Saab 9-3 aero?

volospian · 31 Jan 2007 at 09:13

v_man said:
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.

Mine creaks a bit when going over the speed humps on our road, but only if you're not careful. Seems to be worse in the cold. However, this is exactly the same as my old MY99 9-3 HOT. Apart from that, no noises to speak of.

volospian · 31 Jan 2007 at 09:24

Hobart Paving said:
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.

Got one?

In my expereice of actually owning an Aero the power delivery on the slushbox is so slow on the take up that there is very little scrabble for grip. Mine has PZero tyres on, which I don't rate much anyway, but they were nearly brand new when I bought it, so you can't complain. With better rubber the 2.0T Aero is desperate for 250hp. With a few more mods 280 in an auto should still be well within the cars limits.

I had to laugh at the salesman getting all bolshy when I told him the Aero was my "sensible choice". "There's nothing sensible about the Aero range, Sir" he said... "Yeah, you believe that 210hp FWD with an autobox is some kind of crazy hot rod if you like, sunshine!"

v_man · 31 Jan 2007 at 09:33

Would you recommend buying from a dealer for the year's warranty and roadside assistance? Reason being, the car i'm looking at is from currie motors (previously a saab dealer), who, although provide a year's warranty, don't throw in the roadside cover. There is a dealer selling an Aero 80 odd miles from me, but would I then be able to take the car to a nearer located dealer for issues covered under warranty?

I'll be test driving an accord this weekend for comparison. The spec on that thing is great.

Dr Who · 31 Jan 2007 at 09:38

v_man said:
Would you recommend buying from a dealer for the year's warranty and roadside assistance? Reason being, the car i'm looking at is from currie motors (previously a saab dealer), who, although provide a year's warranty, don't throw in the roadside cover. There is a dealer selling an Aero 80 odd miles from me, but would I then be able to take the car to a nearer located dealer for issues covered under warranty?

I'll be test driving an accord this weekend for comparison. The spec on that thing is great.

Accord > Saab IMHO

My 2003 Accord 2.4 was a blinding car for the cash...

:cool:

volospian · 31 Jan 2007 at 12:24

v_man said:
Would you recommend buying from a dealer for the year's warranty and roadside assistance? Reason being, the car i'm looking at is from currie motors (previously a saab dealer), who, although provide a year's warranty, don't throw in the roadside cover. There is a dealer selling an Aero 80 odd miles from me, but would I then be able to take the car to a nearer located dealer for issues covered under warranty?

I'll be test driving an accord this weekend for comparison. The spec on that thing is great.

*shrugs* I didn't bother, but I work about half a mile from a Saab specialist and only live 10 mins from work, so it's no great shakes for me (plus I've got two other cars if I was desperate).

It's probably better to have a look on saabcentral. There are a few horror stories on there, but a few are because of poor mechanics at the dealer/garage or just poor maintenance.

Have a good look around for Aero's. A lot have been nicely loaded with spec. I only paid £12400 for mine which is pretty much fully loaded. As I said, I wouldn't bother with the Sat Nav which leaves a bit over for other stuff. I'd have thought that you'd be able to pretty much match the Accord spec for ~£12k

Buttons · 31 Jan 2007 at 12:34

I'm in one today, it's the work pool car. 56 plate 93 Aero Estate.

Do you need to tune it? I mean I'm not used to turbos so maybe it's usual but this thing scares the poop out of me in second gear.

Nice car but not amazingly comfortable for me as I'm 6'5" and the seats aren't deep enough nor do they go far enough back. Once they're pushed back there is definitely not enough space for a passenger behind me which seems bonkers in an estate!

Boot is huge so I don't know why they sacrificed cabin space.

Hobart Paving · 31 Jan 2007 at 17:06

volospian said:
Got one?

Nope. But thank you for your interest in my car owning habits.

volospian · 31 Jan 2007 at 21:35

Hobart Paving said:
Nope. But thank you for your interest in my car owning habits.

No. Didn't think so. And thank you for your uninformed opinion

volospian · 31 Jan 2007 at 21:38

Buttons said:
I'm in one today, it's the work pool car. 56 plate 93 Aero Estate.

Do you need to tune it? I mean I'm not used to turbos so maybe it's usual but this thing scares the poop out of me in second gear.

Nice car but not amazingly comfortable for me as I'm 6'5" and the seats aren't deep enough nor do they go far enough back. Once they're pushed back there is definitely not enough space for a passenger behind me which seems bonkers in an estate!

Boot is huge so I don't know why they sacrificed cabin space.

Boring without more power

I'm surprised that you don't find it very comfortable. I'm 6'3" and don't have any issues with space at all. Admittedly you wouldn't want to sit behind me, unless you're a yoga guru and can wrap your legs around your neck, but as for driving position, I find it more than ample.

The boot is absolutely enormous. With my MY99 the only way to hoover out the boot properly was to actually climb into it!

v_man · 31 Jan 2007 at 22:28

This is the one i'm eying up. I do love the look of these things

volospian · 1 Feb 2007 at 07:35

Yep, very nice looking motors imho. That's the same as mine

Phate · 1 Feb 2007 at 09:23

That looks sexy

I do love the look of the current Saabs

Havana_UK · 1 Feb 2007 at 09:37

I have an '05 9-3. It's not the Aero, but the 1.9 TiD 150 Vector.

Obviously it's not as quick off the mark as the Aero, but for overtaking performance it's pretty similar (due to huge torque of the diesel engine).

Handling is not too bad, bit wallowy as others have said and has a strong tendency to understeer - personally I wouldn't want to put a whole load more power under the bonnet without sorting the handling first.

Ride is firm but not as firm as the Audi A4 and there's quite a bit of road noise transmitted to the cabin, which I guess would only get worse with stiffer springs.

It's not quite as low as the Aeros (I think), but I still scrape the bottom of the front bumper quite a bit when coming down over speed humps (going up is usually no problem though).

Build quality is OK, few squeaks and rattles after nearly 2 years and it's been in the garage about 4 times to have a seriously squeaky steering column put right (actually going back again for the same thing soon).

Looks wise I think that it's one of the best looking saloons out there, particularly from the side profile, but that's just my opinion.

Hav

/edit A few of other points.

In the saloon, while the boot is a good size and you get split/fold rear seats, the boot opening is not huge so getting big items in can be a PITA.

The standard 'half-leather' is a bit of a fib. It's more like 1/4 leather (seats are leather faced only), 1/2 fake leather & 1/4 material

That said, the seats are very comfortable, but leg room in the back can be a tad limited.

The safety rating of the car is 5 stars for occupants (it's crammed with air bags and other safety features) so a good choice for a family car. Unfortunately it's only rated at 1 star for hitting pedestrians - ho hum.