UKSaabs

In between Christmas and New Year my runabout at the time a Vauxhall Vectra expired while travelling on the motorway, so this meant I needed a runabout very quickly. So I started looking through the classifieds, there wasn’t a lot for what cash I had available. Until I stumbled across a Saab 9-3 Se Turbo for £750 and it was practically on my doorstep.

This was the advert

" Here I have for sale my 2000 Saab 9-3 se turbo hatchback. It has covered 116000 miles has a full service history and is in very good condition. It has electric windows front and rear, digital climate control, trip computer with outside temperature sensor, miles till empty, average speed and average MPG. It has a new tow bar recently fitted and not yet used. This car is very practical and economical; it has been used mostly for motorway miles on which the car will happily return 40 mpg. It has been professionally remapped in Sweden up to approximately 220bhp, making it an ideal tow car. I had the car remapped so that I could tow my bike trailer with ease, however I have just bought another 9-3 turbo so this one must go. The car drives superb and the engine is very smooth and has been 100% reliable. Any questions please contact Andy on 07*********. Happy bidding "

Long story short I bought it.

And this is it ..........................













The only thing I didn’t like was the wheels, so I had a broken vectra outside the house so I thought I wonder what they would look like on the 9-3 ..........................................





Now today was my first chance of getting it cleaned since buying it so I gave it a quick wash before the fog set in

















(Yes I know it doesn’t have any number plates on it, they were taken off to fit my private reg)

Now as I’m new to Saab’s I’m not sure what mods to do so far it has

Stage 2 - reprogrammed Trionic 5 ECU
APC solenoid
3-inch cat-back sports exhaust system

My future plans are :-

Rolling road to confirm figures
Remove tow bar,
17" SAAB OE wheels
Factory spec front & rear splitter and skirts.
Carbon dash kit and maybe leather interior if the price is right,

But I'm not sure what else I can do, I want some bling for the engine bay but I’m sure I can polish the pipe work up and fit silicone hoses but I’m open to suggestions guys

All Comments Welcome

A bargain there by the looks of it, lets hope the bulk heads not cracked!

How would I know ........?

Not sure but it's a fairly common fault with a hefty cost. Lets hope thats not the reason for the previous owner selling it.
It will normally show up at mot time.
This was one reason I never bought the 93.

Hopefully yours is ok.

Forget the catback if you want the exhaust mod to make a difference.. Start enlarging it from the turbo end.

the fella was selling it cause he bought a 9-3 turbo convert. and needed this one gone before he went into the RAF

And what would I need for that ...?

3" downpipe with either a larger cat or a decat pipe.