Friday 20th April 2012

SOTW: Saab 9000 Aero

Shed's head is turned by the wonders of a well-written advert

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If ever there was a textbook advert for the vendor of a Shed, the copy promoting the sale of today's SOTW would probably be it.

It's detailed without being waffly, it's largely literate, genuinely engaging without being glib and in no way lazy or condescending. Essentially, this is an advert that gives you confidence, that suggests the vendor is a genuine guy who has looked after his charge at least reasonably well and who is not, to put it perhaps a bit bluntly, a fly-by-night shyster who can't string a coherent sentence together.

But enough babbling about the ad itself: what about the car? Well, although a Saab 9000 is not what most purists would call a 'proper' Saab, it is at least not too reliant on purely GM innards, having originally been a joint project between Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia and Saab.

It's also got plenty of that good-old Saab quirkiness - there aren't many hatchbacks among this car's contemporaries, nor FWD offerings. And Saab is probably also the only manufacturer capable of making three-spoke alloys look respectable.

This could well be one heck of a quick shed, too, as the 2.3-litre turbocharged engine put out 225hp as standard and, with an ECU re-map and a de-cat exhaust, the vendor reckons it's good for 270hp. Which would certainly be enough to trouble the front wheels...

The ICE upgrades - which includes subs and amps in the boot - might not be everybody's cup of tea, but the seller has cleverly installed them in the parcel shelf, so they don't utterly ruin luggage space. And if you really don't like them, then they'd probably fetch a bob or two on eBay...

It's definitely a bit of a punt, this Shed, but go in with your eyes open and it could be quite a hoot. And certainly more exciting than the other car we'd shortlisted this week - a squidgily luxurious but thoroughly uncool Volvo 960 3.0...

Cheers to PHer seefarr for the spot!

Advert is reproduced below

Saab 9000 aero (1997)
190,000 miles £1,000

-- open to offers, £1000? --

Saab 9000 Aero, manual
Scarabe green, sand interior, 190,000 miles.

I have to sell the 9000... at the moment it is not being used and it just isn't enjoying sitting still.
I have had this car for 3 years, in which time it has been fantastic to me, but my head was turned by another model. The car tax man has now written to say that if not insured it has to be declared SORN, which makes it too much hassle to insure just for a run around now and again. So it is now SORN and not insured, although the MOT lasts until July, so you can come and drive it away if you want me to sort out tax for you.

It is a great car with a few little modifications that probably make it quicker in a straight line than my newer 9-3 aero, and also more economic to drive (32+ mpg usually).

Good - serviced at MOT time while i have had it, with oil changes in between. It has Maptun stage 2 ecu, 3" downpipe and full stainless exhaust system (so no catalytic converter is fitted, but i have an in-line pipe and cat which is easily bolted in for MOT purposes... (amazingly it actually passes emissions but most testers won't pass it without one). The wheels are fully re-furbished and virtually mint condition. The interior is great, and is leather conditioned regularly. The exterior is good too, and comes up lovely and shiney! The stereo system is amazing, upgraded all around with some subs and amps in the parcel shelf so that you can take them out easily if you need to use all of the massive boot space. The expensive head unit has single Cd player and auxillary input. It has new headlights from the last MOT which are traditionally an issue - these are left hand drive parts, with stickers on, I couldn't believe how much better these are than the old ones (I also have the old lenses if you want to clean them up and fit them). The tyres are good Toyo Proxes on front and very good P6000 on the back. Its even got half a tank of super unleaded. No significant issues at all, should pass the MOT ok again in July, but as always there are some bad points to consider...

Bad - since sitting still the battery needed charging, when i started it the air con didn't work until i wiggled a fuse out and back in. Unfortunately this has made SRS and ABS lights come on, so it needs clearing on a tech 2 machine (i recommend South Wales Saab Specialists in Cardiff who like this car very much!). Also 2 repairs are required - the ignition switch doesn't click back to position 1 on its own, and the passenger side front door central locking doesn't work. I should have fixed these but didn't get around to it before now declaring it SORN. As mentioned it looks great after a clean but there are two blemishes to note; a patch of rust starting on the windscreen surround and some flakey lacquer on the front skirt below the bumper. This is honestly everything that is wrong with this car. It comes with the usual pointless folder full of receipts to show that it has been loved, and I even put up with the grief from the passengers to give the engine time to warm up and turbo time to cool down.

