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Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 03:20:46 GMT
From: William Glasgall <glasgallnopsam.com>
Subject: Re: Just ordered a 9-5


Gee, I've had a 9-5 SE (6 cyl) 6 months and it runs like a charm. Not a single thing to complain about except for one of the keyfob remotes for the alarm and locks going dead and needing to be replaced. The memory seats work as billed, and the fuel consumption computer appears to give accurate enough readings. In the US we have "lemon" laws that are designed to protect buyers of cars with multiple problems. No such thing Down Under? Bill G Peter Wilkins wrote: > > On Thu, 24 Jun 1999 14:48:41 +1000, Paul Panetta <norsoftnopsam.com.au> > wrote : > > >Well, after looking for a few months and test driving lots of different > >cars here in Oz I ended up going for a Saab 9-5. Why ? Plenty of room > >for the 3 kids in the back. Plenty of things that open and close. A > >nice 2.3 turbo engine. I thought the Alfa-Romeo 156 was a great car to > >drive but couldn't bring myself to squeeze the 3 kids into the back (and > >here you can't get a 3-point center seat belt). The Mercedes C200 was a > >classy looking car but under-engined and not a safe as Saab according to > >Euro NCAP tests and a little more expensive and not as roomy (again no > >3-point center belt). Other cars I looked at were a Peugeot 406, VW > >Passat, BMW 323, Honda Accord. In the end the Saab made the most > >sense. So I bought it ! > > > Hi Paul, > I'm just coming up to 12 months with my 9-5SE auto. > Hope you have better luck than I have had. > > I've had 8 or 9 Saab's (lost count) both 99's and 900's over a period of 25 > years, and I've had more trouble with the 9-5 in 12 months than I did with > all the others combined in 25 years. > > Nothing really major, like transmission or engine failure, but many many > small and irritating defects and poor assembly, like driving lights falling > off and fittings pulling out of the dash. > > I got stranded once - the car would not go into gear after starting, it was > stuck in Park. Seems there was a faulty solenoid which Saab said to > dealers not to replace until it failed and the customer complained. They > also didn't tell the poor bloody customer that there was a hidden over-ride > button in case the solenoid failed, and it isn't mentioned in the handbook, > either. So I was stuck out in the mulga with nowhere to go. I lost > several hours before I got to a phone and was told where to find the > release button. I was NOT a happy person. What a perfect way to > antagonise customers! I'd ask about that if I were you before you get stuck > too. > > My electric seats kept losing their memory too: that was another design > fault needing a new switch. Took 4 visits to the dealer and detailed > demonstration of the problem at least six times before they agreed to fix > it. Then they failed the first attempt after having the car for two days, > and i had to bring it back yet again. Hope you didn't buy from Rick > Damelian??? Again, Saab had told the dealers not to replace the switch > unless customers complained. > > I get intermittent faulty fuel consumption readings on the SID: like 345 > l/100km every so often. It comes good if reset, but then it happens again > a month or so later. Still not fixed. > > I got massive shuddering when turning left close to full lock slightly > uphill. Another design defect only to be fixed if the customer complained. > It is much better now, but still there. > > The car intermittently decides it doesn't want to keep running some > mornings. It starts OK, but as soon as you put the car into gear, it > stalls. It may do this six or seven times before it will decide to keep > running. Even if you let it idle for 30 secs or so to warm up, it still > does it. Saab are aware of the problem and have tried one fix, but it > didn't work. they are working on changes to the computer programming now. > > I'm not happy with the cruise control controls: non-intuitive and > impossible to activate and vary speeds easily without having to take your > hands off the wheel. Same with the intermittent wiper speed control: the > raised button is too small. > > The car is also intermittently rough when idling: the engine shakes for a > few seconds and then goes back to normal. Saab are working on a fix - it's > apparently a software problem. > > It keeps blowing headlamp bulbs too - very expensive. They can't find any > reason, just reckon I've been unlucky. Great! In 25 years motoring I > didn't blow a headlamp, now I've done 3 in 6 months. > > Now I'm getting an intermittent vibration which shakes the whole car > violently when going up slight inclines at around 50kmph with light > throttle - but it doesn't happen every time. It happened 3 times > yesterday, in three different locations, but when I went back to the same > locations to try again, it didn't happen. It feels like a resonance > problem which needs the right (actually the wrong) combination of throttle, > speed and slope. Probably it's just an extension of the rough idling > problem except that it is much more violent. Saab doesn't know what it is > and I can't reproduce it on demand - most frustrating. > > Hopefully the 99 model will have fixed those 98 model problems, but I > wouldn't bet on it. And if you have any irritating problems, you will have > to press hard to get them fixed - don't let them fob you off. > > Despite all the problems, the 9-5 is a great car, or it will be when all > the bugs are ironed out. I have always been a Saab fanatic, but if I had > known the sort of problems I was going to experience with the 9-5, I would > have gone for the Merc slug or a 5 series beamer. > > Good luck. > > -- > Regards, > Peter Wilkins (wilkinspnopsamnet.au)

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