Well, after looking for a few months and test driving lots of different
cars here in Oz I ended up going for a Saab 9-5. Why ? Plenty of room
for the 3 kids in the back. Plenty of things that open and close. A
nice 2.3 turbo engine. I thought the Alfa-Romeo 156 was a great car to
drive but couldn’t bring myself to squeeze the 3 kids into the back (and
here you can’t get a 3-point center seat belt). The Mercedes C200 was a
classy looking car but under-engined and not a safe as Saab according to
Euro NCAP tests and a little more expensive and not as roomy (again no
3-point center belt). Other cars I looked at were a Peugeot 406, VW
Passat, BMW 323, Honda Accord. In the end the Saab made the most
sense. So I bought it !
…Regards … Paul P.
On Thu, 24 Jun 1999 14:48:41 +1000, Paul Panetta <nors…@acay.com.au>
wrote :
>Well, after looking for a few months and test driving lots of different
>cars here in Oz I ended up going for a Saab 9-5. Why ? Plenty of room
>for the 3 kids in the back. Plenty of things that open and close. A
>nice 2.3 turbo engine. I thought the Alfa-Romeo 156 was a great car to
>drive but couldn’t bring myself to squeeze the 3 kids into the back (and
>here you can’t get a 3-point center seat belt). The Mercedes C200 was a
>classy looking car but under-engined and not a safe as Saab according to
>Euro NCAP tests and a little more expensive and not as roomy (again no
>3-point center belt). Other cars I looked at were a Peugeot 406, VW
>Passat, BMW 323, Honda Accord. In the end the Saab made the most
>sense. So I bought it !
Hi Paul,
I’m just coming up to 12 months with my 9-5SE auto.
Hope you have better luck than I have had.
I’ve had 8 or 9 Saab’s (lost count) both 99′s and 900′s over a period of 25
years, and I’ve had more trouble with the 9-5 in 12 months than I did with
all the others combined in 25 years.
Nothing really major, like transmission or engine failure, but many many
small and irritating defects and poor assembly, like driving lights falling
off and fittings pulling out of the dash.
I got stranded once – the car would not go into gear after starting, it was
stuck in Park. Seems there was a faulty solenoid which Saab said to
dealers not to replace until it failed and the customer complained. They
also didn’t tell the poor bloody customer that there was a hidden over-ride
button in case the solenoid failed, and it isn’t mentioned in the handbook,
either. So I was stuck out in the mulga with nowhere to go. I lost
several hours before I got to a phone and was told where to find the
release button. I was NOT a happy person. What a perfect way to
antagonise customers! I’d ask about that if I were you before you get stuck
too.
My electric seats kept losing their memory too: that was another design
fault needing a new switch. Took 4 visits to the dealer and detailed
demonstration of the problem at least six times before they agreed to fix
it. Then they failed the first attempt after having the car for two days,
and i had to bring it back yet again. Hope you didn’t buy from Rick
Damelian??? Again, Saab had told the dealers not to replace the switch
unless customers complained.
I get intermittent faulty fuel consumption readings on the SID: like 345
l/100km every so often. It comes good if reset, but then it happens again
a month or so later. Still not fixed.
I got massive shuddering when turning left close to full lock slightly
uphill. Another design defect only to be fixed if the customer complained.
It is much better now, but still there.
The car intermittently decides it doesn’t want to keep running some
mornings. It starts OK, but as soon as you put the car into gear, it
stalls. It may do this six or seven times before it will decide to keep
running. Even if you let it idle for 30 secs or so to warm up, it still
does it. Saab are aware of the problem and have tried one fix, but it
didn’t work. they are working on changes to the computer programming now.
I’m not happy with the cruise control controls: non-intuitive and
impossible to activate and vary speeds easily without having to take your
hands off the wheel. Same with the intermittent wiper speed control: the
raised button is too small.
The car is also intermittently rough when idling: the engine shakes for a
few seconds and then goes back to normal. Saab are working on a fix – it’s
apparently a software problem.
It keeps blowing headlamp bulbs too – very expensive. They can’t find any
reason, just reckon I’ve been unlucky. Great! In 25 years motoring I
didn’t blow a headlamp, now I’ve done 3 in 6 months.
Now I’m getting an intermittent vibration which shakes the whole car
violently when going up slight inclines at around 50kmph with light
throttle – but it doesn’t happen every time. It happened 3 times
yesterday, in three different locations, but when I went back to the same
locations to try again, it didn’t happen. It feels like a resonance
problem which needs the right (actually the wrong) combination of throttle,
speed and slope. Probably it’s just an extension of the rough idling
problem except that it is much more violent. Saab doesn’t know what it is
and I can’t reproduce it on demand – most frustrating.
