Messages

16

Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: Cheap cars for new drivers

« on: 30 October 2023, 11:58:33 AM »

My first car was a maestro when I was 19 and working lots of different casual jobs. This was 1997, 1.3 Maestro worth about £650 at the time I think, first years insurance was £330 which wasn't too bad.

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Saab 9-3 Sport Saloon / Convertible / Combi (Wagon/Estate) / Turbo X / AWD (2003 on) / Re: Stainless steel exhaust options

« on: 29 October 2023, 12:29:54 PM »

I was quoted £560 for a stainless custom built system from longlife exhausts in May 2022 (I also have a quote from them in 2017 for £400). In the end I didn't go with it as I wasn't sure if I would keep the car to make it worthwhile, although I've been thinking that since 2017 as I bought the car in 2016 with the idea of having it for 4 years and moving on. https://www.longlife.co.uk/

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: Cheap cars for new drivers

« on: 29 October 2023, 12:28:06 PM »

going back about 13 years now, our apprentice at the garage was looking for insurance, basically everything came back the same for his first year, £3500... we were trying peugeot 106/107, nissan micra, tiny little Fiat's, corsa, fiesta... all the usual suspects. Plugged in the bosses 2.8 V6 Aero for a laugh... and it was pretty much the same amount, maybe slightly less. I think he just waited a year after getting his license as a named driver on the parents policy and then got a 4 cyl Aero.

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Saab 9000 (1984-1998) / Re: New 9000 acquisition

« on: 23 October 2023, 02:16:55 PM »

Interesting, having looked on their website, what was the "elite Saab 100 club" ?

I think it was selling 100 cars in a sales quarter (3 months). I was told If you hit the target you got flown to the Saab factory for a week of tours, fancy hotel and driving experiences.

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: Mileage to warrant a diesel?

« on: 18 October 2023, 05:22:31 PM »

The VED is only a small component of car ownership that people focus on too closely quite often, there was a time when the 2.8 V6 Aero was the cheapest Saab to buy as people were put off by fuel and VED costs... which meant you could buy a V6 Turbo for around £4k as a trader and the equivalent diesel was £8k... £4000 buys you a hell of a lot of fuel and VED and given most people would only keep a car for 4 or 5 years it would cover the difference.

As was already mentioned in this thread, we had a woman come to us wanting a Saab and wanting to save money. At the time we talked to her she only drove a couple of thousand miles a year so wanted to "save money" - her typical journey was 3 miles on country roads to a train station where she'd park and 3 miles home again. I suggested she got a V6 petrol as fuel costs weren't really an issue and they were much cheaper to buy, she said that the VED was too much, petrol costs too much and she wanted a diesel, we pointed out that on short journeys a diesel really didn't make sense but she wouldn't hear it. We actually refused to sell her a diesel as we didn't want to stand the warranty on a car used like that due to the 1.9 and it's EGR+DPF problems. She went elsewhere and got herself a diesel, 3 months later she brought it to us as she was cold when driving to the station in winter as it never got hot and then a year after that it needed a large amount spent on EGR related problems and other general diesel problems, she then said "I thought a diesel would be cheaper"...

Also, the annual service on a diesel is about 20% more expensive than the equivalent petrol model and the 1.9 had crusty wiring looms 10 years ago but the petrol models seemed to be pretty solid. I just think that without there being some significant saving somewhere it doesn't make sense.

21

Saab 9000 (1984-1998) / Re: New 9000 acquisition

« on: 17 October 2023, 10:03:07 PM »

Also, there's the original Saab Extra Care booklet which shows the original owner hailed from Weston Colville (Cambs) and the dealer was Continental cars of Stanstead. I think it's been an East Anglian car all of its life, until now.

The old founders of continental cars still do Saab parts sales: https://saabpartsdirect.co.uk/?page_id=2

There's a good chance that the car might have been registered by the dealer as a sale so they'd hit a sales target and then they punted it around the dealer network. Some of the incentives like the Saab 100 club made it worthwhile at the time...

22

Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: Mileage to warrant a diesel?

« on: 17 October 2023, 09:55:12 PM »

I worked it out about 13-14 years ago now with the data we had from what we had charged customers. Based on a 9-3 diesel vs. a 9-3 petrol, you'd need to be doing 18,000 miles a year in a diesel to break even with a petrol Saab based on VED, purchase, depreciation and maintenance and fuel costs. However that was also taking into account that the equivalent car with a diesel engine cost about £3000-£4000 quid more to purchase than the equivalent petrol at the time, notably at the time it was very common for a diesel to come in for a "simple" MOT and service and leave with a £1k+ bill, that was a rare occurence with a petrol 9-3.

