1997 Saab 9000 CSE 'Anniversary' 2.3 Turbo

[Geordie]

I have fancied a change from the Primeras recently, and this beast landed in my lap quite by chance. I had been looking at V6 Galants, S40 T4's, Audi coupes etc, when a mate of mine decided to sell this......1997 'P' plate Saab 9000 CSE 'Anniversary' ltd edition auto. It's a 2.3 litre turbo originally running 170 bhp, but it has been re-mapped by Abbott Motorsport to 200bhp.

The lad selling it knows I like the older motors, so texted me to ask if I knew anyone who would be interested in it. I'm glad he did. I'd seen it a few times, and admired its wedginess, but as soon as I drove it, my mind was made up.

Apart from the power, the interior and equipment list also sold it to me. This 'Anniversary' limited edition model celebrated 50 years of Saab, and came with a discreet bodykit and the most gorgeous leather upholstery I've seen. It's a quality Scottish leather hide (there's tags on each headrest!) with nice velour inserts. On each seat back there is the Saab Aerospace logo, which look great. Fully kitted, it comes with electric slidey heated seats for both front seats, with the drivers seat having 3 memory settings. Ice cold air-con plus climate control, cruise control, electric windows all round, trip computer, leccy heated mirrors etc etc. The original two piece stereo has been upgraded to a DAB Digital unit, which so far is great, and there's a rear wing mounted power arial which works. Well, everything works.

The lad gave it a full MOT, and the only advisory was that the underside couldn't be fully checked due to being undersealed/waxoyl'd. There was a massive box of spares too, including air con unit, brake master cylinder, DI cassette, various light units, relays, mudflaps, dog guard etc.

The only downers are the slightly shabby front os wing and the dull colour.

Early pics after I had collected it..





















The dodgy wing (I already have a replacement ready to paint)..











Beautiful seats





Engine bay as I got it...





After half an hour under the bonnet..









Smoked side repeaters with chromed bulbs..



Before fitting..



After fitting.. much better..





I don't like the fried egg look, so fitted some chromed bulbs in the front repeaters as well. The one on the left is done, the one on the right is the standard orange bulb..



Both done..



Clean..



I had thought that the grille was missing the 'Turbo' badge, but I've been advised by those in the know that low pressure turbo motors didn't get that badge. So mine being the low pressure turbo didn't get it. Shame. Got one sorted anyway. I thought the grille was definately missing it...





The last thing I did, for now, was to remove the stupid 'neverbeen' sticker from the rear end. Now you see it..



Now you don't..



I have these rims bought, and just need collecting from Nottinghamshire. 16" Aero open stud three spokers..



And I've got some Aero door cards also awaiting collection. These have black leather inserts (which properly match the seats) and have lovely walnut door cappings.

So to sum up, this is my first Saab, and after 6 weeks, and about 2000 miles, I'm blown away by the 9000. It's such an under-estimated gem of a motor. Fast, comfortable, well put together, with subtle, understated looks and genuine sleeper qualities. It's genuinely rapid. The last of the proper Saabs before GM took over. Brilliant.

I realise this may not be particularly 'retro' to some guys, but this is one of the later 9000's, and the design didn't change much from it's early days in 1985!!

All comments welcome, good or bad.

Cheers guys. Thanks for looking.

[mrzee]

love it. I had a 9000 2.3 fpt and absolutely bloody loved it. My wing looked exactly the same!

[Geordie]

Just a small thing done today. Lettering on the mudflaps painted silver.





They say it's the small things that make a difference. I agree.

[DaveEdge]

Cheap as chips to get good power out of these mate.

The b234 is essentially the same as the b204(2ltr) and are bullet proof. Stock bottom ends can take 400-500bhp+. T5 engine management is easily tuneable...The abbott map is an expensive version of what the average joe with abit of knowledge can do on his laptop, but its a bonus obviously.

