nikoleman

Hi all! First time on this forum.

I actually joined because i'm seriously considering buying a 5 door 1995900se 2.3 turbo with 110000 miles on it (173000km) and i'd like to find out a bit about it.

My questions:

1) At that mileage, will the engine still be powerful enough to make me proud?
2) From 1 to 10, how expensive would you rate autoparts for this car?
3) Are 9-3 parts compatible with this model?
4) What are the most common flaws on this model? Which parts, besides usual upkeep, should i be worried of?
5) Is the 1997 cd player compatible with the 1995 model (which comes with tape player) in case i want to replace it?
6) Relative question but... how much longer should i expect this car to last before it starts spending more time at the garage than on the streets?


Thanks a lot everybody!

Nicolas.

Roto

Are you sure it's a 2.3 turbo? I think it's either 2.0 turbo or a 2.3 NA that was available that year. It's a very reliable car if taken care of and parts can be compared in price to honda parts if you shop in the rught places. (eeuroparts.com) Most 9-3 parts fit right in and as far as the radio goes - there's way more to that than just swapping it out. I'm sure it's compatible, but I think there's a code involved in that year's radio. I've had a 9-3 hit 200K miles on original engine/transmission/clutch so it's possible that it'll last you for a few more years without becoming a headache.

nikoleman

thanks for the reply Roto, you must be right, ive been googleing a little so there must be a mistake on the class-ad. It´s turbo thats for sure. Well ill wait around for other experiences to see if it's actually reliable or if you got lucky

About the radio, 2 questions:
1) regarding the swapping, do you know if the frame from the cd version is the same that the one of the cassette version?
2) do you know or have a clue about the procedure to obtain the radio code? i mean do you get it at saab... do you have to hack it... or how would i get it?

regards

Roto

The original owners manual might have it or the dealer should be able to get it based on the vin of the donor car. I think that's how it works. The physical radio should swap right over as long as you're not going from a 900 radio to a 9-3 radio. 9-3 radio will not work.

nikoleman

I think i'm going to ditch the original stereo and try to adapt some kind of gps lcd screen to the panel, what do you think?

Roto

Do you really want to know what I think? I'm pretty crazy when it comes to these things and I have an outrageous idea for this that I'd do in a heartbeat if I wasn't ditching the stereo completely.

nikoleman

i'm all ears!

Roto

Buy an Asus EEE PC, buy a touchscreen kit on ebay, mold the screen into the radio opening and mount the Motherboard behind that, att a USB GPS module, a USB Bluetooth module, a USB ODB2 interface, and a us external HDD for music. Hardware shouldn't run more than 500-600.

nikoleman

Not a bad idea! I'll have to check if that screen integrates smoothly to the panel which is my objective.

Exciting news: I went to see the 900 i'm planning to buy.

Interiors are flawless for a 110000 miles car, leather is in great shape, everything works. Plus i've never felt so happy having the possibility to own such aluxurious car!

I would like to comment about the engine. As i had never drove or seen one of these before i don't really have a point of comparison. I felt the engine a little heavy when starting.It starts with a heavyBRRWW but then regulates just fine. Is that normal? I had a ssangyong musso before which was a total crap and did a simmilar sound, that worries me a lot...

Also rpmstilted a little when turning a/c on and off but the engine was cold so i guess that's not an issue. I did the acceleration test up to 3000rpm and it went up without rattling whatsoever. Well i'm probably going to street/road-test it this weekend and have further comments.

Looks like the car is garage kept as it's got no insurance on it because the owner lives elsewhere and parks it on his grandmother's garage. I will have to contract a 1 month temporary insurance only to testit (which is money i'm willing to invest to check if what i'm buying is ok).That means: if the car is really as the guy says it is then it'll be a great buy. My other guess is the car keeps breaking and the guy is sick of it so he bought another one and tries to sell this one.

to be continued...