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This was the Denver SAAB Proving Grounds, June 14th 5:30-8:30pm. Here is my personal subjective opinion of all the vehicles:
**All vehicles were automatics**
Acura RSX: The worst vehicle in nearly all driving sceanarios. A pretty big surprise to me. Extremely heavy steering. Lots of body roll. Not impressive power, but this isn't the fully loaded type-s which has 200hp instead of the 160 powerplant in this one. Looks dated already next to all the competition. Interior so-so.
Mini Cooper: What can I say..it drives like a go-cart. Super handling, super grip, extremely tossable and fun. Quite slow however. Again, this was not Mini's best unit, the Cooper S would have been a blast. Awful interior! Damn I haven't seen one that bad since the Saturn Ion.
Volvo S40 2.5i: Nice driver, okay through course, slow. Boring exterior.
Volvo S40 T-5: HUGE improvement over the base model as this is the top of the line. To me, this car felt the fastest as the turbo lag wasn't as bad as the 9-2x Aero. Superb interior very well executed. Handled extremely well. Not good on the wet surface as far as traction, but handled okay through the wet tire slalom.
Volkswagen Jetta 1.8t: Dated but freshened for '04. Interior essentially the same as the 1999 model but chrome here and there and a redone speedo cluster highlight the interior. Suprisingly this car did pretty well, slotted just about in mid-pack out of them all. Good power in straightaway, held corners well but with body roll pronounced. From all the abuse the cars got, this one was showing more of its 980 miles than any of the others. Leather already was wearing, engine plastic smell inside. Door clanked shut with the solidity of a 1995 Kia Sephia. (Surprise because usually VW/Audi's sound pretty solid in this category).
SAAB 9-2x Linear: First of all, I like this car no matter who builds it or what badge goes on it, but don't be fooled folks, this car feels nothing Swedish. I felt familiar-Japanese craftsmanship (not a bad thing!) right away. Interior looks great but not SAAB like in the least. Car handled fine, but was slow. Absolutely fabulous in the wet surface traction and slalom. Very sure footed but car got squirley through the course. Almost like steering couldn't keep up with my demands. (Maybe I was pushing the SAABs more?)
SAAB 9-2x Aero: Same commentary as above except for power: this one feels like it would be a beast if pushed past 40MPH. We were only allowed to get up to about 40 before having to slow down. This car is a DOG from 0-30, then the turbo cracks and the next 10MPH come hella quick. Need to test this car further on the highway!
Overall opinion: If I were in the market for this category (which I'm not) my two choices would be the 9-2x Aero and the S40 T-5. Depending upon what body style was needed, either car is an excellent contender.
SAAB having an AWD is great-- I hope the rest of the model line-up will at least an AWD option in the next few years to come.
Ciao.
buddy
2001 9-5 SE
posted by 4.227.24...
, Tue, 15 Jun 2004 20:58:47, Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:50:30
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