A TD04 turbo, bigger fuel pump and 3" downpipe with a FMIC should see around 280bhp with a cheap remap if you're ever after more power.

The gearbox's are the only weak link, but with this in mind, remaps focus on not putting too much power down in 1st and 2nd, with the amount of torque these produce you'll be spinning all day anyway, after 60/70mph theres not much on the road that can touch these.

Good choice of motor imo.

[Geordie]

Thanks for the info.

I've been advised that 200bhp is probably a safe limit with this particular auto box. Suits me.

Even at this, the pull between 50mph and 70mph is hugely impressive.

Hugely underestimated car these, and can be picked up for peanuts in reality.

[willowandmikey]

I had one as a courtesey car with 300k on the clock , toodling back on the m25 takeoff it easy and noticed triple figures so quick on the mid range it's just madness

[griffindai]

Nice

I loved my first 9k Anni, also an Auto but the 2.0 lpt. Was probably the best car I've owned. Mine was just standard bar the "Genuine Saab Road Handling Kit" ....avoid that like the plague though....was terrible and pretty expensive! Better off with some Billy B6's and Abbott Springs or Eibachs if you can find any.

You can get a ton of power out of these engines...450-500bhp's pretty easily achievable with bolt on mods and big enough turbo....not a lot will touch it then but with the auto box your a bit limited and cant go mad as the extra torque will kill the box (can always convert to manual) ;D there's a few guys running around 280-300bhp on the auto's with T5 Suite remaps so plenty of scope for a bit more oomph with a 3"DP and decent autobox friendly remap to keep it happy (I've been using Faero from UKSaabs for the last few years...he's really really good at T5 Suite) Also go for the T7 APC mod if you did decide to remap it....makes a nice difference in power delivery, a lot smoother....well worth it.

I'm still gutted about my last 9k Aero...rust got the better of it so I broke it last year

[ejenner]

Unfortunately the auto boxes are particularly shabby. Mine was making a lot of power after a cheeky remap and this scene outside my house became far too common






It was probably the best car I ever owned and the best car Saab ever made. IF ONLY... they had put a good autobox in it. The manual boxes are much stronger.




Mine was an Aero so it had the beautiful Recaro wing-back seats. The most comfortable seats I have ever had in any car. I've bought a couple of sets to fit to my current Saab's.




That is the aero door card with wood capping you can see in this photo:




For the ECU mod you require a BDM module from ebay which costs about £10.00 and then you have to solder pins onto the board for the module to connect to.








It was a sad ending for mine unfortunately. I was at a set of traffic lights and the truck in front started reversing into the car. I had my hand welded to the horn for a long time before he actually hit it... there must have been something wrong with the guy because he didn't hear me or see the car or anything. It was only a medium size lorry as well, not a juggernaut. After this when he'd finished crushing my car I had to chase him for about 3/4 of a mile up the road to get his insurance details. Nightmare.

[tali100]

Seat logos are unusual -i'm no saabite -but me not see that before
Aero seats seemed to have been ripped off in later years by Ford for sporty Fiestas and Escorts

[Geordie]

Dec 31, 2012 0:41:10 GMT tali100 said:

Seat logos are unusual -i'm no saabite -but me not see that before

I'm new to Saabs too, but the logo is old & traditional I believe...

[ejenner]

Those logos were added to the aniversary seats and I think also some of the 900 special editions at the time had them too.

Edit: the seats themselves are just normal Saab seats but with suede patches and the aeroplane logo. There are some non-aniversary seats with the suede patches and no logo.

[Geordie]

Dec 30, 2012 14:45:40 GMT griffindai said:

Nice


I'm still gutted about my last 9k Aero...rust got the better of it so I broke it last year

I've just read the build thread start to finish for your last 9K Aero (from the link in your siggy). Much respect for the work you put into that.

[griffindai]

Thanks mate...ill definitely get another in a couple years once I've stopped crying about the last one They're such a good car and have huge tuning potential.

