What 9-5 estate?

[Elderly]

I'm looking to get a large estate car about 2 or 3 years old and moving away from Volvo for the first time.

But I'm bewildered by all the options of 9-5s offered.

I (my wife!) wants it to be auto but I find the road tax of the large petrol engined versions
a bit hard to swallow.

How gutless are the 1.9 turbo diesels?

Any pointers please as to any versions should be avoided for any reason?

[DavidY]

1.9TiD is surprising nippy, but more at home in the 9-3 where it has less bulk to carry around. An ex-business partner of mine had a Hirsched 1.9TiD and that went pretty well.

[Nicholas Blair]

1.9 Vector Sport estate here. Plenty poke, getting about 44mpg too. Very comfy cruiser.

cheers
Nick

[Pablo16v]

I've been running a 2004 3.0 tid estate for the past 2 1/2 years and 29K miles, but I don't think they made them after 2005 so probably not new enough for you. It's a great blend of comfort, practicality and performace. I believe some of the very early 3 litres had oil sludge issues, but I think this was sorted on later cars. Mine now has 112K on the clock and still feels nice and tight.

[DavidY]

3.0 TiDs don't have a sludge issue but do seem to suffer from dropped liners, tends to happen between 80K and 120K miles, Big bill and usually effectively writes the car off.

[davidd]

I'm about to sell a 9-5 aero estate.... 55k miles on the clock, 56 plate, every option apart from a sunroof...

I know it is a petrol and so you have the tax pain but I'll be selling it for £6k... Great car

[Pablo16v]

DavidY said:

3.0 TiDs don't have a sludge issue but do seem to suffer from dropped liners, tends to happen between 80K and 120K miles, Big bill and usually effectively writes the car off.

Ah, thanks.....is that what it was? I knew there was an issue of some sorts with early 3.0 litres, having trawled a few Saab sites after buying my one . Touch wood, it has been utterly reliable over the past 2 1/2 years and was a bit of a billy bargain. The performance is pretty decent too, although the manual gearbox isn't the best. It was the 9-5, or a 2.5tdi A6 Avant, but the A6 was £1,500 more expensive, and the 2.5tdi engine has it's own reliability issues.

[davemac250]

OP I have the petrol Aero.

Don't be put off by the tax. (IMO opinion a small(ish) price for the rest of the package)

I get an average of 28mpg and it spends a very long time in town. When not trundling through town it is going more than a little quickly on the local autobahns.

On a more sedate run I get +35mpg.

It has ever conceivable toy.

It holds my personal record for Innsbruck to home at a shade over 5 hours including a dog burger stop.

Which may not be your thing, but bloody nice to know it will do it.

The Aero sports seats are the most comfortable seats I have ever had.

It was a damn sight cheaper than a diesel! To the degree that it really negated the fuel and tax argument.

[Elderly]

Thanks for the responses so far (and the sale offer).

I took the first tentative step today and visited a Saab dealership to have a better
look at a 9-5 estate; you do seem to get alot of nice car for your money.

I do want a late car and he said that my problem could be finding the spec I want. He said that in the last year or two of 9-5 production, they were selling very few cars over here (most of them were diesels) and so there's not a great choice on the used market.

If I got a 1.9 diesel and 'Hirsched' it, I presume that I would lose the economy,
so might I just as well go for the big petrol engine instead?

There's a (rather expensive?) 'Hot' advertised on PH, it has Paddle-Shift,
is that something to be avoided????

Edited by Elderly on Wednesday 12th October 20:30

Edited by Elderly on Wednesday 12th October 20:31

[kprm77]

The 1.9TiD's are quick enough for a car of that size.

I average mid 40's in mine (auto estate) and have had over 50mpg several times on a run.

I've had mine remapped and am now up to 185BHP so it's even nippier now. If I take my time the economy is the same, but if I have a play then the economy does suffer. Still way better than my old Aero though. Best I ever got from the Aero on a run was 36mpg, though a very enthusiastic drive in the TiD will be around 39mpg (that's for my commute home).

I was trying to sell mine recently (08 reg now with 65000 miles) - but got no interest at all at £6550. If I sold it now it would be more like £5995

[Elderly]

I'm leaning towards a 'Hot' but at this moment there are very few advertised in the spec I'm looking for (08/09 auto & preferably not black!).

What does strike me is the HUGE margin between (the very low) trade-in values in CAP and the dealer asking prices ....... I'm talking about 100% .

[davemac250]

Same when I got mine.

Stay clear of Saab dealers. They would appear to fill the tyres with gold!

I got mine from a indy and was 40% cheaper than from my local main dealer.

I wouldn't service there either. Not due to rep but simply costs.