Review: 2007 Saab 9-3 SportCombi Wagon
10-09-06, 12:49 PM
#1
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Review: 2007 Saab 9-3 SportCombi Wagon
http://www.saabusa.com/
In a nutshell: A nice small-to-medium-sized Sport Wagon with a Euro-look and feel to it despite the common GM Epsilon platform shared with other vehicles.
Saab introduced the 9-3 SportCombi wagon last year, more or less as a successor to the old Swedish-designed Saab small and medium size hatchbacks that were phased out with Saab's new emphasis on GM-sourced and designed platforms. At first, after the old Swedish models were phased out, only 4-door sedans and two-door convertibles remained....vehicles based on GM world-platforms. However, the cries of the Saab faithful and the Saab traditionalists, small in number but loud in voice, eventually reached up to GM management, and the OK was given for the expense to re-tool a wagon version of the new 9-3 sedan to replace the old hatchbacks and give the Saab traditionalists a lift-back version once again....though the SportCombi is actually more of a traditional Wagon body style than the slant-roof hatchback style common to earlier Saabs. Four-cylinder turbos are also more or less a Saab tradition, and the SportCombi carries that tradition on, although a turbo V6 with 250 HP is available in the more expensive Aero version.
Having reviewed the Saturn Aura just a couple of weeks ago, I felt it would also be interesting to see how the 9-3 compared, since the 9-3, Aura, Pontiac G6, Chevy Malibu, and Opel Vectra are all derived from the same GM world-wide Epsilon platform. The 9-3 had some of the same overall feel to it but was quite different in power steering boost, body sheet metal thickness, road noise, and interior room.
The 9-3 ( and 9-5, for that matter ) is available in quite a number of different versions now....sedan and Wagon, manual and automatic, and 2.0T and Aero versions. Each version can be equipped almost any way the buyer wants...there are few restrictions on body styles and equipment. Chosen for this review, by special request, was the 9-3 SportCombi Wagon.
I picked a 2.0T automatic version with 17" wheels to review because that is the way that many of them, in the American market, are likely to be bought, except maybe in low-traffic rural areas where a manual transmission might be a little more desirable. After looking at the Aero versions of both the 9-3 sedan and Wagon, I didn't think they were worth the extra money over the 2.0T versions unless the added HP and torque was a big factor in the purchase. The Aero's 17" wheels and tires are an option on the cheaper 2.0T model ( my test car had them ) and IMO the 2.0T, though sapped a little by the automatic transmission, has plenty of power for all normal driving....the Aero's turbo V6 was not needed ( and it only adds 40 HP and 38 ft.-lbs more torque ).
Anyhow, this is a car that is quite well-done in a number of areas, but needs attention in some others. Let's take a look at it in more detail:
Model reviewed: 2007 2.0T Saab 9-3 SportCombi Wagon
Base Price: $27,915 (includes freight )
Major Options:
Cold Weather package, $550
Premimum Package ( including 17" wheels ), $1995
Automatic transmission, $1350
Power Moonroof, $1200
Titan Gray Metallic paint $550
Price as Reviewed: $31,565.
Exterior Color: Titan Gray Metallic
Interior: Slate gray Leather
Drivetrain: FWD, 2.0L in-line, turbocharged, intercooled, transverse-mount 4, 210 HP @ 5500 RPM, 221 ft.lbs. torque @ 2000 RPM, 5-speed Sentronic automatic transmission with manual shift gate.
PLUSSES:
Generous 5 year / 100,000 mile drivetrain warranty.
3yr / 36,000 mile free scheduled maintenance.
Strong body sheet metal.
Turbo relatively free of lag.
Generally smooth ride except over bumps.
Low wind noise.
Well-designed and versatile cargo area.
Extremely well-designed air vents and handles.
Front seats well-shaped for both support and comfort.
Enough headroom, front and rear, for reasonably tall persons.
Good handling relatively free of body roll.
Much better stereo and climate control buttons for 2007.
Solid-feeling doors.
Well-done paint.
High-quality exterior hardware.
Cleverly designed parking brake handle.
Easy-to-reach dipsticks.
Good steering feel.
Factory incentives available on pricing and financing.
Tasteful, well-done dash and door trim.
Numerous safety features including active headrests.
MINUSES:
Low ground clearance limits access over bumps and ramps.
Lots of engine noise.
