Tomorrow I’m going to go to my local Shell, owner of millions of barrels of oil reserves, and ask them to pay me to fill up my bike 
We live in crazy times folks
1 Like
I’ve got a couple of 20L jerry cans I could rent out for storage 
I had to do a double take when I saw that on the news. Yes they’ll pay you to take it away.
That’s the problem. Storage still needs to be paid for, and as it is all full, and costing money, there is nowhere to put the newly refined output hence it can’t be sold. It’s only a problem for this month, the contracts reset every month.
We noticed the heating oil price drop. 6 weeks ago our club price was 45p per litre its now halved to 23p! Need to check how much we can get in the tank.
1 Like
oil prices will remain low until economic activity rises again, but yesterday’s negative price only affected the West Texas Intermediary which is more affected by storage. We probably won’t see much of that trickle over here as the Brent crude more relevant but it is interesting all the same. I paid £1.03 to fill up my 22mpg Saab the other week it was like time warping back to 2003, not that I remember it lol
1 Like
Glad I’m not the only one that gets that mpg from a Saab lol
1 Like
How reliable has your Saab been? I quite fancy one. My late grandad only ever bought Saab’s, his last one before he passed was a 2010 9-3 aero Carlsson. I loved that thing…
Well my annual mileage on the car is under 5000 miles so I don’t think that’s enough to give you a big enough sample size but what I can say is the 9-5s made from 2002-2005 are as good as anything made in that period. I replaced a lot of parts preemtively such as water pump and thermostat.
The 9-5 is a treat to spend time in. Heated seats ( front and rear 
), dual zone climate, comfiest seats you can get, ergonomic features that just make that little difference. I went for the auto, no regrets on that as it allows you to make decent progress in a smooth manner. Well into my second year of ownership and I still haven’t worked out whether the gearbox has a problem or not. Sometimes I wonder if it’s got delayed downshift problems or if it’s just quirks of an older torque converter 'box. AT Fluid looks and smells alright but I’ve got 20 litres sitting nearby waiting to go in but could be months till I make time for that.
Other things I considered were a Honda Accord 2.4 Vtec, lexus rx450, v70, mk3 mondeo. All of these are good.
The 9-3 I can’t speak to but there are a tonne still about and the diesel hits 60mpg on a run I’m told. Wouldn’t go near an old diesel if there are perfectly good petrol options instead myself but that’s not to say it’s a terrible idea. I’ll focus on the 9-5 as it’s the only one I’ve got experience of
Saab owner’s forum is great. I don’t buy vehicles that don’t have a good owner’s forum as a hard rule. Chances are if you’ve got a problem someone’s had it.
I like your Grandad already, and he’s not alone in Saab loyalty. I love mine more than I thought I could for a bangernomics purchase I thought I was buying when times were pretty tight. There’s an old boy round the corner from me who’s got a mint old 9-5 with personalised plate and he won’t buy anything else and I know of a few like this. There’s a guy drives to London every day in his old 9-5 also with a personalised plate. Says something about Saab drivers I think that these personalised plates are in homage to the car model/spec rather than a crude representation of the owner’s name.
The Saab wave is a thing and 9-5 drivers are in my experience above average in courteousness/attentiveness I think because you’d only buy it if you wanted a pretty capable car that wasn’t flashy. They always seem to move when I’m filtering along the A2
I think Saab’s are brilliantly understated cars and I remember them very fondly from my childhood, maybe that’s why I’m getting that itch! Haha. I have a 20 year old golf automatic, the downshifts can be a little slow on that too, entering reverse is a good 2 seconds… like you, I hope it’s quirks of an old auto box because changing the AT on the golf looks to be a bit of a chore with no dipstick system!
After lockdown I’ve found many cars I shall be testing 
… bikes too, The gsx1250 is on the cards there
2 Likes
I don’t actually know what I’m talking about, but that does sound a bit like a solenoid control valve issue might be fixed by a change of fluid I guess? Saab also has no dipstick which is one of the reasons I’ve not got round to the job yet. Apparently it can be done with the engine running via a cooler line - the same may be true with the Golf but there’s no getting round it, it’s a faff.
Again I’m biased but add the vfr1200 to you list of bikes to try out, they’re outrageously cheap to buy in my opinion and as a commuter it’s pretty faultless, great for the weekends or short tours. I woudn’t want to do more than a long weekend on it though