2001 SAAB 9-5

Don't Bother - These things are money pits

Comfort Rating: 4 Performance Rating: 4 Interior Rating: 3 Reliability Rating: 1 Safety Rating: 4 Technology Rating: 2 Value Rating: 1

I should have looked further into that price (why does a car with this many nice features and such good driving cost so little) before buying... The cost for the timing belt, which must be replaced every 80k, is over $1k at the repair shop. If allowed to go to failure, it will destroy the entire V6 engine... Don't buy one of these with a V6 engine. I spend, on average, about $2.5k each year just replacing things that break so I can keep my car on the road. I'm saving to replace it, but I keep draining my savings to fix it so I can get to work again. I bought mine used. I've had this particular car now for almost 4 years & 80k miles (bought at 95k miles, now at 175k miles). Here are the things I've had to replace on my car during that time: Radiator, Both Radiator Hoses (separate repairs for all 3, one radiator hose failure left me stranded on the side of the road without coolant.) Ignition coils and spark plugs (that almost left me stranded, I knew they were failing but I had to wait a week for the parts to come in) Idler pulley (This one was replaced twice, did the first time during the timing belt change at 120k miles, the second one almost stranded me as I saw it bouncing down the road while I was driving to my repair shop). Water pump (also done during the timing belt, glad I got a 2-for-1 on that one - total cost was $1200 for that repair bill). Alternator (over $1k for that one, and it took time to come into the 'Saab' specialist shop) Power steering hoses and reservoir. Turbo (That was $2k on its own, ouch!) Front and rear shocks/strut dampers. Speakers (2 had the foam to fail, I found a speaker repair shop that got them back to working for less than $100 total). Air Conditioner Controller Motors under the dash, x2. (The first one failed so it was blowing cold during the Winter. The second one failed so it was stuck blowing the defogger onto the windshield during the summer). I did this repair myself. It took a while. I shudder to think what the repair shop would have charged for this one. I've also had the headlight wipers fail (I removed them) and the sunroof leaks into the vehicle if I'm parked facing down-slope when it rains. Luckily, my office has a parking garage so I don't deal with that too often. Also, I cut my finger on the wood veneer peeling off of the dash. The wood they used was just too thin and the glue fails over time. I'm gradually peeling it off of my dash, it doesn't look good... Normal Maintenance Items: Tires (Tires only last ~50k miles, that's the longest I could get out of a set of Michelins. Thank goodness they're only $500 a set) Brakes (Pads & Rotors once, Pads the 2nd time. This car eats those too). Oil Pan and Valve Cover gaskets. I still have to get the stains out of my garage. Fluids (This thing requires Euro spec synthetic motor oil because of the turbo, it's not cheap - about $80 for the shop to do this oil change). Headlight bulbs only last about 4 months, that's with the long-life version. The 'Silverstar' bulbs only last 4-6 weeks in this car. These are $20 per pair (for the long-life version). About 'Onstar' - The onstar system they put in my car is completely obsolete. It will not connect to anything now. I removed the Onstar from my car.