9-3 Aero advice please
Discussion
Hi I am looking for a compact 4 door saloon for my new company car to replace my old Golf, I have been looking at 9-3 Aeros over the last few days they seem to offer excellent value when compared to the usual Audi/BMW alternatives.
I don't want to spend anymore than 15k and need a low mileage car within warranty and there seem to plenty around in my price range.
Can anyone give me a quick guide to living with one in terms of pros, cons, fuel consumption etc and also details of any "must have" optional extras that might be desireable.
Many thanks
I don't want to spend anymore than 15k and need a low mileage car within warranty and there seem to plenty around in my price range.
Can anyone give me a quick guide to living with one in terms of pros, cons, fuel consumption etc and also details of any "must have" optional extras that might be desireable.
Many thanks
Should find everything you need in here www.saabscene.com/saabforum/postlist.php/Cat/0/Board/21 (somewhere!)
davidy
davidy
Ok found a car I am interested in however it is fitted with an auto box with paddle shift, the box felt a little clunky when test driving, it has had a software upgrade in Feb this year but still feels less than smooth.
I think Saab offer two different types of auto, the first being a standard auto with tiptronic manual shifts and the second being of the "flappy paddle" type. BMW offered a similar choice with the 3 series and I know from experience that the SSG paddle box on the 3 series is a pile of cr*p is the Saab equivalent the same and to be avoided at all costs ?
I think Saab offer two different types of auto, the first being a standard auto with tiptronic manual shifts and the second being of the "flappy paddle" type. BMW offered a similar choice with the 3 series and I know from experience that the SSG paddle box on the 3 series is a pile of cr*p is the Saab equivalent the same and to be avoided at all costs ?
I bought a 9-3 Aero in March, and with a sigh of relief, sold it on today. Categorically, it was the worst car I have owned - though at the same time I was in love with the interior and exterior design. Unfortunately, it was full of all sorts of niggles such as peeling trim, an interior that wore out prematurely, creaking suspension, rattles from all over the place, and a sat nav system that could not make up its own mind as to announce in imperial or metric on a day to day basis. It was a disappointing crock. I eventually gave up on the majority of Saab dealers too as no one garage seemed to possess all the expertise to make it behave as it should.
If you want my advice, avoid the Saab 9-3 and go for a Saab 9-5. It is a much much better car. But saying that ( I loved my old 9-5, it was great), they need to be purchased with some caution once they have more than 60,000 miles on. Sorry to sound so negative, but do buy one of these with your head and not your heart, or better still, find something else.
If you want my advice, avoid the Saab 9-3 and go for a Saab 9-5. It is a much much better car. But saying that ( I loved my old 9-5, it was great), they need to be purchased with some caution once they have more than 60,000 miles on. Sorry to sound so negative, but do buy one of these with your head and not your heart, or better still, find something else.
think you had a bad one mate - mine has been great, although I am also selling it and the depreciation is a bit of a bitch, butI paid alot less for mine initially than you did for yours 
- and i had tom tom before I bought so didnt need to worry about the sat nav bought mine at 46k, got 63k on it now and not had any problems at all...
I am quite gutted to be selling mine, but I need something bigger, I have found it to be a great car, I really like it, have really enjoyed driving it and would buy one again if the circumstances are right.
when I was looking at them, i did see a lot of shite ones, so I guess you were unlucky - or maybe I was lucky
anyone wants to buy a "good 9-3" - give me a shout
- and i had tom tom before I bought so didnt need to worry about the sat nav bought mine at 46k, got 63k on it now and not had any problems at all... I am quite gutted to be selling mine, but I need something bigger, I have found it to be a great car, I really like it, have really enjoyed driving it and would buy one again if the circumstances are right.
when I was looking at them, i did see a lot of shite ones, so I guess you were unlucky - or maybe I was lucky
anyone wants to buy a "good 9-3" - give me a shout
Edited by skyrocketship on Tuesday 12th September 23:31
Edited by skyrocketship on Tuesday 12th September 23:34
Here's a rundown on mine:
- sat nav screen went faulty
- CD autochange skipped
- driver side lumbar support broke
- rattle from passener A pillar
- rattle from behind dash
- whistling noise on drivers window on motorway
- paint rubbed off interior of driver's door where it meets the rubber strip
- seat belt trims on both sides - rattle
- crashing noise from rear suspension
- trim peeled from dash and gear stick, oh, and centre console
- leather on driver's seat - wore out
- hole worn in carpet at 49,000 miles, even with floor mats down
- sat nav mixes up imperial and metric
- comfort close of windows occasionally only worked on 1, 2 or 3 windows - not often all 4
- electronic steering lock temperamental and would sometimes not release
- automatic gear change extremeley rough at times with gears slipping
- fault in paintwork on bonnet - under the lacquer coat
- rusting wheel nuts
- climate control panel became loose enough to pull out
- suspension generally too hard and crashy
- menus on SID system came and went by them themselves, sometimes the SID would die completely
Utterly awful awful car and very pleased to get rid. Mine may be a Friday pm car, but the courtesy cars that I got to use on all too frequent basis seemed to be pretty much as bad.
