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I realize that most people on this board are very happy with their Saabs so my situation must be an anomaly. Regardless, for any and all who may be interested, here's an abridged horror story about my first (and last) Saab (a '99 9-5 auto).
While I love my car's looks, performance, handling and luxury appointments, I find it's build quality and the quality of many of it's components to be severely lacking.
The car hasn't been right since the day I took delivery (it's now got about 60,000km on it). It's been rough starting, idling and shifting. Attempts have been made to solve these problems by replacing the throttle body (once), PCV valve (twice), and cleaning both items (many, many times). These "fixes" generally help for a little while but eventually the car starts running like a diesel again.
Recently, the car started shuddering violently when accelerating (most pronounce when the engine was cold). It felt like I'd suddenly lost a weight from one of the wheels but rather than the shudder/vibration being dependant on the speed of the car it seemed to be related to engine RPM (manually shifting to a different gear somewhat smoothed things out). In an attempt to solve this problem, my dealer has replaced the transmission, ECU, spark plugs, and cleaned a large amount of carbon build-up from the valves. The problem still exists and the dealer doesn't seem to know what else to do.
In addition to these major issues, there have been a slew of smaller glitches with the car. Other items replaced so far include both display units, the battery, both seat heater switches, HVAC blower motor, the ashtray (twice), several trim pieces, 3 sets of brake pads (to try to remedy an awful brake squeal which has existed since day one and still remains), at least a half-dozen bulbs...
I literally haven't gone more than a month without the car being in the shop.
I think it's short sighted to let any customer drive around in an obvious lemon like this (not only will I never buy another Saab product but I know of several people who were considering the purchase of a Saab for themselves who have been scared off based on my experience). My dealer tells me that the best I can hope for from Saab Canada is a slight discount if I choose to replace this piece of crap with a new model. Even then I'm told that the paperwork involved makes this an unrealistic option.
Since I'm due for a new car in the next six to twelve months, I've been looking at the BMW 330i, Mercedes C320 or possibly the new Jaguar X-Type. All I know for sure is it won't be another Saab. I feel like an idiot for buying this one.
Caveat Emptor.
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