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how do you like your 9-5 so far?? might buy one

3K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  Missileman 
#1 ·
Right so my dearest mother is test driving NG 9-5's so her C900 cabrio can return to sunny weather duty. She is looking at the turbo4 , 6 and the manual and automagic's...This is for the people who have had the cars for a few months of longer..how do you like the car , is it performing well, whats the day to day like?
 
#2 ·
I have the Aero so it is a six cylinder. I didn't care for the wood trim of the Turbo 6 or the Turbo 4 but would still love if I had a MT. Other than no MT, my biggest gripe is the base sound system (I have the navi but not the HK upgrade). For the price of the car the sound system should be better without being an optional extra.

I do love the car after 3 months. I do have an issue with the rear defroster and the radio, honestly I don't know if it will ever be fixed now that Saab is not shipping parts or honoring warranty. Hopefully that is a temporary situation but there are no promises, at least for the warranty.

Day to day....It gets a lot of looks and comments from strangers (in a positive way), I have yet to see another one on the road when I am in mine so that part is pretty cool . The V6 performance is very good, it is a comfortable car, I feel like I'm in business class compared to my 9-3. But it is a big car, compared to my 9-3 it reminds me of parking my '77 Eldorado I had in college but the car does handle a lot "smaller" - almost like a 9-3.

If not for the uncertainty of the parts and warranty (with or without Saab still alive) I'd buy it again, but with the current situation if I had to have a brand new Saab for reliable transportation I'd go with a new 9-3. But there's nothing wrong with the 9-5 itself.
 
#9 ·
But there's nothing wrong with the 9-5 itself.
... other than much worse than average reliability, as reported by consumer reports and painfully corroborated by yours truly. My 2002 L4 had 2 recalls, plus a turbo smoking at 68,000, rubber engine mounts disintegrating at 70,000, the cylinder head bolts defective (as per SAAB) which, you guessed, I had to replace. The ignition cassette gave up at about 75,000 flooding the engine with fuel, the catalytic converter is borderline at 82,000, passenger window lift mechanism is busted, the wires to the trunk light notoriously break on all 9-5's. Everything that is plastic or rubber is brittle and cracking. Once the battery completely dies and I was without battery for 45 min max. The security code on the radio died, which it should not, and costs a visit to the dealer to get it remarried to the ECU. BTW the leather on the seats looks like new. I should have bought a Japanese car.
 
#4 ·
Sounds like a nicely equipped one. Before taking delivery check it out, make sure the radio gets RDS on FM stations (known issue supposedly can be fixed with reflash) and that the rear window defroster doesn't interfere with the am/fm reception.

I wouldn't take the car without any existing issues being fixed before the delivery no matter what promises are made by the dealer.
 
#5 ·
We have a 2011 turbo 4 premium and are very happy with it, except for the obvious dark cloud hanging over us with the current Saab situation. It is a solid car with a great ride and getting around 27 mpg with 14000 miles on the odometer. As I have mentioned before, if nothing else we will have a very unique car that draws admiration from onlookers wherever we go. I'd buy another especially if a few concerns such as parts availability were put to rest.
 
#6 ·
I'm thinking of a 9-5 aero also



Has anyone had any other concerns? I remember reading a post about the split vision in some of the winShields in the 2010s. That you'd have double vision of red lights and the HUD. I remember seeing a post about tow hook concerns- that when you pop off the squares there is no female receiver to thread the eye hook. is that a real concern, has anyone else noticed this?

I've noticed an extra center console button on the 2011s with the tech package. Is that just the blind spot protection?

Do the 10s and 11s have remote start? I vaguely remember there being an issue with the availability.

Reading about the rear defrost/radio reception, has anyone parked next to a lacrosse? Are they the same rear glass?

Since the 9-5 is mechanically intertwined with GM stablemates, I assume the biggest part concerns will be body panels and interrior trim. Sorry for all the questions. Thanks for any assistance.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I thought out the same thing but the lacrosse rear window looked a lot different to me, unfortunately I didn't see them side by side.

I know the windshields are different. The first sunshade I bought mail order they sent a Lacrosse sunshade. Not even a close match.

The car is solid but you have to consider a cracked windshield, if it is not available aftermarket, could render the car unusable for an indefinite amount of time. There's something like 10000 of these cars in the world, that's a pretty small number and the parts exclusive to the 9-5 are going to be scarce and maybe limited to what is sitting in warehouses right now.

Unless of course the Indians buy the company and GM agrees to letting them continue production with their platforms. Which seems like a longshot.
 
#8 ·
We have had ours for a couple of weeks and like it a lot. It's a loaded 2011 Aero XWD. Have seen no problems at all with the HUD/windshield or with radio reception. In fact, we've seen no problems at all.

I'm a pretty firm believer that the final chapter has yet to be written on Saab and eventually things will work out for parts and service. For example, here in the USA, Saab USA is apparently not only solvent, they're trying to figure out how to take care of us. It will take some time for everything to shake out but I'm pretty sure it will.

Look at it this way ... when will your next opportunity be to get a BMW 5-series/MB E-Class/Audi A6 competitor ... at a Camry price?

Cheers!!

Ken
 
#12 ·
Is the 2010 a totally redesigned vehicle? in the middle of bankruptcy? I think past reliability persists for a brand and more so for a model car. oh, I forgot, mine also had a bad crack position sensor, so it would not start, erratically, so it was very hard to diagnose, and don't let me forget, the alarm batteries died and can't be replaced so that required a $400 new alarm. Right now at 10 years old, i am running with a weak alternator that is extremely difficult to replace--you have to move the engine out out of the way to extract the alternator. I love his car, but reliable is not.
 
#13 ·
Yes - it was redesigned before the bankruptcy. Also, on a side note I have owned 4 9-5's before my 2010 and all, except one were extremely reliable. And on that one it had the same issue happen twice. However, I do only keep my cars 100,000 miles or less.
 
#14 ·
Not only are the 2010 and 2011 models 100% new, they are based on the Buick LaCrosse platform which garners very high ratings for reliability. Most of the "infotainment" looks like it comes direct from Cadillac. Also no slouch nowadays.

I'm not overly worried about reliability at all. Based on my experience with a 2007 9-3 (very positive), I think perhaps the only thing GM did for Saab that was positive was improve quality and reliability over the past couple of years.

Cheers!!

Ken
 
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