Saab 9-3 aero?

Cyrus

Cyrus

Cyrus

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just wondering what the general consensus on these are (03 model onwards) you can get a good low miler for less than £12k now.

Are they reliable, do they handle well, can the power be upped easily (i would have though remap?)

I like the looks and the interior personally
 
My dad has an 04 and it is a nice car to drive and be a passenger in, looks wise it is okay but I think he is a little bored of it now after 3 years. 12k seems a lot for a 03 I think he was planning on selling his for around that mark.
 
I looked at the 9-3 Aero Convertible when I was looking for one for my wife, but ended up going for the 1.8t in the end as she really wouldn't use the power.

Its a nice smooth engine, doesn't feel all that powerful in the Cab version but thats a bit heavier than the tin top. No issues getting the power down as such, but a bit of torque steer if you get the turbo spinning quickly.

I've seen 03's from £8.5k with about 50k on the clock, so £12k should see a later one. They don't seem to be too well liked second hand, which is odd because if you don't go mad with the turbo they aren't all that much less economical than a NA 2.0 petrol really. Ours will do 35mpg on a run.

Our Cab has been reasonably reliable insofar as it's never broken down, but it's been in the garage 5 or 6 times in 18 months though, some electrical gremlins, alarm problem, problem with the roof etc. It's also developed a few rattles from the interior now too and I am of the opinion that the materials and fit and finish are no better, and in some cases worse than you would find in a recent Ford. Ours is a 54 plate with 25k on the clock and I think it'll be going when the warranty runs out. Saab main dealers are generally pretty good, but they're not cheap and parts are expensive too.

Saabs are a bit of a love-hate thing and I do quite like them, as to whether I'd buy another one for us I'm not so sure.
 
They are very tunable, as stated before.

However, some people are of the opinion that since GM have become involved with Saab, the build quality and general reliabilty have suffered. Turbo's can go around 60-80k miles if not looked after/warmed up previously.

The one I test drove (1.8t) was nice and comfy, slightly wollowy on corners but great in straight line/motorways. The centre mud-flap annoyed me on speed bumps, so looked elsewhere.
 
I went to the belle vue bca auction last friday, noted some of the 9-3 convertible prices down :

july 05 2.0 aero 6209 miles £17,000

july 05 2.0 aero 11250 miles £16300

oct 54 2.0 1.8t vector 40975 miles £12700

july 04 2.0 1.8t vector 23311 miles £13300.
 
I have a Saab 9-3

No its not the aero model but still I'd like to give my insight on it.

The car overall is great, the performance suprirses a lot of people (the aero will be faster than mine) when clean and in the sun it looks smart, the turbo sounds sweet :cool: the only thing that lets it sown is the handling.

I'm not sure what the handling is like on the aeros. but, for not all that much money, a set of braces and decent suspension should sort my handling woes out :)

Seriously recomend the Saabs, VERY reliable (did you see the thread about the million mile saab?), very sturdy cars.
 
I actually have an 03 9-3 Aero. Mine is the sentronic (with flappy paddle thing) but I test drove the 6 speed manual as well.

Good points...
not all that slow really (but by no means fast)
Very comfy seats
Can be modded quite easily. for around £550 you can have ~250hp

Bad points...
Made out of cheap plastic
Fairly low spec as standard
Harsh ride

A lot of people rattle on about torque steer and FWD and so on, but tbh, I don't notice much TS at all (although I did on my old 200hp 1999 9-3, lots :D)

I paid just over £12k for mine, it had 35k on the clock, full grey leather interior (most are half leather), dual xenon headlights with Power Wash (little jets pop up and wash the lights :)), Sentronic (with paddles which were an option, I believe), Sat Nav, ES3-13 300watt 6 Disc changer "infotainment" system, rain sensing wipers, autodimming rear view mirror and so on. Some of these are obviously options (ES3-13, Autobox, Paddles, full leather and I think Xenons) some may well come with the car (not sure about RSW and ADRVM).

Personal views... My wife really likes it. I have reservations, but that may be because if I'd had the chance of being carless for another 6 months, I'd have been able to buy an M5 or S-type R or something as I'd have had another 8k or so to play with or it may be just because Saab have made them out of cheap plastic which is a bit of a let down when compared to most competitiors.
 
Any issues with reliability in the time you've had it? Also, is the front bumper low enough for you to take care driving over speed bumps or going in and out of dropped driveways?
 
Well, I've only had it about a month now, but it's been fine so far. The auto sensing wipers play up a bit, but I think that's to do with the wax the garage used or something because it's slowly getting better each time it rains.

I scraped the front on a steep ramp in a Shrewsbury multistorey car park, but that was my fault as I was going a bit quick (and swearing profusely at the absolute inability to find a parking space that wasn't so tight to a pillar that I could actually get out of the damn car once I'd parked it.)

We've got a stack of rather offensive speed humps on our road and as long as I stay under about 20mph (which is the speed limit there anyway) it's fine.

