SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist

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Thu 16 Oct 2014 11:04
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - Alanovich

SAAB 9-5 2.2 TiD

Mercedes E220 CDi

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi

Opinions and substantiating comments please. Other models will not be considered for reasons best known to me.

I'm leaning towards the SAAB at the moment and intend to view one today.

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Thu 16 Oct 2014 11:40
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - oldroverboy.

With any of them at that price you are almost (if not) in banger territory, but the ford should be easiest and chapest to fix.

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Thu 16 Oct 2014 11:51
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - Alanovich

Indeed I am in banger territory. Hope to keep the car 2 years. It will replace an exisiting banger which has become too small for my needs. Should be able to find one with about 100k on the clock, I do 10k per annum, so I'm confident that any of these will last the distance without major failure, if purchased with good history.

Take on board the Mondeo comment, I do have independent Merc and SAAB specialists locally and a very good general indie I use for general repairs/MOT already, so again confident I can maintain any of these models fairly easily. I live in a large town, not the sticks.

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Thu 16 Oct 2014 12:42
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - veryoldbear

The SAAB 2.2tid is a good car. Very comfortable motorway barge. The 2.2tid engine is a bit agricultural but noise level inside at cruise is no worse than most cars. This engine is actually more reliable than the later 1.9tid. It will almost always leave some blue smoke on hard acceleration. Can give some EGR problems but no worse than many diesels. Expect around 40 mpg, 45 on a long run.

And the best comedy cupholder in the business

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Thu 16 Oct 2014 12:44
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - veryoldbear

Also a lot of spares commonality with Vauxhall / Opel

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Thu 16 Oct 2014 12:58
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - Alanovich

Good point, VOB, thanks. 2 Vx dealers within shouting distance of home. Believe the 2.2 diesel was used in the Vectra also?

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Thu 16 Oct 2014 16:58
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - 72 dudes

Believe the 2.2 diesel was used in the Vectra also?

Correct, Vectra and Omega. As VOB says, very rattly unit with only 120 BHP and a very narrow power band, but there's something about Saab interiors which appeal.

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Thu 16 Oct 2014 17:22
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - Alanovich

Hmm. Whichever I buy will spend most of its life in urban traffic jams. Comfort is a factor more than power really.

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Thu 16 Oct 2014 19:45
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - Happy Blue!

All comfortable and spacious. Likely to get a higher spec car for same money in the Mondeo - better for sitting in traffic jams. Also all the cars are more likely to brake down and Ford parts are likely to be cheaper than the Saab and Merc. However the Merc is tempting if it has a decent spec simply because it is a Merc and possibly get one with an automatic gearbox.

Frankly at this price point, condition is more important that model/spec.

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Thu 16 Oct 2014 20:54
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - Trilogy

How many miles will you be doing a year?

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Fri 17 Oct 2014 11:00
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - Alanovich

See post above, I do 10k per annum, mostly urban. I have another car to run alongside, 2006 Mazda 6 2.0 petrol auto estate.

I'll tell you why my shortlist is so short - I want a chain cam diesel and TC auto transmission. These are the only ones at this price point.

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Fri 17 Oct 2014 20:58
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - Trilogy

See post above, I do 10k per annum, mostly urban. I have another car to run alongside, 2006 Mazda 6 2.0 petrol auto estate.

I'll tell you why my shortlist is so short - I want a chain cam diesel and TC auto transmission. These are the only ones at this price point.

Sorry, I missed that. Surprised no one has said that if you are only doing 10k a year that that having a diesel isn't really worth it.

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Fri 17 Oct 2014 07:59
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - 520i
The Merc will rot, at 2k you're in late 90s/early 00s territory when they were trying to fleece people into buying overpriced rubbish made from nasty tin. Given the choice of the other two I'd avoid a life expired disposable Mondi and plump for the Saab; they're well built and comfortable, and have a touch of class even at this price.

Edited by 520i on 17/10/2014 at 08:01

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Fri 17 Oct 2014 08:46
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - bazza

And of course you ideally need to buy privately at this level or you'll pay £2k for something worth £1K . I would limit my budget to £1200 or so to limit my worst case loss if it all goes badly wrong.

