2000 SAAB 9-5 from North America - Comments

• The original key remotes stopped working within the first 6 months. The dealer provided me with at least 6 replacements because none would hold the programming to open the car. Eventually, one was able to hold the code. (11/00-3/01)

• The front toe setting was off from the beginning and the car pulled assertively to the right. The original dealer was never able to isolate the problem (after several trips to the service bay). The dealership which bought the original Tulsa dealership was finally able to identify it, but could only modify it slightly. By that point, the front tires were worn so badly on one side, they had to be replaced. (6/00-6/01). By 10/01, the toe setting was off again and had to be reset.

• The rear shocks had to be replaced. At the moment, I am not able to remember what alerted us to that problem. (11/02)

• After driving to my office on a snowy day, I was unable to drive the car home because it felt as if the parking brake would not release and several warning lights were illuminated. I had the car towed to the dealership and, after sitting in the heated garage all night, the car was fine in the morning. The only hypothesis my service adviser had was that some part of the braking apparatus had frozen and needed to thaw. I will admit it was a cold, snowy day, but I find it hard to believe a snowy day in Oklahoma will undo a car built for snowy days in Sweden! (1/03)

• In February of this year, I had the 60,000 mile service done. Now, in May, I am faced with having to have the throttle body replaced as well as the digital display which has been spotty for the last couple of months. In fact, the service adviser informed me the displays have been a common problem and the dealer always has several in stock in anticipation of someone needing a replacement. (5/03)

- As of 7/03 I had to have the ignition module replaced. Have spent a total of 3000.00 on the car in last 5 months.

I have written a letter to the president of Saab USA listing the above complaints. Her response was (and still is, despite my phone calls) that Saab has no responsibility for and will not address issues after the warranty has expired. Even the dealership feels sorry for me and gave me a slight discount on the last part.

If the company's customer service had been better, I would probably buy another Saab because I like the car and I understand lemons do happen.

You are lucky that it was not an ABS failure when the ABS and brakes lit up it would have cost you another $2500 minimum. these ABS are the Bosch 5.3 model it fails without warning rain or shine, mine did for no reason and now I have to replace it. Saab modified the ABS system and the cost is three times that of the other car makers using it. the modification apparently is a failure and so is the Bosch 5.3. the fuel pump is another story, so is the DI and so are the SID, turbo, catalyst, steering wheel; you name the part and I can show someone who had a problem with it and that's only Saab 9-5se 1999. Saab should in all honesty reimburse all those who bought their cars and compensate for the hardship and aggravation.

I hear ya. I have a 2001 Saab 9-5 that has been nothing, but trouble. It has less than 25K miles on it and has been in the shop no less than 10 times since January. Calling Saab Customer Service is a complete waste of time. All they do is read a script and tell you there is nothing Saab will do. Then new CEO is Debra Kelly-Ennis, but her office has been moved from the Atlanta area to Detroit. She does not talk to customers regarding issues with their cars.

I have a 1999 9-5 and although it has been somewhat reliable in the 3 yrs I have owned it (bought it off 2yr lease), it definitely has a couple of annoying problems. The headlights keep burning out and I have had to replace each at least twice. And, the taillights have each been replaced at least once. More annoying, though, the engine noise is very loud. Sounds like a tank next to my wife's van.

I have experienced the same lack of customer service. I have had numerous problems (it's been in the shop 10 times in the past year) with my car. Not only can I not get anywhere by contacting Saab customer service, neither can the dealer. The Saab rep will not respond to the dealer nor offer any assistance. This company is headed down the toilet due to a serious lack of customer service.

I'm glad to see that my front end toe problems and Ignition senor switch problems are not unique. Misery loves company, but I still have to shell out the money for a fix. I'm at 75K miles on a 2001 9-5 and things are literally falling off. the ABS sensor went south recently. the catalytic convertor went south a day after the ignition switch died. the dealer said this was common. Oh, don't you love that. The good news was that it was covered by the 8 year 80K mile warranty. considering I'm 5K away from the 80K I'm wondering what else is just about to go wrong.

I like the car when it runs it just has a money drain problem.

