Another Ng 9-5 joins the forum

[carrera]

Yesterday, I took the plunge into the strange new world that is the NG 9-5, and as it was in London, I've put 250 miles on it so far and managed to work out a fair bit of the infotainment stuff.

What is it: It's a 2.0 Turbo4 ,Aero spec, Manual with XWD

As you would expect, it needs some work including a few bodywork things, nothing serious though.

Short term, these are the main things, in no particular order

Try to re-blacken the radio buttons that are worn through to white. Previous owner was definitely a bit of a fiddler in this regard
Replace the front number plate, that's easy & ordered
Decent clean & polish, though the paintwork overall is pretty good
There's a deep scratch in the rear 3/4, which may involve getting a paintshop involved, aerosol for other stuff will be ready later this afternoon
Light bar on the boot needs fixing, it's dim


There are two less cosmetic things to deal with

1. The headlamp washers are "disabled" & have rubber strips where the covers should be. I think these are just delivery nozzles, with a pressure pump on the washer bottle. I need to find out what bits I need & where to get them from
2. Spotted this morning there are two airbag warnings visible on the roof console

Which means I'm going to have to get something to do what I used to be able to do with Tech II, so as well as engine OBD, ABS and airbag capabilities are a minimum & I don't do subscription based stuff. I do have an iCarSoft reader for another car, which seems to work well enough, but I'm really looking for any recommendations.

Pictures may follow,

[carrera]

Here they are

Front view, some condensation in the indicator lens, and the non standard headlight washer delete



and a rear view, the GB badge is covering some battle damage

[carrera]

I have started to look at the car. Good news on the headlight washers, everything behind the rubber cover seems to be in place & working. I might have to replace the nearside nozzle as it looks like one of the pivots for the cover looks shorter than it should be. I'm trying to understand why this was done, as the bumper behind the rubber is damaged by glue. That'll get a temporary touch up, followed by something better when I have the jet covers.

I noticed the NG has moved to studs rather than bolts, so just nuts to remove. They are bigger, no problem, I'll get the usual 19mm out. Too small. Right, so 22mm is the next normal size. Well it goes on, nut not very far. 24mm is too big, have I got a 23mm socket, well I doubt it, I've never had use for a 23mm before. Well, would you believe it, in the 9000 I rescued recently, there was an unusual socket in there, double ended 21mm and 23mm. must be especially for newer wheel sizes. Best news is that none of the wheel nuts, including the security ones were overtightened. That's a good sign.

Pulled the boot floor up to look at the toolkit (intact), spare wheel (touched up), wheel brace (interesting pivot design which convinced me that 23mm was the right size). The wheel brace was a bit rusty so that's been cleaned up & painted. There's something else supposed to be in the roll up bag, but I haven't discovered what it is yet. Something for the shopping list.

The main objective here was to find out what the provision for towing is. Disappointed, but not surprised to find that the "Towing relay" and associated wiring are not fitted to the car. That's a bit of a departure to earlier designs. Unless anyone knows of a better route, this does suggest that use of an aftermarket towbar will require an aftermarket adapter which can run traditional 12v bulbs. I do hope that doesn't mean scotchlocks.

[TomPaine]

Very glad that such a handsome car has gone to such a good home carrera. They are so rare in the wild that this is very cheering intel. Well done on the acquisition and keep the pics and writeup coming - very enjoyable.

[carrera]

Thanks for the feedback Tom

Today was quite slow, everything was different. I couldn't even get the car on the ramp without making up some wood/rubber blocks as the rear lifting point is so high.

Messed around for well over an hour removing plastic covers & trying to get access to release the drivebelt tensioner - it makes a rhytmic noise when cold, which disappears with some fluid on the back of the belt. Having got satisfied that the hole is 3/8" I have ordered a tool to do the job as there is very little clearance between the tensioner & chassis leg. Then I can see if there's a noisy pulley somewhere

The front pads need replacing, there's only ~3mm  pad material left, rears are not as bad, but they need doing too. The front caliper design is very similar to a 6N2 Polo GTi, just a lot bigger

I ended the day doing tyre pressures. Well worth it, they were well down, one of them as low as 20 psi, when the spec is 280 kPa, or 41 psi. The car is much tighter, understandably the ride is a little more harsh, but the handling is much improved. It seems performance & mpg too, but maybe I'm being optimistic here.

I also recorded an 8 album mp3 CD to the hard disc. Very easy to do, but somewhat disappointing to discover that the songs are listed in alphabetical order, rather than track order. Maybe it's user error. There are more important things though

Looking under the car it is very very solid, with no corrosion that I could see save for the petrol tank heat shield & straps, A bit of treatment with Bydrate 80 will arrest that as part of the MOT prep

[sgould]

If the towing arrangement and electrics are anything like the NG9-3, you will need the correct module.  People who have fitted towbars to the 9-3 as direct wiring, have found the car throws bulb failure errors.

The last car, non Saab, that had a missing bit from the toolkit, turned out to be an emergency sunroof open/close key.  My car had no sunroof, so the slot wasn't filled.

[phoenix]

Yes, towbar electrics do need a control module, the good news is it's common across other GM models so shouldn't be hard to find GM 13505411.

If you're lucky maybe the same will apply to the plug in cable harness

https://webautocats.com/epc/saab/sbf/09-92426/0330/

[welshwizard]

Same colour as mine, Granite Grey...mine is not XWD (do you have DriveSense?)

