Hi there- I have an 05 Saab 9-3 with just over 100k on it. It's been a good car but lately things are starting to go on it like: Fuel pump, power door locks not working, leaking AC on the floor boards, and other silly items like that. The engine seems to run fine, it shifts smooth, but I'm wondering how smart it is to keep a 17 year old car with more issues coming up. I'm considering selling it private party and buying a newer 2019 Volvo S60 from a dealer. Any advice, thoughts, etc? With the amount of money saved having no car payment for the past number of years I was able to save a decent chunk towards the Volvo. With the Saab having issues I'm getting to the point where i'm spending more than it's worth on repairs.
Those 9-3s are pretty much pure GM cost-cutting at its finest and the car's age is obviously starting to show. If you don't do your own repairs it's an expensive proposition that is only going to get worse.
I don't know if a late model Volvo is the way to go (they're a Chinese company now and those vehicles are very complex, expensive to maintain and repair), but moving up to "something else" before that 9-3 craters entirely is probably a good idea. You might look at something like a late model Lexus if you want reliability.
newer 2019 Volvo S60 from a dealer
What generation is it?
2nd gen with a 2.5 / 3.0 is reasonably solid as far as modern cars go.
These were made until 2018 but some are of the 2019 model year.
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3rd gen aren't great at all, it's a pretty much a Chinese car -
basically a Geely Xingrui but without having a good price tag.
I mean they can last quite a bit, they're really not too awful, just not good cars...
Same engine, same transmission, even built in the same factories - I don't recommend it at all.
The latter one is a Geely that's built in the same factory as many Volvos, they are some done some design tweaks.
