Hello everyone, Im new to the forums and im looking for some opinions. I have a 99 Saab 9-5 and im really considering getting rid of it for an S60. I really do love my saab it has been an absolutly fantastic car as far as reliability and joy to drive. But i think i really like the Volvo S60 better as far as styling and the T-5 seems to be a little bit more of what i want. Im really just trying to find out from other s60 owners think, i dunno if any of you have owned or even driven a saab 9-5 but if you have if i could get some thoughts on the pros and cons compared to the volvo. Im not looking to get slammed just honest opinions.

 

I never owned a saab 9-5 but drove a 2005 model one year ago with low mileage, a couple of months after buying my 2004 S60 2.5T. I test drove it because I was looking at a car for my daughter at the time. Nice car, nice interior, I liked it but I must say that felt like it did not have as much pep as my s60, anmd that that time I had not done the ECU upgrade yet. I prefer the look of the s60 but this is just me.

 

Thanks for your opinion alpac, im just kinda stuck i do thin the s60 has a better look indeed, as far as power my 9-5 when i first got it was by no means fast being a lpt car, but now its a stage 2 with exhaust, open filter intake, forge bpv and its running 18-20lbs of boost it get up and move now. But my main thing is that i have 2 kids a 2 year old and a 10month old and if we all get in the including my wife it gets well a little cramped. From what i can tell from reviews and videos the s60 seems to be a little bit of a bigger car all the way around, maybe not much but it does seem a little more roomy. Another thing is as far as the reliability i know i have heard that volvos are pretty good when it comes to being dependable. some more feed back would be great...

 

A1 for comfort and power the AWD does 9 to 11 litres per 100km at 120km an hour depends on how much is loaded plus wind, all S60 does not turn on a dime you have to get use to that. I am use to do 11 hr drive and after all that driving not tired at all. I have an electrical problem with my sunroof that I did not fixed yet. also just got it out of garage as my fuel sensor or something like that failed ad of course my 05 S60 was not covered on the recall am pissed off for that as it cost me 900$ to fix but will write volvo to try make them pay. To fix the problem they have modified it and put the sensor under my rear seat. overall i like the car a lot.

 

You will probably never find again the Saab feeling. A T5 is a great engine, the Volvo looks good indeed, but driving one it's not the same as a Saab. That said Saabs are getting old so one day or another you will have to move on.. Heard the later Saab models were not that reliable. The thing with Volvo reliability is they have strong engines, transmissions were weak in 2001-2002 and even after, there are several typical repairs awfully expensive if done at the main dealer (they make a good profit on repairs and are not always helpful/honest). Good news is there are plenty of used parts over Ebay.

As for the rear place in the Volvo, it depends how tall you are. I'm 6'2" so my seat is moved back at max. In this configuration, the rear seat legroom is almost nonexistent. With young kids on booster seats, their legs won't fit behind the front seats.

 

I went from a 99 saab 9-5 to a 05 volvo s40 to a 13 volvo s60

I did drive another saab, though I think only the 9-3 when I was looking at the s40. I don't recall all the reasons I went with the volvo over the saab, but style was a big one... and I was still annoyed with my saab after replacing the turbo just over 100k miles

I had the s40 for 9 years, 220k miles
I've had the s60 for 10 months and already 23k miles

One thing I still miss about my saab - the second visor so I'm not constantly moving my visor as roads twist and turn in the sun!