Hopefully the 99 model will have fixed those 98 model problems, but I
wouldn’t bet on it. And if you have any irritating problems, you will have
to press hard to get them fixed – don’t let them fob you off.
Despite all the problems, the 9-5 is a great car, or it will be when all
the bugs are ironed out. I have always been a Saab fanatic, but if I had
known the sort of problems I was going to experience with the 9-5, I would
have gone for the Merc slug or a 5 series beamer.
Good luck.
–
Regards,
Peter Wilkins (wilki…@one.net.au)
Comment by admin — February 27, 2010 @ 2:52 pm
Gee, I’ve had a 9-5 SE (6 cyl) 6 months and it runs like a charm. Not a
single thing to complain about except for one of the keyfob remotes for
the alarm and locks going dead and needing to be replaced. The memory
seats work as billed, and the fuel consumption computer appears to give
accurate enough readings. In the US we have "lemon" laws that are
designed to protect buyers of cars with multiple problems. No such thing
Down Under?
Bill G
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
Peter Wilkins wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Jun 1999 14:48:41 +1000, Paul Panetta <nors…@acay.com.au>
> wrote :
> >Well, after looking for a few months and test driving lots of different
> >cars here in Oz I ended up going for a Saab 9-5. Why ? Plenty of room
> >for the 3 kids in the back. Plenty of things that open and close. A
> >nice 2.3 turbo engine. I thought the Alfa-Romeo 156 was a great car to
> >drive but couldn’t bring myself to squeeze the 3 kids into the back (and
> >here you can’t get a 3-point center seat belt). The Mercedes C200 was a
> >classy looking car but under-engined and not a safe as Saab according to
> >Euro NCAP tests and a little more expensive and not as roomy (again no
> >3-point center belt). Other cars I looked at were a Peugeot 406, VW
> >Passat, BMW 323, Honda Accord. In the end the Saab made the most
> >sense. So I bought it !
> Hi Paul,
> I’m just coming up to 12 months with my 9-5SE auto.
> Hope you have better luck than I have had.
> I’ve had 8 or 9 Saab’s (lost count) both 99′s and 900′s over a period of 25
> years, and I’ve had more trouble with the 9-5 in 12 months than I did with
> all the others combined in 25 years.
> Nothing really major, like transmission or engine failure, but many many
> small and irritating defects and poor assembly, like driving lights falling
> off and fittings pulling out of the dash.
> I got stranded once – the car would not go into gear after starting, it was
> stuck in Park. Seems there was a faulty solenoid which Saab said to
> dealers not to replace until it failed and the customer complained. They
> also didn’t tell the poor bloody customer that there was a hidden over-ride
> button in case the solenoid failed, and it isn’t mentioned in the handbook,
> either. So I was stuck out in the mulga with nowhere to go. I lost
> several hours before I got to a phone and was told where to find the
> release button. I was NOT a happy person. What a perfect way to
> antagonise customers! I’d ask about that if I were you before you get stuck
> too.
> My electric seats kept losing their memory too: that was another design
> fault needing a new switch. Took 4 visits to the dealer and detailed
> demonstration of the problem at least six times before they agreed to fix
> it. Then they failed the first attempt after having the car for two days,
> and i had to bring it back yet again. Hope you didn’t buy from Rick
> Damelian??? Again, Saab had told the dealers not to replace the switch
> unless customers complained.
> I get intermittent faulty fuel consumption readings on the SID: like 345
> l/100km every so often. It comes good if reset, but then it happens again
> a month or so later. Still not fixed.
> I got massive shuddering when turning left close to full lock slightly
> uphill. Another design defect only to be fixed if the customer complained.
> It is much better now, but still there.
> The car intermittently decides it doesn’t want to keep running some
> mornings. It starts OK, but as soon as you put the car into gear, it
> stalls. It may do this six or seven times before it will decide to keep
> running. Even if you let it idle for 30 secs or so to warm up, it still
> does it. Saab are aware of the problem and have tried one fix, but it
> didn’t work. they are working on changes to the computer programming now.
> I’m not happy with the cruise control controls: non-intuitive and
> impossible to activate and vary speeds easily without having to take your
> hands off the wheel. Same with the intermittent wiper speed control: the
> raised button is too small.
