Good time to by a SAAB??

bagpusscp

Farmers tend to by Saab Estate cars...........cause they can get a lot of swedes in the back. :roll:

bartman100

4 really bad experiences from seperate users here is enough to have put me off. Not a very scientific study I appreciate but that's a bad hit rate (so far).

Turning attention to Volvo!

daviesee

bartman100 wrote:

4 really bad experiences from seperate users here is enough to have put me off. Not a very scientific study I appreciate but that's a bad hit rate (so far).

Turning attention to Volvo!

Also consider a Subaru Legacy Diesel Estate. Very, very practical.
I don't like the styling recently (2008+?) but the diesel boxer engine is superb, economical and drives like a petrol.

Yossie

Re 120bhp job - nah: its too small and will blow up. Good torque figure though but nah. For what you are doing, 180 bhp minimum. As above as well: unless you are doing the serious mileage, diesel can be a false economy: my parents were deciding whether to buy a diesel or petrol A Class Merc for shooming around Italy in and the odd occasional run across the continent back to Blighty - they were under the impression that it would be more economical and therefore cheaper to run. After doing the math, as they say, the petrol came up cheaper to run in the 1.8 engine.

I don't think that 9-3 will have the nice build quality as well.

Re Volvo: we had a V40 1.8 petrol for a bit (2002 with the funky wide alloys but no electric rear windows) - big enough for a family of 3 - the minute you pop a second sprog in it gets that little bit too small. You can fit a bike in the boot with a wheel off or drop the rear seats and just slide it in all the way whole - enough room inside to travel with four adults, one sprog and a boot of wine and cheese for 80 miles in France in relative comfort, but I wouldn't do Calais to Italy in one day with it like that though.

In 8 years and 40,000 miles the only thing that went wrong was a clutch slave cylinder seal - £5 part, two hours to fix and I used to drive it like nob. Economical, sits at 90/100 down the m'way but a bit gutless if you need to get a wiggle on: if you want to pop past a lorry/car you have to plan it a bit and apply the pedal to the metal. I think its around 115-120 bhp, so as above.

Servicing was average - we used a small but very good independent garage and no big bills jump out at my memory.

Bloody good stereo in it as standard - huuuuge bass box.

Re safety: Victoria, like all our cars, managed to smash it up a few times and walked out unscathed, so no problems there. She ripped the front end off attacking a concrete pillar with it once. I think the back end attacked a friends Landy once as well.

I think that you can get a V40 2.0 litre turbo, so that may have more ooomph before getting a huge Volvo estate - we test drove a V70 and Mrs Y could lie down in the back straight without touching the boot lid. Perfect for serial killing, some may say. V50 is a bit imbetween.

I think that Volvos rock: Swedish cool and a level above Audi tat. They look better dirty as well. Like ho's.

HTH

Y

CambsNewbie

bartman100 wrote:

4 really bad experiences from seperate users here is enough to have put me off. Not a very scientific study I appreciate but that's a bad hit rate (so far).

Turning attention to Volvo!

Bartman, I'd say if you find one you like at a price you are happy to pay go for it. I used to work in the motor trade as a service adviser (3 1/2yrs with BMW, 3 1/2 yrs with Volvo and a year at Mercedes) and all manufacturers will make a car which has problem after problem and some will do 250,000 miles with nothing more than wear and tear. And the vast majority of cars will be somewhere between the two.

Personally I've got a Volvo V50 T5 R Design, which I love. It looks good (to me!) is very quick, and had a nice balance between handling and comfort. Volvo also put great stereos in their cars. The dog goes happily in the boot as will my bike. Only downside is it's thirsty which I knew it would be but I don't do many miles. Cant recommend it enough!

bartman100

CambsNewbie - wise words. Thanks.

bartman100

oh, and while we're discussing Saab and Volvo, dare I mention Skoda?! An Octavia might not be beautiful, but safety and economy??

rake

CambsNewbie wrote:

rake wrote:

CambsNewbie wrote:

bartman100 wrote:

Thanks all. So if it's essentially a Vauxhall, am I just buying a nice looking Vauxhall? Kind of offputting!

More and more common I'm afraid.. An Audi A3, VW Golf, Skoda Octavian and Seat Leon are all the same chassis. You pick your budget and what you want the brand to say about you and VW group will supply the car!

A Volvo S40/V50 has a Ford Focus chassis, when I worked for a Volvo dealer, when you put a S40 up on a ramp, underneath you could see 'Ford Motor Co' stamped everywhere.

It's only going to get more common as manufacturers need to cut development costs.

Peugeot/Citreon/Toyota 107/C1/Aygo is another example.

off topic question. you worked at volvo, i cant find a definate answer to this. the volvo 5 cylinder petrol, is it an audi engine or not?