I hope this car will go to someone who appreciates how good the 9000 is. Insurance group 17 so not for youngsters i guess, although because of its age it only cost me £300 a year.

I am looking for offers around £1100. It is a good version of this model and parts are probably worth more but I don't have the heart to break up such a good car to get the best money (you feel free to, but don't tell me)
Let me know if you want any more information, photos, etc. pictures are from 2 years ago when had the wheels refurbished, shows a black grille which you can have if you want but has a shiney chrome one fitted now.
Rich.

[B'stard Child]

Different in a nice way

[carinaman]

I've driven one of these, I like SAABs, especially pre-GM ones and badly written adverts are hugely offputting to me.

[Ozzie Osmond]

That's a shed-load of torque steer!!

[El Shafto]

Cracking shed. Can't go wrong with a turbo-charged Swedish shed!

[cybersimon]

The Type 4 body was " a joint project between Peugeot, Fiat, Lancia and Saab. "

I thought it was Alfa Romeo, not Peugeot. Where is your anorak?

[BorkFactor]

I like these! Incredibly cheap these days, I remember a 200k miler went on here for less than £500.

Good shed

[cragswinter]

does absolutely nothing for me i'm afraid

[J4CKO]

Right there is the years performance bargain, 270 ish, generally reliable bhp, after all it has got to nearly 200k.

This is the hallmark of shed of the year, fast, barge-ish, not totally knackered, a little bit cool, a little bit separate, getting rare whilst still having good spares availability. I love the BMW sheds but they are a bit too obvious.

If I needed a cheap car I would be on this like a tramp on hot chips.

I think nice ones may be destined for a little bit of a price rise at some point, i.e. start getting collectible once people realise that these were good and the 900 gets too expensive.

[Robk6112]

Both great cars- i would be happy to own either of those

[Krikkit]

Good Shed this week. Much appreciation for Saabness.

[P-Jay]

Drove past that fake castle this very morning...

Not keen on the car though.

[900T-R]

Ozzie Osmond said:

That's a shed-load of torque steer!!

Actually, it's not. For some reason - probably GM not having been involved with it - the 9000 CS chassis is far more capable than the later 900/9-3 and maybe even 9-5 ones. I've been in a 450 bhp one, in the wet, and although this was clearly 'pushing it' it wasn't nearly the total disaster you'd think it would be.

Back in 1993, in a German magazine comparo between it and the Audi S6, BMW530i and Alfa 164 QV it surprised the testers by out-handling the competition; of course, in the end it still had to come a close second overall (together with the BMW) after the Audi...

Don't expect barge-like ride comfort, though (at least not with fresh suspension bits)...

[RudolphsOwner]

My dad was a saab man for many years and has only just changed to a Volvo C30, I remember his 1989 9000 very well, it was very rapid when needed... such a shame they went under, their cars are genuinely gems!

[Eddh]

Cracking shed. My Mum had the lesser 2.0 turbo model for a while and it was a great car.

The engines in these will run 350-400 BHP with no internal modification at all.

[johnpeat]

cragswinter said:

does absolutely nothing for me i'm afraid

Nice old bus - not quite as nice as the Carlsson's we had as SOTWs last year, but nice.

I'm mildly concerned that we're looking at 2-year-old pics of the car tho - how hard is it to take a pic of the car we're buying and not it's daughter?

p.s. the 'nearly' shed 960 is actually an astonishing amount of car for £700 and it's not far from me - oh dear...

Edited by johnpeat on Friday 20th April 10:02

[MrGeoff]

P-Jay said:

Drove past that fake castle this very morning...

Not keen on the car though.

Castle Coch isn't it? I drove past it this very morning as well on my way up the A470.

[standardman]

Still miss our 9000 Sport Turbo. Great barge.

Yes they do torque steer. Turbo Lag always made it feel like a 6 second car, 2 seconds lag 6 seconds doing it.

[y2blade]

I love these Especially with that style of wheel


I'd have one

[900T-R]

standardman said:

Turbo Lag always made it feel like a 6 second car, 2 seconds lag 6 seconds doing it.

My bonkers modified old school 900 was like that - up to 3,500 rpm you'd have to take challenging TDIs quite seriously, past that everything around you would go into reverse.

[Captain Muppet]

The photos are two years old. This makes it a rubbish advert.