Faults:

DI coil pack failed, resulting in a loss of power and a misfire.

Stereo system intermittently cut out.

Rear door lock wouldn't work on the central locking loop.

Coolant leak (sorted with Radweld!).

General Comments:

What a fantastic Q car. No badges on the back and went like stink!

Because Saab limited the torque in first and second gear, they're not the best car for dragging off lights, but when they get going, these things have amazing in gear pull. Unless someone is in something very quick, they'd struggle to out accelerate you!

Mine was Black and still looked nice and up to date; I think they've aged pretty well.

However, not so sure about the interior wear; a lot of the soft touch surfaces wear away on these, which looks scruffy, and so do some of the button graphics. I've had the older shape 9-3, which actually wears better inside.

Very, very comfortable seats, great aircon, nice and quiet engine, and even though it's the sports setup, it has a comfortable ride. All that made this car a very good long distance cruiser, although it's only really capable of early 30s ish MPG, even cruising.

Mine had the nine speaker sat nav/stereo setup, which sounded quite good, had an MP3 aux port too, but annoyingly, it used to intermittently cut out, common on these, and probably the fibre optic connections.

Handling wise it was OK, fairly secure, but a fair amount of understeer, and struggled with torque steer as well, specially in the wet, a result of 210 HP I guess through front wheels. I also have a Mazda 3MPS with 260 HP but a limited slip diff, and that makes a big difference.

If you want a fast, comfortable Q car that you can blow idiots away with in Beemers, Audis etc, that's cheap to buy and well specced... get one of these!

Faults:

No mechanical problems.

A few rattles and creaks in the dashboard from time to time. Some interior plastics are not great quality, which is a shame, because the rest of the interior is great. The seats are excellent, and the cream leather interior on my model is still in excellent condition.

Exterior is holding up well, with the exception of the bonnet Saab badge, which started to peel almost as soon as I got it - seems to be a common issue, and lets the car down. They can be replaced by a dealer apparently, but it should not happen in the first place.

General Comments:

Was wary of buying this car after reading that quite a few people have had bad experiences. But for me, this car has been great and never let me down.

The t1.8 Petrol turbo engine is smooth and accelerates nicely - relatively good cornering, and cruises nice and steady on the motorway. Generally feels very solid and safe, despite the odd dashboard rattle.

I average around 30mpg on short trips, but can get it up to 45 mpg on a long motorway trip. Not too bad for quite a sporty saloon.

I actually prefer the look of this 9-3 to the current model.

Faults:

EGR valve failed - engine warning light.

Vacuum hoses perished = engine warning light.

Intercooler pipe split - engine warning light.

Intercooler cracked - engine warning light.

Airflow meter failed - engine warning light.

Ignition switch module failed - warning on dash.

Cracked front springs.

Seized top strut mounts.

Rubber buttons on dash wearing away.

Perished 'shark fin aerial' needed replacing.

Steering lock is failing and makes awful clonking when steering.

The list goes on...

General Comments:

This car is simply awful, and that is the only way to describe it. It is the worst car I have ever had the displeasure of owning. Cheap Vauxhall/GM car wearing a Saab badge (it shares many parts with GM cars). I am now in the process of selling it, as I don't trust it anymore. It has has destroyed my finances just keeping it on the road. Costs roughly £400 a month in repairs alone.

If you ever consider buying a Saab - don't! All of the problems I have mentioned are apparently 'common' to the marque. Shoddily put together and highly unreliable, you would be hard pushed to find anything as bad as this. Check the UK car reliability index and it echos my comments.

Now moving to Honda, and will never buy a Saab again.