I've had numerous problems with my 1999 9-5. Dealership is very nice, but the car is costing a fortune to repair. Now out of warranty and Saab USA wants nothing to do with the problems despite many of them occurring within the warranty period. Car at 73K and now neeed to replace a/c compressor, rear shocks and transmission modules. In warranty have replaced master break cylinder, front electronic panel and various others. Still have electrical problems, lights blow frequently. Nice to drive, expensive to run.

Ditto for my experience with my 1999, Saab 9-5, which I bought in early 2001. I purchased it Saab Certified, with 30K miles on it, and was told it was off of a 2-year lease. I've changed the oil well within specifications. I have now 76,400 miles on it. I had a reasonable first 2 years, and I too have had alignment problems. At approximately 76,000 miles the warning display indicated "limp home" mode; it soon stalled with no power, and I was told the throttle body needed replacement. This past week, same message at over 50 mph on a major highway. This time thick blue billowing smoke out of the exhaust and terrible noise under the hood. I just make it onto the off ramp when it goes dead; I roll down via momentum, and luckily with no traffic in cross street, run a stop sign, finally coming to rest in a neighborhood street. I call for a tow, check and find oil volume ok, and get to dealer late Sat. afternoon, and they kindly provide a brand new 9-5 as loaner. Monday I find out I need a new engine; no specifics re what went wrong. Told it's almost as expensive to find out as installing a salvaged replacement... @ more than $6,000.00. A few days later, having gone to dealer to ck my rights and options, as well as to retrieve oil change receipts, I overhear service reps telling phone callers there's no formal recall re the engine (I hear there's some kind of notice in Motor Trend). I inquired and was told SAAB just announced a new warranty extension. When were they going to tell me? All I heard was what I was expected to pay. Today, the service rep advised me to call SAAB USA for more info. That's where things stand now.

I purchased a used Saab 95 wagon a few months ago off lease with 43,000 miles. The car had excessive vibration going through the steering wheel and floor while stopped with the automatic transmission in drive. I took it to my local dealer for covered repair. They said it had a problem and they would fix it. They claim they replaced an engine mount and replaced the engine turbo, did a computer firmware update and an erg valve update. When I get the car back it still shakes hard. Now they claimed that it was fixed and they would do no more and even Saab's 800 number told me it was fixed and that they didn't know where the car had been since I wasn't the original owner. After several weeks of frustration with the car's shaking constantly every time I stopped at a light I lost my temper in the local Saab dealer service center. They then did the needed additional repairs of several more motor mounts at no cost to me and showed me the billed cost to Saab of $620. The car is now very smooth running. It bewilders me though why Saab tried time after time to convince me that the vibration was normal. There is no question in my mind that they knew it wasn't right, but tried very hard to convince me otherwise. Shame on Saab for just not taking care of the problem the right way from day one. Who would want to buy another car from GM/Saab after this kind of treatment.

I've got a 2002 9-5 with less than 20 thousand miles. In the Spring and Fall when it rains and the temp is around 60 it won't start. Once the temp rises and the sun comes out, it dries out and starts. I've called roadside assistance more times than I care to mention, but the dealer can't find the problem, although the tow truck drivers say it happens with Saab all the time. Anyone else with this problem? Resolution?

OK... I have a 2000 9-5 Aero Sedan that I LOVED when I bought it. I stil love it when I'm driving it...BUT

at 50k Miles it was like someone hit the self distruct button. In the past 12 Months' I've spent $3,000 on it in miscelanious engine repairs. The SID - Saab Information Display works fine, but 2 lines of Pixcels are out intermittently. I've had the ABS light, coolant warning light (indicated needed a new water pump) Limp mode's been a frequent visitor. THis thing's turning out to be a real finiky car. I love the handling, acceleration, comfort and snob appeal. But I won't' spend another Dime before I sell the thing.

My Mechanic at the dealership confirmed my Cafe-Shop's opinion that the Aero's larger Turbo creates heat sufficient to convert most oil to sludge... gunking up the Oil returns to near-closed. They had to clean the crank case high and low, replace the pump intake to the return and clear the screen. This then lead to additional return problems as the cleaning freed up more crud. Now I think converting to synthetic and checking the pan and oil frequiently will prevent further issues... car is now running like a top.

Good news... the next owner should get a near-new engine now that I've replaced, rebuilt or serviced virtually everything.