> The car is also intermittently rough when idling: the engine shakes for a
> few seconds and then goes back to normal. Saab are working on a fix – it’s
> apparently a software problem.
> It keeps blowing headlamp bulbs too – very expensive. They can’t find any
> reason, just reckon I’ve been unlucky. Great! In 25 years motoring I
> didn’t blow a headlamp, now I’ve done 3 in 6 months.
> Now I’m getting an intermittent vibration which shakes the whole car
> violently when going up slight inclines at around 50kmph with light
> throttle – but it doesn’t happen every time. It happened 3 times
> yesterday, in three different locations, but when I went back to the same
> locations to try again, it didn’t happen. It feels like a resonance
> problem which needs the right (actually the wrong) combination of throttle,
> speed and slope. Probably it’s just an extension of the rough idling
> problem except that it is much more violent. Saab doesn’t know what it is
> and I can’t reproduce it on demand – most frustrating.
> Hopefully the 99 model will have fixed those 98 model problems, but I
> wouldn’t bet on it. And if you have any irritating problems, you will have
> to press hard to get them fixed – don’t let them fob you off.
> Despite all the problems, the 9-5 is a great car, or it will be when all
> the bugs are ironed out. I have always been a Saab fanatic, but if I had
> known the sort of problems I was going to experience with the 9-5, I would
> have gone for the Merc slug or a 5 series beamer.
> Good luck.
> —
> Regards,
> Peter Wilkins (wilki…@one.net.au)
Comment by admin — February 27, 2010 @ 2:52 pm
On Sat, 26 Jun 1999 03:20:46 GMT, William Glasgall <glasg…@home.com>
wrote :
>Gee, I’ve had a 9-5 SE (6 cyl) 6 months and it runs like a charm. Not a
>single thing to complain about except for one of the keyfob remotes for
>the alarm and locks going dead and needing to be replaced. The memory
>seats work as billed, and the fuel consumption computer appears to give
>accurate enough readings.
Hi William,
That’s good to hear: Perhaps things will come good for me eventually!
My memory seats worked OK, they just kept forgetting the settings. The
reason was that the switch buttons activated when only partially depressed:
hence when the driver swung his/her legs around to get out of the car, the
back of their right leg activated all buttons simultaneously, cancelling
the stored settings. The solution was a new switch which activated only
when the buttons were pressed down below the level of the switch frame.
Your car might have the same problem, you just might have thinner legs than
us! But I think the switch was replaced on new cars during production
about 9 months ago, so you are probably OK. However, it might pay to do a
quick check to make sure, because it’s a free replacement if you complain.
My fuel consumption metering works OK 99% of the time – just intermittently
gives obviously false readings, like over 350 litres/100km on a 300km trip,
or less than 1 mpg for you Imperial System freaks <g>. I can’t get the
fault to show up when the car goes into the repair shop though.
A few days ago I discovered a warning notice which had slipped down between
the windscreen and the dash, underneath the parking ticket holder, with
just a millimeter showing. When I got it out (no mean feat) it said not to
try to start the car as the computer had been removed. It was dated just
before I took delivery, so I want to know why, but can’t get any answers
yet. They were holding my car in storage for a month before delivery,
until I returned from overseas, so perhaps the dealer swapped my good one
for one that was playing up, and all the intermittent problems I am getting
may go away if a new computer is installed. We shall see.
>In the US we have "lemon" laws that are designed to protect buyers of cars
>with multiple problems. No such thing Down Under?
Don’t know about specific "lemon" laws, but there are quite good consumer
protection laws, and a consumer protection association. It hasn’t come to
that yet – I’ve just decided to change dealers and see if I can get better
service, and I’m writing to Saab Australia pointing out all the problems
that arose, the ones that have been solved, and the many outstanding ones,
and asking for their help to resolve it with the dealers.
In my post I only listed the major problems I could think of as I wrote,
there were quite a few more minor ones – I’ve never had a car before with
so many minor defects. Doesn’t say much for Saab’s quality control here.
I live in hope.
–
Regards,
Peter Wilkins (wilki…@one.net.au)
Comment by admin — February 27, 2010 @ 2:52 pm
You bought the right car!! I’m driving a Saab 9-5 2.3e now for 1 1/2 year.
I’m living in the Netherlands and a Saab driver for more than 20 years now.
This is really the best car Saab ever made!! So…good choice and very safe
indeed.
