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The Saab 9-5 is a great car, pobably the best that Saab has ever made. I have had my 2001 Aero for three weeks and love the car. However, I think you're taking a risk getting a model year '99 9-5. The car was new and appeared to have some bugs to work out. While the quality and reliability of the car have greatly improved, and reading this board you can see that, it also seems that the MY '99s tend to have more problems long term than later models.
I love my car and feel that Saab deserves much more respect (in terms of sales volume and resale value) than it gets. However, it is very much true that when looking at bulletin boards related to BMWs for example that you see far fewer post reporting problems with the cars (just wish not EVERYBODY had one, thre's a BMW 5 series around every corner ou here in CA). I imagine Lexus vehicles are even more trouble free based on what owners say about them.
So, as much as people on this board want to vigorously defend these great cars (almost to the point of being in denial of th verifiable problems that exist) it is true that some Saabs, particularly early 9-5s, don't seem to have the reliability you'd want from such an expensive vehicle.
What it may come down to is that the Saab is such a great car overll that the minuses are grealy outweighed by the pluses. Lots of people here (David Mills for ex.) have reported persistent problems that never seem to get fixed but almost everyone here stands by their vehicle. The car is phenomenal but reliability is sill a gray area, at least before the current model year.
Also parts are expensive. My comprehensive insurance rates are extremely high since the 9-5 is a pricey car to fix. In spite of all of this I feel I made the right choice. I got a great deal and knew right away this was the car for me. However, I didn't pick this car based on reliability. I pick it based on style, performance, features, exclusvity and uniqueness (I reside in an aea where you rarely see 9-5s on the road).
So this long winded message is my way of saying yes you have reasons to be concerned about the reliability and repair costs of the '99 9-5, but I must give the disclaimer that I have never owned or driven a '99 model and many '99 owners have had no trouble with their cars. It just seems like a lot of the posts on this board regarding problems with the car (and yes, no matter what anyone says there are a LOT of posts on here about problems) come from people with '99 models.
Good luck. I still say you should ge a 9-5, just try to stretch the budget for a newer one.
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