Date: 19 Jun 2004 16:12:00 -0700 From: hollywood_onealnospamo.com (The Diesel) Subject: Howcome the 1998 Saab 9-5 wasn't available in the US?
I'm in the market for a used car and my budget is $12,700 and my dad will also let me trade in a beatup old 1994 Lincoln Town Car with 250,000 miles on it. If the 1998 Saab 9-5 was available in the US, it would probably be the car I'd get. The 1998 Saab 9-5 did EXCELLENT in the European Crash Tests, but I think that the Saab 9-5 was redesigned in 1999 and the 1999-2001 Saab 9-5s only did about average in crash tests. Here are the crash test results for the 1998 European Saab 9-5 http://www.euroncap.com/content/safety_ratings/details.php?id1=4&id2=51 Here are the crash test results for the 1999-2001 American Saab 9-5. http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/html/98021.htm The 2002-2004 Saab 9-5s also do excellent in crash tests but even the cheapest 2002 Saab 9-5 is several thousand dollars out of my budget. Since the 1998 Saab 9-5 is out of the question(which is unfortunate as it did better than the 1999/2000 Volvo S80 in the European Front Offset Crash Test and Saabs are generally more reliable than Volvos too), I'm leaning towards a 2001 Volvo S80. My mom actually wants me to save my money for a rainy day and for my dad to buy a car for me, but if my dad buys me a car, it will be a much cheaper car, and the best I could hope for is a VERY high milage 1999 Volvo S80. This would be a major downgrade even compared to the 2001 Volvo S80 because in the 2000 model year Volvo improved the car to do better in the front crashes, and in the 2001 model year Volvo put in new multi stage front airbags. In the 1999 Volvo S80, it's not as good as newer versions in front impacts and in the 1999/2000 models the gasses coming out of the front airbag melted the dummy's hands, and volvo fixed this problem in the 2001 Volvo S80. In the 2001 Volvo S80 they also fixed the problem of the airbags deploying in very minor slow speed accidents that was present in the 1999/2000 Volvo S80. Also in the front offset of the 2000 volvo S80, the dummy' head bounced off the front airbag, and then the back of the dummy's head hit the b pillar although nobody really knows if this happens in the 2001-2004 Volvo S80. The 2001-2004 Volvo S80s with the new multistage front airbags have actually NEVER been tested in the front offset crash test so that's why till now the Saab 9-5 really has to be consider the king of the sub $50,000 large family cars in crash tests. If my dad buys me a high milage 1999 Volvo S80, I think I'll have to get some driving gloves to protect my hands as the airbags in the 1999/2000 S80 deploy even in very slow speed minor accidents and the front driver airbag vents very hot gasses at the driver's hands. If on the other hand I buy the 2001 S80 , I won't have to worry about the driving gloves as they fixed that problem in the 2001 and later models. I really couldn't find any crash tests videos besides the side impact poll test for the S80. Check out the front offset crash test video of this 2002 S60 though. Just like the 2000 S80 which was tested, on the S60 the dummy's head hit the B pillar after bouncing off the airbag. Also check out the extremely hot gasses coming out of the airbags. I think in the case of the 2002 S60 the gasses are vented away from the driver's hands, however in the case of the 1999/2000 Volvo S80 the hot gasses from the airbags are actually vented toward's the driver's hands. http://www1.progressive.com/video/02VolvoS60HSF.mpg http://www1.progressive.com/video/02VolvoS60HSF.ram This website did in the past have a front(not offset) crash test video of the 2001 S80, but that video no longer seems to be working. http://www.autosafety.org/crashTestResultsNew.php?autoID=2325
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