I was lucky enough to own one of these a few years ago. The sheer torque and almost immediate grunt of the engine was addictive. The styling and comfort was brilliant, glad to have had the chance.
This era of Saab is really good and was always a good car really it's a shame GM messed Saab up probably because it was always better than a vauxhall. Nice video Paul.
GM did Not mess up Saab. GM got sick and tired of Saab ignoring their 'orders' in using GM parts. Unfortunately it's Saab who messed themselves up. They only had themselves to blame. Didn't you watch the Top Gear special on Saab?
Its was on Top Gear so it must be true, 😂 Ok there was some truth in Top Gear, but a very simplistic truth, to fit into a 10 minutes article in the program. In 2009 GM was losing so much money it filed for Bankruptcy, the company had lost billions of dollars, it was bailed out by the US government and in the process had to restructure and downsize, it got rid of several brands, even tried to sell a controlling stake in Opel/Vauxhall as that was also losing millions. So even if Saab had followed GM's orders its very likely it would have been sold off, or at least the factory in Trollhatten would have closed and it would have merely been a badge added to a GM car made somewhere like Mexico, as they were already doing with the 9-4X. GM is used as a lesson in how to run a company from world leader to bankruptcy, through poor decisions making and short term profit over long term planning.
Nice binnacles! To me Saabs have always been the thinking mans car, not run of the mill- just that bit different and left field. Super video and a great review.
I own two Saabs a 9-3 convertible and a 9-5 with the rare 3.0 V6 engine. Both are formidable cars with wonderful punchy engines and a lot of funto drive it. However what nobody mentioned up to now is that Saab made the best seats for their cars after a drive of 500 miles with just a short break for refuling even an old overweight Boomer like my self doesn't feel any back pain. There are not many cars out there you can say this.
Lovely review. Good luck in finding another in that colour of any body style, trim or engine. Having that rear spoiler on a saloon is also really rare. Annoyingly, the 9-5s heyday was the early 2000s when suddenly the whole of the UK seemed to want silver cars The older the 9-5 the better - quality went down as GM ran out of money. The great thing about Saabs (especially older ones) is if you start getting a bit bored of it, for the price of replacing it, you can easily chuck a bit more power in. It’s a diminishing return and I’ve done most of the cheaper bits to mine but even now, if I had £x,000 to spend on a new car, I wouldn’t; I would just make improvements to mine.
I run a late model estate (10 plate) - badged as "turbo edition", but effectively it's an Aero (same engine and gearbox) - get a manual one and they're quite nice to drive (plus cheaper to tax). They can also be modified to be just over 300 BHP with a few changes ... they'll never be super quick (especially off the mark), but as you mentioned - the torque in 3rd gear and above makes them quite a bit faster than many people would expect from what is now an old estate car :-)
We are a Saab / Volvo family. Both have their merits so best to have both..! Great to see you enjoying the 9-5 - even the basic 2.0t B205e lpt has some grunt in the mid-range.
My 2004 Toyota Avensis has fuel button on the door as well as the Saab funnily enough and being honest great place for it you’re not bending your back looking for the fuel release
A 9-5 is a far nicer, more unusual and better to drive car than it's Volvo equivalent and it's definitely more you. 9-3 was more Vectra than these , a 9-5 is a lot more SAAB than GM. Not as affordable as they were though especially the rare HOT versions but a good solid investment that won't devalue
I used to own the 2 0 litre LPT version of these,loved it. Black 🖤, lovely. The 2.2 diesel is the worst because the injection pump goes in it and it is super expensive,more than the car is worth.
I agree paul sometimes to much power is unusable I own the 93 turbo X model 280plus bhp Jeff loads of torque and xwd still wheel spins with pirelli p Zeros on But it's simply unusable these days apart from the motorway an that's not that fun tbh Around urban areas basically go 1st into 5th at 30 mph
Love the car surely but that little tree air freshener got my attention immediately! Didn't know such a novel invention would be a world wide necessity years later!