Turbo requires expensive synthetic oil.
Cheap-looking and cheap-feeling leather on the seats.
Non-locking gas cap door.
Ugly taillights go too far up the D-pillars.
Somewhat overboosted power steering in spite of good road feel.
Brake pedal unsuited for big feet and shoes.
Automatic transmission saps some engine power.
17" 45-series tires harsh over bumps and give road noise.
The usual funeral-home paint colors, except for a special-order yellow-green not in the brochure and common on Saab convertibles.
Extra charge ( $550 ) for regular metallic paint colors a rip-off.
Uncomfortable, hard, scratchy stitching on the leather-covered wheel.
Cheap, flimsy turn-signal stalk and tick-tick sound for the flashers.
Turbo boost gauge has no numbers.....only markers and a redline.
Goofy, traditional Saab ignition switch on the console instead of dash or steering column.
Slight amount of sponginess in the brakes.
Headlights operated by a rotary dash switch instead of a more convienent stalk.
Awkward power mirror buttons.
Poor interior visibility out the rear around the and D-pillar area.
Though, as mentioned, this car is derived from the Epsilon platform, it is unmistakably Swedish and Saab as you first walk up to it. The Saab-like grille, hoodline, wheels, and trim will at first sight set traditionalists at ease. It is in my opinion, quite a handsome and good-looking vehicle outside except for the goofy, minivan-style taillight that go much too far up the D-Pillars. One should be able to see brake lights adequately without illuminating half the rear end of the car all the way to the roof.
Anyhow, tailights aside, the outside of the car in general is very impressive. The exterior hardware is first-rate, the body sheet metal is MUCH thicker than on other GM Epsilon-derived vehicles ( This car is not going to get dented very easily by small objects ), the paint is done almost to Lexus standards......smooth, lustery, and almost completely devoid of orange peel, and, compared to other cars in its class, the doors shut like bank vaults. The exterior trim, likewise, is tasteful, of high quality, and well-done. Lower-body skirts and air dams under both sides of the car, the front grille, and rear bumper add a flair of sportiness but decrease ground clearance.
Open the durable-feeling and thick-sheet-metalled hood ( a gas strut holds it up.....no proprods ) and the 2.0 turbo 4 fits in neatly sideways, but once again, as with so many other vehicles today, the large, ubiquitous plastic engine cover blocks access to many components. In my opinion, there should be a law against those damn covers....and they also impede air circulation around the hot engine. Fortunately, the dipsticks are extremely well-designed.....the oil dipstick is right in front of you, high up on the engine block, away from the plastic cover where it is very easily accessable.
Get inside the car, and likewise you are treated, in general, to a very nice and well-equipped, tastefully-done interior....with only a couple of obvious cost-cutting or poorly-designed features. Saab-O-Philes will immediately be right back at home.....the interior looks just as Saab-like as the exterior does....right down to the quirky and traditional console-mounted ignition switch. Saab justifies this ignition-switch design on the excuse that it is safer in accidents and helps prevent knee injuries, but I'm not convinced...if it was that much safer, Volvo and Mercedes, the two automotive safety kingpins, would have probably adopted it by now.
Anyhow, the interior, like I said, is generally quite well-done except for the cheap-looking and cheap-feeling feeling seat leather ( just like its corporate brother, Saturn Aura ), odd-shaped power-window buttons that jut out from the A-pillar at an awkward angle to reach, and a cheap-feeling plastic turn-signal stalk that felt like it was going to come off right in your hand every time you used it. The click-click of the flashers themselves also sounded loud and tinny. A minor complaint was the rotary headlight control on the dash...I generally prefer a stalk-mounted control like on most Japanese-designed vehicles.
But there was little or nothing to complain about with the rest of the interior. The seats may have had unimpressive leather on them but they were shaped almost perfectly for a good combination of support, comfort, and adaptability to my rather portly.....well, never mind. And once you were property belted in with the very-easy-to-use belt holders, you didn't slide around like you do on some leather seats. The dash was strongly traditional Saab, with the typically Saab, well-designed air vents with the easy-to-use grip buttons on them. The steering wheel was well-designed, with the now-common three spokes at 3, 6, and 9 o'clock, radio and climate buttons on them, ans clear view of the gauges. The leather on the wheel, though, like on the seats, was not well-done, and the stiching was hard and scratchy and irritated your fingers. Put a good steering wheel cover on this car if you buy it.