As nice as this 9-3 is....it's no 9k

[oli8925]

They were the wheels I was going to buy for mine. Offered the guy selling them the full value he was after but apparently he didn't want to sell them to me...

Hopefully on the verge of buying another set of the older smooth super aeros with the stud covers, which I prefer anyway, so hopefully all's well that ends well. Although he hasn't replied to me yet.

Dai, just sell the 9-3, forget the Fiat Coupe, and get another 9k

[ejenner]

My dad has a 9-3 which I occasionally drive, normally when he wants me to service it or fix something.

There are little things about the 9000 which make it a much nicer car than the 9-3. The 9000 was incredibly expensive to develop and manufacture. The quality of the two cars is worlds apart.

It's small stuff but the differences are all over the car. For example, the A & B pillars are lined with fabric rather than hard plastic. The door handles feel more like a solid 1950s fridge door with the latch whereas the 9-3 feels like you're getting into a Nissan Datsun Cherry from the 80s where the handle feels so light and flimsy.

Higher specifications of the 9000 had electric fans in the rear doors to drive warm air up through vents on the tops of the doors to clear the rear passenger windows eliminating that defroster nomansland present between the rear window and front cabin of other cars.

Stylish map reading lights on the rear C-pillars. A far more substantial soft centre front armrest (where fitted.) The 9-3 has a droopy little mound in the middle.

The theme continues throughout each vehicle. The 9-3s aren't that new anymore either. My dads car has about 50k on it and feels the same over bumps as my 9000 aero which was 140k - i.e. a little rough and shaky.

As I say, worlds apart.

[oli8925]

Have to say I was very happy to have my 9000 back after a 2003 9-5 Estate courtesy car. There were bits about the 9-5 that I liked, gearbox was nicer (think mine needs new bushes though), dash didn't have massive gaps in it or creak (never understood that on a car as nice as the 9000 was when released), felt more assured in corners (mine has 150k and probably original suspension in need of replacing). But my 9000 felt so much more squat and solid and well built, and the noise elimination in the 9-5 was woeful in comparison. Let's put it this way, I could definitely feel the 'GM' in the 9-5.

[griffindai]

Don't want to hijack Geordies thread, but your right, the 9000 is definitely a better car than both the 9-3 and 9-5 (I also had the 9-5 Griffin for 2 years) . The Griffin was nice enough, very comfortable, all the toys and pretty quick with the 3.0 v6t, felt a lot more modern than the 9k Anni it replaced but a lot less solid and not as well made....but I LOVED my 9000 Aero

Nice to drive, solid, handled ok for a big car, felt stable even at silly speeds...was easily one of the fastest things i've ever sat in!!! Just brutal performance & surprised a lot of more expensive cars

For me though I cant go back to a 9k just yet, maybe in 3 or 4 years. I've sold pretty much all the go faster bits so would have to start from scratch again (cant face it) plus I've thrown a good £2k+ on this 9-3's handing already so makes sense to just crack on with it for another year or so....aiming to get 450-500bhp ready for the summer

The 9-3's not a bad car, definitely not as bad as everyone makes out, even the handling can be sorted relatively cheaply with a few braces. But as I said...its no 9000

[Geordie]

No need to apologise for 'hijacking' the thread bud. I'm a newbie to Saabs, and interested to read and learn about them from people who know better.

The 9000 was at its first local Saab meet yesterday....

[zap]

Of the 9000's I've owned three- 2.3FBT CSE, 3.0CSE V6 and 2.3t CSE Anni and the last would have stayed alongside our 9-3SS Aero in the fleet, but Mrs Zap wanted a smaller runaround for herself. If I had known earlier, I would not have bought the 9-3.

[Geordie]

Got the Saab looking nice and shiny last weekend. SRP is great stuff...







Lots of small parts waiting to be fitted improve this one: 16" Aero alloys, walnut capped/leather inserted door cards, digital clock/computer display & single din cup/coin holder. Just need some time to fit them.