The 5 cylinder petrol engine is all Volvo. However, in the old 850/early V70s the 2.5 diesel engine was an Audi engine I'm pretty sure.

cheers. someone was slating their s60 to me after the engine expired (pretty sure from home serivicing or lack of), i doubted it was audi engine and they said it was stamped on the engine, i didnt take much notice. on my 4th volvo albeit lower end very well used. t5 r is a beautiful beast.

cyclopath

seataltea wrote:

Despite my username I own two Saabs, a 9-3 estate and a 9-3 Convertible, both are the 1.8t engine which is the wisest choice for a private buyer.

Unless you do large mileages the diesel is false economy, the 1.8t is actually a badge engineered 2.0 turbo but with different software and for a few hundred quid you can have 195-220hp and it will still get 40mpg on a run and 28mpg around town. Service costs are lower for the petrol, it is utterly reliable (no EGR problems) and cheaper to buy in the first place because everyone thinks diesels are cheaper to live with.

I am, sadly to some, involved in the Saab community and visited Sweden last year where I rallied Saabs in the Arctic Circle, drank lots of vodka and ate reindeer, the warmth and hospitality of the Saab employees and the people of Sweden was fantastic. This trip alone has made me a Saab customer for life *

They are great cars and a great company, production is currently suspended whilst bids for a new owner are assessed by the Swedish receiver, there are some large car companies (BMW, Mahindra, Tata and the Chinese) offering to buy them with hundreds of millions of Euros on the table. Future production is very likely if one of the bids is accepted and parts supply is assured even if it doesn't *under Swedish legislation (have to still produce parts for 10yrs when production stops).

Despite what you would think values haven't plummeted and some models have become hard to find as customers have bought cars fearing they wouldn't be able to get hold of a Saab again.

A 1.8t Convertible Vector Sport or a Linear SE plus TX Pack (carbon fibre interior and upgraded wheels) with a swan neck towbar and a Thule cycle carrier could be had for a very reasonable price, just factor in a Hirsch ECU upgrade to release the full potential of that turbo.

This guy always has some nice cars.

http://www.markarnold.co.uk/index.php

And new Saab owners are welcome here.

http://www.saabsunited.com/

I was that man .......once.

Well, twice but SAAB UK put a stop to that, when they right royally sh4fted me after the 2nd fell apart before my eyes. Customer service was an alien concept back then it seems.
Loved the cars, learned to live without them thanks to


VOLVO.

V70, bike goes in the back.

I win. Tack sa mycket.

NickintheLakes

Have had three 9-5 Estates from new (last was in 2004) - 2.0 LPT / 1.9 Tid / 2.3 Aero HOT (v.quick).

Brilliant trouble free cars - one had a slight squeak (fixed by dealer) in the centre console and that was it.

Ran them to 60000ish / 75000ish / 32000 respectively.

Only downer was that they cost me about £50k in depreciation - ouch!

daviesee

NickintheLakes wrote:

Have had three 9-5 Estates from new (last was in 2004) - 2.0 LPT / 1.9 Tid / 2.3 Aero HOT (v.quick).

Brilliant trouble free cars - one had a slight squeak (fixed by dealer) in the centre console and that was it.

Ran them to 60000ish / 75000ish / 32000 respectively.

Only downer was that they cost me about £50k in depreciation - ouch!

There-in lies the rub with cars.
I have only had 3 cars since 1995. Total cost - £28k, 340,000 miles and the 3rd is still running sweet as a nut, I expect another 3 years at least.
I also expect someone to blow these figures out of the water.
And some think cycling is expensive! :twisted:

froze

In America I get mixed emotions from Saab owners, some love them and others hate them. The other thing about Saabs is the cost of aftermarket parts is extremely high, just on that one point alone is enough to deter me.

I'm a wee bit crazy when it comes to cars, I refuse anymore to buy newer cars due to the cost of electronics that fail, cheap motors used to run windows, doors etc. I had a Acura and a Mazda that had two seperate computers go bad, the 03 Acura was $1200 and the 06 Mazda was $1000; then I had a 02 Chrysler mini van that the motor that operated the right side sliding side door went bad that cost $1400, then the other went bad so I just refused to get that one fixed, who needs two sliding doors on a van anyways? The only "newer" vehicle I now have is a 98 Ford F150 with the V6 my wife drives and it's a pile of crap too! Just spent $1300 getting it fixed again. The car I drive everyday now is a 72 Chrysler Newport! I've had no problems with it.

Now with gasoline prices rising I am thinking about getting a Suburu because I've heard good things about them, but I very skeptical, so I probably won't.

I'm severely disappointed with new cars...can you tell?

nicklouse

http://www.saabsunited.com/2012/03/saab ... more-38557

Mmmmm