Welcome to the club 

[carrera]

Thanks for the welcome, to what is always going to be a fairly size restricted club.... I've already been peeking over the fence into Insignia & VXR forums, shhh

It does have Drivesense & it does "work". It also has the U-Rail cargo rack, which seems a great idea, unless you have the official Saab rubber boot protector in place which kind of makes it redundant 

Not a priority, but I think it should be pretty easy to remap one of these to ~ 280hp, which is what it needs. I don't know about the FWD version, but I can't see this one breaking traction accelerating. That's a bit different to the DE which can break traction in 3rd if I'm being enthusiastic in the wet

Coming back to the towbar, that is for the future, but good to know it's readily available. There's even one on ebay right now for something called a Zafira. I think I need to remove the carpet more as I didn't see a connector for the feed to the module   

[phoenix]

I think the loom for the towbar plugs into the rear electronic control module along with the towbar module- that's how it is on the NG9-3 at any rate and it looks similar in the parts catalogue

[Steve McF]

Interesting - I fancy getting one of these one day, but can't decide on what engine. Most are diesels, but I don't do a great deal of miles. The petrols though, seem much rarer and much more pricey.

What are things like road tax, insurance, mpg and general running costs etc like?

[carrera]

I would agree that there seem to be many more Vector TiD 160hp cars on the market, more TTid 190HP with the petrol cars being harder to find. I was looking for a 2.8 manual, but as none were ever made, I settled for this one

Tax wise, this is the same as the OG9-5, £365, but the 2.8 is in the expensive £750 category, like the post 2006 Aero autos. That's more loke the price of a car, rather right to use it in my book.

Insurance wise, there was no issue, group 31 I think for this. First quote was 3x DE insurance, second quote was 2x DE insurance, the increased cost was put down as being newer and more mileage. I'll deal with it at renewal which for me is a multi car modern/classic policy.

MPG has proven to be a bit disappointing for a newer car, I got 31 on the run home, when I would have got about 34mpg. But the tyres were low, so perhaps not so different, but there is a penalty for XWD. I have been mulling over in my mind how the DE can be 213 g/km (260 hp)while the 2.8 is 244g /km (296hp). I expect drag coefficient is lower, frontal area greater, mass higher, but engine efficiency does not seem to be a step forward. I suppose I'll have to live with it consuming more fuel but going slower. Unless I get the VXR map on it which is 280hp rather than 220   

Running costs I don't know, but second hand spares are undoubtedly rarer & harder to find

I should probably write something on the driving experience, if people are interested

In other news, today I picked up a new set of number plates, ordered a VXdiag in the hope that can identify /clear airbag problems, did a deal with the local ex Saab dealer on a headlamp nozzle & took delivery of the special tool for releasing tension on the drivebelt. Ridiculous that special tools are needed for such a basic job

On the tow bar front I think I've got it now, having looked at some 9-3 threads. Lights are operated through Canbus with a module in the back for standard lights. Towbar loom connects to new module providing 12v & Canbus signals that provide 12v to the relevant circuits (seems to be 7 pin only). Thats not a priority though

I'm trying to find some s/h headlamp washer covers. A pair of aftermarket Insignia ones are less than a tenner. New Saab ones are £40-50 each. I might be better off buying a whole front bumper at that price... depending on the s/h price 

[sgould]

The price of Saab parts is very erratic, usually erring on the side of extortionate.   My experience relates to the V6 9-3 Carlsson where the plastic centre caps are around £50 each. Whereas, when they had a Romanian website, it was £16 there, and £30 in Sweden.  The £30 Bosch fuel pressure sensor is £327 from Saab parts and the £46 ignition coils are around £200, which is less than the original £332 each.

I wonder if https://www.saab3dprint.com can produce some wiper nozzle covers?  I met the two guys in Sweden last year and they are quite enthusiastic about the project.

[welshwizard]

I found that my NG 2.0 manual was actually thirstier than my 2.3 HOT Dame Edna.  Perhaps it's the bulk of the car (longer and heavier) and the fact that even when the 9-3SS came out the L850GM engine didn't seem quite as efficient as the Saab H-engine (B2*5, B207) there was a lot of criticism at the time that the saloon was no more powerful than the hatchback (210 versus 205, and tuning the B207R was limited)...

Body and trim panels are unobtainium, rear lights, aero bumpers, exhaust are exhausted supplies.  Exhausts have to be custom made (that's my forthcoming expense).   Look at my thread on UKS regarding the windscreen.

Mine also has the U-rail in the back - use it to stop things flying around.

Have considered doing a Hirsch to 260PS but I would rather check that the engine has a lot of life left before spending money on the upgrade (I know of one 2.0T that has gone pop recently, sadly)

Not done the Infotainment upgrade, doesn't bother me that navigation defaults to Belgium.

Insurance no more expensive than on my old car - still paying the same as I was on a 1.4 Astra in 1991, stands to reason the 1.3-1.4 Astras are the fastest cars known to man 

[carrera]

I have reached out to the 3D printing people in Sweden, let's see what they say. It's looking like I'll have to pay the extortionate price for the Orio bits, because the alternative seems to be buying another NG Aero to break 

Interesting confirmation on the fuel efficiency on the 2.0 engine, especially compared to the 2.3 Aero. I'm in no rush to do an upgrade, though i do see to be in the fortunate position that the timing chain has been done. Oil life is saying 20% remaining, so I think a service is due. Interesting that it seems to be a replaceable filter approach rather than a spin on cartridge, I think this basic engine is also used for diesels. Next will come spark plug selection, I haven't seen any recommendations

I have seen comments about the satnav, mine appears to be set to UK, though I haven't used it in anger yet, may be worth comparing software versions.

In other news I have sourced a new cap for the washer bottle. Genuine Vauxhall quality