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Hard for me to figure out what facts you are basing your coments on as well. As to your title Dumbing down, what does this mean?
Saab does not design brake disks, pads, or batteries. Those components come from the same sources that supply them to BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Lexus, and all of it's other competitors. I had one battery fail in my last 9000 Aero, after three and a half years. Is that a disapointment? Yes. Is it slightly premature? I think so. But, is it totally out of reason? NO. Batteries have a pretty tough life in today's cars with electrically operated everything,and considering the temperature extremes that they reside in,I am surprised that more do not fail.
Brakes.My last 9000, sold with 104,000 miles on it, went to it's second owner with smooth ,unwarped or worn dieks, and about 4mm of pad material on the fronts, more on the rear. Brand new pads have 8 mm. So these brakes had roughly half of their service life remaining.Is that typical? NO. But, if the car had inferior components installed in it, there is no way that could have happened.Brake life is almost totally the responsibility of the driver.One who rides the brakes and is always on and off them will wear out the pads quickly, and will usually warp the disks. My wifes new 900 needed it's first brake job at 25,000 miles by comparison.
Plastic dash? Not a quality related question in my opinion, but a marketing decision. Components like that in non USA markets are not uncommon in cars that we consider high end. Take a look at some of the BMW and Mercedes models produced for worldwide consumption. They are not nearly as nice as typical US equipped models. About the Saab choice of materials, I totally agree with you. This year,they really blew it, but I still attribute this to an aesthetic judgement(or lack of), and luckilly,it is a problem that can be fixed at the dealer level.
I guess I am not sold on your hypothesis about the GM issue either. If GM had not purchased Saab, there would be no Saab! Even GM can change, and to judge the current management philosophy by your preconceived ideas of past transgressions is just not accurate. GM has given the world the small block Chevy V-8, and the Cadillac V8-6-4 engines. Does GM make good engines? Depends on which one of those two you purchased.
As for Saab,they stack up very well on price when put next to competetive models from BMW, Audi, and Mercedes. Perhaps the only key market driven feature still lacking is all wheel drive( not my personal opinion, but one you will see many posts on here). If your competition has it, you need to offer it.
Dealers? They can make or break the ownership experience. I go to a dealer that is the third closest to where I live,because they go out of their way to take good care of my service and sales needs. I cannot speak for other dealers, but here in New England, where Saabs are popular, there are enough dealers to offer a choice, and a competitive market gives us good dealers.Word of mouth takes care of the slaggers.
Anyway,things are not as bad as you might think,at least in my opinion, but appreciate your views on things.
posted by 24.128.2...
, Sat, 29 Dec 2001 00:22:13
, Fri, 28 Dec 2001 02:36:32
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