Saab 9-5 opinions

[beko1987]

As you can all probably tell, I have some money and am going stupid car shopping -

 

Will this be ok for pottering to work and back on a magic carpet ride of loveliness? or would it rape me and my mother?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201302245477855/sort/default/usedcars/price-to/500/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/page/16/radius/30/quicksearch/true/postcode/sl67ag?logcode=p

[Cheggers]

I used to have an '04 plate 2.3T auto and it was awesome. Probably the best overtaking car I've ever owned - accelerating from 40-90 felt quicker than my old 911

 

They seem to be reliable, parts are cheap enough (I have another Saab now which has needed its fair share of bits) and they're a lovely comfy drive with lots of head & leg room for passengers. The boot's pretty impressive too. I guess the only downside is that they aren't exactly frugal with the fuel, not least because of the way it encourages you to drive.

 

Just look for the usual stuff (avoid anything smoky) and you should be OK. At £495 it's a lot of motor for the money...

[beko1987]

When you say not frugal, would I see 300 miles to a tank out of it with mild hoonering?

[Cheggers]

When you say not frugal, would I see 300 miles to a tank out of it with mild hoonering?

 

That sounds about right, I recall I was seeing 27-ish mpg overall

[Lankytim]

I love mine, great motors! You should get 400+ a tank. Mine does and it's still bankrupting me. For £70 you can have it mapped from 180bhp up to 230 for extra hoonability. Which is nice.

[Spiny Norman]

Think they can suffer quite badly from blocked pcv pipes. Have a look on the Saab forums for 'sludge' issues.

Nice cars though, they are very comfy and well equipped.

Can't see an auto being too good on the juice in town though.

[wuvvum]

Yep - sludge blocking the breather pipe is a common issue with 9-5 engines and the most frequent cause of them going bang. Frequent oil changes with decent synthetic oil are the best way to avoid the problem.

 

Otherwise they're a nice car to drive, plenty of grunt if you avoid the 2-litre auto, handle better than the 9000s although not quite as well put together. The LCD display on the dash will usually be missing some pixels, but other than that the electrics aren't too bad. Personally I found that the driver's seat didn't go back quite far enough for my taste, but that might be just me.

 

That one in the Auto Trader ad does look pretty tempting for the money I have to say.

[beko1987]

Sounding good so far. Spent an unproductive morning at work searching all the forums etc and can't find anything major to be an issue. Going to look at it tomorrow with some deposit money in my pocket just in case!

[CortinaDave]

I'm currently on engine number 2 in my 9-3, and looks like possibly needing engine number 3... Having only owned the car since last July! Has put me off GM era Saabs to be honest.

 

First one died due to the sludging issue, as I was driving it home from buying it, they took four months to fit a replacement engine (Ok - that's not the car's fault) - it's run for a couple of months and now wont go over 45 and makes the most horrific screaming noises when it is running. All this on a mint condition FSH 90k mile 02 plate....

[beko1987]

For £500 I probably wouldnt bother putting a new engine in it! Just edited my post cos I saw the reason after I posted it!

[gadgetgricey]

But looking at it from the other perspective, my 9-5 is almost at 267,000 miles and still going strong on its original engine.

 

(Car is probably going to explode with Sludge, now that I have posted this )

 

I think Saab are the new Alfa, not a true petrol head until you have owned one.

 

Cheers

 

- Dave -

[Lankytim]

The screaming noise sounds like an oil pump blocked with sludge. Take the sump off and clear it out.

[CortinaDave]

The sump was cleaned out not even a month ago so its spotless...

[wuvvum]

I've owned quite a number of Saabs over the years, and have almost invariably found that the lower the mileage, the more of a PITA they are.

[Lankytim]

Hummm. That's the limit of my Saab expertise. Sorry.

[Cheggers]

It's £500. Why the hell wouldn't you

[beko1987]

Unless its missing a wheel or the engine I dont think I can't! Even got the begrudging approval of the mrs. Hoping the zx will sell for the same price so its free!

[pompei]

I bought a 2.3 turbo last November. I had a bit of a problem at first getting a comfortable seat position but it's fine now.

 

I don't claim to know much about them at all but the oil sludging issue is something to beware of.

 

Mine has been intermittently hesitating. Yesterday it ran for 50 miles with no problems and when I started it up again to come home the fecking engine light was on. It's going in tomorrow for a diagnostic. I think hesitation and misfires can be due to an ignition cartridge thingy which can be pricey to replace. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

 

I can get 40 mpg on a 50-60 mph run, otherwise it's about 29 -31 mpg overall. It is very very fast! It is also very big compared with the previous 9 -3 I had.

 

Buy it I'd say.

[pandarus]

That is one hell of a lot of car for the money.

 

My mate is on his third and wouldn't look at another motor.

[Disco Fever]

That is one hell of a lot of car for the money.

 

Yep. My brother in law has a 98 Aero that he paid that sort of money for (170K miles or so). Unbelievable kit including heated seats all round, cooled front seats and engine preheater which I guess was more for the Scandi market. We had a 2001 2.3t 185BHP auto estate. It had loads of kit and every switch and button worked. Plenty quick enough too. We bought it with a warranty and that paid off. It had full Saab service history but was well overdue it's next one. After a month, it was blue smoking badly and turbo oil seals had gone. All that oil fouled the cat and that needed to be replaced too. The ignition module was also changed by recall. I'm still getting told off by the wife for selling it - great car.

[Shep Shepherd]

Going by my exposure to the 52-plate 9-5 estate that my best mate (a Saabist) owns, I'd say go for it

[beko1987]

Aaaaand its sold!

 

Sadly not to me, just text the seller as it had gone from ebay and he confirmed he sold it this morning.

 

Oh well, looks like the ZX will get it's niggles sorted then!