Post by Blarno on Sept 23, 2017 10:01:17 GMT
I completely forgot that I bought the SAAB in August last year!
After a year's ownership, I'm more than happy with it after the initial hiccup in the first few weeks when the head gasket shit a brick on me. It's no match for the Mondeo as an outright driver's car, but it's far less prone to tramlining and lift off oversteer (I've only had one instance in the SAAB when I entered a wet roundabout far too fast and it got a bit wobbly - all my fault) and is considerably comfortable thanks to softer springs, wheels that are 2 inches lesser in diameter and frankly amazing seats. It's noticeably faster in the lower rev range - The Mondeo wouldn't spool up until 2k and then would take off like a stabbed rat, whereas the SAAB will pull from 1k upwards with no let off until about 4.5k. Marginally less torque than the Mondeo (240 lb/ft vs 255) but a good 20 more bhp (150 vs 128) with the possibility of 210 bhp and 300+ lb/ft with a cheeky remap. If we manage to sell the house some time soon and make a bit of profit, it will happen.
Condition wise, it's still a very tidy car. No visible rust, just a few scratches and a scrape on the front bumper where my Mum's neighbour caught it whilst reversing out of their drive and I just haven't been arsed to buff it out. Only the driver's seat has a small amount of peeling leather on the bolster which is repairable for a short time with superglue. The rest of the interior is near mint - even with kids frequenting it - and is much better screwed together than the Mondeo was. Only the aircon doesn't work, which is apparently down to a leak I have yet to find. I didn't really miss it on the Mondeo and haven't really missed it on the 4 hot days we've had this summer.
Mileage is now 143k, so not far off what the Mondeo had when I bought it.
Brian the Cacodemon.
Notice the state of the sump plug on the last picture. That was done by the garage that serviced the car prior to me owning it. I had a bastard of a job getting that off last week when I changed the oil. This is why I do stuff myself - if so called professionals can get it that wrong, why trust them? They also overfilled it quite considerably: 6 litres in a 4.5 litre capacity sump. Granted, I should have noticed on the dipstick, but that's just shoddy.
After a year's ownership, I'm more than happy with it after the initial hiccup in the first few weeks when the head gasket shit a brick on me. It's no match for the Mondeo as an outright driver's car, but it's far less prone to tramlining and lift off oversteer (I've only had one instance in the SAAB when I entered a wet roundabout far too fast and it got a bit wobbly - all my fault) and is considerably comfortable thanks to softer springs, wheels that are 2 inches lesser in diameter and frankly amazing seats. It's noticeably faster in the lower rev range - The Mondeo wouldn't spool up until 2k and then would take off like a stabbed rat, whereas the SAAB will pull from 1k upwards with no let off until about 4.5k. Marginally less torque than the Mondeo (240 lb/ft vs 255) but a good 20 more bhp (150 vs 128) with the possibility of 210 bhp and 300+ lb/ft with a cheeky remap. If we manage to sell the house some time soon and make a bit of profit, it will happen.
Condition wise, it's still a very tidy car. No visible rust, just a few scratches and a scrape on the front bumper where my Mum's neighbour caught it whilst reversing out of their drive and I just haven't been arsed to buff it out. Only the driver's seat has a small amount of peeling leather on the bolster which is repairable for a short time with superglue. The rest of the interior is near mint - even with kids frequenting it - and is much better screwed together than the Mondeo was. Only the aircon doesn't work, which is apparently down to a leak I have yet to find. I didn't really miss it on the Mondeo and haven't really missed it on the 4 hot days we've had this summer.
Mileage is now 143k, so not far off what the Mondeo had when I bought it.
Brian the Cacodemon.
Notice the state of the sump plug on the last picture. That was done by the garage that serviced the car prior to me owning it. I had a bastard of a job getting that off last week when I changed the oil. This is why I do stuff myself - if so called professionals can get it that wrong, why trust them? They also overfilled it quite considerably: 6 litres in a 4.5 litre capacity sump. Granted, I should have noticed on the dipstick, but that's just shoddy.
