just picked up a '53 plate 9-5 Aero with 91000 miles for only £1100 with FSH, so better bargains are out there! Also, don't believe the talk that the B235R can hold 350bhp, any more than 320 will result in the rods and pistons saying goodbye to this cruel world. Ask me how I know this...
But yeah, looking at these as a cheap, solid barge option. Total contrast to what I have now but they've always appealled to me in their tunability and style. Really prefer the version before this without the GM bits being so prominent, nicer seats and better overall look. Dunno if I'll end up with one but it's still on the radar
Kind of fancy a 9-3 Aero X for the sheer noise of the thing but not quite in my budget at the moment...
PSB1967 said:
Logical head :- This is an interesting curio; a high mileage Cat D with a VED class more than half its asking price at £555. Whilst the Odo reading and Insurance marker shouldn't matter at this price, I fear the VED could prove to be crushing for it.
Heart :- But it's a 260 bhp Estate sleeper!!!!!
This ! Have recently crushed a tidy 07 plate Saab 93 Aero Convertible, all bits working for £200. No one will pay £1k for a car that has a £500 p.a tax liability.Heart :- But it's a 260 bhp Estate sleeper!!!!!
stickleback123 said:
I'm going to go out on a limb and say these are overrated on PH, and the later the model the more effort GM had put in to ruin them. The party trick of mid range torque is old hat now that everything has a turbo, so all you're left with is a very dated, very inefficient, expensive to tax, poor to drive FWD bus. My experience of the DE 9-5 is that it was woefully unreliable and troublesome when new too.
Going out on a limb ? Grow some Duke Nukem size balls of steel and simply write"They are a load of crap"
Because they are, never mind the yellow tinted Swedish glasses the proponents wear whilst going on about them and on and on and on and then it turns out the only redeeming feature was that....
they were not german.
Hence why they no longer exist, thank God.
Saab had a clever doomsday clock which counted upwards from 99 to 900 to 9000 and then went AWOL as the minute to midnight happened .....
Edited by Gandahar on Saturday 30th November 00:26
Gandahar said:
Going out on a limb ? Grow some Duke Nukem size balls of steel and simply write
"They are a load of crap"
Because they are, never mind the yellow tinted Swedish glasses the proponents wear whilst going on about them and on and on and on and then it turns out the only redeeming feature was that....
they were not german.
Hence why they no longer exist, thank God.
Saab had a clever doomsday clock which counted upwards from 99 to 900 to 9000 and then went AWOL as the minute to midnight happened .....
Except they weren’t and you are obviously wrong. Admittedly the last 93 and Dame Edna 9-5 weren’t the best but Saab made some really quirky, superbly engineered cars and had a rich motorsport history. "They are a load of crap"
Because they are, never mind the yellow tinted Swedish glasses the proponents wear whilst going on about them and on and on and on and then it turns out the only redeeming feature was that....
they were not german.
Hence why they no longer exist, thank God.
Saab had a clever doomsday clock which counted upwards from 99 to 900 to 9000 and then went AWOL as the minute to midnight happened .....
Edited by Gandahar on Saturday 30th November 00:26
Posting misinformed drivel like “they’re crap” is the sort of thing only a petulant teenager would do.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff