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Re: A turbo-4 is your oyster today, regadless of make. Posted by Snowmobile [Email]  (#686)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Snowmobile) on Fri, 9 Aug 2013 03:05:53
In Reply to: A turbo-4 is your oyster today, regadless of make., Norm9-5, Thu, 8 Aug 2013 17:25:33 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
I would say that motortrend piece sums up Saab pretty well from the perspective of outsiders shopping sedans of all brands on a luxury/performance/value perspective, and fair enough. I agree, the Verano is a great next step in that vein.
However, to me (and many Saab fans), Saab is not so much about track days and racing corvettes as a practical safe family hauler that has decent performance to go along with that. Scandinavian style is key also. They are fun cars, but an SPG never was an equal to a Porsche - just had some Porsche-like qualities in the right gear etc... but you can't shove a mattress in the back of a 911 and sleep in it! That's what makes an SPG or 9000 Aero special: goes fast *and* hauls a washing machine all while being ridiculously safe in the event of a collision.
To add to what I said before: the OG9-5 was a truly ground breaking car from a safety perspective. In addition to the introduction of SAHR, it was the first car to adequately address the SUV-car height/weight imbalance in side impacts (with the folding B pillar)... SAAB was ahead of the IIHS on this, and why at the time, the 9-3ss was the only car that got a double best pick (when that term was invented), and everyone else either witheld cars pending redesign or failed! People forget this stuff, but that was one of the big reasons we own a 9-5 - they are ridiculously safe cars for their time (and for the $ used)!
In that vein, some of motor trend's comparisons seem almost ridiculous: eg Saabaru vs V50? Of course the V50 is going to fare better... The Saabaru was a nicer Impreza (and those are not bad cars), but obviously a rebadge without the normal Saab refinement. Would have been more sane to wait 1 year and compare the 9-3sc to the V50! Motor trend loves to compare sedans head to head on a track, but that really isn't what saab is about... even the viggen, while slightly M3 like, isn't so much meant to beat it on the track as to be fast and fun while hauling stuff to go do something else! 99% of Saabs (and M3's!) never see a track ever... but a lot more haul bikes and boards and hockey gear!
Motor trend shows a 9000 in profile several times, and it still amazes me how much it looks like a sedan... but the photo they were missing (that sums up 9k ownership and why many were really disappointed with the 9-5 being released initially only as a sedan) was the cavernous hatch:
, Sat, 3 Aug 2013 06:40:57, Sun, 4 Aug 2013 20:04:04
, Mon, 5 Aug 2013 14:33:48, Thu, 8 Aug 2013 16:03:51, Fri, 9 Aug 2013 03:05:53 <-- Viewing This Message, Fri, 9 Aug 2013 06:33:48, Mon, 5 Aug 2013 15:24:10
, Tue, 6 Aug 2013 12:29:32, Mon, 5 Aug 2013 17:05:51, Sat, 3 Aug 2013 15:45:38
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