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Parked outside the Tysons Galleria mall as I walked out, next to a Saab tent, were 6 Saab's: 9-5 2.3t wagon, 9-5 SE wagon, 9-5 Aero sedan, 9-3 base, 9-3SE convertible and 9-3 Viggen convertible. The reps (three young attractive women) said they were there on behalf of SaabUSA, who had dispatched them there to raise "awareness" of the marque. They offered road tests, with (as they put it) no dealer sales hassle.
AS an owner of a 1987 900 base model (and a 2000 Passat 1.8T), I took the opportunity to take the Viggen and Aero for a spin. Here are my impressions, and then some followup thoughts:
Viggen. I test drove a Viggen 3-door last year when I was car shopping, but it was out of my price range then. The convertible was a neat experience (having never driven a convertible before). But I have to say while there were aspects of the car that are terrific, there were some big concerns as well.
Likes: Power, wind-in-the-hair, the best car seats in the universe (and nice leather smell, too), tight sporty handling.
Dislikes: Too jittery (lots of shaking over bumps), fussy, vague shifter, powertrain roughness, some materials not of terribly high quality, sky-high price. It's pretty clear that, while fun to play with, the engine is too much for the chassis.
9-5 Aero. Obviosuly a quantum leap up from the 9-3 chassis, it feels taut, composed and quiet. Engine is a better fit here.
Llikes: Composure, comforting size and solid feel, power, room.
Dislikes: Shifter is even more vague than the 9-3, powertrain roughness unseemly in a $40K car, some cheap materials apoil an otherwise well-laid-out interior. Seats are a big disappointment -- no lateral support, and you feel like you're sitting *on* them, rather than sitting *in* them. Give the 9-5 Aero the Viggen seats. Please.
The test drive got me thinking on a number of points about Saab's challenges for the next few years.
1. Saab really needs to hit a home run with the next 9-3. The current 9-3's chassis is noticeably old and past its prime. The 9-3's market segment is packed with competitors that, right now, outclass the 9-3 in many areas. A $44K MSRP for the Viggen convertible is just outlandish. AS nice a car as the Viggen convertible is, when you get down and look at quality, design, etc., it just can't match up with cars in that price range (we're talking BMW 5 series territory -- hell you can get a basic Boxster for $50K). The advances in chassis and suspension in the past 8 years (which is the lifespan of the current 9-3 chassis, which itself was based on a Opel/Vauxhall chassis from the late 1980's) are daunting -- the A4, the current standard in the market for chassis and suspension quality in the mid-$20K price range, is itself about 5-6 years old.
2. When oh when will Saab put together a manual transmission that shifts crisply and quickly and is nicely matched for their upper-scale turbo engines? I was constantly hunting for gears in the sub-par tranny in 9-5 Aero, which is just not what that good (and expensive) of a car deserves. I often found myself falling off revs and killing the boost I had built up because I felt the shifter was too awkward; in other instances I just mashed the lever into gear. All in all, it felt crotchety, slushy, and reluctant -- my Passat's gearshit, while rubbery, felt like a racecar shifter by comparison.
3. The quality of the materials Saab uses has to be improved if they are going to charge the current prices. The 9-5 wood trim looked very fake, and the plastics used in the 9-5 were, in a couple of notable cases (the armrest consule, for instance), appallingly cheap for a $40K car. The seat fan switches were cheap feeling, and some of the buttons and switchgear were disappointing.
4. Saab needs to either improve quality of its materials to match the price ranges its charging ($44K for a Viggen convertible is way too much -- hell, I think $38K for a regular Viggen is excessive), or start scaling back prices to ensure the Saab's don't have to compete in higher scal market segments (or they can offer a neat, lower-cost alternative to the A4's, 3-series, 5-series, etc. of the world). Maybe their current lease deals and massive rebates on 9-3's are part of that, but I can't imagine that makes GM any money.
Saab is at a crossroads. The new 9-3 is basically a bet-the-company car that they have to get fundamentally right. It may be too much to think they'll create the next A4 with the 9-3, but they need to keep abreast of the new A4, new 3-series, new Volvo S60, etc. But they need to nail it, or they'll really forever be an also-ran.
I love the marque, and I love my Saab. But when I get a better feeling of quality out of my 2000 Passat ($23K) than I do out of two Saab cars that almost cost twice as much (well, the 9-5 was on par with the Passat in terms of solidiy and overall quaity of materials), that means that (i) VW did a heckuva job with the Passat, and (ii) Saab needs to improve.
, Mon, 14 May 2001 22:13:08
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