The gauges were also very well-done. Everything was simple, clear, and easy-to-read except for the standard turbo boost gauge which did not have any numbers on it......just white bar markings and a red line, although common sense, of course, would lead one to keep the boost out of the red zone to avoid possible engine damage. New this year over the 2006 models are rotary stereo and auto heat/AC controls which replace last year's several rows of confusing, look-alike buttons. The new controls are much easier to decipher and use at a glance....important when you have to constantly keep your eyes on the road. The stereo itself is not quite up to Lexus Mark Levinson standards but will not dissapoint...there are multiple speakers all over the car, even in the tail hatch. The trim inside is extremely well-done...easily one of the car's best features.....with high-quality brushed-metal and wood-trim on the console and doors. The pull-up parking brake handle is cleverly integrated into the left side of the console's trim......you cannot tell what it is just from looks alone until you actually pull it up.
Headroom and leg room was fine front and rear, especially with the power seats lowered all the way, even with the moonroof option....a notorious gobbler of ceiling space. My big size-15 clown shoes were tight getting in and out of the rear doors but for most people that would not be a problem. The cargo area is cleverly designed as well, which makes up for some of the space lost to the inward-slant of the rear window. The ubiquitous pull-shade behind the rear seats does not only its normal function like in most cars, but has a upwards-tilt lock as well for covering bulky items. The carpeted cover over the rear-spare tire area can fold upright into a grove like a pup-tent to divide the cargo area front and rear, and as previously stated, numerous speakers are mounted in both the rear area and the hatch itself.
OK...start her up. The 4-cylinder turbo, as expected, is not particularly smooth or quiet at idle. However, once it gets going after a brief warm-up to get some oil pressure to the turbo, it provides smooth, but not quiet, power and pulls strongly under load. Saab engineers have done a good job of integrating the turbo to the engine controls so that there is minimal turbo lag....the power is almost instantaneous, though as previously noted, there are no numbers on the boost gauge...it is just a matter of keeping the boost out of the red zone and the RPM's under 4000 on this brand-new engine. Saab uses expensive Mobil 1 synthetic oil at the factory, no doubt to protect the turbo at high temperatures...you won't have nickel-and-dime oil changes with this car. When I asked the Saab people there how the super-slick synthetic oil will affect engine break-in ( normally you want SOME friction during break-in so the piston rings will seat properly ), their answer was that conventional break-ins are not needed with Saab engines. Perhaps......but again, I'm not convinced.
The transmission was smooth and quiet ( mostly drowned out by engine noise ), whether full automatic or auto-manual operation. The shift lever had a slightly rubbery feeling sliding sideways back and forth between the auto and manual gates but was otherwise crisp and positive. Handling was suprisingly good for a nose-heavy front-drive, helped no doubt by the fact that this car had the Aero's 17" 45-series tire option on it. Steering response was quick and positive, and despite the high level of power-steering boost ( too high for my tastes ) it was still easy to tell just what the front tires were doing and feel the road surface underneath. This was another interesting contrast between this car and the brother Saturn Aura.....the Aura had quick response but a super-heavy feel to the steering...if anything, it didn't have ENOUGH boost...a rarity in today's market. There as a marked lack of body roll in the 9-3 unless you pushed it........the fairly low ground clearance and low center-of-gravity, no doubt, helped also.
The 17" 45-series tires, borrowed from the Aero, were generally smooth-riding on good surfaces except for noted harshness and noise over bumps, and as noted, contributed significantly to the car's generally good handling, steering response, and road feel. If handling is your first consideraton, go ahead and spend the money for the package ( it comes with other items too ), but avoid them and stick with the standard 16" ones if you want ride comfort ( as I usually do ).
Brakes were well-done for a mid-sized semi-sports sedan/wagon except for the one glaring thing I find with many of today's vehicles....the brake pedal is close to the gas pedal and an inch or so higher, so my big right shoe gets hung up under the edge of it a moment as I lift it off the pedal....but this would probably not be a problem for people with smaller feet. The brakes themselves were fine except for a very slight amount of sponginess in the pedal....again not a big deal.
The Verdict?
