Saab 9-3 (NG) gurus...

I test drove a 9-3 the other day and liked it a lot. It reminded me a lot of my '01 9-5 wagon. Engine was strong, 5 speed shifted nice, steering felt good. The one thing that concerned me was a rattle from the front end. It sounded like it was coming from both sides, not just one. Every little imperfection in the pavement made it rattle/clunk. I crawled under the car, but with my limited skills and limited visibility of laying on the ground under the car I didn't find anything obvious. From what I read, strut mounts are common wear items on these? What else on this platform is a common source for that type of rattling? The car was otherwise a decent car, with good documentation (owner has had it 11 years), and the price is great. But the noise...

the most common is sway bar end links. we had to do them on my wifes 04 and i think the 2010 are starting. cheap and easy to do.

how cold was it? there is a "normal" cold weather noise.

http://www.saabnet.com/tsn/bb/NG900/index.html?bID=162203

It was in the low 50's outside, I'd guess. It's not a weather related issue, something was definitely rattling.

Doesn't sound like the cold clunk. I would first look at bushings, and then at the firewall mounting area for the strut brace

Not sure what year you are looking at, and my response is much broader than your question, but I thought sharing my SAAB experience might be helpful in evaluating your potential purchase. (I am becoming a bit of a SAAB evangelist.) TL/DR: The rattle is either the strut mounts, sway bushings, or sway links. If you are happy doing your own wrenching, these are fantastic cars at bargain prices.

I bought a 2003 for commuter duty in October. I got a very good deal on a 65k mile 9-3 "Linear" with the auto, purchased from the original owner. Exterior/interior very clean, paint good, couple of body dings, but LOTS of deferred maintenance to catch up on (partly because the car had a rough life on crappy NYC roads) and I factored this work into the price. Since purchase, I have replaced balance shaft chain tensioner, front and rear struts & mounts, front disks/pads, front sway bar links, seat belt tensioner, plugs, airfilter, driver side hub/bearing and axle shaft, and a few bulbs. I now have about $3600 total in the car (including the purchase price, and non-mechanical stuff like new floor mats, etc.). With a wash and wax the car will look really sharp.

Some thoughts after two months of ownership:

1. Driving Experience. My weekend cars are a 2005 M3 and a Spec Miata. Wife DDs a 2003 Volvo XC70. I have driven old BMWs for most of my life. The 9-3 has a stiff ride that I guess some people call sporty. Even after fresh struts, the SAAB rides only slightly better than the Spec Miata, about the same as the M3, and nowhere near as nicely as the Volvo. Tires are the cheap Pirelli all seasons, so this may be part of it. The 9-3 handles nicely, even though I generally really dislike FWD. Power is good, plenty of pep for my 60 mile (r/t) daily highway commute. The auto trans is pretty smooth. SOLID 31MPG, with about 10 miles per day being in stop and go traffic. No complaints on that front.

2. Noise: These are NOISY cars generally, particularly the front. At first I thought I had a bad apple, but research and exchanges with other owners tell me that the early cars, in particular, had relatively little sound insulation, I guess to save on costs. There is quite a bit of road noise (tho my crap tires could contribute), and there are a number of irritating rattles behind the instrument cluster and radio. Apparently later model years (from 2005 onward, supposedly) have significantly more sound deadening generally, and care was taken to eliminate rattle sources. My project over the long holiday weekend will be to trace and eliminate the dash rattles, and add more sound insulation. The sway bar mount bushings creak mercilessly, but are a BEAR to get to, so maybe when the weather warms up I will put on my big boy pants and take care of it.

3. Maintenace/Parts. The 9-3 shares many, many, many parts with other GM eco cars of that era, no need to hunt for Saab branded parts, its mostly only the interior bits that are Saab specific. Parts availability is really good, at very reasonable prices. It pays to shop around, but I have found eEuroparts to be generally the cheapest and fastest. The car is pretty easy to work on, just make sure to invest in a good set of torx sockets. Forums have lots of DIY step by steps, and you can buy the “WIS” (Saabs electronic workshop manual) for $10 on eBay. SAAB specialists, at least around me, are relatively thin on the ground, and can be quite pricey. I was busy at work, so I called a couple of places for quotes on replacing the balance shaft chain tensioner. Both places wanted $2000 for a job that ended up taking me 3 hours on a Saturday morning. No thanks. I think the shops are still capitalizing on the “Saabs are finicky and foreign” notion that applied largely to pre GM-era cars, which is easy for them to do especially when there are no dealers any more. I think they wanted $500 to R&R the hub bearing and axle, which took me about 1.5 hours (15 minutes of that was me tearing the garage apart looking for my 32mm socket.)

I was cross-shopping Mazda3s, Volvo S40s and at the high end of my price range BMW e46s. I think the 9-3 has been a really great bargain. MUCH nicer interior than the Mazda3 or S40, drives better than the Mazda (which I really wanted to like more than I did). I couldn’t find an e46 3 series that wasn’t beat to hell for anywhere near what I have spent on the Saab.

Hope this is helpful!

In reply to Klayfish:

+1 on swaybar endlinks being a likely culprit. In addition to the other suggestions, front control arm bushings can also cause some noise.

Thanks for the write up, NY. I've never had a 9-3, but like I said I had a 9-5 wagon as a DD and really liked it. Hopefully it is just a swaybar end link.