There are a couple of things.. I wouldn't bother wasting cash on the Sat Nav as it's worse than useless, with an update speed just slightly quicker than glacial motion and a map so out of date my only route options are Londinium or Eboracum. However, the ES3-13/300 stereo is damn loud, so while I'm as likely to get lost as Mark Thatcher in a desert, I can at least pump out some fat choons while I'm at it.

Also the paddles, while being fun for about 3 minutes, soon get boring and the sluggish autobox tears around 1 second off the 0-60 times, bringing it down from around 7.5 to a pretty feeble 8.3 so if you want to make the most of that 210bhp, try to find the 2004 model 6 speed manual.

Also, when I tried the sentronic, it was on a 9-5 and you had full manual control over the gearbox with the paddles. That is, they didn't shift down unless you made it. Now it does. Rather annoyingly it drops to 4th gear at 45mph and down to 3rd at around 40mph. Not really great for fuel consumption and personally if I buy an auto with a manual option, I expect the damn thing to be manual and change down when I want it to not when it feels like it. I mean, if I wanted the damn thing to change gear automatically... I'd leave it in auto mode!
 
Originally posted by volospian
Well, I've only had it about a month now, but it's been fine so far. The auto sensing wipers play up a bit, but I think that's to do with the wax the garage used or something because it's slowly getting better each time it rains.

I scraped the front on a steep ramp in a Shrewsbury multistorey car park, but that was my fault as I was going a bit quick (and swearing profusely at the absolute inability to find a parking space that wasn't so tight to a pillar that I could actually get out of the damn car once I'd parked it.)

We've got a stack of rather offensive speed humps on our road and as long as I stay under about 20mph (which is the speed limit there anyway) it's fine.

There are a couple of things.. I wouldn't bother wasting cash on the Sat Nav as it's worse than useless, with an update speed just slightly quicker than glacial motion and a map so out of date my only route options are Londinium or Eboracum. However, the ES3-13/300 stereo is damn loud, so while I'm as likely to get lost as Mark Thatcher in a desert, I can at least pump out some fat choons while I'm at it.

Also the paddles, while being fun for about 3 minutes, soon get boring and the sluggish autobox tears around 1 second off the 0-60 times, bringing it down from around 7.5 to a pretty feeble 8.3 so if you want to make the most of that 210bhp, try to find the 2004 model 6 speed manual.

Also, when I tried the sentronic, it was on a 9-5 and you had full manual control over the gearbox with the paddles. That is, they didn't shift down unless you made it. Now it does. Rather annoyingly it drops to 4th gear at 45mph and down to 3rd at around 40mph. Not really great for fuel consumption and personally if I buy an auto with a manual option, I expect the damn thing to be manual and change down when I want it to not when it feels like it. I mean, if I wanted the damn thing to change gear automatically... I'd leave it in auto mode!
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Interesting. I'm off to test drive one on saturday, it's an 03 auto. I really do love the look of these cars, and for the current price (sub 12k), it seems like a very appealing buy.
 
Sure, and that's why I bought mine. I could have had a BMW 330 but with much higher mileage for that money. I was even struggling to find a Mondeo ST220 with what I wanted for that cash.

As I said in my other posts, it was a bit of a rush buy and had I not had to buy a car there and then I would have had something different, but I don't mind it at all. I just need to get the BSR ecu upgrade to make up for the autobox and I think I'll like it even more. The only real let down is the Sat Nav and the cheap creaky plastic interior.

See what you think on your test drive, but give the bit between the seats a bit of a rattle and see if you agree, also the handbrake handle feels very cheap.
 
Took it out for a test drive over the weekend, and was very impressed by it. It was a 53 auto, priced at £12,750. I managed to bring it down to £12,000 with parking sensors thrown in for free. While driving it, there was a definite turbo lag, but when it hit in the delivery was smooth and rapid. Build quality seemed ok. Seats were comfortable and everything seemed to fit in place. The car had the basic 4 speaker audio system in it, which apparently sucks, hard. I didn't test it fully, only had the radio on so couldn't really tell.

However I'm still not overly sure about its build quality and reliability issues. How's your car treating you volospian? I'll be testing out an Accord (2.4 exec) this weekend to compare. Yes it's not as good looking, but it's absolutely loaded with toys.
 
Well, as far as reliability goes, it's not let me down in any way. Starts easily, stops well, and everything in between.

Forgetting the drive layout and the slushbox (which was, after all, my choice) my only gripe is the build quality. It's very rattly and squeaky, but it has very firm suspension, which doesn't help. At least with my 300watt stereo I can drown out the noises easily :D

If you can put up with the occasional rattle or buzz, you should be fine (obviously there are always the odd duffers out there) and acan of silicone spray does wonders :)
 
They're good cars. Well built, reliable, individual, quick, solidly built and along with Volvo have the most amazingly comfortable seats. If I was in the market tomorrow for a premium saloon, I'd be quite happy to buy one. Everyone complains about the ride quality on the Aero though, so if that's important to you, consider a Linear. Not sure why you'd want to up the power - the Aero's already a bit of scrabble wagon.
 
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Just been reading a few posts over at saabscene, and apart from the few niggles and rattles, the major issue is the noise from the front suspension.
 
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