Hi,
I'm on holliday with my 2003 9-5 2.0t (automatic) in the Swiss alps. I got kind of worried how high the temperature gauge rose on a moderate climb to my appartment the other day. It got up to 3/4 of the way (see pic below).
The climb was not extreme, from 400 to 800 meters altitude on a 4 km distance... It was on a very hot afternoon though (30+ celsuis), with my entire family on board, and I had the AC on. I'm an experienced mountain driver, and usually put the transmission in Sports mode or manual to make sure it does enough revs on a climb. The temperature lowered quickly to a bit above horizontal on the last 500 level meters to my appt, but still it was a bit high to my opinion. I was thinking of crossing some passes into Italy later on this week, but now I'm kind of worried it wille leave me standing with a boiling engine on the St Bernard or Simplon pass.
I've owned this car for about a year now, and last March, on the same location but with much lower outside temperature, it never came any higher than usual.
My old 9000 never comes above 1/3 of the way, even now in the exact same conditions, and when I drive it hard uphil (I took both cars with me on holliday this time)