Always liked SAABs, would have loved a black 99 turbo with the red interior The 9-3 was also a car I liked, its such a shame that they went down SAAB, beautifully different
As I’ve said multiply times, I had to get rid of my Volvo v70. I replaced it with a SAAB 9-3 saloon. Diesel engine because, well work. I love Volvo, the brand, everything about it……the SAAB is a much better car to drive, just as comfy, can be just as quick (quicker with a remap) a lot better on fuel. My only mistake was not waiting for an estate version to be available to purchase…..tbf, I was in a hurry. All hail team TROLLHATTAN!!!!!
Not the usual SAAB story😂📖. There's quite a few Areo's around here and we have hundreds of SAABS across nearly sll generations here at the yard(s) of devastation 💀. Losds of them.
sadly not very popular in new zealand... cars for parts get stripped so quickly... mechanics don't have a tech II... FB group having only 800 members... idk if i will get this as my frist car, cheapest on the lot for a reason... it would be a dream car for me tbh... but being locked in a finance contract and having to self teach myself how to work on cars seems like a bit much 😢😢
I was lucky enough to own one of these a few years ago. The sheer torque and almost immediate grunt of the engine was addictive. The styling and comfort was brilliant, glad to have had the chance.
This era of Saab is really good and was always a good car really it's a shame GM messed Saab up probably because it was always better than a vauxhall. Nice video Paul.
GM did Not mess up Saab. GM got sick and tired of Saab ignoring their 'orders' in using GM parts. Unfortunately it's Saab who messed themselves up. They only had themselves to blame.
Didn't you watch the Top Gear special on Saab?
Its was on Top Gear so it must be true, 😂 Ok there was some truth in Top Gear, but a very simplistic truth, to fit into a 10 minutes article in the program.
In 2009 GM was losing so much money it filed for Bankruptcy, the company had lost billions of dollars, it was bailed out by the US government and in the process had to restructure and downsize, it got rid of several brands, even tried to sell a controlling stake in Opel/Vauxhall as that was also losing millions.
So even if Saab had followed GM's orders its very likely it would have been sold off, or at least the factory in Trollhatten would have closed and it would have merely been a badge added to a GM car made somewhere like Mexico, as they were already doing with the 9-4X.
GM is used as a lesson in how to run a company from world leader to bankruptcy, through poor decisions making and short term profit over long term planning.
Nice binnacles!
To me Saabs have always been the thinking mans car, not run of the mill- just that bit different and left field.
Super video and a great review.
Always love a Saab. Class of their own
Nigel thanks for this review. Convinced me to make a sight unseen internet purchase. You are a great salesman. Thank you
Loved the car, loved the colour , worked on a few and driven a few back in the day .
Im glad saab didnt let vauxhall have their way on cutting costs .
Wasn't when GM had them..Saab still went on making cars there way not the way like GM was telling them.
A VeryNice car. great video too..
Looks like you was having fun Paul 🚗🚙🚘👏👏👏👍👍👍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
That's a brilliant cupholder! You used to get something similar on some Subarus.
Excellent review of a Great car & sounds amazing. Credit to the owner for the beautiful condition of his daily driver
That was a good video, really nice looking, well built powerful car!
I own two Saabs a 9-3 convertible and a 9-5 with the rare 3.0 V6 engine. Both are formidable cars with wonderful punchy engines and a lot of funto drive it. However what nobody mentioned up to now is that Saab made the best seats for their cars after a drive of 500 miles with just a short break for refuling even an old overweight Boomer like my self doesn't feel any back pain. There are not many cars out there you can say this.
I’d love one of these - right up my street. Nearly bought one a few years back and wish I had
This was my daily runner for about 3 years , i sold it last year .
Absolutely dream of a car , and it was very much cared for .
Under the radar, nice 👍
Lovely review. Good luck in finding another in that colour of any body style, trim or engine. Having that rear spoiler on a saloon is also really rare. Annoyingly, the 9-5s heyday was the early 2000s when suddenly the whole of the UK seemed to want silver cars
The older the 9-5 the better - quality went down as GM ran out of money.
The great thing about Saabs (especially older ones) is if you start getting a bit bored of it, for the price of replacing it, you can easily chuck a bit more power in. It’s a diminishing return and I’ve done most of the cheaper bits to mine but even now, if I had £x,000 to spend on a new car, I wouldn’t; I would just make improvements to mine.
