Turbo X issues in the US are persisting

Posted by swade on June 11th, 2008 14 Comments Printer-Friendly

I was determined to only post once a day (at the most), but this is still a point of major concern.

We know about the Turbo X production issues. They’re well documented by now. What’s of concern is that this was left in comments today and our commenter, Mark, hasn’t got a satisfactory resolution from SaabUSA:

I am dismayed to report that I just called my saab dealer to get an update on my turbo x sportcombi and was told I’m one of the unfortunate few who will not get the Navigation they ordered. Unbelievable. The dealer claims to have not yet been able to find a match to trade with me. Any thoughts or ideas on this issue?? The people I have talked with so far at saabusa seem clueless.

Mark, it may well be that your dealer can’t find a car in the trim you were looking for simply because that trim didn’t ship to the US (of if a few did, it’d be very small numbers). Satnav and SportCombi just don’t go together on the Turbo X due an ordering problem, documented here.

….as far as we know, the Saab Turbo X ordering issue in the U.S. only affects the SportCombi (about 20 percent of total orders) in combination with the optional Navigation system. For some reason, the code for Nav was in a few cases not correctly read during the U.S. Turbo X SportCombi manufacturing process.

From all reports, the car is definitely worth having, satnav or not. My advice would be to contact SaabUSA and wave their own words at them. From that same article:

As a matter of course, Saab Automobile USA is working with the individual customers and dealers to settle the issue to mutual satisfaction.

Mutual satisfaction should mean that they sell the car to the customer that ordered it at a reasonable discount to compensate for the missing satnav. Use that compensation to buy a new iPhone with 3G nav capability and you should be smiling.

I hope you get a suitable outcome, and soon. If they have a different opinion on the meaning of “mutual satisfaction” then please let us know.

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Comments

jc_atl said:

Wow - I’d probably refuse delivery if the car wasn’t as I’d ordered it. It’s not a cheap ride by a long shot, and there’s a vast difference between a portable nav and wires hanging all over the car serving as theft bait and a built-in nav that complements the car’s interior.

Swade, glad to see your hiatus was greatly or at least partially exaggerated.

-June 11th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Greg Abbott said:

Can’t they install it at the dealership?

I know when we bought the wife’s Mercedes that you could add nav *after* delivery (for a hefty fee, of course).

-June 11th, 2008 at 10:30 am
swade (Author) said:

Apparently not, Greg. The initial news I got about this a month or so ago was actually from a dealer, who tried to shop around for one with Nav instead of doing an install. I asked about installing it and he said it couldn’t be done locally, had to be done at the factory during the build.

-June 11th, 2008 at 10:34 am
zippy said:

Id be asking for a massive rebate. This is totally unacceptable and doesn’t exactly bode well for the future of the brand.

-June 11th, 2008 at 11:27 am
jchan2 said:

I agree that this is extremely unacceptable- if I were Saab, I would immediately buy back the car and produce another one, WITH SatNav.
I don’t know if that would harm the Turbo X’s exclusivity (not to mention increase the customer’s wait), but at the very least, I’d be asking for some massive rebates and freebies.
I’m buying a $40,000 car; can’t I get it exactly how I want it? Especially since I’m waiting for a specially ordered one..

Even with a Kia/Hyundai/Honda/Toyota dealer, this would be unacceptable. I’d refuse delivery until the right car in the right combination was delivered to me.

-June 11th, 2008 at 11:31 am
2-don said:

Damn skippy! It’s a limited edition car!!!

-June 11th, 2008 at 11:58 am
dmk said:

Some Turbo X SCs have shipped to the US with Nav. Doesn’t seem to be a great demand for this car on the west coast. Mark might want to reorder a 9-3 Aero with XWD. They go into production July 7th and will be less $ than Turbo X. Very few differences except for wheels. