OT: 2003 Saab 9.5 Linear Wagon?, FED UP! with my Benz Options

[bmcwilli]

I swear, I am so disgusted with my 99 Benz E 300 turbo diesel. I love driving the car, but I have spent well over $1,000 in repairs in 2.5 years ownership (and that's WITH the starmark warranty..what a freakin joke these "certified" cars are!)

Anyway, once I get the latest repair done, this thing is outa here. I'm l,ooking at 2003 9.5 Saab wagon (Linear) with 52,000 on the clock. 5 speed auto trans.

My mechanic (Saab owner) speaks well of this model and year.

Howz about some input from owners that live here?

Yeah yeah, my toyota (and even my 944 S2 dead realiable) but the Asian cars just don't get for me..I really prefer Euro carrs.

Have never owned a Saab. Are parts as expensive as Audi??

[lylegd]

I have a 2000 Saab 9-5. It is my fifth and unfortunately my last Saab. There is a lot of expensive maint. on them so it is probably not a solution to your concern. I've spent over $2K in parts alone in the last 15 months. They are roomy, powerful, have pretty good brakes. A good car for driving in snow and ice. The cars have many safety design features to them. Now for the bad news. The Saab 9-5's have a serious design problem with the ignition systems (Direct Ignition Modules) The factory is working out a solution to the problem and will then recall the cars. It is reported to only occur on the 4 cylinder motors but I have a 6 cylinder engine and have replaced two modules at $475 each in the last year. My car only has 77k miles on it! Saab also has a design problem with the positive crankcase ventilation system which results in oil slugging problems under certain conditions. Seems to be worse if you live in a high humidity climate, make lots of short trips, don't change your oil frequently enough or if you don't use the recommended synthetic oil. They are about to launch an 8 year unlimited mileage warrenty for the motor only to cover this problem. It will even cover my car clear out to 2008! So far I have dodged the bullitt on this problem. But then we also live in a dry climate, change our oil frequently and do use synthetic oil. The cars have very complex electronic systems, they have many on board computers, etc. None of them cheap. For example if you manage to lose all of your keys, you will have to replace not only the keys but also the security computer module at a cost exceeding $2k. Last spring I had a headlight quit working. It cost $275 to replace a special relay and the work had to be done by a dealer because it required a diagnostic computer just to determine what the problem was. Frankly I can't recommend this car to you or anyone else. Like I said, it is probably the last one we will buy. It is really sad because we had good luck with previously owned Saabs: a 99, a Saab 900 and two Saab 9000's We have driven them for the last 24 years. Lyle