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Saab 9-5 2.3t SE estate
20000-mile farewell report - March 2000
There’s nothing quite like the comforts of home. After a long hard day at the office or out on a shoot, there’s nothing better than settling down in a comfortable armchair, sipping a hot drink and listening to your favourite music on the stereo.
Thanks to the Saab 9-5 2.3t SE Estate I’ve been running for the last 12 months, I have enjoyed all this before even reaching home. I simply climb aboard, set the climate control to the desired temperature, plonk a cup of tea in the cupholder, then settle back in a driving seat as comfortable as any armchair. Once I’ve put a favourite CD in the stereo, I have a veritable living room on wheels.
As it comes to the end of 20,000 miles in our care, the 9-5 has established itself as a firm office favourite and justified why it is our current Estate Car of The Year. It’s not just its capacity to cosset and pamper on the commute home; luxury is blended seamlessly with practicality.
As a photographer, I need a car to swallow all my camera gear and cover long distances without complaint. The 9-5 has proven close to ideal. All my photographic clobber fits in the cavernous boot with room to spare.
To improve the load-lugging credentials still further, we specified our car with the optional cargo net, sliding floor and self-levelling suspension. Whenever we’ve carried loose items in the boot, the net has stopped them moving around, while the suspension has certainly helped keep everything stable, even with a fully loaded boot.
The Saab’s appetite for luggage has been a boon outside the usual 9 to 5 (no pun intended) work. Two of my colleagues have borrowed it over weekends to help move house and returned to work impressed.
When not doubling as a removal van, the Saab’s shown it can also be the handyman’s best friend. Gathering all the raw materials to build a deck in my back garden over the summer would have been a real bind in most cars, but the Saab coped with ease.
A large three-metre joist fitted in with the tailgate shut, while a load of bricks and sand was dumped in the back without unduly upsetting the Saab’s composed road manners thanks to the self-levelling suspension.
The sliding floor should really have come into its own at times like these, but I’m not convinced. It’s fine idea in theory – with the floor extended past the back bumper, you only have to lift heavy items up rather than straining to reach into the load bay at the same time. The floor can cope with as much as 200kg, so even heavy loads are not a problem. In practice, though, I’ve rarely used it.
Sliding the floor back out with a load in place has always proven troublesome because the catch has been a struggle to lift. I’ve since found, though, that I haven’t quite been using the floor properly.
It’s possible to slide it in without returning it to its original flush position. If you do that, you don’t have to strain against the weight of the load to lift the catch and slide the floor out. This simple remedy avoids the problem, but I’m still not sure we’ve used the sliding floor often enough to justify the £395 cost. This minor quibble aside, it has proven a fantastic load-lugger.
Space and practicality are not the only virtues I have enjoyed in my time with the Saab. Once full of all my kit, the car has transported me to photo shoots the length and breadth of Britain – even across to Europe. Fortunately, the big 9-5 relishes the long haul. Early in its time with us the Saab despatched trips down to Cornwall and over to Holland in quick succession. The same qualities which make the Saab such a welcoming place to be on the commute home proved equally valuable when racking up the miles.
The seats in particular deserve praise: they’re so comfortable. Even after long days behind the wheel, I never worried about backache or fatigue.
The plush ride smothers all but the worst road imperfections, while the auto ’box slurs its changes smoothly unless you’re really pressing on. Even with a full load, the relaxed and torquey turbo engine makes for swift, unflustered progress.
Considering that most of the Saab’s mileage has been clocked up at speed and heavily laden, average fuel economy has been reasonable at 25.4mpg. Around our touring route, it returned 24.6mpg, though our best fuel consumption figure of 30.52mpg is perhaps a better reflection of the Saab’s potential if driven light-footedly.
All in all, there are few better cars for long trips, although my young son Ben might not agree. The suspension is so soft that some might find it wallowy, and on one occasion Ben was car sick. Fortunately the leather upholstery was easy to wipe clean, and nobody else has found cause for complaint on lengthy journeys.