Despite not being a true Swedish-designed Saab under the skin, Saab traditionalists should not be too dissapointed with this car....it carries on most of the traditional Saab features such as a turbo 4, interior, grille, trim, console-mount ignition. and, of course, with the SportCombi, a liftback design and cargo-carrying capacity as well. The chassis does not feel quite like a traditional Saab but otherwise handles and steers very well. For everyday driving, IMO the 16" wheels are a better deal but I realize that a lot of people, especially younger drivers, want the agility of the 17's. The car is reasonably priced, and incentives are available. The drivetrain warranty is much better than many other comparatively-priced GM vehicles, and for some cars ( check with Saab and the dealership ) free servicing is available for 3 years...important with that expensive synthetic oil. I enjoyed this car, was generally impressed with it, and found it an interesting car to drive, although if you really try, you can detect the Epsilon-feel of this car that is shared with its corporate brothers.
It definitely needs work in the quality of its seat leather, engine noise, turn-signal stalk, ignition switch, ( sorry, Saab-O-Philes, IMO it belongs on the dash or the steering column ), and, like many Euro-nameplate cars, the silliness of the extra-charge for metallic paint colors, but overall I was favorably impressed and I think there are definitely worse ways to spend your automotive money.
In a nutshell: A nice small-to-medium-sized Sport Wagon with a Euro-look and feel to it despite the common GM Epsilon platform shared with other vehicles.
Saab introduced the 9-3 SportCombi wagon last year, more or less as a successor to the old Swedish-designed Saab small and medium size hatchbacks that were phased out with Saab's new emphasis on GM-sourced and designed platforms. At first, after the old Swedish models were phased out, only 4-door sedans and two-door convertibles remained....vehicles based on GM world-platforms. However, the cries of the Saab faithful and the Saab traditionalists, small in number but loud in voice, eventually reached up to GM management, and the OK was given for the expense to re-tool a wagon version of the new 9-3 sedan to replace the old hatchbacks and give the Saab traditionalists a lift-back version once again....though the SportCombi is actually more of a traditional Wagon body style than the slant-roof hatchback style common to earlier Saabs. Four-cylinder turbos are also more or less a Saab tradition, and the SportCombi carries that tradition on, although a turbo V6 with 250 HP is available in the more expensive Aero version.
Having reviewed the Saturn Aura just a couple of weeks ago, I felt it would also be interesting to see how the 9-3 compared, since the 9-3, Aura, Pontiac G6, Chevy Malibu, and Opel Vectra are all derived from the same GM world-wide Epsilon platform. The 9-3 had some of the same overall feel to it but was quite different in power steering boost, body sheet metal thickness, road noise, and interior room.
The 9-3 ( and 9-5, for that matter ) is available in quite a number of different versions now....sedan and Wagon, manual and automatic, and 2.0T and Aero versions. Each version can be equipped almost any way the buyer wants...there are few restrictions on body styles and equipment. Chosen for this review, by special request, was the 9-3 SportCombi Wagon.
I picked a 2.0T automatic version with 17" wheels to review because that is the way that many of them, in the American market, are likely to be bought, except maybe in low-traffic rural areas where a manual transmission might be a little more desirable. After looking at the Aero versions of both the 9-3 sedan and Wagon, I didn't think they were worth the extra money over the 2.0T versions unless the added HP and torque was a big factor in the purchase. The Aero's 17" wheels and tires are an option on the cheaper 2.0T model ( my test car had them ) and IMO the 2.0T, though sapped a little by the automatic transmission, has plenty of power for all normal driving....the Aero's turbo V6 was not needed ( and it only adds 40 HP and 38 ft.-lbs more torque ).
Anyhow, this is a car that is quite well-done in a number of areas, but needs attention in some others. Let's take a look at it in more detail:
Model reviewed: 2007 2.0T Saab 9-3 SportCombi Wagon
Base Price: $27,915 (includes freight )
Major Options:
Cold Weather package, $550
Premimum Package ( including 17" wheels ), $1995
Automatic transmission, $1350
Power Moonroof, $1200
Titan Gray Metallic paint $550
Price as Reviewed: $31,565.
Exterior Color: Titan Gray Metallic
Interior: Slate gray Leather
Drivetrain: FWD, 2.0L in-line, turbocharged, intercooled, transverse-mount 4, 210 HP @ 5500 RPM, 221 ft.lbs. torque @ 2000 RPM, 5-speed Sentronic automatic transmission with manual shift gate.
PLUSSES:
Generous 5 year / 100,000 mile drivetrain warranty.
3yr / 36,000 mile free scheduled maintenance.
Strong body sheet metal.
Turbo relatively free of lag.
Generally smooth ride except over bumps.
Low wind noise.
Well-designed and versatile cargo area.
Extremely well-designed air vents and handles.
Front seats well-shaped for both support and comfort.
Enough headroom, front and rear, for reasonably tall persons.
Good handling relatively free of body roll.
Much better stereo and climate control buttons for 2007.
Solid-feeling doors.
Well-done paint.
High-quality exterior hardware.
Cleverly designed parking brake handle.
Easy-to-reach dipsticks.
Good steering feel.
Factory incentives available on pricing and financing.
Tasteful, well-done dash and door trim.
Numerous safety features including active headrests.
MINUSES:
Low ground clearance limits access over bumps and ramps.
Lots of engine noise.
Turbo requires expensive synthetic oil.
Cheap-looking and cheap-feeling leather on the seats.
Non-locking gas cap door.
Ugly taillights go too far up the D-pillars.
Somewhat overboosted power steering in spite of good road feel.
Brake pedal unsuited for big feet and shoes.
Automatic transmission saps some engine power.
17" 45-series tires harsh over bumps and give road noise.
The usual funeral-home paint colors, except for a special-order yellow-green not in the brochure and common on Saab convertibles.
Extra charge ( $550 ) for regular metallic paint colors a rip-off.
Uncomfortable, hard, scratchy stitching on the leather-covered wheel.
Cheap, flimsy turn-signal stalk and tick-tick sound for the flashers.
Turbo boost gauge has no numbers.....only markers and a redline.
Goofy, traditional Saab ignition switch on the console instead of dash or steering column.
Slight amount of sponginess in the brakes.
Headlights operated by a rotary dash switch instead of a more convienent stalk.
Awkward power mirror buttons.
Poor interior visibility out the rear around the and D-pillar area.
Though, as mentioned, this car is derived from the Epsilon platform, it is unmistakably Swedish and Saab as you first walk up to it. The Saab-like grille, hoodline, wheels, and trim will at first sight set traditionalists at ease. It is in my opinion, quite a handsome and good-looking vehicle outside except for the goofy, minivan-style taillight that go much too far up the D-Pillars. One should be able to see brake lights adequately without illuminating half the rear end of the car all the way to the roof.
Anyhow, tailights aside, the outside of the car in general is very impressive. The exterior hardware is first-rate, the body sheet metal is MUCH thicker than on other GM Epsilon-derived vehicles ( This car is not going to get dented very easily by small objects ), the paint is done almost to Lexus standards......smooth, lustery, and almost completely devoid of orange peel, and, compared to other cars in its class, the doors shut like bank vaults. The exterior trim, likewise, is tasteful, of high quality, and well-done. Lower-body skirts and air dams under both sides of the car, the front grille, and rear bumper add a flair of sportiness but decrease ground clearance.
Open the durable-feeling and thick-sheet-metalled hood ( a gas strut holds it up.....no proprods ) and the 2.0 turbo 4 fits in neatly sideways, but once again, as with so many other vehicles today, the large, ubiquitous plastic engine cover blocks access to many components. In my opinion, there should be a law against those damn covers....and they also impede air circulation around the hot engine. Fortunately, the dipsticks are extremely well-designed.....the oil dipstick is right in front of you, high up on the engine block, away from the plastic cover where it is very easily accessable.
Get inside the car, and likewise you are treated, in general, to a very nice and well-equipped, tastefully-done interior....with only a couple of obvious cost-cutting or poorly-designed features. Saab-O-Philes will immediately be right back at home.....the interior looks just as Saab-like as the exterior does....right down to the quirky and traditional console-mounted ignition switch. Saab justifies this ignition-switch design on the excuse that it is safer in accidents and helps prevent knee injuries, but I'm not convinced...if it was that much safer, Volvo and Mercedes, the two automotive safety kingpins, would have probably adopted it by now.
Anyhow, the interior, like I said, is generally quite well-done except for the cheap-looking and cheap-feeling feeling seat leather ( just like its corporate brother, Saturn Aura ), odd-shaped power-window buttons that jut out from the A-pillar at an awkward angle to reach, and a cheap-feeling plastic turn-signal stalk that felt like it was going to come off right in your hand every time you used it. The click-click of the flashers themselves also sounded loud and tinny. A minor complaint was the rotary headlight control on the dash...I generally prefer a stalk-mounted control like on most Japanese-designed vehicles.
