'99 9.5 smells like crayons

Which color? Burnt Sienna?

Sorry.

Exterior is black with tan interior.

....but didn't it smell of crayons before you bought it...?

Well yes but the dealer said "oh you'll get used to it". Yes I know, why did I believe them and buy the car..... Good one - burnt sienna

Can you find another identical car on a lot somewhere to take a whiff?

so, is the interior tan with a black exterior?

Crayons are wax and I believe wax is used in leather conditioners. Maybe it'll finally go way ?

A couple of months back I bought a newer 9000 and the previous owner was female. It has a smell of perfume that's taking ages to go away ! I keep wondering if she must have dropped a bottle of the stuff inside actually. Not as bad as cigarette smoke though.

Graham

we once bought a car with a distinct doggy smell to it. A couple of things that may be worth a try. It could be that the smell may be due to the smell of the previous leather treatment rather than the leather itself. Give the leatherwork a *clean* (try Autoglym leather cleaner), followed by an application of their *conditioner*. I've used both, and don't recall any unpleasant pongs. May need to repeat this after a few months. In addition to this I bought a fairly neutral-smelling oil of the type they put into these aromatherpy oil lamps if you know what I mean. I sprinkled a few drops onto some paper tissues and shoved them into those elasticated pockets on the back of the front seats, into door pockets, in the ashtray (but not if you smoke of course!), and anywhere else. Bit of a pain, but it did the trick.

Yes, I did stick my nose in another '99 9.5 and it did smell. Just not as bad as mine. One of the salesman said it was a "Saab smell". Hasn't anyone else heard of this?

Interesting comment.

I'l simply say that I reckon cloth seats are a better option. They don't seem to show wear so badly either.

Graham

Yeah I'd agree there, leather needs to be maintained in order to stay in good shape, cloth can be ignored and it just holds up, but when buying a used car you get whatever the original owner specified.

"James Sweet" wrote in news:S2d2f.23603$q81.6690@trnddc06:

My experience has been the opposite. Good leather seats are care-free but cloth and particularly vinyl wear out fast.

I've owned three Saabs, each one has had that sickly-sweet leather smell to it. I can't tell you how much I love that smell! mmmmmmmmmm

-Chris '94 9000CSET '94 900SEv6 '87 9000S '99 9-3SE *'rents*

Pooh Bear wrote:

Vinyl wears out fast, but all the leather cars I've dealt with the leather was dried and hard, often cracked. The cloth seats I've had have still been just as soft and cushy as always, even on 15-30 year old cars. Leather will hold up, but it requires regular maintenance which old cars seldom have seen, cloth is maintenance free. I'd rather have leather than vinyl, but I'd much rather have good cloth than either.

Has anyone here actually seen a car with vinyl seats made in the last 25 yrs ?

Graham

I only once had leather seats ( in a Rover 2000 - P6 ).

They result in unpleasant sweatiness in the summer.

Give me cloth any day.

Graham

Me too. Leather is hot and sweaty in the summer, stiff and nasty-cold in the winter. My '86 900T had lovely velour seats that were soft and comfortable year-round. Their only disadvantage was their Velcro-like attachment to corduroy pants. :-)

...yep...our Land Rover had 'em....terrible things they were too in cold weather...