2005 Saab 9-5 Aero wagon - nordwulf

[nordwulf]

Just a short summary of cost in the last 4 1/2 years:

Purchased for $7,500 - Sold for $3,500
Total miles driven: 82,000 (18,500 per year)

	Cost	Per mile (cents)
Depreciation	$4,000	4.88
Maintenance	$862	1.05
Repairs	$1,486	1.81
Tires	$1,009	1.23
Insurance / Registration (estimate)	$3,200	3.90
Fuel (estimate 82K miles / 27 mpg x $3,20)	$9,718	11.85
Total	$20,275	24.73

I did most maintenance and repairs myself and that is where you can save quite a bit of money. I also bought it for a very good price and would have paid more for it. But I just got lucky with finding the right car with low miles for a great price.

Fuel is the largest expense, even though it was pretty good on gas. However, premium gas is about $0.60 to $0.70 more than regular so you loose some of the savings in good gas mileage to the higher price. The extra cost of premium vs regular was about $2,000.

Maintenance includes oil changes (12x), ATF changes (2x), filters, spark plugs and other small things. As you can see, that is such a small part of the total cost of running a car so never try to save money by stretching change intervals too long. Fuel, insurance and depreciation are the biggest items that cost the most.

[GeoffR]

Fuel is the largest expense, even though it was pretty good on gas. However, premium gas is about $0.60 to $0.70 more than regular so you loose some of the savings in good gas mileage to the higher price. The extra cost of premium vs regular was about $2,000.

I don't know how you use your car so this is really only relevant to my experience and using UK fuels. I did several tests on my normal daily run to and from work using Regular un-leaded and Premium un-leaded fuels and came to the conclusion that the extra cost of premium fuel was not justified. In the UK Premium fuel is about 3p to 5p per litre more expensive or around 4%. I wasn't getting noticeably more miles from each gallon of fuel and certainly not 4% more.

Obviously a different usage pattern may show a different result but I would suggest that anyone considering the use of premium fuel carry out some proper testing to confirm that the more expensive fuel is actually making a difference. I know of many Saab owners who will only use premium fuel because "the car runs better", it didn't make the slightest difference to mine.

[southsaab]

I'm one of the those whose Saab runs better on premium. And I use top tier gas, too. By running better, I mean performance. Tried different fuel octanes, and premium works the best. Read a quote on a Acura site that discussed much the same fuel octane issues concerning the TL. Many swore by regular gas, even though the specs were for premium. One guy asked why would anyone buy a premium make and not use premium gas? No one, including me, had an answer.

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[tch3rd]

I know this is an old thread, but I'm looking to pick up a very similar 9-5. I'm looking forward to driving it this weekend. It might need some work, but I'm interested in seeing if it's the right car for me. Love the pics and the write up.

[commandobot]

The sales guy was not the best photographer so this is the best picture I have so far. But don't worry, many more will follow next week.

How many photos did you took?