rich1068

What an amazing looking machine that is.

Astonishing thread. I've only just read the whole thing because I just thought it was someone wondering why their AC wasn't very cold. Eye opening! And as far as Halfords are concerned, I find they struggle to take 15% off my purchases. Like others here I certainly wouldn't trust them to work on my car!

Watch yourself with the polish. Too much elbow grease and you'll dull the plastic with fine scratches.

Quite. But I still know which I'd prefer to drive.

I've heard one or two say it's easy when you know how (whatever that means) but similar issue with my old 400h. I remember the dealer saying his 10 year old could change the front three, the back three were a different matter. Hence the warning when looking at second hand RXs to check the back three have been changed.

In my opinion yes. But with the exception of the £550+ band I pay no attention to the VED rate. I'll buy a car because I like it rather than what the annual road tax hit is. But if you just fancy a change then that's an entirely different discussion.

Totally agree. And isn't the hybrid system under the Lexus 15 year warranty if it has full main dealer history? Or is that just the battery? And anyway, first thing I thought of was the new Cross Climates and the tracking. Could be a bad tyre or misaligned. Especially showing up at that speed. Bit naughty of the seller to fib about the previous owners though. Something else you might want to do is speak to the last servicing main dealer. If you're polite, tell them you don't want personal details and ask them about the history of the vehicle they'll tell you. I've done it a few times. I also know that the lexus app shows up all work done in the dealer network so if there's anything nasty it'll be there.

Agreed. And I'd also agree with Les and Daniel that an insurer would probably drop you like a stone if you were ever in a bump. If they can cancel your insurance because you don't tell them about a remap I'm pretty sure they would in this case too.

Goodness me. Close call.

Was it known to be up for sale or is this a fluke?

Wow! Welcome! Any plans for it? Visited any owl sanctuaries? Bit of a Partridge fan myself and I do remember looking up this car on the MOT site when I got my own Japanese Mercedes.

That's very cheap. 200 quid here in Sheffield. The guy I use https://www.cbfpowdercoating.com/ I've had the IS, RX and two Saabs done there. Top job.

I'm ashamed to say I never keep a car long enough to find out how long the seal lasts

Maybe I should have said not bad for a car not made in Japan!

Maybe it's the updated head unit or an Android thing but I never had much luck with mine. And iirc I had to be stationary before I could make a call!

And couple more pics of some Swedish Metal. A bit of Friday night Espresso Black action. And this rolled round this morning Not bad for a European car

Bluetooth phone connectivity was flaky at best in my 400h. 2006 tech and new handsets do not play nicely.

Interesting. I think if I ever looked at a current generation IS I'd be looking at the 200t or 250. Nothing against hybrids, some of my best friends are hybrids. But I think I'd still be going full fat petrol while I still can.

So well put. Much better than I could.

AF certainly aren't the worse in that respect but like you I don't use think of a number companies anymore either. Local independent broker for me.

Not sure I can recommend a way of sorting the chips. Autoglym headlight restorer involves various cutting pads and polishing compound applied with a drill but that seems a little dramatic. If they're starting to yellow a little I can recommend ArmorAll headlight restoration wipes. About a tenner from Halfords. That might brighten them up a bit.

Astonishing that this is still going on.

I should add that the original subject of this thread (850 quid '99 9-3 S Convertible) has cost me roughly bugger all since I bought it. It comes out whenever it's dry but also survived an extremely wet Tour Of The Peaks with absolutely no issues when some other more exotic machinery didn't do too well. The kids love it too. I mentioned to the eldest that to get the Soarer I'd have to sell the 9-3 and 9-5 and he was absolutely horrified. I think I'm doing something right.

Unless I buy the Soarer and start this ridiculous cycle from fresh (again) I've decided it's a wheel refurb and rear window tints for the 9-5 next. Biggest bang for buck in terms of appearance as far as I'm concerned. Closely followed by a carbon fibre dash direct from Sverige. Or a nice walnut one if I can find one on the Bay. After that it's a replacement head unit and SID (Saab Information Display). The buttons have gone icky on mine. To give you an idea of the bangernomics involved that's 60 quid for a brand new dash direct from Saab in Sweden, 25 quid for a CD/radio/cassette and about the same for the SID. Over the last month or two I've had the brakes and suspension sorted so it now drives like a car with half the mileage. Add to that a remap courtesy of Karl at noobtune and the car is pretty much sorted. I've also been working on the paintwork and the pearlescent is coming through much more. It changes from bronze to grey to I don't know what depending on the light. Also, totally (nearly, there was a Gripen there) unrelated to Saabs here's a pic of the Red Arrows I took at the RAF Cosford airshow last week. Just posting it because I like it.

lol I'll see what I can do. Though I've a feeling nice 99s are a little beyond my bargain basement budget.