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I've had the fabulous '06 V6 "20 years" 'vert for about a month now. GREAT piece of work! Eye candy, OH YA :), Fast, rides on rails, and overall really GREAT.
BUT Some quirks are driving me nuts and I could use some answers the dealer just won't give.
Yes, I love it 98%, and I'm being whiney considering, but I think I'm also being reasonable, especially since this is a $60k (canadian) Eurpean-made car!
Anyone have any info/insights on the following:
- Seats - ya, I know, everyone loves the sport seats :P
BUT, they are tilted so bloody far back it's rediculous!
My prior car was a 9-3ss arc, whos seats had less bolsterring, but in which i could sit the way I like to - more or less chair-like - seat bottom flat, seat back reclined a bit.
In the Aero 'vert, the sport seat's base (the part your butt and legs sit on) doesn't seem to go far enough down in the front (under the theighs) or up enough under the back (under the tailbone) to come close to level.
I keep instinctively trying to make the seat more nearly horizontal rather than leaning way back (with theighs way up). No luck. the result: my dream car is uncomfortable as hell to drive - feels "wrong" being tilted so far back, and is murder on the ol' sciatic nerve. It's a pain in the ass (pun intended). BTW, even my 3-series sport seats didn't insist I sit this way so the dealer's argument that these are "sportier" and *I* should adjust doesn't really fly with me. (notice the clever alusion to "born from jets" ? ;)
So now I have a stupid looking rubber pad I made to levels things out sitting on the seat. Feels GREAT driving now, just looks painfully stupid in a car this beautiful. I feel like grandpa ;)
Thoughts?
-Headrests; anyone notice that they don't go down all the way... period? Dealer says this is normal for all '06 verts. They wend down all the way on the 9-3ss I had... Drives me nuts. Makes me hope the SAHR system works properly with the seats in the 'vert too.
-Here's one that really kills me...but maybe it shouldn't;
In many high end Euro cars, the body parts have several coats of paint applied, inside and out as standard procedure.
The Tonneau cover on my 'vert that lifts to reveal/cover the cloth top has not been painted on the under side!! You can see the bloody metalic blue over-spray on the underside of it (which is finished in a grayish-white "primer" only) every time you raise and lower the roof.
From an asthetics point of view it looks like someone did a cheap repaint to change the colour of the car and just didn't bother with the undersides of things. From a corrosion point of view...since this is an area that is exposed to all the elements regularly, a few coats of paint couldn't hurt ;) You know it's bad when passengers notice and comment!
The dealer's explanation is that this is normal,(GM training obviously ;) and I shouldn't worry.
My feeling is that when I lift the hood, or trunk, or open a door, it may not be buffed and clear-coated, BUT IT'S PROPERLY PAINTED inside!) and the tonneau cover which is equally often seen, and exposed, should be no different. I have had BMWs and Benzes in the familly for years, and am used to the european comitment to issues like "finnish".
Anyone know if this IS normal? and if so, does it bug you too? Do you think Saab should provide a car at this level with this part fully painted, and how would I persuade them of this?
Lastly, I smell COOLANT regularly when the car is at operating temp! (I had this with the last 9-3 too, and they never hunted it down, yet the coolant level slowly dropped).
I would say maybe it's a heater core issue (based only on experience with this problem in other cars) except that I don't seem to get residue on the inside of the windshield, and I don't smell it more when I turn on the heat ;) But I know the smell, and it's often there.
I fully expect the dealer to tell me this is normal too. They are well trained to say that ;) Anyone have similar problems?
Thanks for any thoughts!
Remember, I'm a big SAAB FAN, and there is MUCH to love about this car - (feel free to ask anything) - BUT it's their BEST, and a premium Sweedish designed, Austrian built machine, and just as expensive as its European competition (A4-vert, C70, 3-series vert...) so please don't flame me for whining :)
Thanks.
Earl
posted by 70.49.156...
, Sat, 9 Sep 2006 14:10:43, Sat, 9 Sep 2006 11:33:31
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