- sat nav screen went faulty
- CD autochange skipped
- driver side lumbar support broke
- rattle from passener A pillar
- rattle from behind dash
- whistling noise on drivers window on motorway
- paint rubbed off interior of driver's door where it meets the rubber strip
- seat belt trims on both sides - rattle
- crashing noise from rear suspension
- trim peeled from dash and gear stick, oh, and centre console
- leather on driver's seat - wore out
- hole worn in carpet at 49,000 miles, even with floor mats down
- sat nav mixes up imperial and metric
- comfort close of windows occasionally only worked on 1, 2 or 3 windows - not often all 4
- electronic steering lock temperamental and would sometimes not release
- automatic gear change extremeley rough at times with gears slipping
- fault in paintwork on bonnet - under the lacquer coat
- rusting wheel nuts
- climate control panel became loose enough to pull out
- suspension generally too hard and crashy
- menus on SID system came and went by them themselves, sometimes the SID would die completely
Utterly awful awful car and very pleased to get rid. Mine may be a Friday pm car, but the courtesy cars that I got to use on all too frequent basis seemed to be pretty much as bad.
blimey that does look bad, not having satnav or auto i dont have those related problems - the stuff with the seat looks like its been owned by a fat bloke - as for the rest, to be honest I did not have any of those problems, did you not spot any of this when you bought the car?? unlucky anyway, if mine was like that I am sure I would have been well pissed off! 
- as for the rest, to be honest I did not have any of those problems, did you not spot any of this when you bought the car?? unlucky anyway, if mine was like that I am sure I would have been well pissed off! Edited by skyrocketship on Saturday 16th September 17:08
I spotted the wear to the leather and the hole in the carpet. The rest of the faults crept out one by one. Got the carpet replaced by the selling dealer after a huge amount of argy bargy. Cost was £600.
Got most of the rest of the work done under Saab / Dealer Guarantee warranty leaving me without my car for a total of 6 days in 6 months. As for wear and tear, Saab did not want to know. I was shocked that the leather and trim could wear out so quickly - definitely not like the Saabs of old.
The rattles were appalling. I ended up sorting out alot of these myself using copious amounts of butyl tape. Even this could not make up for the wretched quality of plastics used. One of the most creaky parts of the car being the central armrest and storage bin. It must have been made from recycled plastic egg boxes. Desperately disappointed, the only saving grace was that the 210 bhp engine was rather good. I nearly bought a 6 month old 9-5 Aero 2 weeks ago, but swerved on that decision at the 11th hour (deposit paid, car delivered, but in very poor condition by my standards). I have since bought a completely different make and model of car and be thrilled with it. So sorry that my 9-3 was a motoring disgrace.
Got most of the rest of the work done under Saab / Dealer Guarantee warranty leaving me without my car for a total of 6 days in 6 months. As for wear and tear, Saab did not want to know. I was shocked that the leather and trim could wear out so quickly - definitely not like the Saabs of old.
The rattles were appalling. I ended up sorting out alot of these myself using copious amounts of butyl tape. Even this could not make up for the wretched quality of plastics used. One of the most creaky parts of the car being the central armrest and storage bin. It must have been made from recycled plastic egg boxes. Desperately disappointed, the only saving grace was that the 210 bhp engine was rather good. I nearly bought a 6 month old 9-5 Aero 2 weeks ago, but swerved on that decision at the 11th hour (deposit paid, car delivered, but in very poor condition by my standards). I have since bought a completely different make and model of car and be thrilled with it. So sorry that my 9-3 was a motoring disgrace.
TUS 373 said:
I spotted the wear to the leather and the hole in the carpet. The rest of the faults crept out one by one. Got the carpet replaced by the selling dealer after a huge amount of argy bargy. Cost was £600.
Got most of the rest of the work done under Saab / Dealer Guarantee warranty leaving me without my car for a total of 6 days in 6 months. As for wear and tear, Saab did not want to know. I was shocked that the leather and trim could wear out so quickly - definitely not like the Saabs of old.