But there was little or nothing to complain about with the rest of the interior. The seats may have had unimpressive leather on them but they were shaped almost perfectly for a good combination of support, comfort, and adaptability to my rather portly.....well, never mind. And once you were property belted in with the very-easy-to-use belt holders, you didn't slide around like you do on some leather seats. The dash was strongly traditional Saab, with the typically Saab, well-designed air vents with the easy-to-use grip buttons on them. The steering wheel was well-designed, with the now-common three spokes at 3, 6, and 9 o'clock, radio and climate buttons on them, ans clear view of the gauges. The leather on the wheel, though, like on the seats, was not well-done, and the stiching was hard and scratchy and irritated your fingers. Put a good steering wheel cover on this car if you buy it.
The gauges were also very well-done. Everything was simple, clear, and easy-to-read except for the standard turbo boost gauge which did not have any numbers on it......just white bar markings and a red line, although common sense, of course, would lead one to keep the boost out of the red zone to avoid possible engine damage. New this year over the 2006 models are rotary stereo and auto heat/AC controls which replace last year's several rows of confusing, look-alike buttons. The new controls are much easier to decipher and use at a glance....important when you have to constantly keep your eyes on the road. The stereo itself is not quite up to Lexus Mark Levinson standards but will not dissapoint...there are multiple speakers all over the car, even in the tail hatch. The trim inside is extremely well-done...easily one of the car's best features.....with high-quality brushed-metal and wood-trim on the console and doors. The pull-up parking brake handle is cleverly integrated into the left side of the console's trim......you cannot tell what it is just from looks alone until you actually pull it up.
Headroom and leg room was fine front and rear, especially with the power seats lowered all the way, even with the moonroof option....a notorious gobbler of ceiling space. My big size-15 clown shoes were tight getting in and out of the rear doors but for most people that would not be a problem. The cargo area is cleverly designed as well, which makes up for some of the space lost to the inward-slant of the rear window. The ubiquitous pull-shade behind the rear seats does not only its normal function like in most cars, but has a upwards-tilt lock as well for covering bulky items. The carpeted cover over the rear-spare tire area can fold upright into a grove like a pup-tent to divide the cargo area front and rear, and as previously stated, numerous speakers are mounted in both the rear area and the hatch itself.
OK...start her up. The 4-cylinder turbo, as expected, is not particularly smooth or quiet at idle. However, once it gets going after a brief warm-up to get some oil pressure to the turbo, it provides smooth, but not quiet, power and pulls strongly under load. Saab engineers have done a good job of integrating the turbo to the engine controls so that there is minimal turbo lag....the power is almost instantaneous, though as previously noted, there are no numbers on the boost gauge...it is just a matter of keeping the boost out of the red zone and the RPM's under 4000 on this brand-new engine. Saab uses expensive Mobil 1 synthetic oil at the factory, no doubt to protect the turbo at high temperatures...you won't have nickel-and-dime oil changes with this car. When I asked the Saab people there how the super-slick synthetic oil will affect engine break-in ( normally you want SOME friction during break-in so the piston rings will seat properly ), their answer was that conventional break-ins are not needed with Saab engines. Perhaps......but again, I'm not convinced.
The transmission was smooth and quiet ( mostly drowned out by engine noise ), whether full automatic or auto-manual operation. The shift lever had a slightly rubbery feeling sliding sideways back and forth between the auto and manual gates but was otherwise crisp and positive. Handling was suprisingly good for a nose-heavy front-drive, helped no doubt by the fact that this car had the Aero's 17" 45-series tire option on it. Steering response was quick and positive, and despite the high level of power-steering boost ( too high for my tastes ) it was still easy to tell just what the front tires were doing and feel the road surface underneath. This was another interesting contrast between this car and the brother Saturn Aura.....the Aura had quick response but a super-heavy feel to the steering...if anything, it didn't have ENOUGH boost...a rarity in today's market. There as a marked lack of body roll in the 9-3 unless you pushed it........the fairly low ground clearance and low center-of-gravity, no doubt, helped also.
