[Garu]

Is keyless entry and anti-theft alarm controlled by one control unit or separate units on '2000 9-3? I have keyless entry on my recently bought car but there appears to be no alarm. My insurance requests alarm.

I thought if keyless entry and alarm is controlled by the same box, then maybe it's only adding the sensors and activating alarm. Or do i have to buy some expencive alarm box from the dealership to have original alarm system?

Thnks for any ideas.

 

[Garu]

Ok, I allready got the answer from local forum. There is ecu named TWICE that controls all security related stuff. To enable alarm the siren, glass braking sensor and hood swich have to be installed and activated with TECH 2. And those little things cost more than entire aftermarket alarm system with installation. :x

Does anybody have some sirens and sensors for sale ?

 

[earthworm]

I thought all that stuff was already in place, installed on the car when it was built.

I do not think my alarm works either (thank goodness), I think it may have been "turned off"..

 

[JMarkert]

I thought all that stuff was already in place, installed on the car when it was built.

I bet it's not. We north americans only got the plush models with most of the options. I think the europeans were able to get some of their options one by one.

Given that you need to get your dealer involved for the Tech II part, I would suspect that an aftermarket alarm might be the cheaper option, even if you could get the SAAB parts used. You might check electronics sites in the us to see what's available for do it yourself aftermarket stuff. www.crutchfield.com and www.bestbuy.com might have something affordable. I don't know whether they'd ship to Estonia or not though.

 

[PMI]

Cars often seem to be sold with different features in Europe. I was surprised when someone mentioned a 900 SE w/o electric seats, which were standard in the US at the time. One could probably get the individual components from anyone selling a car for parts.

 

[JMarkert]

I think it's all marketing and image. Here SAAB's, Volvo's, Merc's, and Beamers are sold as "luxury" or "near luxury" cars. I was in Switzerland a few weeks ago and rode around in a Volvo that felt like it could have been made by hyundae in the '80's. Ok, I'm exaggerating a bit, but this thing had plastic seats (although it did seem to have ACC). The US and Canada get the options that would make our cars fit into the "near luxury" category. No 2.0 engines or deleted A/C's for us.

One thing I did notice - the RDS system is pretty cool. It's a system that interupts your radio or cd to give you local "emergency" traffic info. It was in German, so I had no clue what it was saying, but it's still pretty cool.

 

[Garu]

I thought all that stuff was already in place, installed on the car when it was built.

The alarm is standard in Scandinavia and allso in Estonia but i bought this car off lease from Belgium where it's an option (i guess allso Germany, Netherlands, France and so on). Allso heated seats are standard here but not in Belgium.

 

[Garu]

I bet it's not. We north americans only got the plush models with most of the options. I think the europeans were able to get some of their options one by one.

Saabs here have allso plush or leather seats, no plastic. However you can buy BMW and Mercedes here with cheap and ugly fabric on the seats.

Given that you need to get your dealer involved for the Tech II part, I would suspect that an aftermarket alarm might be the cheaper option, even if you could get the SAAB parts used.

I got aftermarket alarm installed yesterday. Saved allmost half the money compared to original. Tech 2 is not very expencive here. The biggest price difference were parts. There is no Saab repair shop in Tartu so i would have to drive 200 km to Tallinn. In Tallinn there are three Saab garages. One of them is official dealer and other two are independent but they all have Tech 2.

 

[Garu]

One thing I did notice - the RDS system is pretty cool. It's a system that interupts your radio or cd to give you local "emergency" traffic info. It was in German, so I had no clue what it was saying, but it's still pretty cool.

RDS has allso other features besides Traffic Announce. It allso gives station name and scrolling text announcments on the radio screen. And if the station frequency changes as you dive on, it automatically swiches to the new frequency of the same station.

 

[Marquis de Saab]

RDS is for Radio Data System and as Garu stated rolls announcements, station names, here oftenly short adds, track names currently playing on the radio... simply everything that RDS operater types. I was recently visiting a small local radio station and owner told me that whole RDS unit cost him some 800$, able to play ap to 40 symbols in a stroke. Sorry to everyone for this digression.
About the alarm... no alarm on my 9-3SE which came from Italy. In Europe, Germans (for example) are well known to charge you for everything "extra" on your car, such as metalic paintwork, power windows... power seat - hey it's a Saab, not a Bentley if you ask them. Made me very angry to see my friends Passat 2004 with 1.9TDi and manual windows... a rip off with a 1800$ price tag for "electric package"!!!!!:evil::evil::evil: