RE: Saab 9-3 HOT | Shed of the Week

RE: Saab 9-3 HOT | Shed of the Week

Friday 14th January 2022

Saab 9-3 HOT | Shed of the Week

More than 200hp, less than £1k, and a manual gearbox - it's the Swedish Shed jackpot!



Fresh from their domination of the 2021 Shed of the Year awards, the Scandis are getting in early for 2022 with this doughty looking Saab 9-3 Aero HOT. HOT doesn't mean hot, by the way. Well, it does, obviously, but when it's a Saab acronym it stands for High Output Turbo. In the 9-3 that means 0-60mph times in the high sixes; respectable performance for a five-door, five-seat hatch in 2022, let alone 2000 when this car was built.

On that subject, sort of, we had one of these back in September. To be strictly accurate, it wasn't one of these, it was a 2004 gen-two on the GM Epsilon platform, which means it could just as easily have been built in Austria or China as in Sweden. Today's 9-3 is a gen-one car from 2000. The difference there is that, although it's still on a GM platform - the 2900 - it must have been built in either Sweden or Finland. According to Shed, anyway.

Let's imagine that, just for once, he's right there. Does pure Scandinavian lineage make this older car 'better' than the later one? Does Scandiness fully compensate for extra age? There'll doubtless be some views about that on the forum. All Shed is saying is that this gen-one car has quite an advantage over the other one in terms of mileage. It's done 100,000 fewer of them than the '04 car.


These two Saabs do have one thing in common, namely single ownership (or as near as makes no difference) from showroom to Shed. That tells you something about Saabs. Get a good 'un and, with the right attitude towards disposability, you can be a happy bunny for a very long time.

This could be a good 'un. If it is, then Shed reckons it's well priced. In the course of his normal exhaustive research for this story (23 seconds of Googling on the Amstrad) he found another gen-one 9-3 Aero HOT for sale, an 85,000-mile 2001 car on a classics website going for £3,495, suggesting that £850 for our 92,000-miler is on the cheap side of reasonable - if it's a good 'un.

But what could make it a bad 'un? Shed won't insult your intelligence by talking about the Direct Ignition Cassette for the umpteenth time. What else? This 9-3's engine management light has been going on and off for the last three years, which is a testament to the bulb if not the EML sensor. The EML fault came up as a major defect on the 2018 MOT but hasn't appeared since.


Oil leaks from the top end and/or the rear main seal will very likely relate to excessive crankcase pressure, solved later in the 9-3's lifecycle by the factory's fitment of an updated PCV kit. Idler pulleys for the serpentine belt can break, as can the fuel pump and the shaft for the 'air blend' door. If that goes, your ability to control cabin temperature goes with it.

The body carries a few battle scars, as the vendor freely admits, but some might say that these only add to the authenticity. A slightly bashed front number plate was one of the two advisories on last June's MOT. The other one was for an exhaust blow which was also mentioned in 2020.

Everything else on previous MOTs dating back to 2006 has related to consumables, with no rust or corrosion popping up anywhere. To Shed it looks like the history of a well-made car, which as you can see is photographed in a suitably Scandi-noir Nissen hut. Not a Nissan HOT, because that isn't a thing. Nor is a hot Aero. Nobody wants one of those in their pocket.


Here's the full ad





Author
Discussion

Master Bean

Original Poster:

3,517 posts

119 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
I miss my Saaaaaab. Don't miss it drinking oil, going into limp home mode or the air con never working. Acceleration in third made up for it.

wiliferus

4,053 posts

197 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
Do like a Saab of this era. It’s a handsome thing.
I may be getting my generations of Saabs muddled, but didn’t these need some form of upgrade where the steering rack met the bulkhead… cracking issues? Or something.
Either way, I like. Decent shed.

Chubbyross

4,537 posts

84 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
It’s just occurred to me that ever since Saab went down the pan the world has turned increasing to doggy doo-dah. Causation or simply correlation? I’m not so sure.

The world needs Saab now more than ever.

twizellb

2,774 posts

211 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
I don't think it's a HOT.

supacool1

365 posts

178 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
twizellb said:
I don't think it's a HOT.
I'm inclined to agree with you.....Looks like a Low pressure turbo model...

Regardless it looks to be a clean, honest shed.

wiliferus

4,053 posts

197 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
twizellb said:
I don't think it's a HOT.
It’s registered as one…


supacool1

365 posts

178 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
wiliferus said:
It’s registered as one…

Cool.

f1nn

2,692 posts

191 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
I bought a 2001 93 Aero HOT Coupe coupe in 2008, for a grand from a family member.

It was a dynamically woeful car.

Mysstree

443 posts

45 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
Shed getting Mrs Shed down to her scanties in the back of a scandi.

86wasagoodyear

381 posts

95 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
"...engine management light has been going on and off for the last three years, which is a testament to the bulb..."

Hehe, that raised a chuckle over here. Thanks Shed, always look forward to reading you on Fridays.

SteveTTT

110 posts

135 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
A highly worthy Shed I think. Always had a soft spot for the old 900s but this looks worth a punt.

JD2329

475 posts

167 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
Rather like this.

x5tuu

11,907 posts

186 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but in my eyes that's just awful (inside and outside).

Granted if I only had £1k to spare and really, urgently needed a car then there isn't exactly much choice out there, I probably would go for it but that's more and indictment than anything else.

Not for me.


Rob 131 Sport

2,476 posts

51 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
f1nn said:
I bought a 2001 93 Aero HOT Coupe coupe in 2008, for a grand from a family member.

It was a dynamically woeful car.
I think you’ll find the whole thing from the styling to the way it drives is ‘woeful’. Is the family member speaking to you after you bought them a Saab.

mrpenks

368 posts

154 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
I had a 2.0 one of these minus the turbo. It struggled with getting the power down and going around gentle corners in the wet without spinning its front wheels. Lord knows what this would drive like with almost 100 more horses

Pughmacher

363 posts

42 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
mrpenks said:
I had a 2.0 one of these minus the turbo. It struggled with getting the power down and going around gentle corners in the wet without spinning its front wheels. Lord knows what this would drive like with almost 100 more horses
Bloody scary or just weirdly entertaining. All you have to do is pretend your driving a high speed road trip with a car that’s developed a problem. Then you’re in survival mode and proving your an amazing driver for managing this task without the car or you being dead when it stops. Or maybe it’s just me? But then again I try to heel toe quite often and I remain crap at it but it keeps me occupied. Quite like the car! Character!

Court_S

12,764 posts

176 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
That’s not too bad, especially for the price.

Not particularly pretty but it’s cheap and reasonably swift. For less than a grand, I don’t think you can moan.

twizellb

2,774 posts

211 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
mrpenks said:
I had a 2.0 one of these minus the turbo. It struggled with getting the power down and going around gentle corners in the wet without spinning its front wheels. Lord knows what this would drive like with almost 100 more horses
I had a Aero HOT and it was entertaining lol.
That is not a HOT though nono

cerb4.5lee

30,180 posts

179 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
86wasagoodyear said:
"...engine management light has been going on and off for the last three years, which is a testament to the bulb..."

Hehe, that raised a chuckle over here. Thanks Shed, always look forward to reading you on Fridays.
Same and I smiled at that too!

I do like this a lot, and the seats look in great condition when you consider its age I reckon.

chrisr29

1,250 posts

196 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
A 200bhp car for under a grand? That’s a rarity in itself these days, as Is any car with an mot for under a grand!

Worryingly tempted by this.