The 17" 45-series tires, borrowed from the Aero, were generally smooth-riding on good surfaces except for noted harshness and noise over bumps, and as noted, contributed significantly to the car's generally good handling, steering response, and road feel. If handling is your first consideraton, go ahead and spend the money for the package ( it comes with other items too ), but avoid them and stick with the standard 16" ones if you want ride comfort ( as I usually do ).
Brakes were well-done for a mid-sized semi-sports sedan/wagon except for the one glaring thing I find with many of today's vehicles....the brake pedal is close to the gas pedal and an inch or so higher, so my big right shoe gets hung up under the edge of it a moment as I lift it off the pedal....but this would probably not be a problem for people with smaller feet. The brakes themselves were fine except for a very slight amount of sponginess in the pedal....again not a big deal.
The Verdict?
Despite not being a true Swedish-designed Saab under the skin, Saab traditionalists should not be too dissapointed with this car....it carries on most of the traditional Saab features such as a turbo 4, interior, grille, trim, console-mount ignition. and, of course, with the SportCombi, a liftback design and cargo-carrying capacity as well. The chassis does not feel quite like a traditional Saab but otherwise handles and steers very well. For everyday driving, IMO the 16" wheels are a better deal but I realize that a lot of people, especially younger drivers, want the agility of the 17's. The car is reasonably priced, and incentives are available. The drivetrain warranty is much better than many other comparatively-priced GM vehicles, and for some cars ( check with Saab and the dealership ) free servicing is available for 3 years...important with that expensive synthetic oil. I enjoyed this car, was generally impressed with it, and found it an interesting car to drive, although if you really try, you can detect the Epsilon-feel of this car that is shared with its corporate brothers.
It definitely needs work in the quality of its seat leather, engine noise, turn-signal stalk, ignition switch, ( sorry, Saab-O-Philes, IMO it belongs on the dash or the steering column ), and, like many Euro-nameplate cars, the silliness of the extra-charge for metallic paint colors, but overall I was favorably impressed and I think there are definitely worse ways to spend your automotive money.
Last edited by mmarshall; 10-09-06 at 02:56 PM.
10-09-06, 02:49 PM
#3
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
No problem. Always glad to help. 
You should be able to get a pretty good price on one. These cars don't sell in huge numbers and there generally is not a lot of demand for them....but the downside to that is you probably won't find a huge number of them in stock to chose from either. It's not like going to a Toyota or Honda dealer and just closing your eyes and picking out a Camry or Accord from several hundred in stock. Saab dealerships are also not on every street corner like Toyota and Honda.
You should be able to get a pretty good price on one. These cars don't sell in huge numbers and there generally is not a lot of demand for them....but the downside to that is you probably won't find a huge number of them in stock to chose from either. It's not like going to a Toyota or Honda dealer and just closing your eyes and picking out a Camry or Accord from several hundred in stock. Saab dealerships are also not on every street corner like Toyota and Honda.
Last edited by mmarshall; 10-09-06 at 02:57 PM.
10-09-06, 03:03 PM
#4
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: MI
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Yeah that's true, but fortunately for me there is a Saab dealership like 2 miles away, plus my dad works for GM so if we go for one, we'll probably get even a better deal. When I have free time I have to go down and drive one for myself. Hopefully they have the Aero version so I can drive them back to back.
10-09-06, 04:08 PM
#5
Lexus Fanatic
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Yeah that's true, but fortunately for me there is a Saab dealership like 2 miles away, plus my dad works for GM so if we go for one, we'll probably get even a better deal. When I have free time I have to go down and drive one for myself. Hopefully they have the Aero version so I can drive them back to back.
You also get the 17" wheels ( an option on the base car ), sport trim inside, and a two-tone steering wheel. You also get a few more minor features than the base car, but overall I didn't think the Aero was worth the extra money. Unless the few extra HP of the turbo V6 and an extra gear in the transmission is really that important, my advice is get the base car with the 17" wheels ( that's why I drove that version ) and you will have essentially a slightly lower-HP Aero with even better handling....the turbo 4 is lighter up front than the heavier V6 and puts less of a stress on the front suspension....already a significant factor in the 9-3's front-wheel-drive layout.
But, by all means.....................if you are interested in the Aero, drive it back-to-back with the base car....it is your money, you know what you want better than I do, and your conclusions may not end up the same as mine.
Good luck in your shopping.
Last edited by mmarshall; 10-09-06 at 05:12 PM.
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