Do not necessaarily agree with you about the turbo lag issue. I think that the 4 cylinder when coupled with the automatic is a terrific combination, especially when it is the 185 HP version in the 2001 cars, or obviously the Aero. Where the 2.3 falls down, in my opinion, is with the manual transmission. Getting the car to move from low RPM settings in second or third gear is quite a problem, especially if you are on any kind of uphill grade.
Back to a bit of facts about the two engines. The four is a descendant of a design first done by Triumph and sold to Saab. It started life as a racing engine, and one look inside will tell an engineer that it is overdesigned for the job at hand. It has more bearing area than a small block Chevy V-8. Although it is an interference design engine,meaning that the valves could "WRECK" with the pistons on the event of a chain break, the numbers of such incidents are few and far between in engines that get regular oil changes.
The V-6,also an interference engine,has a rubber drive belt, and it muist be changed at 60,000 mile intervals.A belt that goes past that interval has a better chance of breaking than a chain in an engine that gets less than frequent oil changes.
Does that make the V-6 a bad engine? Not in my opinion,since most of the people who might buy this car are not going to totally ignore maintenance.
You will note that there are not any Saab tuning firms out there marketing boost up kits or performance modifications to this generation V-6. Not a surprise,since the engine is thought to be near it's max development at this point, and will be replaced by a newly designed GM based V-6 in the future.
That is the same evil GM that some keep bashing for just being GM, but the fact is that some really great technology resides within that company, and given the chance to properly exploit it, Saabs of the future will make the current cars seem outdated very soon.

posted by 24.128.2...

• '01 9-5 2.3 4cyl vs. '01 9-5 SE 6 cyl - help!, jill, Sat, 10 Nov 2001 21:06:45
  • Re: '01 9-5 2.3 4cyl vs. '01 9-5 SE 6 cyl - help!, jill, Sun, 18 Nov 2001 22:15:22
  • Re: '01 9-5 2.3 4cyl vs. '01 9-5 SE 6 cyl - help!, Jim, Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:58:57
  • Re: '01 9-5 2.3 4cyl vs. '01 9-5 SE 6 cyl - help!, Bob, Mon, 12 Nov 2001 17:18:48
  • If you are getting an automatic..., keeton, Mon, 12 Nov 2001 09:33:12
    • Re: If you are getting an automatic..., Lou, Mon, 12 Nov 2001 14:27:54 <-- Viewing This Message
      • I didn't try a manual..., keeton, Mon, 12 Nov 2001 14:43:16
        • Re: I didn't try a manual..., Jim, Tue, 13 Nov 2001 15:12:01
          • Yes, I tried the auto with sport mode..., keeton, Tue, 13 Nov 2001 15:27:18
    • Re: If you are getting an automatic..., Ron H, Mon, 12 Nov 2001 11:50:25
  • Re: '01 9-5 2.3 4cyl vs. '01 9-5 SE 6 cyl - help!, ventanabike, Mon, 12 Nov 2001 02:57:16
  • Re: '01 9-5 2.3 4cyl vs. '01 9-5 SE 6 cyl - help!, Shelley, Sun, 11 Nov 2001 13:41:37
  • Re: '01 9-5 2.3 4cyl vs. '01 9-5 SE 6 cyl - help!, Ron H, Sat, 10 Nov 2001 21:47:39
    • Re: '01 9-5 2.3 4cyl vs. '01 9-5 SE 6 cyl - help!, Rob Catron, Sun, 11 Nov 2001 07:42:30
      • Free belt replacement?, Yury, Mon, 12 Nov 2001 05:02:05
        • Satndard warranty per manual N/M, Rob Catron, Mon, 12 Nov 2001 17:53:12
          • Ooops: "Standard" warranty per manual N/M, Rob Catron, Mon, 12 Nov 2001 17:54:03
      • Re: '01 9-5 2.3 4cyl vs. '01 9-5 SE 6 cyl - help!, mlc , Sun, 11 Nov 2001 08:55:02

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