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My brief fling with a 2011 9-5 Posted by DietrichOS [Email]  (#430) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from DietrichOS) on Thu, 9 Feb 2012 20:40:39
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I went to Florida last weekend to visit my brother, and I needed a rental car. I have hookup with Enterprise, so they got me a deal on a "Large" car to drive for the weekend. I was about to leave in my beige Chevy Malibu (what else?) when I looked across the parking garage and saw a dark blue late-model Saab 9-5 staring back at me. I quickly paid for the upgrade and had myself a Saab for the weekend.
I must say, it took me about four seconds to fall in love with it. I test-drove a 9-5 at some weird driving event, but that was 10 minutes in LA traffic. Having one for a weekend was a revelation. Comfortable seats, good stereo, excellent standard features (of course it was a base model), great mid-range power, and the chassis felt rock solid. The ride was smooth, the handling was assured, and the turning radius was great. In short, it felt like a real Saab. And that's coming from a guy who has had two OG 900's (still have one) and a 9000 CSE.
It saddens me greatly that I will never be able to lease a new one (I don't believe in buying new cars) or even probably ever rent another one. I was planning on getting one when my current lease on my Subaru was up, but it wasn't to be.
It actually really surprised me that Enterprise had one in their rental fleet. They were not made in huge numbers, the dealers were starving for cars, how did this happen? My friends who work at Enterprise down here in Southern California had never seen one. But I know I could get a good deal on one through their sales department if they could scare one up.
From a reliability perspective, how dumb would I be to buy a 2011 9-5 ex-rental with 30,000 miles on it? Probably too early to tell. And anyway, it would probably be really dumb. But also really cheap. I've seen them let go of of Cadillac DTS's with 35,000 miles for $18,000, and those were $53,000 MSRP cars.
I also find it somewhat ironic that GM let Saab go just as they were putting the finishing touches on the best Saab they ever designed. No offense to all you first-gen 9-5 owners out there, but I've driven those too and the 2011 model puts the old one on a trailer. Oh well, if I had a dollar for every stupid decision GM ever made I'd probably be posting to bentleynet.com instead of here.
All glory is fleeting I guess...
, Thu, 9 Feb 2012 20:40:39 <-- Viewing This Message
, Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:53:35
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