The rattles were appalling. I ended up sorting out alot of these myself using copious amounts of butyl tape. Even this could not make up for the wretched quality of plastics used. One of the most creaky parts of the car being the central armrest and storage bin. It must have been made from recycled plastic egg boxes. Desperately disappointed, the only saving grace was that the 210 bhp engine was rather good. I nearly bought a 6 month old 9-5 Aero 2 weeks ago, but swerved on that decision at the 11th hour (deposit paid, car delivered, but in very poor condition by my standards). I have since bought a completely different make and model of car and be thrilled with it. So sorry that my 9-3 was a motoring disgrace.
Got most of the rest of the work done under Saab / Dealer Guarantee warranty leaving me without my car for a total of 6 days in 6 months. As for wear and tear, Saab did not want to know. I was shocked that the leather and trim could wear out so quickly - definitely not like the Saabs of old.
The rattles were appalling. I ended up sorting out alot of these myself using copious amounts of butyl tape. Even this could not make up for the wretched quality of plastics used. One of the most creaky parts of the car being the central armrest and storage bin. It must have been made from recycled plastic egg boxes. Desperately disappointed, the only saving grace was that the 210 bhp engine was rather good. I nearly bought a 6 month old 9-5 Aero 2 weeks ago, but swerved on that decision at the 11th hour (deposit paid, car delivered, but in very poor condition by my standards). I have since bought a completely different make and model of car and be thrilled with it. So sorry that my 9-3 was a motoring disgrace.
I've found your comments on this very interesting. When I bought my Aero, I had a think about whether to buy an "old" 9-3 convertible (205bhp) or a "new" one at 210bhp.
I decided that the "old" one: looked better; was better built; was a real 4 seater - the dealer told me the old was faster anyway because of weight differences. True mine is certainly "floppier" in terms of flex as a cabrio, but its not as bad as I was told by some!
I will have had it two years come January, and so far have had no niggles at all.
I wouldn't go there !
I had a 93SS from new, they may look like good value but this is for a reason !
I got rid of mine after 18 months/25k miles, due to the constant niggling quality issues such as rattles, clunks from suspension, wierd electrical problems which righted themselves and an overiding feeling of poor quality construction.
Stick with Audi/BMW etc.
I had a 93SS from new, they may look like good value but this is for a reason !
I got rid of mine after 18 months/25k miles, due to the constant niggling quality issues such as rattles, clunks from suspension, wierd electrical problems which righted themselves and an overiding feeling of poor quality construction.
Stick with Audi/BMW etc.
Prof Beard - I think you made a sound choice there. I absolutely loved my 9-5. It was as if hewn out of granite. I can only imagine that the contemporary 9-3 would have been similarly so.
Being a Saab fan, I really expected good things of the 9-3SS but it was a let down. Hence why I sold it and planned to get another 9-5. However, I had really had enough of seeing the same dealers who all seem to abuse my car, go for fish & chips at lunchtime in it with all their mates leaving a spotless interior now filthy, and seeming to wash it post-service with wet & dry. Enough was enough.
Edited by TUS 373 on Monday 18th September 17:12
not really much point me continuing to advertise mine on PH is there? - considering all the slating of them, fair enough if you have found them to be as bad as you say then you are entitled to say so - thats what this forum is about - still you always get people more likely to talk about bad experiences than good ones.
I just cant believe no-one else other than me on here likes them, I was considering trading mine in for a brand new one as I liked it so much.... trouble is for me the boot is just not big enough for the stuff I now need to carry around on some jobs. The older models of 9-3 are nice but for me they are just so dated, like the last model 9-5, the new model looks nice tho but a new aero 9-5 estate is out of my price range at the moment
The only problem I had was it took 2 days for the local fitter to get hold of the right brake disks for it (not really a problem), other than that, no niggles, everything works perfectly and I have really enjoyed the car as have various friends and family who have travelled in it, including one family member who has had three 9-5's who also liked the 9-3 when travelling 3hours in it with me.
horses for corses eh
- considering all the slating of them, fair enough if you have found them to be as bad as you say then you are entitled to say so - thats what this forum is about - still you always get people more likely to talk about bad experiences than good ones. I just cant believe no-one else other than me on here likes them, I was considering trading mine in for a brand new one as I liked it so much.... trouble is for me the boot is just not big enough for the stuff I now need to carry around on some jobs. The older models of 9-3 are nice but for me they are just so dated, like the last model 9-5, the new model looks nice tho but a new aero 9-5 estate is out of my price range at the moment
The only problem I had was it took 2 days for the local fitter to get hold of the right brake disks for it (not really a problem), other than that, no niggles, everything works perfectly and I have really enjoyed the car as have various friends and family who have travelled in it, including one family member who has had three 9-5's who also liked the 9-3 when travelling 3hours in it with me.
horses for corses eh
Edited by skyrocketship on Monday 18th September 18:25
Strange as it may seem, I did actually like my 9-3! I think the problem for me was that being a 2003 model, it was one made in the first 6 months of production while they were still getting it right. The other aspect is finding a dealer who really knows these cars inside out. Much of the niggles are down to programming of the car's many computers - and that is only as good as the last person who put it on a Tech 2.
