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Saab vs. Monte Carlo
Posted by Gary Stottler (more from Gary Stottler) on Mon, 3 Jan 2000 21:47:49
In Reply to: , Kok Chen, Sat, 17 Dec 1988 12:00:00

Felt that I should throw in my 2 cents worth on this one, but must begin
with 'full disclosure': I am a 15 year employee of GM (Powertrain Group)
and am therefore undoubtedly biased except that I've been a Saab
owner/driver for much longer :) . So I just got to 'come out of the
closet' in 1989 when GM bought half of Saab Automobile. In any event,
I'll try not to repeat opinions already expressed, but I had the
opportunity to drive a 2000 Monte Carlo for several months as a company
car, so I did form some conclusions:

1) As a Saab enthusiast, I am obviously aesthetically challenged, but the
Monte is horribly ugly. I never completely got past that - every morning
I'd walk out to the driveway and go Yuck!! I also can't see any possible
virtue, aesthetic or otherwise, in having fewer rows of doors than rows of
seats (My wife has a 9-3 5-door; I guess that point should have been in the
'disclosure' section.

2) If, as one member suggested, you taped a bag over the dash and sheet
metal, you'd be more impressed by the ride and handling of the Monte than
the 9-3. Clearly GM has learned some things, and this is part of the '75%
right' that was mentioned. Likewise, the Monte suffers much less torque
steer than the 9-3 - this is possibly the WORST feature of the Saab. On the
other hand, the inoffensive dash in the Monte is spoiled by a definitely
offensive, not to mention 'non-ergonomic', steering wheel. The seats in
the 9-3 are clearly better in accomodating my form, although they lack
sufficient thigh bolster support for spirited cornering.

3) The GM 3800 engine/4-speed transmission discussed is very highly
acclaimed by many sources supposedly more objective than I. Fuel economy
is one of its strong points, and with apologies to Steve, I believe that
the Monte will easily get better real world fuel economy than the 9-3. I
recently drove a similarly equipped Pontiac Bonneville (with awful seats)
on a road trip and averaged well over 30 mpg at 80+ mph. The best the 9-3
(with manual trans) could muster under similar conditions was 27-28. That
said, the availability of the manual trans will make up my mind every time;
I've already vented on the 9-3 auto trans in this space... And, I LOVE the
slightly non-linear response of the turbo engine. The 9-3 is ten times
more fun to drive, and I wouldn't trade it for a half second faster 0-60
time, no way!

So that's it. The Monte is better than I expected, even if it is ugly.
The 9-3 has more character flaws than I expected, but I like it anyway -
makes me want to go fast. If you're worried about what it's going to be
like with 100K miles, lease it - they're practically giving them away
anyhow.

Gary Stottler
'64 GT850 (not enough doors)
'78 99 Turbo (not enough doors)
'99 9-3 5-door, 5-speed.....


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