23

Saab in the news / Re: Saab parts manufacturing to return to Trollhatten

« on: 17 October 2023, 09:49:53 PM »

For those who have bought a Saab as a cheap runabout, this sort of pricing will cause many owners to scrap their car rather than repairing it.  Which, of course, will reduce the customer base for the suppliers of Saab parts.  It's self defeating.  Most Saabs are valued by insurance companies at under £1500.  If you are reliant on a garage to do all your repairs and maintenance, high parts prices will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Even when Saab still existed there were some very strange prices for parts. I recall some engine parts for the 1.9 diesel turned up one day with a Saab logo stuck over the fiat part no. I removed the Saab label and called up the local Fiat dealer to ask for prices. The retail price of that Fiat part to the general public was a few quid where the trade price from Saab was nearly £20, which was without the 20% retail markup applied...

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: ULEZ and the Ace Cafe

« on: 22 July 2023, 07:29:26 PM »

Doesn't really bother me, if it stops people turning once nice cars into scrap it's a good thing! 

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Saab 9-3 Sport Saloon / Convertible / Combi (Wagon/Estate) / Turbo X / AWD (2003 on) / Re: Wearing buttons on radio and A/C control panel

« on: 09 July 2023, 01:47:43 PM »

The thing that I think kills the button panels (and the 9-3 keys) is the oils in hand lotions and hand creams. It was a noticeable problem in several cars which were owned or driven by some women and many of them used hand lotions.

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: What I Did To My Saab Today.

« on: 05 July 2023, 03:58:14 PM »

Today I decided to finally take a look at the mirror cover which I had to duct tape so it stayed mostly in place on the 9-3 after she had an "incident" in a car park. I pulled the glass off and confirmed all the tabs which hold the mirror cover in place were broken , however there is conveniently 2 small holes in the plastic which you can screw into through the frame, so after 20 minutes of searching in the spare screws box I have now reattached the mirror cover without having to fork out ?50 for a cover and paint.

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New Saab 9-5 (2010 on) / Re: Timeless NG 9-5?

« on: 22 June 2023, 04:59:59 PM »

I thought the 9-5 that was supposed to have appeared in 2005/6 (an which was apparently almost ready before being canned by GM) was a different car to the NG 9-5 that did appear in 2010?

There was something that was the platform which was shared with Fiat and GM, GM never made any cars using it though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors/Fiat_Premium_platform

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New Saab 9-5 (2010 on) / Re: Timeless NG 9-5?

« on: 08 June 2023, 10:30:12 AM »

All cars of the past 25 years look pretty bland, everyone is trying to make stuff with mass market appeal which rules out anything exceptional combined with the standards on safety and emissions means they are all using the same safety and aerodynamic models which means doing anything out of the ordinary is too risky.

The NG9-5 looks OK as it seems to have channeled the best parts of what everyone else has come up with but like everything else is ultimately very forgettable.

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Long time coming...

« on: 25 May 2023, 10:01:08 AM »

I've not been here much recently, I dropped by and saw the post about where the forum can go in the future, but it brings me to another thought....

My 2007 9-3 Aero sport wagon is now 16, it has been a total joy to own, it's currently sitting on 133k, I got it 7 years ago at 82k, since then it's really not had anything "bad" go wrong with it. In that time I replaced all of the suspension, a couple of sets of tyres, back box at the recent MOT, it did need a new power steering pump and replacement vacuum pump, new air-con condenser, battery, drivers door lock but none of those were expensive or particularly bothersome as the car always kept rolling... I had only ever purchased it thinking I'd keep it 4-5 years, but it's been a very good car.

Anyway, it's getting a little bit worn around the edges now, I think it needs relegating to be a second car in the next year or two, I don't know how long I'll keep it but it's an expensive thing to tax each year (over £600 now!)...

So, what do I replace it with? I had considered a Subaru, but they seem to have given up making fast and interesting cars in recent years... maybe a Skoda Kodiak? none of BMW/Audi/VW appeal much to me, I had considered a Alfa Giulia but they only do a saloon. Citroen no longer make anything sufficiently weird for my tastes, I had considered a Mondeo, but Ford stopped making them... perhaps a Focus? Volvo might be a safe bet, but they just feel too appliance like and a bit bland.

Does anyone have any suggestions that won't break the bank with stupid repairs? and that doesn't feel like I'm buying a kitchen appliance...

30

Announcements & Events / Re: The future of SaabTechTalk - Do we continue?

« on: 25 May 2023, 09:50:02 AM »

The overall forum reminds me of the Saab 9000 forums about 10-15 years ago, as all the common problems were solved and answered the rate of new questions coming in along with the gradual decline in the number of 9000's on the roads meant those forums went quieter while the 9-5 and 9-3 were gaining new posts. Let's face it, the NG9-3 is now 20 years old and Saab didn't release any new models after that in the UK with the exception of the NG9-5 but only a handful were ever sold in comparison.

I'd like to see the forum continue, but wonder if we can pivot somehow to be more relevant? I'm not a fan of uksaabs and won't move over there, I'd be happy to take over any admin duties to keep things going.