I have a Saab 9-5 3.0 TiD estate, June 02 registered. Had it from new, 57K on the clock - great car. Full service history with one dealer. A few knocks and dinks on the outside and needs a good clean on the inside due to the kids, but otherwise a great car.

The day before I was due to trade it in (for a Saab 9-3) - engine failed. Took it to the dealership who investigated and advised that it had ingested water as the airintake was wet, shattering the bigends etc etc. In short - needs a new engine before they'll honour the trade-in and unless I persuade them to source a second-hand one, the car will be scrap as the cost of a brandnew engine will out-weight the trade-in value.

Now - here's the snag: I can't see how it ingested water. I drove the car solidly all weekend, the roads were clear of water, and immediately prior to the engine failing, I'd been cruising the M1 for an hour in the outside lane, and I guess I would have noticed hitting a deep pool of standing water!

The dealership and Saab UK insist that it's water ingestion and the only other thing I could think of was cambelt failure leading to a cracked head and coolant being sucked in and then out the airintake, thus making it wet - but the cambelt is intact.

They suggest I claim on my insurance (but seeing as I didn't hit water, I can't honestly do that!). Off the record they suggest it's happened a few times with the big 3.0 diesel, but I can't see what I can reasonably expect Saab to contribute even if I managed to convince the central office to contribute towards the cost on the basis that Saab engines shouldn't just fail like that at such low mileage.

Advice on how to approach this would be appreciated. I want to get the car back up and running so I can do the trade-in and not lose too much of the 6750 pounds trade-in value they offered me. I have already purchased outright the new car, so I suppose I could get the work done cheaply away from Saab using a reconditioned engine and then sell it privately, but frankly it's a lot of hassle that I'd rather avoid.


{Subject header given a more meaningful title than "Help! Advice needed" - DD}
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Wife has a R reg VW Polo automatic, once in a while when driving slowly or coming to a stop the engine would cut out. For the last two days it has been happening quite regulary, even when driving 5mph in traffic. It was serviced a month ago. Could it be the automatic gears or is it a battery fault. Read more

Why oh why did I ever buy this car??? My limp-home mode cut in again a few miles from work this morning - it had been fine on a 200 mile drive at the weekend, but the roads were dry. Today the roads were damp, but only enough for intermmitent wipers on the M40. Still, must be something damp somewhere. Can't see anything obviously damp...

But the real worry and thank god I'd got off the M42, as I came onto the business park, approaching a roundabout I went for the brakes. The pedal didn't move at all and no braking what so-ever. Thankfully there was no-one coming onto the roundabout and I went round on 3 wheels (Didn't fancy trying the foot operated parking brake option...). As I limped the last couple of hundred yards to the office the ABS/ASR light came on. Any suggestions? Is this going to cost me a 2nd mortgage?

This car costs me so much more than a similar age and mileage Xantia did )o;
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I'll might start annoying some of you on this board but I'm just curious and expanding my choice of cars. I'm taking my time to buy one for myself because I want a car that I'll keep for sometime so I'm not in any rush. Last night while talking to a mechanic friend he suggested me to check out Volvo S40 diesels. I've checked the prices on autotrader and I'll be able to get R/S reg within my budget. I've got no idea of how good Volvos are and how good their diesels are. I would like the opinions of you experts. I really would like to know how reliable are they and are they economical. I read on Parkers that these cars have got Renault Diesel engines, any thoughts on that? Read more

Hi


Time to get a new car , I have looked around and taking into account my budget (apprx £2000 ) and my choices are narrowed to the following :

Vauxhall Vectra (01 ) plate petrol 83,000 on the clock
Volvo S40 (do they do these in Diesels? )
Saab 9-3 or 9-5 (again looking for diesel model )

Looking at Volvo and Saab for safety reputation as well which is important to me.

anyone any thoughts or experiences on any of these models?

cheers all

Cmbdon
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