Regards
Ronald
The Netherlands
Paul Panetta schreef:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
> Well, after looking for a few months and test driving lots of different
> cars here in Oz I ended up going for a Saab 9-5. Why ? Plenty of room
> for the 3 kids in the back. Plenty of things that open and close. A
> nice 2.3 turbo engine. I thought the Alfa-Romeo 156 was a great car to
> drive but couldn’t bring myself to squeeze the 3 kids into the back (and
> here you can’t get a 3-point center seat belt). The Mercedes C200 was a
> classy looking car but under-engined and not a safe as Saab according to
> Euro NCAP tests and a little more expensive and not as roomy (again no
> 3-point center belt). Other cars I looked at were a Peugeot 406, VW
> Passat, BMW 323, Honda Accord. In the end the Saab made the most
> sense. So I bought it !
> …Regards … Paul P.
Comment by admin — February 27, 2010 @ 2:52 pm
Hi Peter,
sorry to hear about your problems. I’ve bought mainly Japanese
cars in the past twenty five years so reliability was never an issue. Things
just worked. I’ve also owned 3 locally built/assembled Fords of various sizes
and had many problems with some and ridiculous problems the others. Problems
like poorly cast flywheel housing resulting in oil leak that required engine
block replacement, fuel tank leak, guages not working, a/c blowing smoke into
the cabin and these were new cars too ! I bought the 9-5 S not the SE. I’m
hoping that the letters do not designate Standard problems and Extra problems
<g>.
I bought it from the local dealer (Alec Mildren). I’ve bought a ’99 model so
will let you know how things go after I’ve owned it for a while. Thanks for
the warnings/tips.
…Regards … Paul P.
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
Peter Wilkins wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Jun 1999 14:48:41 +1000, Paul Panetta <nors…@acay.com.au>
> wrote :
> >Well, after looking for a few months and test driving lots of different
> >cars here in Oz I ended up going for a Saab 9-5. Why ? Plenty of room
> >for the 3 kids in the back. Plenty of things that open and close. A
> >nice 2.3 turbo engine. I thought the Alfa-Romeo 156 was a great car to
> >drive but couldn’t bring myself to squeeze the 3 kids into the back (and
> >here you can’t get a 3-point center seat belt). The Mercedes C200 was a
> >classy looking car but under-engined and not a safe as Saab according to
> >Euro NCAP tests and a little more expensive and not as roomy (again no
> >3-point center belt). Other cars I looked at were a Peugeot 406, VW
> >Passat, BMW 323, Honda Accord. In the end the Saab made the most
> >sense. So I bought it !
> Hi Paul,
> I’m just coming up to 12 months with my 9-5SE auto.
> Hope you have better luck than I have had.
> I’ve had 8 or 9 Saab’s (lost count) both 99′s and 900′s over a period of 25
> years, and I’ve had more trouble with the 9-5 in 12 months than I did with
> all the others combined in 25 years.
> Nothing really major, like transmission or engine failure, but many many
> small and irritating defects and poor assembly, like driving lights falling
> off and fittings pulling out of the dash.
> I got stranded once – the car would not go into gear after starting, it was
> stuck in Park. Seems there was a faulty solenoid which Saab said to
> dealers not to replace until it failed and the customer complained. They
> also didn’t tell the poor bloody customer that there was a hidden over-ride
> button in case the solenoid failed, and it isn’t mentioned in the handbook,
> either. So I was stuck out in the mulga with nowhere to go. I lost
> several hours before I got to a phone and was told where to find the
> release button. I was NOT a happy person. What a perfect way to
> antagonise customers! I’d ask about that if I were you before you get stuck
> too.
> My electric seats kept losing their memory too: that was another design
> fault needing a new switch. Took 4 visits to the dealer and detailed
> demonstration of the problem at least six times before they agreed to fix
> it. Then they failed the first attempt after having the car for two days,
> and i had to bring it back yet again. Hope you didn’t buy from Rick
> Damelian??? Again, Saab had told the dealers not to replace the switch
> unless customers complained.
> I get intermittent faulty fuel consumption readings on the SID: like 345
> l/100km every so often. It comes good if reset, but then it happens again
> a month or so later. Still not fixed.
> I got massive shuddering when turning left close to full lock slightly
> uphill. Another design defect only to be fixed if the customer complained.
> It is much better now, but still there.
> The car intermittently decides it doesn’t want to keep running some
> mornings. It starts OK, but as soon as you put the car into gear, it
> stalls. It may do this six or seven times before it will decide to keep
> running. Even if you let it idle for 30 secs or so to warm up, it still
> does it. Saab are aware of the problem and have tried one fix, but it
> didn’t work. they are working on changes to the computer programming now.