It’s not just the obvious things such as ride comfort and a powerful engine which make a difference when driving such long distances, the little things count too. The 9-5 is full of clever, thoughtful touches and considerable attention to detail has clearly gone into the design.
I never cease to be impressed by the cupholder’s smoothly damped and acrobatic action. The double sunvisor is another excellent feature. Fold the main visor to the side to block out glare, and there’s another underneath which can be folded down to the front. Once the sun has set, the ‘night panel’ button kills illumination of all read-outs except the speedo to maximise night vision. You grow to appreciate this type of individual, yet logical, feature.
The 9-5 copes well around town, too. Although it’s a big car, the power steering’s generous assistance makes tight manoeuvres less of a chore than they might be, while the auto ’box takes the strain out of stop-start traffic.
The 10 months of demanding motoring haven’t passed by without revealing a few flaws, however. The gearbox may shift smoothly and suit the car’s relaxed demeanour, but it occasionally hunts between ratios. Rival Mercedes and BMW autos have five gears rather than its four, and my road test colleagues tell me those ’boxes have the edge on smoothness, too.
If you hit the sports mode switch on top of the gear lever each gear change takes place higher in the rev range, giving brisker acceleration. Despite that, the Saab doesn’t really cut the mustard as a sports saloon. Press on down a favourite back road, and the steering proves a little light and the suspension a tad too soft for keen drivers to really enjoy themselves. Far better to back off, relax and allow the Saab to play to its strengths.
Another flaw shows up at junctions. Even the most laid-back driver occasionally needs to pull out briskly and smoothly, but give the 9-5 its head and it generates a boy-racer bootful of wheelspin. In the wet, the problem is far worse.
I can’t help thinking that traction control should be standard. With the benefit of hindsight, I should have ticked the box on the options list, even though it costs £475.
Mind you, considering the traction problem, tyre wear has been quite reasonable. The fronts have yet to be replaced, although they have been wearing out more quickly than the rears.
The wheels were swapped front-to-rear at the 18,000-mile service to prolong tyre life further, although this has done little to improve the front-end grip.
We’ve managed to avoid any unscheduled visits to Saab’s dealer network, although when we have taken the 9-5 in for a service we’ve been happy with our reception.
Our nearest Saab dealer, Currie Motors of Hampton Hill, Middlesex, (0181 977 9990) quoted £126 for the 9000-mile service. Ian Allan Motors of Virginia Waters, Surrey, (01344 842801) asked £99 to carry out the same work. That’s not a huge bill for such a big executive car, so they won our business. The service itself was carried out efficiently and courteously.
A couple of problems cropped up as the miles piled up on the way to the 18,000 service. The spring-operated ashtray stuck open, while the rear vents refused to blow anything but warm air at 12,000 miles, even when the air conditioning was set to full chill. Mysteriously, the fault disappeared of its own accord.
When the 18,000-mile service fell due, we again rang around for the best quote. Currie Motors asked for a hefty £319. Ian Allan Motors undercut their neighbours with a more pallatable £219. The ashtray and faulty climate control display were replaced free of charge.
With another couple of thousand miles under its wheels, the time has come to say goodbye to the Saab. I’m left scratching my head to think of an executive estate which would better suit my needs and tastes.
Depreciation has been quite hefty, £12,700 over the year, so perhaps I should consider a BMW 5-series or Mercedes, both of which have six-cylinder engines to the Saab’s four-cylinder turbo. That, together with their badges, should ensure a better secondhand value.
The BMW 523i SE Touring costs £29,995, and is £541 per month on contract hire. The Mercedes E240 Avantgarde is more expensive at £33,730, and costs £585 per month on contract hire. The same figure for the Saab is a competitive £537 (all figures exclude VAT, and are supplied by HSBC Vehicle Finance. Call 08459 000888).
But the Merc is a bit too sensible, and the BMW a little too thrusting for my taste. I prefer the Saab’s blend of comfort and practicality that made it our Estate Car of the Year.
John Bradshaw
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