Thread: Summer fun car! You decide! Jag, Audi or Saab???

Originally Posted by cyrille

Isn't that what the previous poster has already posted?

It took him a while to google it . . .

Originally Posted by cyrille

And spelled correctly, despite only taking one attempt?

Because . . . Skidmark

It's been a great 10 months with the new love of my life.
Had a trip in da Derbyshire Dale's to the fountain of youth for some magic water.
Snapped this festive pic for you Saab lovers

Had a mooch around the new hotel which boasts a rooftop heated pool filled with spa water.

The toilets were excellent, best shit ever.
Pure luxury!!

5 stars

I can safely say that this is my favourite car I've ever owned and believe me I've owned hundreds.


A pleasant drive in the Derbyshire Dale's to the fountain of youth..

Its not Peckham !

Pic of the day..

A fine sunset to end the day..

^ Where'd you copy that last pic from? And whats that big orange ball

Originally Posted by Reg Dingle

^ Where'd you copy that last pic from? And whats that big orange ball

What big orange ball?

We've been getting some fantastic sunsets oop here recently, I blame global warming.

Fvcking love it may we have a long dry, hot year and fvck United utilities with their drought warnings and tadio/tv propaganda.
Just fix the leaks and repair the pipe system you've been charging us through the nose for decades.
Money for nothing and we can't even drink the fvcking chlorinated crsp.
£60 a month !!

I piss in the sink, fvvk them all.!!

Saab 9-3 Aero Convertible | Shed of the Week | PistonHeads UK


PistonHeads


Shed Of The Week


Saab 9-3 Aero Convertible
Turbo power, a manual gearbox, and less than £1,500?

Get set for spring with a Saab Shed...
By Tony Middlehurst / Friday, 17 February 2023 / 94 comments

Believe it or not, Shed is quite community-minded. When he’s had enough ale to overcome his stage fright, he will sometimes graciously agree to broadcast selected snippets of experience and knowledge by way of a talk in the village hall.

The title of his most recent lecture was ‘Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow: How The Internal Combustion Engine Works.’ As is often the way with many village hall talks, attendance was low. In fact, the only people who turned up were Shed and the village postmistress. The talk went ahead anyway with just a small re-arrangement in the running order of the four sections. By the end of the evening, they were both breathing heavily but they agreed it had been worth the effort.

This week’s Shed espouses the Blow, Squeeze, Bang, Blow variation of the Otto cycle that we usually call turbocharging. The idea of harnessing exhaust gas to power a turbine which then forces the fuel/air mix into a combustion chamber in a cromulent manner is not new. Turbochargers were used in aircraft and ships as long ago as the 1920s and in trucks from the 1930s. It took a while for it to catch on with car manufacturers, but Saab was one of the early adopters with its Garrett-turboed 99 Turbo Coupe of 1977.

Today, that car’s output of 135hp doesn’t sound like a heck of a lot from a 2.0 litre turbo, but it pricked up a few neck-hairs at the time. As Saab gradually realised that their engines were strong enough to take more puff, turbines and pressures began to grow. By 1980 the 99 Turbo was up to 145hp. By 1990 they’d rammed 217hp into the 1990 9000 CD Carlsson, a 1,400kg car that would smoke through the 0-60 in an unworldly 7.4sec if you could somehow tame the torque steer.

Our Shed, a 2006 9-3 Aero Cabriolet with a small but neatly efficient Mitsubishi L-14T turbine, actually produced slightly less horsepower than a 1990 Carlsson at 210hp, and it weighed about 300kg more too, but advances in traction control systems and tyre compounds allowed the 6-speed manual to put down the exact same 0-60 time as the Carlsson. Plus it was somewhat easier to drive on a damp road than the earlier car.

This Aero is a manual. That made it 20kg lighter than the auto, faster than it at 143mph vs 140mph, and more economical in normal use at 31mpg vs 28mpg. It also took less time to cover the 0-60mph, at 7.4sec vs 8.3sec. Automatics weren’t so great back then.

This Shed presents well from most angles. Metallic grey was a good body colour for these, especially in combination with the (in this case slightly grubby) cream leather. Obviously, it has the usual signs of wear and the back end has taken a particular shoeing over the years, with a wee crack here and a melted bit there, but as you know Shed has no interest in what’s behind him unless it’s a rapidly advancing Mrs Shed clutching a cast-iron frying pan. The roof mech, which when new raised and lowered the snug triple-layer hood in a creditable 20 seconds, definitely won’t last forever. Nor will the front tyres, but prices for consumables and parts on these Saabs won’t break you. The MOT history tells us that there was a ‘close to excessive’ oil leak in 2019 (it hasn’t been mentioned since). Other than that, there’s nothing scary to report.

Yes, we know it’s another Saab, but here’s the thing. Since the SOTW limit was raised from £1,500 to £2,000 Shed has noticed that most of the £2k vehicles he’s now viewing don’t, in all honesty, seem to be £500 (or more) better than the sub-£1,500 ones he was looking at before. He would never suggest that some dealers might be trying it on in these inflationary times. There will be some standout motors that appear to justify those near-£2k prices and that will appear here as a result, but to his crusty old peepers this Saab is just too tempting to ignore at £1,489, even if the clean MOT pass does have under two months to run.

So, bang-up motor or blowout? You be the judge.

See the original advert here


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94 comments
Join The Discussion On The Forum
Tannoy
Posted 2 days ago
Just in time for summer
Who’s in ?
Arsecati
Posted 2 days ago
BOOM! Now THAT is what I'm talking about - Shed is back baby, Shed is back!!

Properly Shedtastic - even if you only got the Summer out of it, you'll still lose less than the payments you'd pay on a 4-wheeled fridge!

(And good to see the Postmistress is back serving the community well again! biglaughbiglaugh)
2 GKC
Posted 2 days ago
Cool shed. Shame they put that rear spoiler on it.
Numeric
Posted 2 days ago
We had quite a few as company cars where I worked back in the day and people really liked them.

What I remember most was the amazingly comfy seats and the dashboard that still looks really good in the photos to my eyes, it was different then and is different now and as such hasn't aged much.
Wdc_22

Now that is a handsome design.
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Saab 9-3 Aero Convertible | Shed of the Week | PistonHeads UK

This could be in the Daily Moan thread.

Tonight it cost me £250 to find out that the ECU is in terminal decline and will need replacing shortly.
An expensive job by all accounts.

No Summer fun so far this year..

An expensive job by all accounts.

not necessarily,

saab ecu repair service.

Our address

ECU Testing LTD.
Delves Road
Heanor Gate
Derbyshire
DE75 7SJ
United Kingdom

SAAB 9-3 Engine ECU repair

Test and rebuild:

We fully test your ECU on our HIL (Hardware In-the-Loop) simulator, this replicates the exact driving conditions of your vehicle and loads of your engine. Once the fault is identified we then move onto the remanufacturing stage, during this stage we replace all failed components with higher rated versions and rework the entire PCB (Printed Circuit Board) to ensure the failure does not occur again. Following the rebuild we then re-test your ECU to ensure the fault has been rectified before returning your ECU fully rebuilt with an unlimited mileage lifetime warranty.



Programming:

We retain all the original immobiliser programming and engine configuration data during the rebuild process, so there is no need to reprogram your ECU once it is refitted to the vehicle. It is a simple case of plugging it back in and driving away.



Quality:

Our work processes are second to none, we test and rebuild ECU's for Saab main dealers and specialist independent workshops all over the globe, so you can be assured of our very high standard of work.



Warranty:

Lifetime unlimited mileage*



How do I get my unit rebuilt?

To pay for the rebuild select your part number above then click: Get yours rebuilt

Print the payment/booking confirmation email.

Package the Saab 9-3 engine ECU inside a sturdy box with plenty of packaging material (make sure you include your confirmation email in the box).

Send us your package by tracked courier (the shipping instructions are on the confirmation email).

Once received we will test, rebuild and return your engine ECU with an unlimited mileage lifetime warranty. (if your unit turns out not to be faulty then we will refund your payment less a small testing fee and return shipping)

Originally Posted by Joe 90

Tonight it cost me £250 to find out that the ECU is in terminal decline and will need replacing shortly.
An expensive job by all accounts.

One of the good things in Thailand is that it usually costs less than Baht200 for someone to look at my truck and make that sharp intake of breath with a slow shake of a drooping head followed by "Fookin fooked, innit, mate?" or whatever the Thai equivalent is.
If someone charged me 250 quid just for that performance I'd go elsewhere out of principle. Tax's suggestion looks like a good choice.

Another good thing about being in Thailand.

They keep piling up, but doubtless characters like taxexile are having the time of their lives.

he he

Had the yellow engine warning light come on and it cost 500thb for an ECU reading, at a place owned/ran by a Thai that lived in America for 20 years.


Though on the other hand, a Saab convertible isn't on the market for 130k baht.

A convertible in Blighty? About as useful as a submarine in the sahara.

Originally Posted by Bogon

You're lucky, it seems I have married Sterling Moss.

She has just gone through a set of 18inch run flats with 30,000km on the clock.
'
We took the cheaper Yokohoma option for just under 30k baht for a new set.

I swear my wife's car needs fixing every two months. I'd claim it's the new version of a sick buffalo but she pays for it. While my little nissan march plods along... Although sometimes it takes a while for the AC to turn on
..

^^ stop buying performance tyres, get her some knobbly rally tyres and she'll enjoy the feeling of running on washboard gravel whilst slowing to 50 kph

Originally Posted by Joe 90

This could be in the Daily Moan thread.

Tonight it cost me £250 to find out that the ECU is in terminal decline and will need replacing shortly.
An expensive job by all accounts.

No Summer fun so far this year..

Join a Saab forum and make a thread about any problems you have with the car. They will help you cut some corners

All cars have their issues.

Originally Posted by taxexile

not necessarily,

saab ecu repair service.

Our address

ECU Testing LTD.
Delves Road
Heanor Gate
Derbyshire
DE75 7SJ
United Kingdom

SAAB 9-3 Engine ECU repair

Test and rebuild:

We fully test your ECU on our HIL (Hardware In-the-Loop) simulator, this replicates the exact driving conditions of your vehicle and loads of your engine. Once the fault is identified we then move onto the remanufacturing stage, during this stage we replace all failed components with higher rated versions and rework the entire PCB (Printed Circuit Board) to ensure the failure does not occur again. Following the rebuild we then re-test your ECU to ensure the fault has been rectified before returning your ECU fully rebuilt with an unlimited mileage lifetime warranty.



Programming:

We retain all the original immobiliser programming and engine configuration data during the rebuild process, so there is no need to reprogram your ECU once it is refitted to the vehicle. It is a simple case of plugging it back in and driving away.



Quality:

Our work processes are second to none, we test and rebuild ECU's for Saab main dealers and specialist independent workshops all over the globe, so you can be assured of our very high standard of work.



Warranty:

Lifetime unlimited mileage*



How do I get my unit rebuilt?

To pay for the rebuild select your part number above then click: Get yours rebuilt

Print the payment/booking confirmation email.

Package the Saab 9-3 engine ECU inside a sturdy box with plenty of packaging material (make sure you include your confirmation email in the box).

Send us your package by tracked courier (the shipping instructions are on the confirmation email).

Once received we will test, rebuild and return your engine ECU with an unlimited mileage lifetime warranty. (if your unit turns out not to be faulty then we will refund your payment less a small testing fee and return shipping)

Cheers for that Tax, gonna go down that route.

Years ago, I might have just sold it on.

Originally Posted by Backspin

Join a Saab forum and make a thread about any problems you have with the car. They will help you cut some corners

Have you been reading Mad recently?

Just a moment... Sab Central forum. 114,000 members. Since 2001

SaabWorld - Forum Saab World .net

You'd probably meet some better ppl than the arseholes around here too But that isn't saying much.

Originally Posted by Bogon

We took the cheaper Yokohoma option for just under 30k baht for a new set.

You'll be lucky to get 6 months out of those.

Buy cheap, buy twice

This guy shows a spacer kit that will at least prevent it from happening again.

Originally Posted by Joe 90

the ECU is in terminal decline

Originally Posted by taxexile

not necessarily,

saab ecu repair service

Surely terminal decline means... it's fukked?

Get yourself down the scrapyard. There'll be loads of those Swedish mobile skips in there

rebuild the ecu, and fit one of backspins spacer plates to reduce heat and you'll be good for another 100,000 miles.

its a great car, and these days it will be cheaper to keep it and maintain it than replacing it.

Originally Posted by Reg Dingle

You'll be lucky to get 6 months out of those.

Buy cheap, buy twice

Totally agree, let's make a date to meet back here on 20th November for my updated moan