> I’m not happy with the cruise control controls: non-intuitive and
> impossible to activate and vary speeds easily without having to take your
> hands off the wheel. Same with the intermittent wiper speed control: the
> raised button is too small.
> The car is also intermittently rough when idling: the engine shakes for a
> few seconds and then goes back to normal. Saab are working on a fix – it’s
> apparently a software problem.
> It keeps blowing headlamp bulbs too – very expensive. They can’t find any
> reason, just reckon I’ve been unlucky. Great! In 25 years motoring I
> didn’t blow a headlamp, now I’ve done 3 in 6 months.
> Now I’m getting an intermittent vibration which shakes the whole car
> violently when going up slight inclines at around 50kmph with light
> throttle – but it doesn’t happen every time. It happened 3 times
> yesterday, in three different locations, but when I went back to the same
> locations to try again, it didn’t happen. It feels like a resonance
> problem which needs the right (actually the wrong) combination of throttle,
> speed and slope. Probably it’s just an extension of the rough idling
> problem except that it is much more violent. Saab doesn’t know what it is
> and I can’t reproduce it on demand – most frustrating.
> Hopefully the 99 model will have fixed those 98 model problems, but I
> wouldn’t bet on it. And if you have any irritating problems, you will have
> to press hard to get them fixed – don’t let them fob you off.
> Despite all the problems, the 9-5 is a great car, or it will be when all
> the bugs are ironed out. I have always been a Saab fanatic, but if I had
> known the sort of problems I was going to experience with the 9-5, I would
> have gone for the Merc slug or a 5 series beamer.
> Good luck.
> —
> Regards,
> Peter Wilkins (wilki…@one.net.au)
Comment by admin — February 27, 2010 @ 2:52 pm
Hi,
for the last years I had my AC filled every summer – now they found out,
that the evaporator of the aircondition of my 1993 900 turbo convertible
has a leak!
So, what´s the price for an EVAPORATOR (Saab partno. 490 90 955)?
They´ll charge something like US$ 550.excluded tax (+20%)- here at
Austria /EU!
What´s the price somewhere else?
- RCS –
Comment by admin — February 27, 2010 @ 2:52 pm
Hi Will,
can you please tell me where you bought it and who built it?
Thanks, RCS
William Hall :
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
> > What´s the price somewhere else?
> I just bought a third party evaporator for my 88 900T and I paid about US$
> 350 with a 2 year guarentee.
> William Hall
Comment by admin — February 27, 2010 @ 2:52 pm
RCS <e9225…@stud1.tuwien.ac.at> wrote:
> Hi,
> for the last years I had my AC filled every summer – now they found out,
> that the evaporator of the aircondition of my 1993 900 turbo convertible
> has a leak!
> So, what´s the price for an EVAPORATOR (Saab partno. 490 90 955)?
> They´ll charge something like US$ 550.excluded tax (+20%)- here at
> Austria /EU!
> What´s the price somewhere else?
> – RCS –
Will have soon one changed for about US$ 316 (incl. 20% tax), on my ’89
Aero, but not incl. labour (about 2,5 hours). Not Saab part, but from
one of the factories (supposedly only 2 in the world, one in Sweden, one
in Germany or USA) where Saab get them.
My garage will get it from a wholesaler (Grosshandler).
That’s in France.
–
– Francis Schwebig <fschwe…@wanadoo.fr>
Comment by admin — February 27, 2010 @ 2:52 pm
Hi Fancis,
could you please tell me who is the manufactor of the evaporator?
Thanx, RCS
Francis Schwebig :
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
> RCS <e9225…@stud1.tuwien.ac.at> wrote:
> > Hi,
> > for the last years I had my AC filled every summer – now they found out,
> > that the evaporator of the aircondition of my 1993 900 turbo convertible
> > has a leak!
> > So, what´s the price for an EVAPORATOR (Saab partno. 490 90 955)?
> > They´ll charge something like US$ 550.excluded tax (+20%)- here at
> > Austria /EU!
> > What´s the price somewhere else?
> > – RCS –
> Will have soon one changed for about US$ 316 (incl. 20% tax), on my ’89
> Aero, but not incl. labour (about 2,5 hours). Not Saab part, but from
> one of the factories (supposedly only 2 in the world, one in Sweden, one
> in Germany or USA) where Saab get them.
> My garage will get it from a wholesaler (Grosshandler).
> That’s in France.
> —
> – Francis Schwebig <fschwe…@wanadoo.fr>
Comment by admin — February 27, 2010 @ 2:52 pm