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Saab 9-5 reliability -- better info

13K views 67 replies 12 participants last post by  mkaresh 
#1 ·
TrueDelta reports absolute repair rates that make the differences between cars much clearer. Results are updated four times a year, to report on new models quickly and track cars closely as they age.

We currently provide results for the 2003-2007 9-3. The Aero wagon 5-speed is one of the cars I consider hunting down from time to time, so I'd especially like to be able to provide better reliability information on the 9-5. But we haven't had enough owners signed up for the 9-5 to include it in the survey.

Participants simply report repairs the month after they occur on a one-page survey. When there are no repairs, they simply report an approximate odometer reading four times a year, at the end of each quarter.

To encourage participation, participants receive full access to all results, not just those for the Saab 9-5, free of charge.

For the details, and to sign up to help out:

Car reliability research
 
#5 ·
The only email you'll get as a result of signing up will be from us, for the survey. We don't provide members' email addresses to anyone else. Anyone who is already a participant--37,000 car owners so far--can attest to this.

There are certainly much easier ways to get people's email addresses. This research requires a lot of hard work on my part. Please don't make it harder. ;)
 
#6 ·
Interesting idea but I have never hear of "successful repair trips" per year as a data point, what does that tell me? If it says "most" is it most successful ( repaired cars) or does that mean non-successful repairs.

SO am I to undertand that we are to believe that Saab goes in to get repaired and cannot me, or jsut that they make lots fo trips to the shop? Or both?
 
#7 ·
Thanks for asking.

We currently focus on repair trips that include a successful repair so that we're measuring things almost entirely within the control of the manufacturer. With a successful repair trip, you know you not only have something that the owner felt was a problem, but that the shop agreed was a problem, and was able to do something to make it go away. This is a very robust measure of vehicle reliability that makes the most of a small, not necessarily representative sample.

With unsuccessful repairs you start including variables like dealer competence. It would be nice to also measure dealer competence, but this would require a far larger sample size and some guarantee that you have a representative sample of dealers.
 
#12 ·
We have some initial results for the Saab 9-5 based on owner experiences through December 31, 2009. In terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2003: 274

2000: 240

Both are worse than average.

Everyone who has been helping, thank you, I certainly appreciate it. With more participants, we could provide more precise information and cover all model years.

Saab 9-5 reliability comparisons
 
#15 ·
We have updated results for the Saab 9-5 based on owner experiences through March 31, 2010. In terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2003: 232, worse than average, small sample size

2000: 177, worse than average, small sample size

1999: 58, better than average, but very small sample size and clearly not consistent with the others

Everyone who has been helping, thank you, I certainly appreciate it. With more participants, we could provide more precise information and cover all model years.

Saab 9-5 reliability comparisons
 
#18 ·
mkaresh, please explain where you draw your sample population from?

I also raised an eyebrow at the notion of "successful" repair trip? "Within control of the manufacturer" ??

I just did a quick scan and note that you solicit contributions but may I ask what the source or sources of funding are?
 
#19 · (Edited)
Happy to answer.

Participants come from visitors to the site who sign up. Most visitors come from search engines. About one in ten come from forums like this one.

The reason for focusing on successful repairs is because the reasons a repair is unsuccessful are rarely clear. There's less variance in measuring successful repair frequencies, and the lower the variance the lower the needed sample size. When more people are involved I hope to provide statistics that also include unsuccessful repairs.

Nearly all revenue comes from Google Adsense and from when people request price quotes from dealers.

I have never solicited financial contributions. People do have the option of purchasing a subscription if they don't want to participate in the surveys. The primary purpose of this is to provide more motivation for people to participate in the surveys, not revenue. We don't sell many subscriptions, but far more people participate because the paid subscription option exists.
 
#20 ·
We have updated results for the Saab 9-5 based on owner experiences through June 30, 2010.

Other sources of car reliability information won't cover the more recent months until the summer or even fall of next year.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2004: 122

2003: 194

2002: 240

2000: 171

1999: 78

The 1999 is better than average, but very small sample size and clearly not consistent with the others, which are all worse than average.

Everyone who has been helping, thank you, I certainly appreciate it. With more participants, we could provide more precise information and cover all model years.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help:

Saab 9-5 reliability comparisons
 
#22 ·
We have updated results for the Saab 9-5 based on owner experiences through September 30, 2010. Other sources of car reliability information won't cover the months since April until the summer or even fall of next year.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2004: 128

2003: 176

2002: 122

2000: 160

1999: 163

This time the 2002 is better than average, but very small sample size and clearly not consistent with the others, which are all worse than average.

Everyone who has been helping, thank you, I certainly appreciate it. With more participants, we could provide more precise information and cover all model years.

Saab 9-5 reliability ratings and comparisons
 
#24 ·
I appreciate you doing this - it's a great resource. I also like the raw numbers, it helps sort out what "below average" really means. If average is 130 per 100 cars annually, and Saab is 160 per 100 annually, that's useful data - as opposed to other places that say something is "below average" without any supporting statistics.

And, for the record, I have participated for at least of couple of years and have never been spammed as a result (to my knowledge).
 
#26 ·
We have updated results for the Saab 9-5 based on owner experiences through December 31, 2010. Other sources of car reliability information won't cover the months since last April until the summer or even fall of this year.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2004: 141, worse than average

2002: 144, worse than average

2001: 125, about average

2000: 141, about average

1999: 237, worse than average

Small sample sizes in all five cases.

Everyone who has been helping, thank you, I certainly appreciate it. With more participants, we could provide more precise information and cover all model years.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help provide this information:

Saab 9-5 reliability ratings and comparisons
 
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