Thinking Of Getting A Second Car

[BusEngineer 7]

Another vote for Primera GT, had mine about 6 months and havent got a bad word to say about it, happily cruises, very comfortable, and shows a good turn of pace when i want it etc

 

And (fingers crossed/touching wood ) Japanese reliability

 

 

Cost me the grand total of £600

Edited November 4, 2010 by BusEngineer

[GLPoomobile 958]

My 6 days experience of my 9-3 probably wasn't long enough to impart any real experience of running costs

 

But what I can tell you is

 

1 - My fuel economy was 23mpg around town and 32-33 on the long run down to Derby and back prior to the crash. But having spent some time loitering on Saab Scene and Saab Central a lot of 9-5 owners claim to see better economy than this on the motorway.

2 - To drive? Well I don't have a massive scope of experience with modern cars, but I found the 9-3 to be very civilised and comfortable (even on it's slightly lowered springs). I didn't get the opportunity to hustle it along any twisty roads (but that's what the 205 is for) but bombing down the A1 in the early hours with just the occasional other car to overtake, it was capable of a decent turn of speed without breaking a sweat. The 9-3 is supposed to suffer from torque steer, but I didn't notice any. They are also supposed to be a bit iffy in the handling stakes thanks to the steering rack being bolted directly to a very weak bulkhead, but again, no real complaints from me. The 9-5 on the other hand is a different design, and apparently is a bit more sure footed. For comfortable motorway mile crunching, the 9-3 does a sterling job IMO, and I would expect the 9-5 to be even better.

3 - As for running costs, I've read as much as possible on the forums and looked at parts prices from the likes of Elkparts, and Partsforsaabs, and a lot of stuff is obviously more expensive than I'm used to as a 205 owner, but not scarily so. No worse for instance, than owning a Honda. They are GM based, so there are many parts that are interchangeable with Vauxhalls. The downside to that is that they no longer have that famed Saab robustness, but from what I've read nothing overly concerns me about their reliablility. They have to be run on fully synth, with regular oil changes, and there were issues with the PCV system sludging up causing engine failure, so it's recommended to update to the latest PCV (about £70 IIRC) and drop the sump to clean out the pump strainer, unless you have proof that it's been done previously. There's a few other things, but all can be found with a couple of hours research, and like I said, nothing scary IMO. All marques and models have their foibles, and you'll always get some people who've had a disatrous experience and wouldn't touch another, whilst plenty of others who've had 200+ thousand miles of happy ownership.

[miamichris 9]

Not quite true, you'll share the miles between the 2 so they will last twice as long!

 

Also if ever you have problems you can just put the 205 away and not worry. I'd never own just a 205.

 

I own just 2 205's one daily driver and one project, sure its a pain in the arse when they break but you always manage some way or another.

 

Dare I say it, my Xs is running great at the minute, except my rear wiper packed in the other day, must fix that I've probably cursed it now and it will break down!

 

Real men drive 205's everyday (as long as you don't have to go very far from your house or tools )

[welshpug 1,657]

breakdown cover, problem solved

 

Like Baz said, they aren't unreliable by a long way especially when looked after and checked over properly.

 

this means minor details like making sure all the earths are good, the cooling fans work properly, ensuring the starter motor wire isn't 20 years old, that any iffy looking coolant pipe has been replaced.

 

when you break it down that far, there's actually very little that could go wrong to totally disable a 205 that you couldn't fix with some gaffer/cable ties/string/wire.

[blue_haddock 2]

I was looking at Autotrader a while back to see what I could get for a bag of sand in the local area, and I was really surprised by some of the cars available. Up the ante and start looking at between £1k and £2k and the options are even better.

 

So I recently ended up with a 2002 Saab 9-3 SE Turbo. Looks lovely (black 3 door coupe, Aero/Viggen bodykit, 17" Aero alloys), all the toys (cruise, electric adjustable memory heated seats, full leather, digital climate control, decent stereo), quiet, comfortable, refined, and plenty of oomph for overtaking. Shame I wrote it off within a week

 

I've since been looking at Saab 9-5s to replace the 9-3. Don't mind if it's saloon or wagon. For £1500 you'll get a 9-5 SE, either 2.0 (150bhp but easily mapped to 220 for circa £400), or a 2.3 (170 or 185bhp depending on year, and again easily mapped to 230). They are smart looking motors, and again for that price you are going to get something fully loaded if you look around (typical spec differences being whether the seats are electric or manual, and if they are heated, but most seem to come with full leather, climate control {dual zone in the 9-5} and cruie control). I'm hoping to end up with a manual HoT Aero for less than £2k, which is 230bhp out the box.

 

Although my options are more limited now I'm in Edinburgh (doesn't seem to such a good car market up here for the kind of stuff I'm looking at), for the price range I've been looking at over the last few months, Saab 9-3s and 9-5s seem to be much better specced than many other cars.

 

My other choice would be a Volvo 850 or V70 T5. I'm in to the big, safe, practical and comfortable car thing at the moment

 

EDIT: Agree that VAG models are overpriced.

 

at our staffs meet just i was talking about how cheap saab 9-5 aero's are. I'm looking at 02 onwards 250bhp ones for £3.5k with low miles on them