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I leased a new ‘08 9-5 Aero automatic sedan last week. This one has the visibility package, and vented seats. It replaced my ’06 leased 9-5 Aero. I even kept the same silver color (now called snow silver) with a black interior. I was not convinced that I would stay with the Saab (even though it was my 12th since 1972, including 2 European deliveries, and my 4th 9-5) because the competition was so attractive. I was leaning toward the Infinity G35X, but the my salesman Peter at Shaw Saab told me about the 6 month early lease buyout option, and I could not resist the opportunity since I was already over my 15K/year mileage and this would save me about $1000 in extra mileage charges alone. Plus the lease was a good deal with all the GM incentives. So I went for it, hoping to have the timing right for the 2010 9-5 debut.
The nice thing about the change is that there is no learning curve. I know exactly where everything is. I did notice some subtle changes that I like. They added tire pressure monitoring, electric folding side mirrors, and the wiper blades are slimmer and closed. The interior has little metal accents on the vent adjustment knobs, and the alloys are slightly more aggressive in appearance. So far those are about the extent of the changes that I could find. The interior seats are now all black (vented version) without those distasteful (to me at least) parchment inserts. I did want navigation, but as I am hooked on XM, it was still not an option on the radio, so I chose the XM radio. The car still has a great suspension, great steering, plenty of power, and I totally love driving it. And I did sample just about everything competing. So I am sure I’ll be content until the new 9-5 arrives, hopefully with all wheel drive. Plus I get to go to Aero Academy again!
posted by 24.218.80...
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