My New Car

[GLPoomobile 958]

At this time last week I was driving back home with my father in law following behind in my new car. A 2002 Saab 9-3 SE Turbo, black 3 door coupe. An anniversary edition, they only made 175 of these - Aero bodykit and 17 alloys, full leather, electric memory seats, cruise control, auto climate control etc etc. Not perfect cosmetically, but looks nice from a distance. I've really enjoyed wafting around in comfort for the last week, cruising around in peace and quiet, but with enough grunt (BSR PPC tuning box means it should be somewhere around the 220bhp area) to make overtaking effortless.

 

After 6 days of enjoyment, I stacked it last night

 

I was driving home from Derby, coming along the A1, I was following another car on to a roundabout outside Berwick Upon Tweed. As I entered the roundabout (to go straight on) I let myself become distracted for a split second by the other car turning left. I don't know why. At that split second, my mind suddenly kicked back in "YOU'RE ON A ROUNDABOUT, LOOK WHERE YOU'RE GOING" and as I looked back ahead I realised my line was too tight and I was heading for the middle. I swerved left but it was too late. Hit the kerb, bounced off it and immediately heard the scraping of metal as the car came to a halt at 45 degress towards the outside of the roundabout.

 

The alloy is destoyed. The wishbone has snapped. The ARB link has snapped. The wing has popped out from the tyre impacting it. There's a dent in the floor pan next to the accelerator pedal, also presumably from the wheel impacting. There's probably more damage than that. It'll be a write off.

 

I'm seriously gutted right now

[mickie 3]

if you're gutted why wont you use a smiley ?

 

bad news but sounds fixable

[maturin23 10]

Aaargh - you don't have much luck do you, Steve!

 

I assume you're fully-comp insured?

[GLPoomobile 958]

Yes, FC.

 

It will be fixable, but it's a matter of cost. The body repairs are going to be the real killer. The 9-3 has a weak bulkhead design with the steering rack bolted directly to the bulk head. They have a reputation for the bulk head splitting because of this. I'd just identified the early warning signs of mine starting to go (something I'd checked prior to buying, but couldn't see anything wrong at the time), so I'd say it's almost certain that the shock transmitted through the steering rack will have done further damage to the bulk head.

 

I could have a crack at doing some of the work myself, but it's parked in a less than ideal place at the moment (on a main road) as we had no where else to dump it at 0230 this morning, and it's very difficult to move as the wheel gets forced back in to the arch if move it forwards. In spite of that, I will probably try to get it up on a jack and see if I could possibly just replace the control arm and ARM link, put it on the spare wheel, and at least make it driveable to a garage (luckily I have a small independant SAAB specialist about a mile down the road). Will see what the insurers say on Monday.

 

(mixed emotions, Mickie)

[travill 0]

Poor saab

 

 

 

Yes, FC.

 

It will be fixable, but it's a matter of cost. The body repairs are going to be the real killer. The 9-3 has a weak bulkhead design with the steering rack bolted directly to the bulk head. They have a reputation for the bulk head splitting because of this. I'd just identified the early warning signs of mine starting to go (something I'd checked prior to buying, but couldn't see anything wrong at the time), so I'd say it's almost certain that the shock transmitted through the steering rack will have done further damage to the bulk head.

 

I could have a crack at doing some of the work myself, but it's parked in a less than ideal place at the moment (on a main road) as we had no where else to dump it at 0230 this morning, and it's very difficult to move as the wheel gets forced back in to the arch if move it forwards. In spite of that, I will probably try to get it up on a jack and see if I could possibly just replace the control arm and ARM link, put it on the spare wheel, and at least make it driveable to a garage (luckily I have a small independant SAAB specialist about a mile down the road). Will see what the insurers say on Monday.

 

(mixed emotions, Mickie)

[happygoron 2]

Sorry to hear that mate, got a soft spot for that shape 93. Old man has one but it's a bit of a shed these days (and broken currently!). Still a very comfortable place to sit though!

[Alfie 6]

Feckin hard luck GLP! I know exactly how you must feel . Gutted for you, but hope that you can sort out. Several things going wrong for me at the moment and sometimes feel as if nothing can help. Best of luck.

[Cameron 16]

DOH!!

 

Not that it'll make you feel any better, 9-3 Aero's are one of my favourite cars. Hope you manage to keep this one on the road!

[Anthony 1,003]

Look on the bright side Steve - driving straight into a roundabout you knew was there is still *slightly* less daft than driving your Civic off a sheer drop...

[GLPoomobile 958]

Yeah, thanks for that Anthony

 

The copper that came out (I called them as I wasn't sure what to do in the circumstances) was a decent bloke, but he gave me a bit of sarc - saying "didn't you see that big thing in the middle, and the warning signs all up the road, oh, and that big arrow sign right in front of you?"

 

c*nt

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Bugger GLP. Make yourself feel better by reading my "arse biscuits" thread.

[DaveW 6]

Aw man any other time you might of got away with it but that is a c*nt

[swordfish210 20]

It was even less daft that driving in to a parked car Hard luck mate but at least its fixable, you'll just have to put in some overtime at work