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Fri 17 Oct 2014 08:58
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - paul75ts
I've just been faced with the same quandary, same budget. Considered a few others as well: Audi A6, BMW 5-series, Honda Accord, etc.
I bought a 9-5 estate from an independent Saab dealer - 05 2.2Tid with 188k, full history, £1,500.
So far I'm pleased - as others say it's not that quick, and a bit gruff, but when you get used to the power band you can overtake quite easily.
It's well built, comfortable and handles very securely.
It had a few niggles but the dealer sorted them and put a new mot on at some cost to them - it needed front suspension bushes and a brake servo pump.
The only thing now is it turns over a lot before firing - I want to get this sorted before it gets icy.
I'm getting 37mpg from a mix of urban and A road driving.
I'm pretty sure I made the right choice. The list of faults on HJ for the Merc is absolutely frightening, and that's without the rust. The A6 isn't much better. And HJ says old Mondeos can be money pits. I'm impressed that there are independent Saab dealers like mine who are prepared to keep these cars going to 250k and beyond.
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Fri 17 Oct 2014 10:58
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - Mike H

All comfortable and spacious. Likely to get a higher spec car for same money in the Mondeo - better for sitting in traffic jams. Also all the cars are more likely to brake down and Ford parts are likely to be cheaper than the Saab and Merc. However the Merc is tempting if it has a decent spec simply because it is a Merc and possibly get one with an automatic gearbox.

Frankly at this price point, condition is more important that model/spec.

I'm sure you'll be aware that the Saab is also available with an auto box.

Saabs are no more difficult to maintain than other cars. And spares are easily available. As has been mentioned, I frequently buy suspension parts for my Saab 9-5 from my local GM dealer (it's based on a Vectra B IIRC).

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Fri 17 Oct 2014 23:00
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - barney100

Don't have any experience of Saab or Ford but have had three Mercs. you stand a good chance of picking up a good car providing you do the usual checks. Very high mileages achieveable wit h TLC.

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Fri 17 Oct 2014 11:13
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - Alanovich

Thanks all for the ineresting and helpful comments. I'm still leaning SAABwards at the moment. If I can find the time I'll look at this one today........

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20141001785.../

I think I'm discounting the Merc.

Edited by Alanovich on 17/10/2014 at 11:13

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Fri 17 Oct 2014 15:29
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - HandCart

IIRC, the mk3 Mondeo Tdci came out as THE most expensive car in the segment for average annual repair bills in the most recent Which? survey-report. (Like over £500 a year?) (The petrol one was surprisingly good.) Presumably the usual suspects like DPFs and DMFs and injectors and fuel pumps.

Yet some people get good 'uns. Seems like a complete, and BIG, gamble.

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Sat 18 Oct 2014 17:12
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - 72 dudes

Thanks all for the ineresting and helpful comments. I'm still leaning SAABwards at the moment. If I can find the time I'll look at this one today........

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20141001785.../

I think I'm discounting the Merc.

Looks like a great car for the price.

I'm sure you've run your own figures but at say 35 MPG vs. 28 MPG for a petrol auto 2.0t or 2.3t, the fuel costs for the diesel are only £340 less per year than the petrol for your mileage.

That's a small price to pay for a much smoother, more responsive engine (less trouble?)

I ran an old 9000 2.3t for 11k miles about 10 years ago and it averaged 28.6 calculated brim to brim.

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Mon 20 Oct 2014 12:15
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - Alanovich

Well on inspecting the car it seemed mechanically sound, but it had higher miles than advertised (140k) and the interior was damp and quite smelly. Yik. Not a problem I'd like to have to tackle, probably only blocked drains or something but still, best avoided I think.

Happily, the dealer had a similar, dry, 53-plate estate with 120k on it, for a little more money. Test drove it, knocked some money off the asking for a couple of minor niggles (like a broken tail light lens) and went for it. I've ordered a second hand lens off ebay for 15 sheets.

Very pleased over the weekend, then a downshift on a steep hill caused the gearbox to break wind slightly and a warning light came on. Eek. So I took it to a lovely chap at DCA SAAB specialists in Berkshire this morning who plugged the diagnostic thing in and cleared the message for me, gratis. Gearbox seems to be shifting fine - very smooth, almost imperceptible changes, which is one of the things which impressed me on the test drive.

So now I think I'll get the transmission fluid changed as well as giving it a full engine service and brake fluid change and see how we go.

Lots of car for not much money.

Edited by Alanovich on 20/10/2014 at 12:17

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Mon 20 Oct 2014 12:33
SAAB 9-5 - £2k budget - 3 car shortlist - veryoldbear

Have fun. These are fairly bomb-proof, but it's always worthwhile having your own code reader which can be found on the ebay. Common things are a gummy EGR valve, and mucky MAP and MAF sensors. All very easy fixes. And the 2.2tid is chain cam, no DPF to worry about.

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