Date: 8 Jun 2003 15:40:53 -0700 From: mprzasnyskinopsamspringer.com.pl (Marcin Przasnyski) Subject: test drove the new 9-3
on Sat I went to the Saab garage for the 'free Spring checkout' of my sexy 9-5 wagon. there was a price of course: my time and attention to the salesman oratiorium about the new models. usually such marketing gimmicks make me sick and resistant but this time not. I jumped behind the wheel of the '03 9-3 SportSedan Arc 2.0 and wound a dozen miles up the clocks. I can say I felt the difference. Immediately I noticed changes to many small things like the ignition key, the power windows switches, buttons etc. and liked them. And the car is so different in the touch - not the solid plastic known from the 9-5, but something more subtle. Not fragile, just kinda velvet feeling or something... I drove a lazy track in the suburbs and partly the woods. Handling is excellent, the car responds to the wheel and the gas pedal very nice. I also liked the automatic transmission, but maybe that's because I am getting old, fat and too lazy ;) For fat people there is too little space inside. I prefer the 9-5 where even my mother-in-law fits in. And, believe me, people, the dashboard sucks! OK, maybe over the next years it will become a cult, but at this moment... looks like there was something missing. Plus the acid-green LCD... gosh, correct me if I am walking the wrong alley - I hate this dashboard! Only the clocks caught my eye. Well, that's it for the 37-45k Euro car. Offers too little for too much I am afraid. I was thinking if I would go for such car - yes, why now, for maximum 25k Euro. It's not the Porsche to fall into; it's not the big family car to spend so much. My God, let it not be thinking of the buying customers, otherwise we may not see the 9-2 at all. ps Saab CRM is excellent, even in a country like Poland, where by default the customer is the clerks' most hated enemy -marcin