Cars of Crackers: Wagon In

[Crackers]

Not been here in years. 

[Crackers]

Time for a Bend-o-lino! Again, first time in one of these in probably 15 years.

Time to settle in for a couple of hours and get some uni work done at 125mph. 

[Talbot]

2 minutes ago, Crackers said:

Time to settle in for a couple of hours and get some uni work done at 125mph. 

Recon you can do the same on the return journey?

[chaseracer]

7 minutes ago, Crackers said:

Time for a Bend-o-lino! Again, first time in one of these in probably 15 years.

Time to settle in for a couple of hours and get some uni work done at 125mph. 

Wave as you blast past Lichfield and Rugeley!

[Crackers]

37 minutes ago, Talbot said:

Recon you can do the same on the return journey?

Reckless, but not unfeasible... 

[Talbot]

2 minutes ago, Crackers said:

Reckless, but not unfeasible... 

Sadly closed now, but:

https://365bristol.com/review/the-reckless-engineer/614/

[Crackers]

Driver's got a train to catch! 

(or my GPS is faulty) 

[Crackers]

I'm on a bridge. 

[Crackers]

Arrived in Scouse... 

And went down the drain. The Merseyrail platforms are bloody far down! 

[Ghosty]

That's going to be a fun* run home down the M6...

[Bren]

1 hour ago, Crackers said:

I'm on a bridge. 

God's country in the background.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Crackers said:

 

That's a whole new level of graffiti on that carriage!

[Crackers]

I bought a big Swede from Scouseland. 

Thanks to @Wgl2019 for the easy sale! 

Long drive back home now so I'll report back again later! 

[AnnoyingPentium]

Yasssssss, very well bought!

[Talbot]

Expected return statistics:

• 24mpg
• 86mph average speed
• No Uni work done
• Grin factor 11

[brownnova]

10 hours ago, Crackers said:

first time in one of these in probably 15 years.

You’re that young you must have still been in nappies 15 years ago! 
 

Anyway, well bought. Saabs are for winnars. 

[Crackers]

3 hours ago, Talbot said:

• 24mpg
• 86mph average speed
• No Uni work done
• Grin factor 11

A poor show on the numbers I'm afraidm

31.1mpg

About 45mph (traffic 😓) 

Correct

Correct 😁

[High Jetter]

Pez stops? Poo counts? Come on, keep up man!

[Fumbler]

1 hour ago, Crackers said:

A poor show on the numbers I'm afraidm

31.1mpg

About 45mph (traffic 😓) 

Correct

Correct 😁

Fuck me, you're doing 1MPG better than my 850!

[Crackers]

12 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Pez stops? Poo counts? Come on, keep up man!

1 and 0, I'm not old enough to have multiple of the latter in a day 😁

12 hours ago, Fumbler said:

Fuck me, you're doing 1MPG better than my 850!

On the motorway it was doing much better too, but I got stuck in stationary traffic on the M6 for about 45 minutes and that ruined the average 🙄

[Crackers]

I like this car. Lots. 

Its previous owner @Wgl2019 has clearly taken great care of it, it looks like it's done barely half of its 157k miles! 

[Wgl2019]

One thing I forgot to mention that the missus has reminded me of......

The Saab is named Florence.

I'll get my coat 🤣

[Matty]

4 hours ago, Crackers said:

I like this car. Lots. 

Its previous owner @Wgl2019 has clearly taken great care of it, it looks like it's done barely half of its 157k miles! 

Is it Heather Mills or Spanish waiter?

[Crackers]

3 hours ago, Matty said:

Is it Heather Mills or Spanish waiter?

Heather Mills, and quite good it is too!

[beko1987]

That's going to feel slightly different to drive than the landy 😂

Proper big boy car, nice! 

[dozeydustman]

[Crackers]

So, four days in with the Svelte Swedish Supermodel (I wish).

Yeah... I can see why so many people like Saabs. It's a wonderful car - quiet, smooth, comfortable and supremely practical. Oh, and hilariously quick, too, did I mention that? Completely docile around town as the turbo never really gets the chance to spool up. Then you get it onto a slip road, the turbo does its thing, the torque converter locks up and you're sailing towards three figures at an alarming rate without feeling or hearing any of it happen.

The first time I went to put the cruise control on I had to knock 25mph off my cruising speed as I didn't realise quite what a pace I'd got up to. Gonna have to reprogram my brain from thrashy MX5 territory. 

It also looks bloody smart on the 9-3 17" alloys and the whole car wears its mileage like it's nothing, there's virtually no wear to the interior, nothing mechanically feels worn out, there's no clunks or knocks. Just quietness and speed. Lovely.

Like any car of this age and era now, there are a few little electrical maladies I need to look into, but nothing I can complain about:

• Passenger side mirror seems to be willfully disobedient - it adjusts fine, but won't reset itself to the memory position when asked to. Also, the reversing tilt feature will tilt it down but not back up again. Will investigate.
• Driver's seat heater doesn't appear to work - I wonder if this is the switch, as the switch lighting isn't working either? I'll get a meter across it when I get a chance. 
• Interior central locking button doesn't work. This might be linked to the "Theft Protection Failure" SID message that comes up sometimes on startup, not sure, but equally not really fussed.

I also need to swap in my bluetooth head unit (easy), and figure out how to link up the steering wheel controls (less easy)... looking at the connections and wiring diagram that could be fun*. Watch this space for bad soldering and minor fires. 

Other little jobs include giving my tip a good polish as it's got pretty dirty. That's the chrome exhaust tip. No, you shut up.
I also want to raise up the dipped headlight level as they're a little low for my tastes, get a new set of wheel centre caps and bonnet badge, work out a solid phone mounting solution, put some rubber floor mats in, and maybe change the pressed metal number plates as I can't decide whether or not I like them.

I still can't get over how little I paid for this car and how bloody competent it is for that money. It's exactly what I hoped it'd be and I'm really pleased!

Now I just need to get some pictures of it in daylight...

[dozeydustman]

Theft protection failure may well be the batteries in the alarm siren no longer holding a charge. The blue 9-3 I had did this, and would sound the alarm within minutes of being armed.

[Wgl2019]

1 hour ago, Crackers said:

Interior central locking button doesn't work

.... you've jogged my memory....... I replaced the ignition switch a little while ago and think I forgot to hook up the central locking button. It's just a push on connection but you do need to remove a few bits to get to it.

Heated driver's seat has always been more warm than hot .... certainly not to the same performance as the passenger seats, I wondered if maybe some of the heater pad was a bit lazy?

Mirrors have always been a bit obtuse 😉, I cleaned the switch as dirty contacts can make adjustments a bit hit and miss but other than that ignored them.

Glad you are getting on with the Saab, I was happy with what you paid, when I bought it about 8 years ago it was £2.5k so depreciation is acceptable 😁. Look forward to seeing more updates.

[Wgl2019]

16 minutes ago, dozeydustman said:

batteries

It is, I replaced the batteries and capacitors which solved it for about a year and then went again..... Good thing is that the alarm doesn't randomly trigger so another thing I left be. It is possible to remove the alarm warning via Tech 2.