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I am amazed to see people still shock, supprised, irritated by the concept that Saab's are no longer unique platforms. What is that? Some kind of automotive eugenic elitism? Somehow your Saab is not a good car because there's an Opel/Saturn/Pontiac/Buick/Chevy out there with a similar platform? A few points about this...
1) Platform sharing is not new.
Ever since WWII GM (and everyone else now) has been taking advantage of the economies of scale and sharing platforms across their lines. Anyone shocked and the similar lines in a 56 Olds 88 and Buick Special? Is the shine removed from a 63 Pontiac GTO because it shares a platform with the
Chevy II, Buick Skylark or Olds f-85? In highschool I pulled a prank by taking the doors off my yellow 79 Olds Delta and put them on a teacher's black 78 Buick LeSaber. Is anyone shock? No. There is nothing new about GM, Ford, Chrysler sharing platforms among their divisions. Well I got
some news for you. Saab is a division of GM. If you believe in the cross contamination of car lines by platform sharing then you have a sad future ahead of you.
2) Cookies
Can platform sharing be taken too far. Yes. Perfect case in point is my 79 Oldsmobuick. GM cars of that time where way too similar and they got creamed for it but GM no longer makes "cookie cutter" cars. There is difference between the Grand Prix, Regal and Intrigue (RIP) unlike the Regal, Cutlass and Grand Prix's of the mid and late 80's. GM has spent the last decade making the lines more distinct from each other and there is no reason to think they will suddenly make the Epsilon cars all identical.
3) Nostalgia
"They just don't make 'em like that anymore." And there's a lot of damm good reasons why. Sorry that for some of you Saab has lost it's purity. Sorry that they don't still make the old C900 just like the good ol'days. Things change. If you love the old ones better then please by all means drive one for the rest of your life. If you absolutely can only drive a 5-door the supply of 9-3 5 doors will last a good 25 -30 years. Now that's not to say there is anything wrong with being disappointed at change that is in a different direction from your desires but for some out there... it's time to give it up. Time to stop making snide "GM 900" comments. Time to realize that if you won't buy a Saab ever again
because they've for the time dropped the 5-door (nothing says it won't be back in the future) then you never really where a Saab fan, you are more a 5-door fan that liked Saab only as long as they made one and now you can slake your thirst at Mazada next year on the Mazada6 5-door.
4) What really counts.
"The new 9-3 is just a rebadged Opel/Chevy/etc." So what? Why is that what counts? Why is it even debated? It doesn't mean anything. Only one thing counts; How good is the new 9-3? From what I have been hearing it is a quantum leap over the current generation and the rear wheel steering
might just be all that. Hearing that makes my happy regardless who its relatives are.
This is of course all IMHO
Dinger
86 900T 241k
posted by 12.16.16...
, Thu, 10 Oct 2002 14:20:54, Fri, 11 Oct 2002 13:24:58
, Wed, 9 Oct 2002 17:45:28
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