9-5 Estate

[edition]

Hi,

I'm in search of a second car due to the wife finding out we're expecting our first baby.

The 9-5 seems to fit in our budget, 2.5-3k and looks massive so should sort family duties out easy enough.

I want a petrol one but unsure which is the best to go for. I see there is 2.0t and then two types of 2.3t. I'm no buying this car for performance really but it wouldn't be a negative.....

Any tips?


Thanks!

[Prof Beard]

Mrs B has a 2001 2.3 LPT auto 9-5 Estate. We bought it 4 years ago with 130K on it and a FSH for just over two grand. It's been a cracking car very reliable except for needing a new throttle body last year (got one off fleabay and the local Saab garage kindly fitted it for me - saved me a bit). Very comfortable, huge load capacity and generally very well tempered. Averages low 20s around town and mid 30s on a run. Has been a nice cheap car overall.

[Pablo16v]

I have a 55 plate 2.0t 9-5 Estate which I picked up for £3K earlier this year (with 60K on the clock). It's a nice smooth comfy car with just enough oomph as standard (150hp) but I fitted a remapped ECU to mine which should be giving me north of 200bhp... it certainly feels much quicker. My overall average fuel economy is around 32-33mpg.

[treetops]

Get yourself onto a good uksaabs forum. Plenty of advice, cars for sale etc there.

[DavidY]

One great advantage of a 9-5 Estate with babies is the solid parcel shelf. With a bit of planning on how the boot is packed, it makes a great place to change nappies during long trips, much easier than trying to wrestle a baby on the back seat. Just pack the essentials and a change mat at the rear of the boot, and hey presto, instant mobile baby station!!!!

Going back to your original question, generally Aero's have less mechanical issues than the light pressure turbos (and don't suffer much at the pumps compared with the LPTs), running all three engines on fully synthetic is essential. I ran a 2.3LPT from 7k miles to 221k miles, without any unexpected dramas.

[edition]

Thanks for the help guys!

Do you think my budget of 2.5k is enough to get a half decent example?

[otolith]

I should think so, if you don't mind a few miles.

Aeros are (officially) more economical than the lower powered 2.3 cars, and I think are no worse in reality.

Manuals seem to be noticeably more economical than autos.

[bint]

Bought mine in Jan to replace the Alfa SW, and baby was on the way too and we wanted the space for buggy etc without piling to the ceiling. Or for his lordships mountain bikes.

Turns out to have been a fabulous but for under 2.5k we got a 95 Aero (hot version of the 2.3t) estate with 89k on it. It's sad, but I love the front and rear heated seats, the power, the space, and yes, as someone mentioned, the parcel shelf makes an ideal baby changing station!!

I only do around 6k a year so fuel economy wasn't really an issue, but running on super she does mid 30's quite happily.