Messages

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Parts & Accessories for Saabs FOR SALE & WANTED / FOR SALE: Thule 750 Rapid System foot pack with kit 1003

« on: 04 February 2022, 09:55:57 AM »

Set of 4 to fit 2 roof bars (bars not included)
Can be used with all types of Thule roof bars.

Was used on our old Saab 9-3, but also fits a number of other vehicles (listed at the bottom) - now surplus to requirements, so offered here before heading to the bay of e....
£20 if collected (Glenfield, Leicester), or £25 shipped (mainland UK).  Or a crate of your finest local ales.

Kit 1003 instructions are at https://www.roofracks.co.uk/pdf/1003.pdf
750 pack - can't find instructions, but looks like https://www.roofracks.co.uk/foot-assemb ... sed/p/7421

Cheers

CITROËN Xantia, 5-dr Hatchback, 93-01
CITROËN XM, 5-dr Hatchback, 90-00
CITROËN XM, 5-dr Estate, 90-00
FIAT Croma, 4-dr Sedan, 87-96
HOLDEN Vectra, 4-dr Sedan, 89-95, 96-01
HOLDEN Vectra, 5-dr Hatchback, 89-95, 96-01
OPEL Vectra, 4-dr Sedan, 89-95, 96-01
OPEL Vectra, 5-dr Hatchback, 89-95, 96-01
SAAB 9000, 4-dr Sedan, 85-98 / *86-98
SAAB 9000, 5-dr Hatchback, 85-98 / *86-98
SAAB 900, 5-dr Hatchback, 94-98
SAAB 9-3, 5-dr Hatchback, 98-02 / *99-03
VAUXHALL Cavalier, 4-dr Sedan, 89-95
VAUXHALL Cavalier, 5-dr Hatchback, 89-95
VAUXHALL Vectra, 4-dr Sedan, 96-01
VAUXHALL Vectra, 5-dr Hatchback, 96-01
*North America

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Classic Saab 9-5 (MY 1998-2010) / Re: Sad to leave again

« on: 27 May 2015, 03:20:32 PM »

Sorry to hear your news.   I was abroad when my father passed away many years ago, never an easy time

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: It never rains, but it pours....

« on: 07 March 2015, 04:48:14 PM »

Went to Costco this afternoon and the powerpacks are back and a lot cheaper than Halfords....

You shouldn't have tortured yourself by checking!

We have a Nissan Figaro 'fun car'....been through about 3 or 4 batteries in the past 15 years!    Not managed to have the receipt to hand on the one or two times it failed inside warranty!   I do use a Oxford Maximiser battery conditioner, generally keeps it working okay.   Not very convenient for a regularly used car though....& NEVER start the car with it attached, unless you want to blow it (yes, yes.....I did it once.....)

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: It never rains, but it pours....

« on: 07 March 2015, 03:13:54 PM »

(just dropping by.....Volvo XC60 still bringing smiles here with magic headlights etc!)
Will, I got one of the "multi-function power bank" chargers recently.  I noticed in Costco they had an 8,000mAh for about £50....mine was a FLOUREON 16800mAh at a similar price (although I suspect it is nearer 11,000mAh in reality, having done a bit of testing charging tablet devices!).

Mainly got it for my son's Fiesta.....he rarely gets out in it, and often I have to plug in the main charger to get enough in it to start, but this device did get it going.
Probably better off with the bigger lead-cell things for 'heavy duty' stuff, but it was an interesting take, and small enough to take in the car if out on a journey!
ttfn!

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: What make to defect to

« on: 10 September 2014, 05:36:46 PM »

Perhaps time for me to drop in my perspective: now over a week into ownership of my Volvo XC60 D4 FWD SE Nav.....not yet masses of miles, and only 1 journey over about 30 miles, so still very early days.

Overall, VERY happy with it!

The purchase was essentially just over the DrivetheDeal price (around 20% discount) plus some bonuses like 0% finance for half the cost over 2 years, £750 Volvo cashback, £500 for 5 years servicing, so it felt the right time and a good deal.   Insurance broadly the same (added just over £30 to my 9 months left).

So: picked up last Monday from TMS Coventry: nice handover, sales chappie there has been very helpful throughout my prevaricating and shuffling around of options.   Okay, adding them until there was virtually nothing to add....seriously, I have a button to instantly flap the rear headrests down. Or clip the kids ears at will

Anyway....down to a summary!

Very quiet (I haven't stood outside it with it running to know what others hear!).   It's a diesel - my first, although SWMBO has owned a fair number, but from the inside it is just immensely smooth and quiet.

Comfortable (although coming from my 9-5, whose seats I have always loved, I'd say the seats were on a par).   Higher driving position feels good.

The big option I added was the DSP (Driver Support Pack)...agonised over that for a while....but wow, I'm glad I did!  BLIS not nearly as irritating as I expected (could actually prove useful!)....Lane control actually makes a great noise, and on country lanes it is easy to turn off with a dash button.
Queue assist: WOW! very cool, and I can imagine really growing to like that in roadwork queues etc. Tested this week around the M6 near Birmingham - drove from Telford to Leicester and barely had to touch a pedal.  I am very aware that is a *choice* - I could equally have thrown it round a bit, but I am currently testing to see how comfortable it is!

& finally the lights. Oh my.
Active Main Beam. WOW! & WOW again.....I have been out a few times at night, and actively drove round country lanes hunting cars just to see the funky shading again. Wow - astonishing. I always thought the move up to Xenon lights was a step change improvement, but this looks another MASSIVE leap forwards.

Tech bits: look very promising to me. Managed to lob half a dozen albums on to the hard disk - works well. USB, android phone, all works nice, and I'm sure I will master it in the next year or three....navigation looks promising, offers up 3 routes, pretty easy to use, has TMC built in - at least on a par with my Navigon, I would say so far.....but clearly I haven't used it in anger much yet.

Spent a fair bit of time & effort on detailing it ourselves.  I considered the dealer option - £300, and a pro valet detailer - closer to £600...& decided to spend about £150 on various bits and bobs and have a go myself.

I say "myself": I got my son to assist me....he spent over 8 hours, I perhaps spent 4+, and we had a great time running through the process: snowfoam; 2BM wash; decontaminate (tardis briefly, iron out); rinse; clay; Werkstat (Prime, 2x Jett, Glos); Poorboys on wheels x2.    Much advice given from Rich at PolishedBliss.co.uk - very helpful.   Big surprise to me was using a Bilt Hamber clay bar: wow, that made a difference to our SMax (practised there first!)....& easy to use!

Phew, wow, wot a scorcher! Nice way for my lad to earn some cash from me, & me to save some cash...resulting story can be seen at https://www.flickr.com/photos/26593967@N06/sets/72157646916411658/

Family all think it is very comfortable, smooth & has a nice feel to it.....& looks great in the white. Especially as we all need sunglasses now to look at it after the father-son detailing work....
I would say there is slightly less space inside compared with the 9-5 estate, but not so much that the teenagers have noticed.   The higher seating is, IMHO, very nice.

Performance: no real idea yet, other than it feels smooth and slick, gears on the auto (8-speed) are VERY good (my first auto I've owned, although I have driven quite a few). I can now actually understand why one reviewer recently described the drive as "oddly disengaged" - I think of it as relaxing, but each to their own.   It is quite different to our Saab.
Who knows what fuel consumption I'll get, I've only done about 300 miles so far, gauge has crept up to over 40 already!

Overall, still learning a lot, but liking what I see so far.    Certainly missing the Saab (hope he is serving his new owner well here !), but a time to move onwards.

Thanks again to Will & all the others here for the help and advice over the years.   I can confirm the Volvo forums are just as friendly :-)

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: Ahhh....a day tinged with emotion!

« on: 31 July 2014, 11:28:59 PM »

Thanks Ron, he has responded to me rapidly with a most detailed outline of what I should do....I feel an order heading his way imminently!
Cheers

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Classic Saab 9-5 (MY 1998-2010) / Re: accident:(

« on: 31 July 2014, 07:55:55 AM »

I don't think so....if a car is perceived to be worth £5K but repairs will cost £5,001 or more (maybe even a bit less), the the insurance company are fully within their rights to offer you a sum of money that they believe the car is worth: ie, market value, for this example £5K
The expectation being it would allow you to buy an equivalent.

