saab 9-5 aero advice

[MGYoung]

Hi there,

I'm considering a 2002 saab 9-5 aero as my next car. Any advice on what to look for?

Also answers to the following questions would be much appreciated. Thanks.

1. What are the service intervals and what can I expect to pay at an independent?
2. What size are the wheels and tyres?
3. What can I expect in terms of fuel consumption with a mixture of commuting, town driving and out of town driving?


I'm not interested in modifying the car. Just looking for fast, comfortable, reliable transport.

Thanks.

Martin.

[davidy]

Martin

Check out here should have all your answers

www.saabscene.com/saabforum/postlist.php/Cat/0/Board/12

davidy

[Phil Dicky]

MGYoung said:

Hi there, I'm considering a 2002 saab 9-5 aero as my next car. Any advice on what to look for? Also answers to the following questions would be much appreciated. Thanks. 1. What are the service intervals and what can I expect to pay at an independent? 2. What size are the wheels and tyres? 3. What can I expect in terms of fuel consumption with a mixture of commuting, town driving and out of town driving? I'm not interested in modifying the car. Just looking for fast, comfortable, reliable transport. Thanks. Martin.

Hi Martin,
Top choice for a car, I had a 200 Aero Estate, which i loved and should never have sold. They are the most comfortable car out there a top motorway cruiser.

1/ Service intervals where 12,000 and I paid as I remember £300 ish at a dealer, knock a bit off for an indie.
2/ Wheels where 17", 255's i think
3/ Comsumption was 40 mpg on a steady run, low 30's on the motorway and a lot less with a heavy right foot

I'd get one again and probally will within the next 12 months.

[LongQ]

MGYoung said:

Hi there, Also answers to the following questions would be much appreciated. Thanks. 1. What are the service intervals and what can I expect to pay at an independent? 2. What size are the wheels and tyres? 3. What can I expect in terms of fuel consumption with a mixture of commuting, town driving and out of town driving?

I have an MY2002 Aero Estate. Bought (with 97k recorded) from a dealer and sold to me with 12month SAAB warranty. My mileage has been much lower than I expected - only about 10k in 18 months. The only problem has been a slight water loss, difficult to trace. Eventually it became more evident and was diagnosed as a water pump problem. Fixed by the dealer under warranty, even though the 12months wty had expired, on the basis that it had been checked but not conclusively diagnosed within the warranty period.

Service is annual or 18k miles. Cost of the last year's was £330 inc VAT.

Standard Aero wheels are 17" with 225/45 W/ZR rated. Extra Load spec on the estates. I believe there was an 18" option as well. MY 2002 cars tended to have most toys as standard for launch. Later ones my not be quite so well specced. Mine has no sunroof and just the single slot CD player but most other normal goodies are there. SID displays can be dodgy - mine was changed before delivery.

Fuel consumption in the low 30's on a sensible motorway or reasonable main road run (mine is Auto). Around town with a lot of short runs and a few overtaking blasts my current tankful is showing just under 23mpg on the info display. Typically a mixed use tankful will show around 27/28 mpg. Which is excellent considering the smile generating performance available! The build quality and the thought given to details seems well above average.


There are too many good things to list here. The only slight negatives I can think of are:

Sometimes the turbo lag (esp. with the auto box involved) can be a bit difficult to predict for smooth progress but this is a very rare problem. You can drive around it if you want to apply the effort - which sometimes I do! Mostly this is noticable at lower speeds so not a surprise when you consider that the engine is really only ticking over at anything below 50mph. At that sort of speed it is amazing how much additional velocity one can generate with hardly any extra pressure from one's right foot.

The turning circle is no more than adequate.

The door mirrors, once wet, never clear by themselves. There seems to be no airflow over the surface of the mirror.

I preferred the cruise control controls on my previous Omega but the Saab system works well enough.

But that is about it. Everything else is fine IMO.

I hope this is of some help.

[aeropilot]

LongQ said:

Service is annual or 18k miles. Cost of the last year's was £330 inc VAT.

18k serivce interval is only for MY04 onwards cars that have the redesigned PCV system.

For cars up and including MY03 it's 12 months/12,000 miles.

LongQ said:

Standard Aero wheels are 17" with 225/45 W/ZR rated. Extra Load spec on the estates. I believe there was an 18" option as well.

