Pricing

[Steve McF]

Just found this on Ebay - if a 2005 9-3 saloon 2.0T Aero is worth £2500 with 95k on the clock, there's hope for my 56 reg boy with 100k that I paid £1250 for

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2005-Saab-9-3-2-0-T-Aero-4dr-Saloon-Petrol-Manual/154256498913?hash=item23ea6760e1:g:rYcAAOSwN3xf4wj7

[sgould]

There are some rumours that the price of Saabs is moving up as they become rarer.

[Audax]

This was the case with the 9000 in the late 00's when the youngest ones were around 10 years old, a lot of the gnarly ones had been very cheap and many were just scrapped as you could get a 9-5 for not a lot of money so a lot of people upgraded. However there was a lot of people who still really wanted a 9000 and when they went to buy one they couldn't find any so they were prepared to pay over the odds, especially for a good one. I think I paid around £700 for my 9000 Anniversary in 2007 and then when I sold it in 2009 I got around £1400 for it from ebay, I actually replaced it with a 1999 9-5 which cost me £750 (which was then an insurance write off less than a year later and I got about a £2000 payout!).

As there will now be a shortage of good Saabs and some people who will really really want one then the prices will rise a bit, I had a similar thing selling my dads Austin Maestro on ebay too, he had paid about £300 for it and we sold it for about £1200! Just don't expect them to go crazy expensive.

[Steve McF]

Many years ago, I really wanted a Rover SD1. There were loads of them in the classifieds from about £300. I nearly bought a 2.6 Vanden Plas, and put a deposit on it, but there was damp in the boot, and the interior didn't seem to be the correct one for the VdP. It had had a load of owners, and the young guy who owned it was a kn*b, so I didn't go through with it. I couldn't rely on an SD1 as my main car, as I was renting, and had nowhere to store it as a second car. Years later, and when I went to look for SD1s again, there were very few available, and certainly none for less than about £2000 - most really good ones were going for £5000!!! Now they go for even more than that!!!

Before buying my 9-3 Aero, I was actually after a Rover 820 Vitesse coupe. I had seen some around for about £1000, and then one came up on Ebay with a starting price of £1100, but it was clearly a good example, well looked after and in excellent condition. I put a bid in, but someone had bid higher, and so I bid again, and again....going beyond my max of £1500. It kept on going up, and I got to my next 'max' of £1800, and as I hit the bid button, the price increased to over £1900 - at that point I bailed. The car went for just shy of £2000. When I look for them now, I struggle to find one for less than about £2500, and they are often more than that!!

I was so gutted that I didn't get it, and I was all fired up to buy something, I started looking at what else I'd like. Initially Saab 9-5s, as I still missed my original V reg one from many years before. Whilst looking, I broadened the search to 9-3ss, and found they were in my affordability bracket I was looking nationally for a while at Autotrader/Ebay/Gumtree, before finally finding the one I bought, locally!!! Got it for £1250, when others were going for £1500 - £2000 - Now I see some going for £500 - £600, so they are probably nearing their low price point, which suggests to me that now is the time to pick up the bargains.

I was horrified to see people on the Saab 9-3 Facebook groups stripping perfectly good 9-3s for spares, rather than selling them on to someone who would get them running again. Some of the excuses for stripping them were very poor, but it means there should be plenty of spares around, and of course as they shrink the 9-3 population, those left should start to appreciate in value......

[Audax]

I was horrified to see people on the Saab 9-3 Facebook groups stripping perfectly good 9-3s for spares, rather than selling them on to someone who would get them running again. Some of the excuses for stripping them were very poor, but it means there should be plenty of spares around, and of course as they shrink the 9-3 population, those left should start to appreciate in value......

The truth is very often that nobody would get them running again, and if they are being parted out and the parts are being sold then they are keeping other ones running.

I'm wondering how much longer I will be keeping mine, just paid another years tax at £565, mot is due a month today along with the service! When I purchased in 2016 I intended to have it for 5 years before upgrading, but it's unlikely I will be commuting again anywhere soon or travelling very much so I will be keeping it at least another year, I should probably start saving pennies for when the time does come to replace though. I had kind of fancied some kind of Subaru when the time comes but all the more modern ones are very tame when compared to those of a similar year to the 9-3.

[sgould]

I keep an eye out for other makes in case my 9-5 goes into terminal decline, or gets written off, but too many modern cars are very wide, and around here, when i can get out and about again, there are far too many 6'-6" width restrictions.  I ruled out getting an NG 9-5 some years ago on that basis.  I did cast an eye over a Kia Stinger, but that is also wide.

There was an issue not far from here recently when people living in a gated community had put in width restrictions to stop vans and trucks using it as a short cut.  But they have found that the latest Chelsea tractors they have bought are too wide to drive onto the estate.   In the end they had to leave the "tradesmen's gate" open all the time.

[Geoff1951]

Season's greetings everyone.

I no longer have my PDFs of old Saab brochures, so can't check measurements.  I do remember the 9-5 being the same width as the 9-3SS, near enough as damn it, yet the 9-5 seemed much wider inside.

[sgould]

The newer cars have to meet more stringent side impact rules, so the doors ar a bit thicker.  Although I have laid the seat bases from my 9-5 estate on the rear seat of the 9-3 Carlsson and shut the doors.

[sgould]

Found a picture of the 9-5 rear seat bases across the back seat of the 9-3...

[Steve McF]

Just had a look on Ebay, and the prices of 9-3s on there seem to suggest my 9-3 is appreciating in value whilst sat in the garage without me even doing anything with it, other than keeping the miles down, and keeping the condition as good as I can.....