Seriously looking at one as a good 2nd hand buy. 2008 180bhp TTiD
Anyway I know the back seats fold but does anyone here have any experience of fitting bikes in the boot? Practical enough or always end up with them on a towbar rack? Obviously not going to be as easy as my current golf hatch

I used to have a 93 aero hot, wonderful car, the boot is deep and huge. I scratched my spoiler with a saris bones, I used to get a bike in the boot, a pram and 3 on the saris rack.

I have the estate, so can’t advise on the boot, but the number of things that have gone wrong make me suggest almost any alternative would be better. On 3rd DMF, broken springs, manifold replacement etc. I wish I’d never bought it.

I keep looking at Saab 93 (Aero estates) to replace our Skoda Octavia vRS estate after Christmas. I love the styling of them, decent boot (in the estate) and lots of cool little bits and pieces but I can’t get away from the fact that despite all that, its still got Vauxhall underpinnings (I know Saabs engineers changed LOADS of it), its from a now defunct company and my Skoda is so completely and utterly reliable that I’d be daft to look at anything else (which is why a mk2 FL with DSG is top of my list at the moment).

Its kinda like the Alfa thing though – owning a Saab is a scratch I may have to itch being quite into my cars (another car on my list is funnily enough an Alfa 159 SW)…

Doesn’t the Alfa 159 Diesel share an engine with Vauxhall? Not sure that might put you off…

Rachel

I owned 2 Saabs – a ’99 9-3 and a ’05 9-3 estate.
The ’99 was fab, fast, dodgy handling and huge boot.
The ’05 was ok, diesel, so not as fast, good handling and big boot – kept going wrong though, so wouldn’t get another.

I think it does share the same Vauxhall (Isuzu/Fiat???) engine. I’m just asking for trouble!

It is basically a Vauxhall diesel engine with 2 instead of 1 turbos, the Vauxhalls are as prone to DMF probs and manifold issues, my brother was unlucky with both a Signum and now his Isignia.
Brother in law had the 159 estate great to look at but shocking everywhere else.
I’m happy to except a few potential problems as my other choice, a 520d would cost me about £3/4k more for equivalent MY and mileage plus 5 series rear seats don’t fold!

More interested in if I can get 1 or even 2 bikes with wheels off in the boot of a saloon, don’t like the back end of the estate.

Guess I could just take a couple of bikes with me when I view it later 😀 if they fit I’ll buy it if not then he can keep it!

It is basically a Vauxhall diesel engine with 2 instead of 1 turbos

No it’s not – the 1.9 TiD & TTiD are both derived from the same Alfa Romeo unit.

Had a 56 Plate TiD saloon & a 10 plate TTiD Estate. The latter is a fantastic car for biking/camping etc – huge boot with a flat entry, great engine & spec & it drives really well (yes, I miss mine). There’s a user on here that was very disappointed that he didn’t have the funds to buy it when I had to change it earlier this year.

The saloon was okay space wise but getting a bike in was a case of seats down, wheel off & a bit of wiggling about. If you end up with a one I have a set of Saab roofbars in the garage you can have for the cost of postage.

Edit: I put 112k miles on the saloon & 95k on the estate and neither ever missed a beat or cost anything other than routine servicing etc. The only ‘negative’ was the tyre size – the 225/45 18w XL was a relatively rare one so could be a bit pricey (unless you knew where to shop).

A friend of mine is a real Saab head and has had a few over the years.
He’s just got a 3 dr 93 Turbo (150bhp ish) and theres PLENTY of room in the boot. Its about 10yrs old and needs a few bits and bobs doing, but basically its sound. Interiors wear well and generally pretty robust.
Cant comment on the diesel side of things though.

Alfa/GM/Saab 1.9 diesel is all same base unit according to a few other forums

It is but its origins are Alfa which was bought by Saab and, some say, improved. After that, GM stuck their noses in, bought the base unit from Alfa then attached a load of cheap generic cack to it which is why you hear of GM cars having issues but not the Alfas or Saabs.

I now have an Alfa with the same lump in it and it’s still a great motor.

I had a 57 plate 9-3 TiD estate. lovely car, but all 4 tyres wore out at around the same time as the cambelt change was due – would have left me with a bill of over £1k, which I simply couldn’t afford at the time.

It had also developed a habit of running rough when on the motorway for a few minutes & then recovering.
When it stopped recovering & I found I had to drop off the motorway at the next junction, stir the gears while I went right round the junction & back onto the motorway, that put the tin hat on it

I have just purchased a 2008 aero ttid.. managed to get it for 5895.. it had a full service history and mot for a year. Great car and every possible extra. Cruise, bluetooth phone prep, heated leather, xenons etc etc. On a journey sitting at 70 it will return 55-60mpg!! I get around 48ish around town. £140 p.a tax also. Definitely go for a ttid over the tid. Make sure it has had the t/belt and water pump done as this is costly if you need to do it. Like most other diesels they can suffer from dpf and dmf problems. Check out http://www.saabscene.com great wealth off knowledge on there..:)

Yeah this one is fully loaded 66k so will probably need a belt & pump in the next year or so

We’ve got the 9-3 aero convertible that Mrs Coolhandluke uses. It’s lovely to drive, 85k on the clock, 210 BHP, delivered lovely and smoothly.

No experience of the diesels but have had a 9-3 LPT in 1999 and then a 9-5 LPT, both lovely.

At 66k it will need Cambelt doing very soon. 72k in fact. Best put £700 aside for that

If you do buy it. I can do you a good deal on the Thule foot pack for bars. I had the estate but no roof rails so fits direct to location holes. If interested, email in profile.

I’ve got a ’09 93 tid auto saloon and in answer to the question of bikes in the back then I managed two full sussers in there with the seats down. I think we took all the wheels off to avoid too much jiggling around to avoid the parcel shelf.
The car itself is quality. Its done the motorway judder 3 times now as mentioned earlier in this thread, twice to the wife and once with me. I just dropped it into sport mode for 5 mins and that seems to sort it.

I owned a 2003 Saab 93 Vector 2.0T Petrol, one of the first new shape 93’s. Drove it like every company car should be ie thrashed from day one till the day I handed the keys back 80k miles later.

Only issue I had was electric seat motor failed. My work chum who also had a 93 suffered from broken springs and various problems with the SatNav.

Never put my bike in the boot always on the back seat or on Thule Aero bars (had a very secure roof rack mounting point).

The 93 was a comfortable mile muncher.

A good indepent will do you a belt and pump change for 300-400..main dealer 500 max..

Nice to look at but they are pretty unreliable.
As mentioned above EGR valves coke up constantly, you will need an alternator every 3 years or so, coil springs seem weak, electric power steering packs up, dpf, dmf, they love going into “limp home mode” for no particular reason- the list goes on and on.
You could buy a nice accord for that money which will never go wrong.