Saab Exhaust System Advice

I've got a 2001 9-5 2.3t that I am trying to sell. The only glaring issue is the exhaust is loud. I had it on the lift and the center resonator assembly seems to be the major issue here. I took it to my neighborhood mechanic to see if he could do something to just quiet it down somehow. His response was that it needed everything from the cat back replaced at a cost of $900. Ouch.

This would be the flex pipe, the long resonator in the middle of the car, the S pipe from that resonator to the rear muffler, and the rear muffler. I looked around online and it looks like the parts can be bought for about $500.

I also found an OBX racing stainless system for $400.

I'm not super confident in my ability to weld up an exhaust on my own, but it looks like under $200 if I could go that route.

I'm going to see what a local muffler shop says later in the week, but what does the hive think about this? How much should an exhaust system cost?

Get the OBX or shell out for a BSR or something from GenuineSaab.com unless you have a REALLY good muffler shop nearby. Unless they are going to mandrel bend your system in stainless for under $500, the price is not likely to be competitive with what else is out there, in my experience. I think the BSR cat-back I put on my 9-5 was $500, and it was a very nice stainless exhaust with great fitment. The OBX will possibly need tweaking to fit but it's hard to beat the price.

My GF's old Jetta needed an exhaust at one point. Two local shops wouldn't do it under $450. Ordered a Techtonics system online for $300 instead and was very happy. And any exhaust joint having a slow day will probably even install it for you for an extra $40 or so, or you can DIY of course.

Exhaust systems are plentiful and cheap in junkyards. Good enough if you're selling the car.

Is this one of the 9-5s that have 2 mufflers? When my BIL had his 9-5 and the center one rusted out, he had a local shop wekd in a glass pack looking resonator. It sounded fine, a bit rumbley, but not obnoxious.

HappyAndy: It is the double muffler system... My thought was also to have what i'd call a cherry bomb style welded in place of the center piece. The rear doesn't look great, but doesn't seem to have holes.

Since I'm just trying to make it more sellable, I just want it to not have the very obvious leaks. These cars were never particularly quiet anyhow.

Anyone have any experience with those OBX systems? Definitely attractive pricing for stainless, but I wouldn't want a 9-5 to be too loud.

I'd imagine you could get a center section pretty inexpensively from eeuro or eBay. A shop near me has no problem installing customer parts.

In reply to XLR99:

The general consensus is that the welds aren't the best and the hangers can need some tweaking to fit, but the price is untouchable and they do sound pretty good. It is somewhat difficult to make a turbo car LOUD and the OBX is basically a Chinese copy of more expensive systems, with all the good and bad things that entails.

My BSR system was nearly silent despite having less baffling than the factory system so if the OBX is marginally louder I'd consider that a good thing. If I had that 9-5 again and was looking for an exhaust setup, I'd go for the OBX with a GenuineSaab catted downpipe.