Extra load 94W rated tyres are standard on both Aero saloons and estates from MY02 onwards (and on the 3.0Tid cars as well)

LongQ said:

The only slight negatives I can think of are: Sometimes the turbo lag (esp. with the auto box involved) can be a bit difficult to predict for smooth progress but this is a very rare problem. You can drive around it if you want to apply the effort - which sometimes I do! Mostly this is noticable at lower speeds so not a surprise when you consider that the engine is really only ticking over at anything below 50mph. At that sort of speed it is amazing how much additional velocity one can generate with hardly any extra pressure from one's right foot.

There's always the S 'silly' button on the auto for that extra bit of......

There is also a known occasional problem with the throttle cables that can give a feeling of a lack of response which people wrong put down to turbo lag. New cable sorts it out.

LongQ said:

The turning circle is no more than adequate.

Your are joking.....
The turning circle on the 9-5 is heaps better than the older 9000, and London Taxi like compared to a Volvo S60

LongQ said:

The door mirrors, once wet, never clear by themselves. There seems to be no airflow over the surface of the mirror.

Agreed, this is very annoying, even worse if you have the electric fold door mirrors....

[LongQ]

aeropilot said:

LongQ said: Service is annual or 18k miles. Cost of the last year's was £330 inc VAT. 18k serivce interval is only for MY04 onwards cars that have the redesigned PCV system. For cars up and including MY03 it's 12 months/12,000 miles.

Ooops. You're right. Though I'm sure there is a sticker somewhere on mine that suggests otherwise. Not having got close to the annual service mileage since I've owned it ( )this has never been an issue for me.

aeropilot said:

LongQ said: The only slight negatives I can think of are: Sometimes the turbo lag (esp. with the auto box involved) can be a bit difficult to predict for smooth progress but this is a very rare problem. You can drive around it if you want to apply the effort - which sometimes I do! Mostly this is noticable at lower speeds so not a surprise when you consider that the engine is really only ticking over at anything below 50mph. At that sort of speed it is amazing how much additional velocity one can generate with hardly any extra pressure from one's right foot. There's always the S 'silly' button on the auto for that extra bit of...... There is also a known occasional problem with the throttle cables that can give a feeling of a lack of response which people wrong put down to turbo lag. New cable sorts it out.

Oh yes, the Silly button is a whole load of fun. In fact switching it on changes the behaviour of the car dramatically and things happen much faster than you might expect even if you are used to it. Good job the brakes are highly effective.

However, it is still possible, occasionally, to catch the EMS/AUTO combination working out of synch for a second. Personally I think they are trying to ascertain whether I really meant to engage launch control. Once they have agreed that I did they are more than happy to respond. Changes are incredibly smooth considering the full power command given and fifth gear seems to come along in no time at all. Or so I read somewhere ....

For normal daytime driving non-S mode is usually perfectly adequate. Well, more than adequate really. especially with so much low revs torque.

aeropilot said:

LongQ said: The turning circle is no more than adequate. Your are joking..... The turning circle on the 9-5 is heaps better than the older 9000, and London Taxi like compared to a Volvo S60

Not as good as my Omega or the Senator before that. Never driven a Black Cab but I have seen what they can do. Must try a 9000 sometime. Thanks for the warning about the S60 ...!

aeropilot said:

LongQ said: The door mirrors, once wet, never clear by themselves. There seems to be no airflow over the surface of the mirror. Agreed, this is very annoying, even worse if you have the electric fold door mirrors....

I'm sure there must be a simple way to fix that. I'm not sure what it might be. I suspect the aerodynamics are too good.

[hugerr]

LongQ said:

Not as good as my Omega or the Senator before that. Never driven a Black Cab but I have seen what they can do. Must try a 9000 sometime. Thanks for the warning about the S60 ...!

Aren't both the Omega and Senator rear wheel drive cars? If so, it's hardly surprising that they had better turning circles than a front drive car!

H

[LongQ]

Yes indeed, but neither were great in that respect and both were quite a bit bigger than the 9-5.

If you take the turning ability it has an add on the significant front overhang it can sometimes seem surprisingly cumbersome - well, it surprises me at least.

But then, who cares. It's a car for the open road not the car park!

I am more than happy to live with what it offers.