I leased a 2001 9-5 and I absolutely loved it for so long. Same problem, it hit 53K miles and the ENGINE BLEW UP!!! Saab will do absolutely nothing for me and says I have to buy a new engine for the car b/c it is out of warranty. (4800 for the shell and 7800 for a brand new engine) Their customer service is absolutely shoddy. I leased the car because I thought it would be a reliable car and it has been NOTHING, but trouble after it hit 40K miles. Then, most recently, a porter loaded the car onto a tow truck and dented the whole back end. They didn't realize the guy that I was having it delivered to has worked on my car since I started having problems with it, so he knew the condition of the car and when they dropped it with the dented back end, he told the tow truck guy that the back end was not dented in like that. The tow truck guy said the porter at Saab dented it and told him there was already minor damage on the back end and not to tell anyone. LIKE I WOULDN'T NOTICE THERE IS A HUGE DENT ON THE BACK END OF MY CAR. So, now, not only did they deny me any help with the engine b/c my miles were 53K, but they further damaged my car and are trying to get out of it!!! I'm furious and I will never lease/buy another Saab again.

I got a 2004 9-3 Aero and just loved it, that is until all the problems started happening. In one year I had about 7 visits to Saab. My problems, many of which could not be solved simply because they could not be reproduced at the dealer were the following. Some were fixed, but have continued to come back.

1. Problems with the pinch protection. This is the mother of all annoyances. I have had to bring the car in 3 different times due to the window suddenly deciding that it thinks it has something preventing it from closing. Twice it has been fixed on either window, and now it has returned. The first time it happened I was driving at 8000 feet in snowy weather in lake tahoe.

2. Problems with electronic key locks. Probably twice a month if not more, the key-lock system completely fails. When it does the only way to get the locks to work is to manually insert the key, put in the ignition and start the car. Because it intermittently happens, saab could / would not do anything.

3. On-star failure. Several times I have had errors indicating an onstar failure which goes away. When I bring it to the dealer they say no codes in the system.

4. Gear-shift malfunction. Stupid error pops up saying gear-shfit malfunction, performance has been reduced. This happened twice.

5. Worn bearings on the ties. This one was really serious. Apparently my car had factory-defect bearings which were so worn, that in the Saab tech's words, the tires could have fallen off on the highway.

Now the actual problems are only the first major pain. The real pain starts with dealing with customer service. I can't tell you how frustrating it is when you get a 40,000 car to hear that it's not their problem because the techs can't reproduce it.

Furthermore, I went to Saab to try to get some resolution to these problems. Initially I was asked flat out what I wanted. I said I want a different car because this is ridiculous. They sounded very optimistic and went through their legal team to pursue my claim. The final answer was that because the techs can't reproduce my problem there is nothing they can do.

Well they definately lost a customer that I can tell you. And all their advertising about the driving experience etc. I can tell you it sucks if you are one of the many who fall into having all the problems that I and it appears many others have.

--Glenn.

I have owned a 2000 9-5 SE for two years now. Bought it with 34,000 miles. Just after the 50,000 mile mark, the alternator and battery died. That was $1200. Then the driver's side heat went out. That's another $2100 (yeah, really, and that's a used part). Now we just got it home from that repair, literally, and the windshield wipers don't work. I'm terrified to bring it back to the shop, but I guess I'll need the wipers since it's supposed to rain this whole week. We also talked with SAAB corporate and got the "it's the customer responsibility" routine. Oh yeah, had to have the whole stereo system replaced, but at least that one was covered by warranty! That happened two days after we brought it home from the dealer. Should have returned it then!! Also have display problems, but I'm not even going to acknowledge that, because that is the absolute least of my problems with this car. At this point I'm ready to unload it on some poor soul, but can't bring myself to be that cruel.

I'm a new saab owner. I just bought it from my brother-in-law. It's on 56,000 miles (80,000km) and I've just had the gearbox warning come up. It's gone into limp mode. The mechanic has quoted me a ballpark figure of between Aus$1,000 to 3,000 to fix. Help. Has anyone else had this problem? Are the gearboxes known for being faulty at these kilometres? Sigh. Wish I'd read this forum before deciding to buy...

May I suggest you do s Google for your limp mode problem - I drive another Swedish car (Volvo 850) which has a similar quirk and I found several pages of info and was able to cure the problem quickly and withou much cost!