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sports + premium + steptronic + xenons.
Still thinking about trading the Viggen and I have to admit the BMW drives well but didn't blow me away, certainly not very fast compared to the Viggen, but then again could be the steptronic limits the "fun" factor. Salesman was with me so I didn't really wind it out. He did offer me what I think is a killer price around $36.5K but I would have to drive it some more to convince me it's worth more than . . .
the '05 Subaru Legacy GT. They have very few of these cars at the dealers and I had to wait for the only Limited/Auto to return from someone else driving it - it was also a wagon which I'm not crazy about but it gave me an idea of what the sedan will be like. That car is silly fast with just as good a ride quality as the BMW and . . . the salesman just handed me the key and said "see you in a few". There is a good bit of turbo lag with the auto compared to the Viggen but once the boost arrives it's like a slingshot. I drove a manual while waiting for the auto to return and while it's probably more precise than the notchy, rubbery 9-3 shifter I had to work it into R a couple of times. Probably needs some loosening up. The interior while upscale in some ways is spartan in others, lacking steering wheel controls for example. Well, I reached for the stereo in 3 previous cars and still do it in the Viggen sometimes anyway so that's not a killer. Insurance will likely be significantly cheaper on the Subie than on the BMW.
Tomorrow I will visit the Acura dealer for a drive in the TL and maybe even a TSX as well as the SAAB dealer for an Arc w/auto. If time permits I will return to the BMW dealer to try to figure out if I'm missing something or if the BMW just isn't worth the extra $$$.
The one thing that SAAB has the none of the competitors can bring to the table is fuel economy. I think the BMW salesman flat out lied to me when he said that the BMW offered more rear seat passenger room "than any of its competitors including MB, SAAB, etc". Either that or he's uninformed. Yep, checking the SAAB site SAAB has more rear legroom by a distance.
The Subaru salesmen were extremely casual and non-intrusive, not trying to "sell" the car. Then again the car kind of sells itself at about $30K loaded.
I'll post my final results here.
John
Atlanta
'01 Viggen
posted by 65.5.19...
, Mon, 13 Sep 2004 14:24:10, Mon, 13 Sep 2004 16:34:02
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