Of course then you are into negotiating the value!

And it doesn't stop you from offering them £50 (for example!) for the write-off and doing your own repairs.  Yes, any check on the car would should it as having been written off, but it might be you are handy, have access to tools, and could feasibly repair it for £3k, pocketing the remaining £2k

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: Ahhh....a day tinged with emotion!

« on: 30 July 2014, 07:56:31 AM »

Good stuff, glad to hear Saabie was well received (not that it was ever in doubt, eh!).

Geoff, I spent last night washing & mildly polishing (ie, just the bonnet!) the SMax & the lad's Fiesta....not quite the same lines, but it did make me feel I *may* be able to apply some proper products....maybe I will get on to Polished Bliss, they got good reviews on the Ovlov forums helping someone "detail" their XC......

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: Ahhh....a day tinged with emotion!

« on: 29 July 2014, 05:33:20 PM »

You are assuming I have the patience and skills:)

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: Ahhh....a day tinged with emotion!

« on: 29 July 2014, 12:00:34 AM »

I will indeed......saw my vehicle at the dealers earlier, but due to holiday and the desire for a 64 plate (significant year!) I won't be picking up until Sept 1st.....how's that for self control?!

Currently agonising over whether to take the ~£300 dealer autoglym lifeshine option, pay somewhat mor for a professional detailers to ceramic coat it, or spend a lot less on lotions and potions and take time of work to do it myself.......1st world problems, eh....

I'm sure my lurking will continue here!

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Ahhh....a day tinged with emotion!

« on: 26 July 2014, 02:10:02 PM »

Well, after almost 14 years in Saabs, I finally parted ways earlier today 

It was the right time for a change for me, and frankly there were some good deals on XC60's out there......so one will be arriving as a shiny 64-plater at the start of September (first new car in quite some time, very exciting!).....& to bridge the gap, I am embarking on a London to Paris adventure with a pal (see https://www.justgiving.com/Mike-London-2-Paris-2014/), and a further week in Belgium playing volleyball, drinking beer & generally relaxing.   

But it is not all sadness.....a deal was also done right here on the forums with someone who expressed interest when I started looking well over a year ago, and I am pleased to say that our Saabie is happily in the hands of an enthusiast who I know will treat him as well as I have :-)     I hope he gives good service to you & the family, Matt, it was a pleasure completing the deal today in the sunshine with all those freshly printed bank notes!

I have always been more of a lurker than a desperately active contributor, but I am sure I will continue to be around on occasion.   These forums are full of friendly folk willing to help out with answers, and that will continue to keep Saab very much alive.  I can confirm the Volvo forums are as friendly as these, but who knows, in a year or two maybe Saab will rise up once again with something to tempt me back into the fold!

Cheers!

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Saab in the news / Re: Saab production halted once again - AutoExpress

« on: 21 May 2014, 06:08:08 PM »

6 cars per day?
Wowsa.....that doesn't feel like a substantial number at all.
Just checking my next vehicle for comparison: Volvo XC60.....just passed 500,000 sold....in under 6 years.....which is well over 200 each day.   & this is just one model.
NEVS really aren't trying too hard, methinks :-(

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

« on: 19 May 2014, 07:39:20 AM »

Wow!
I salute that effort, Phoenix, superb!

For my part.....well, I washed it.    & hoovered the carpets, & dusted the fascia.    C'mon, some of us know our limits!
I did clear out half the garage.   
I know.  Feeble really!

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: Now we are one! :(

« on: 18 May 2014, 07:35:26 PM »

heh heh!
Good for him!    Mine is a bit similar......we 'inherited' a family Fiesta which he pootles about in, but he has a black box (as most of his friends to) to monitor and ensure they don't speed etc.....but they all seem to like it, wanting to become "good drivers".
Different generation eh!
I have a friend at work who has a Prius....& spends his life trying to 'hypermile'.....in a similar vein, his wife has to urge him to speed up on motorways!

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: Now we are one! :(

« on: 17 May 2014, 10:30:22 PM »

I considered keeping our 9-5 ltd edition for our son.....but the £6-8K insurance put me off!