Saab 9-3 TiD auto - worth a punt?

[oldmanbm]

Going to look at a 05 9-3 TiD auto as a stop gap car until the summer. Its a high miler (120k) but is supposed to be in excellent condition with a full Saab history. Asking price £3250 but should be around £3k with negotiation. Are these cars generally reliable and what about the auto box with the TiD (1.9) engine. Can't ascertain if its a 120 or 150 bhp.

[crazydave30]

Nice comfy car to drive,good on motorway,

i ran one for 3 yrs ( 05-08) ended up putting 100K on it. Sadly it all ended in tears,

In its time it had 2 new gearboxes, every 30k problems with going from reverse to 1st, then the reason i finally got rid was constant fault of going into 'safe' mode. Saab couldn't work out the fault despite it being in and out of the garage for 3 months.

BTW a couple of my colleagues ran manual 1.9Tid upto 130K with no faults

Maybe i had a lemon, but all in all it was a nice mway car but too unreliable

[fastcars_hardy]

If it has a red T on the boot then its a 150 but if its not then its a 120. Also u can tell by engine cover. The first one is a 150. I cant find a pic of the other one. i will try get one at work but its different to that one.

[awg454]

Hi we have had a 93 1.9tdi 150 auto since 06 covered close to 85k only thing so far have been alternator and a intermittent power steering fault,the gearbox changes got a little lumpy around 60k but a change of gearbox oil sorted that,average fuel consumption has been 39.5 mpg that is mixed driving

[m4tt]

That is very cheap, they are ~£6k from a dealer for a Vector Sport for that mileage. Mine has been ok so far, with just consumables being required at the usual rate for a 120k car.