I think it's more that just pre facelift is better, especially interior wise
I had an estate version of this years ago,lovely car,you could easily get the mpg into the low teens !!
Your face, like a child on Christmas 🎄 Day, great car and video.
I sold that car brand new in Ayr, Scotland
Major Saab dealer or something along those lines, weren't you?
I was the top Saab dealer in the UK for several years. How do you know about me sir?@@dimashevchenkoua
It’s on this type of video I impulsively pause, go to marketplace and indulge in some fantasy car shopping.
That was fun a review👍
The side benefit seems to be I have to start the video again, pushing up the viewing numbers.
I run a late model estate (10 plate) - badged as "turbo edition", but effectively it's an Aero (same engine and gearbox) - get a manual one and they're quite nice to drive (plus cheaper to tax). They can also be modified to be just over 300 BHP with a few changes ... they'll never be super quick (especially off the mark), but as you mentioned - the torque in 3rd gear and above makes them quite a bit faster than many people would expect from what is now an old estate car :-)
Some decent tyres would make all the difference. I personally would love to try the four wheel drive version, 9-5X ... 300bhp 😬
You enjoyed this i can tell .
Great review. Love that colour. Don't think I've seen it before! I've had my 9-5 Aero for 4 years... Bloody love them!
Thank you 🙂
We are a Saab / Volvo family. Both have their merits so best to have both..! Great to see you enjoying the 9-5 - even the basic 2.0t B205e lpt has some grunt in the mid-range.
I do really like this car
Never had one looked at many of them. I really liked them had a 2000 CSE it was nice good review on it 😊
My 2004 Toyota Avensis has fuel button on the door as well as the Saab funnily enough and being honest great place for it you’re not bending your back looking for the fuel release
Apparently the vauxhall z20let couldn't satisfy the 100000 mile stress test it only managed 60000 hence they made there own
A 9-5 is a far nicer, more unusual and better to drive car than it's Volvo equivalent and it's definitely more you.
9-3 was more Vectra than these , a 9-5 is a lot more SAAB than GM.
Not as affordable as they were though especially the rare HOT versions but a good solid investment that won't devalue
I used to own the 2 0 litre LPT version of these,loved it. Black 🖤, lovely. The 2.2 diesel is the worst because the injection pump goes in it and it is super expensive,more than the car is worth.
Used to have a 9⁵, amazing car, miss it loads, got a shitroen now
Rear doors aren't actually the same for the estate, but still work just the same.
I agree paul sometimes to much power is unusable
I own the 93 turbo X model 280plus bhp Jeff loads of torque and xwd still wheel spins with pirelli p Zeros on
But it's simply unusable these days apart from the motorway an that's not that fun tbh
Around urban areas basically go 1st into 5th at 30 mph
😍
Hats Off Trollhattan.
That rear bumper has more chips than Harry Ramsdens
Love the car surely but that little tree air freshener got my attention immediately! Didn't know such a novel invention would be a world wide necessity years later!
Always liked SAABs, would have loved a black 99 turbo with the red interior
The 9-3 was also a car I liked, its such a shame that they went down
SAAB, beautifully different
I nearly had a black 2dr 99 Turbo with red interior, but decided against it. That was before the prices went up!
Superb car. Pity about the cheap nasty Nexen tyres. Thats why you couldn't get the power down.
As I’ve said multiply times, I had to get rid of my Volvo v70. I replaced it with a SAAB 9-3 saloon. Diesel engine because, well work. I love Volvo, the brand, everything about it……the SAAB is a much better car to drive, just as comfy, can be just as quick (quicker with a remap) a lot better on fuel. My only mistake was not waiting for an estate version to be available to purchase…..tbf, I was in a hurry. All hail team TROLLHATTAN!!!!!
Not the usual SAAB story😂📖. There's quite a few Areo's around here and we have hundreds of SAABS across nearly sll generations here at the yard(s) of devastation 💀. Losds of them.
sadly not very popular in new zealand... cars for parts get stripped so quickly... mechanics don't have a tech II... FB group having only 800 members...
idk if i will get this as my frist car, cheapest on the lot for a reason... it would be a dream car for me tbh... but being locked in a finance contract and having to self teach myself how to work on cars seems like a bit much 😢😢