Australia’s Courier-Mail gets it right, for the most part

Posted by eggsngrits on April 20th, 2008 7 Comments Printer-Friendly

Given that this is Swade’s blog, I feel a little funny posting about a 9-3 Sport Combi review in an Australian newspaper like the Courier-Mail, which apparently serves the Brisbane area. However, Swade’s in transit, so here goes:

Mr. Hinchliffe endears himself to me right from the start:

What a ridiculous name for a vehicle - SportCombi. To me it conjures images of hippies in a VW Kombi with mag wheels and wide tyres.

Let’s call a spade a spade. The Saab 9-3 SportCombi is a station wagon. But that’s not a popular word any more.

The English language is a great tool that we take for granted. Mucking it up with phrases that are “Born from Marketing” has always been on my list of peeves.

Once Mr. Hinchliffe gets past the name, it’s smooth sailing. He points up the bright spots of the new 9-3 SportCombi quite nicely. From a utility standpoint, he praises the lightweight tailgate (”won’t put muscles on your mum”), the wide opening and the usable, flat cargo space. Obviously, he’s an outdoor sport enthusiast because he states that the interior is great for even the longest of surfboards with the optional folding passenger seat.

His treatment of the performance enhancements are no different: Mr. Hinchliffe raves about the “amazing” advancements in suspension components, revealing that both the ride and the handling have improved, and that the 2.0 High-output turbocharged engine is “refined” and “boots from the line with no hint of turbo lag”.

His sole criticism of the car (except the name, which isn’t the car’s fault after all) is the aircraft-inspired dashboard, which he finds a bit dated. I’ll accept that, but I dont really agree — I think that Saab has always designed very well-executed, easily read dashboards.

Good stuff from the Aussies. Swade’s sphere of influence is growing…

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Hawkeye said:

It’s to bad he thinks he is road testing a 2007 model.

Outside, the 2007 models have some major styling changes to reflect the Aero X concept model which has been displayed at motor shows around the world.

-April 20th, 2008 at 7:18 am
Mag-X said:

I don’t see how erganomics can be “dated.”

-April 20th, 2008 at 8:05 am
cdp88 said:

This is a marked improvement on his attempt to review the 9-3 convertible
here.

I would have to query why the seats would not be comfortable on long drives. This comment may arise from not having had a decent period of time, say a few months, to get to know the car. If his only error saying 2007 instead of 2008 he is doing ok.

Who knows but they he took on board the adverse publicity he received at trollhattansaab for his last very poorly written review?

-April 20th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Markac said:

A fairly good review.
I’d agree I’ve never liked the name “Sport Combi”. Sport Wagon or Sport Estate is much better and it sure aint no Combi Coupe!

-April 20th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Jeff said:

Considering Saab has had that same dash design for about 30 years, it’s pretty obvious why so many journalists call it dated…but it doesn’t matter. It’s been around so long because it’s a great design.

My Thunderbird’s dash has the same cockpitty design, but the switchgear isn’t nearly as ergonomic.

-April 20th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Martin N said:

What’s the problem with “Sport combi”?
“Kombi” is the most common Swedish word for “station wagon”, and you seem to have no problem with the old 900 “Combi Coupé” (half combi, half coupé).

The name is pure, simple, functionalistic Swedish logic. I thought you guys were fans of that.

-April 20th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Markac said:

Martin N: I didn’t have a problem with “Combi Coupe”, but I think with the 9-3 they have tried to connect back to that and it doesn’t work. Why wasn’t the 9-5 a SportCombi? Why is it a Sport Estate?

-April 21st, 2008 at 10:13 am