Messages

Kev, could I view tomorrow? pm me - thanks Paul

did you shift your estate then? Im still looking.......

Fair enough Sgould, I wasnt 100 pc sure of the conventions but still best to keep it hugging the main theme?

it always tickles me how a thread can get hijacked, taken off on a tangent to a completely different topic, thus losing the reaceability or easy recall for what is useful information for people in the future.

Should the moderators play a part on keeping order?

P

Completely understand the business model, however, theyre not prepared to offer a decent warranty, (max 3 months), insist their car is the best in the country (condescenfding) and at the keenest price (nieve) with no scope to negotiate, just find it a bit boring to be honest, I know of two estates for sale at dealers that havent been sold after six months so cashflow obvously isnt a problem (yeah right).

My point was that there is no value in older SAABs, the value is massive to those of us who have got one already because to buy an equivalent package today would be five figures. Lets run em into the ground.

So with a really nice, FSH, 2002 Aero saloon and £7K in my pocket off I went to look for a hi-spec diesel estate.

I saw a small handfull of cars, and tbh I was disapointed at the derisery trade-ins I was offered. I was delined altogether once, and then offered 300, 500 and wow - 6-700. Last week I spent £400 on a service and TB - mug - you may as well push it to the dealers with the leather and audio already sold off!

Apparently the "trade" are very nervous about handling SAABs at the mo, continuity of factory support and parts being a concern, that, plus the VAT, inventory, warranty means that even nice, maintained cars are worth bugger all. Big pertol angines dont cut it any more! Cash doesnt cut it either " we make more money out of finance Sir"

The cars I was looking at were 6-9K, the biggest warranty was 3 months so that got me thinking, keep my 7K, fettle mine and build on all the good work Ive put into in in the 3 years of ownership and wait for these dealers to start bleating again about poor sales. I am a realist, I know a 10 year old Aero isnt worth much but Ill be buggered if Im going to give it away - the dealer who offered me 500 told me mine would sell for 1995 on his forecourt! Yes, they have to make a profit, but the whole experience peed me off somewhat.

Anyone fancy a black Aero FSH going cheap?.............

Mines doing exactly the same - I had to manually adjust the time this morning!

This car is still for sale at the same dealer - they've knocked a couple of hundred off but still hasn't shifted it I feel a bit mischevous and may ring him up and say - 

Me: "Back in July I looked at  9-5 estate, don't suppose you have something similar?

Sales "Yes Sir we have an ARC"

Me: "Oh my thats the one I told you was overpriced 4 months ago!" Bye!

Had my Aero serviced today (inc. new refurb throttle body) and the report was that the brakes are not far off replacement.

So it'll be discs and pads on all four corners - wondered if anyone could recommend good quality parts at reasonable prices?.

I have an excellent garage nearby who'll be happy to fit parts supplied by me.

Thanks

Paul

The website says 3-8 years old to qualify, but then contradicts itself by saying if its > 3years old ?

Confused - anyone got a 9-5 older than 8 years and got this offer?

Thats good info and would make sense. Previously my prefered Indy recommended a software refresh as a general good thing to do on the basis that there will be several updates from the factory that are worth having.

Ill enquire - may have it done at the same time as its upcoming service.

Cheers

Ive just done 30K in my MY2002 Aero, now at 118K, the only issues are that twice Ive had to have the throttle body reset and techtwoed (sounds like an owl!) to get out of limp home mode.

The first time it happened, a well regarded indy stated that the only option was to replace it at £400 - cant be reset, cant be cleaned,  cant be repaired...I wasn't impressed and went away and have never gone back there.

I got it reset at another Indy who explained it may go in a mile or a year or never.  It lasted about 12K and then went into limp home again. I decided to try a reset again and its been fine. So in total its cost me £40 to have two resets.

I was told first time around that the electronics had failed, well they must have repaired themselves cos theyve go on to give good service.

I accept that periodically I may pick up a limp home / CEL flag and am quite happy to pop into my new found (trusted) indy for a quick reset.

Reading around I see that the TB can be cleaned and put back into service, although as many people appear to replace them a bit like a consumeable.

My question is does anyone konow what periodically knocks the car into limp home mode?  And if so is there anything you can do to mitigate that happening? I fully accept that it will have a finite life but sometimes the knee-jerk replace strategy isnt neccesary - do these things fail completely eventually or can you accept a regime of clean and reset?

Is it the electronics that go, or the butterfly valve mechanism?  ECU.com will do one for £150 with a two year warranty, I'm not sure if its a superior device c.f. OEM but not too bad a deal.

p.s. I've weaned myself off Supermarket fuel (sod the nectar points) and will only buy fuel from an Oil Company (Shell etc) - would this help?

Any thoughts on what is for me anyway the only achilles heel on an otherwise excellent car appreciated. 

Sorry to heat that Jim - Im sure it'll be back better than new. Be very fussy (as I'm sure you will be) about the quality of the job. Dont accept it until youre 110% happy!

On a positive note - good to hear that excellent fuel consumption - I start my search again for a similar car, having just got rid of two daughters to Manchester and Canterbury Uni's in the same week with a huge Kamei roof box strapped to my Aero saloon - it did it OK and at 35 (SID) mpg not bad at all but it looks like a real 10mpg improvement could be realised in a 2.2tid!

Cheers

My 2002 Aero bites quite high I think, (117K) I'll check tomorrow on the trip into work. I live in a hilly town (beautiful Belper) so I'll know when its begining to struggle!

Is it a costly job on a 9-5?

Only asking as a few years back I spent £595 on a new pressure plate and master cylinder for my 9000CSE to sell the car for £600 a month later!

Paul

Spoton Mr Sgould! It was that pesky valve.

Interesting tho that despite my coolant overflow tank being bone dry, and no doubt coolant missing from the system - no alarm on the sid and the fan seemed to be coping ( I didnt do long trips though). Gauge always sat just above the 9 O Clock position

Volsaa in Derby fitted me a new one for a fair price and at short notice  - so It could have been worse. They said 95% of water leaks on 9-5's are down to that control valve. Watched the guy doing it, just the usual inaccessible working half blind issues over a stinking hot engine so I was happy to pay the 30 quid labour charge

Cheers