bloke didn't buy the Celsior, so I'm considering a chop in.

Might see if he will give me anything at all off it for the Celsior. For what I will save in fuel, it is worth a punt. Sure it will be tractor like, but it won't cost a mortgage payment each month to fuel, and do just about all I need except be an auto.

Dude seriously, 144k miles, 10 years old - isn't £1,800 *really* optimistic?

I'd be thinking closer the grand mark to be fair...

eBay and SteveH have actually infact informed me that that is actually about the right price heh.

Heh, check it's not Dervy's and look for shards of glass in difficult to hoover places. (c;

I think you could do a lot worse than that if it turns out to be tidy enough.

My mother has a 9-5 2.2TiD Estate. It's a bit gruff at idle and I don't think it should have cost as much as it did when it was new for various reasons. Fuel Economy (going by what the computer says, I've never done calculations for this car) isn't all that spectacular for a Diesel but it doesn't go below 35mpg.

It's quite an accomplished comfy barge I suppose (I know it's not quite the same as a 9-3) and she can get 50+mpg out of it.

Trouble is, you won't like it if other people approve of it. (c:

They don't tend to fall much less in value, either - although of course they

I like Saabs, and thanks to the forums and Dervy, I know what the TiDs can do, and what their weaknesses are and what can go wrong on them.

Little goes wrong because it is a tractor engine in a tarted vectra shell, and the weakness is the bulkead but I believe that can be fixed.

I know that's what they're worth, but it seems like a lot of money for what it is, and that's not the best oil burner in the world.

Citroen Xantia HDis are cheaper, for a much newer car with less mileage on them.

Might see if he will give me anything at all off it for the Celsior. For what I will save in fuel, it is worth a punt. Sure it will be tractor like, but it won't cost a mortgage payment each month to fuel, and do just about all I need except be an auto.

T, so that's '99, right? Slightly, but only slightly, older than ours.

Isn't this a bit sensible for you? :)

Just to highlight that whilst it won't be as thirsty as the Celsior but in the city it won't be brilliant, either. With my gentle feet mine tends to return low to mid 30s once warmed up. My overall is a shade under 50 to the gallon over almost 37K.

Also the 115 model has a rough, noisy idle, which would get on my nerves if I spent a long time idling (and me, I like to feel and hear my diesesl).

I've never seen anything fall off a Saab, that I hadn't badly refitted myself.

I hear horror stories of build quality for french cars, even if now, mechanically/technologically they may be on par/slightly ahead of the game because derv has always been the popular option in Frog land for bigger motors.

Yup, pretty much. The 2.2's strengths are that it's an old, "proven" design. Other than the mass air meter, the odd cooling / head gasket and oil leak, they appear bullet proof.

The mass air meter tends to last ~60,000 miles and it's over £200 from Saab.

Absolutely - it helps if you have one with a full service history, but the question to ask Saab is, "what exactly is serviced on the bulkhead?" when they query this point.

GM Saabs hardly have a faultless reputation, and the Xantias were always a pretty well built car.

I'd say there's not much in it, to be honest.

At least a Xantia isn't just a warmed over MkIII Chavalier in fancy clothes.

Well built? By what standards; by Citroen standards, yeah they were okay. But the mark one Mondeo was better constructed than the Xantia when the two were competing side by side for fleet sales.

The Xantia had a much nicer engine but the seats were generally appalling in all apart from VSX models.

Then you need to expand your horizons and try some more examples of the two. Preferably try a 100K 9-3 diesel and a 100K Xantia for a three hour trip.

Also, when somebody says (or writes) "to be honest" it usually means they are about to lie.

So what does that matter? You appear to be fixated on that aspect. Bully for you.

Was it ever a recall issue?

The one I'm thinking of is part saab history, so I'm guessing neglected for half its life after the fleet contract firm sold it on.

Not exactly. Saab paid 100% of the repair on mine. They cheekily sometimes try to offer less.

The charm approach helps if you have been an existing Saab customer and have a full service history.

Maybe. Mine had a FSMDSH apart from one "service" (oil change, meh). Now it has a full service history at either a main dealer or Saab specialist.

Actually he's going into Pontefract's Saab specialist tomorrow for the 99K service.

Something else to point out - the earlier 115 models have a 9K service interval, the later cars have a 12K service interval.

Heh, full blown GM Saabs are not the same. IME. One of the criticisms I have for my Mother's car is that it's obvious how things attach. For instance, I'd kind of expect screw holes for the door cards in an expensive car to be a bit more subtle.

Xantias are fine, doggy ones have long since been scrapped as they weren't worth fixing. It takes a while getting your head round Hydropneumagics but finding a local guru will help. Generally, I like Froggy diesels more than GM ones.

I'd probably have the SAAB given a choice between the 2 for what you want to do though and in terms of depreciation (don't fall asleep at the back there) I think a T&T'd running Diesel SAAB is always going to be worth more than a Xantia.

Missus loves her Yaris after a couple of weeks. MPG reading is showing 30.1 average for a 1.3vvti doing less than 10 miles a day local driving (short national bursts at the end).

Thing that puts me off is the "Made in France" sticker on the windscreen. What is wrong with Derby or Deeside, I ask you.

I got used to 3k changes on the 900 anyway, so that is no hardship.

I do a 250+ mile trip at least once a week in my nine year old 306 diesel, plus running to the local office at least once a week. It has

Washer jets have a tendency to ice up, usually on the M6 The radio surround creaks a bit. It's a crappy Halfords one which I haven't got round to replacing for something heavier duty, as turning the volume up a bit cures it meh.

Stuff that needed doing to it:

New front springs at 56k Ball joint at 85k AC needs a regas

I think a 9-3 would be a 'warmed over MkIII Chavalier' in the same way that a 406 is a 'warmed over Xantia' and a 405 is a 'warmed over' BX.

Anyway, I thought the MkIII Cavalier was quite a good car when you look at what they were for. Not track day material, but a good value way to travel large distances in relative comfort.

They used to go through auctions for pennies when I was at Uni. Buying them, using them once and scrapping them could have been cheaper than using a Taxi.

I quite liked the pre cat 2.0 8v engine in my mate's GLi too.

Shame about the rust. Don't see that being a problem on a recent-ish Saab.

Isn't SteveH allowed to be honest about his opinion?