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Crackers

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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 🙄

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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!

IMG_20221104_201903.thumb.jpg.a449564e2dc8f1a9eed308042a29fa11.jpg

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

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  • Crackers changed the title to Cars of Crackers: Speedy Swede
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.

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