Saab 9-5 Saloon 2.0T Review

Good Points
Reliable (inbetween major failures)
Very comfortable for long journeys
Good equipment levels and comfortable seats

Bad Points
Very expensive when things do go wrong
Poor road holding
Poor acceleration

General Comments
Bought my Saab 9-5 Saloon 2.0T family car in 2002 with 90k miles with a FSSH, expecting a few years of cheap compfortable motoring. Within 2k miles the turbo blew costing £1200 to repair. Just 3 weeks ago the big end bearing went (mileage 123k), requiring a new engine installation. Apparently both these faults are quite common with this car, on higher mileage examples.



So despite a FSH and being well looked after this car has cost in repairs more than its current value.



However for a cheap 2nd hand buy and a very comfortable motorway cruiser this car is excellent, and much better value than equivalent BMW / Mercedes.



I will certainly never buy another Saab again, repair costs, reliability and poor driving dynamics being the main reasons. Ultimately the car is based on an outdated chasis (old Vectra), that was competitive 7 years ago when it came out, but not any more.