Good points of for the car was that it was a 'drivers' car' even though front wheel drive. It was fast, nimble, very chuckable and entertaining to drive when called upon. The seats were, of course, very comfortable. Also, the car is still very safe and has more than its fair share of safety gizmos and airbags. Altogether, it has the makings of a good family car which has been nicely designed and well thought out. My gripe is really concerned with the quality of some of the materials used inside, particularly the plastics. That is something that many car manufacturers are guilty of in trying to contain costs and remain competitive in a fierce market. I have not driven a brand new 2006 9-3 Aero, but I would imagine that they may be screwed together better than my 2003. Certainly the 2006 Aero is well put together and I was within a hair's breadth of collecting one - but I found a Lexus RX at a comporable price that was altogether a better proposition for our family.
Good points of for the car was that it was a 'drivers' car' even though front wheel drive. It was fast, nimble, very chuckable and entertaining to drive when called upon. The seats were, of course, very comfortable. Also, the car is still very safe and has more than its fair share of safety gizmos and airbags. Altogether, it has the makings of a good family car which has been nicely designed and well thought out. My gripe is really concerned with the quality of some of the materials used inside, particularly the plastics. That is something that many car manufacturers are guilty of in trying to contain costs and remain competitive in a fierce market. I have not driven a brand new 2006 9-3 Aero, but I would imagine that they may be screwed together better than my 2003. Certainly the 2006 Aero is well put together and I was within a hair's breadth of collecting one - but I found a Lexus RX at a comporable price that was altogether a better proposition for our family.
I had one of the earliest 9-3's (52 plate) and currently have an 04 cab and I can understand some of the comments
The cab has had a new facia /new buttons/new cd player under warranty
(the facia was peeling)
but the 52 plate ran almost faultlessly apart from a duff battery and the vectra wheel bearings
but they are not so well made now and lots of cheap parts abound
but they do drive fabulously well IMHO
I have an understanding specialist (saab approved ) who has been great fixing the niggles
Cabrio is absouloutley tip top now (touching wood) tight as a new car
I love it .....
The cab has had a new facia /new buttons/new cd player under warranty
(the facia was peeling)
but the 52 plate ran almost faultlessly apart from a duff battery and the vectra wheel bearings
but they are not so well made now and lots of cheap parts abound
but they do drive fabulously well IMHO
I have an understanding specialist (saab approved ) who has been great fixing the niggles
Cabrio is absouloutley tip top now (touching wood) tight as a new car
I love it .....
I had the aero cabrio (2004) - was my third saab - and I really liked it. Quick, handled well, positive response from other motorists. They aren't as well made as they used to be but, I had an excellent dealer (Valley in Chipstead, Surrey) and they fixed any niggles very swiftly. Drive the old mans Audi cabrio sometimes and I preferred the Saab - much tighter feel to it -the Audi feels a real boat. I'd have another one if I was in the market for a sensible car.......
Well 3 months in and the "clunky gearbox" (we have had it thoroughly checked and changed the oil sir)comprehensively lunched itself on the A1m leaving me stranded for hours, dealer was good and got the box replaced under warranty in under a week.
Otherwise really pleased with it, it's a lot of car for the money, the car has every single Saab option fitted including Hirsch engine upgrade and makes a comfortable fast cruiser for work. Must admit the build quality is not up to my wifes BMW standards but then it cost a great deal less.
Otherwise really pleased with it, it's a lot of car for the money, the car has every single Saab option fitted including Hirsch engine upgrade and makes a comfortable fast cruiser for work. Must admit the build quality is not up to my wifes BMW standards but then it cost a great deal less.
I had 5 SAABS and loved the cars till I got a 9-5 what a pile of crap, 8 months later , 2 dealers and arguments with SAAB sold the car after not being able to use it for a month. SAAB H/O (GM) has a lot to answer for they should be able to do the end of SAAB. the car played up dangerously from day 3 after purchase, and we were accused of fabricating everything to get a refund (we asked for a replacement car as the car intermittently accelerated when you pressed the brake, this was still going on after 6 months of them trying to "fix it"
should have kept the "old 900 T" that was a real saab that worked faultlessly.
(see kamakazi pilots wanted)
should have kept the "old 900 T" that was a real saab that worked faultlessly. (see kamakazi pilots wanted)
Gassing Station | Saab | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff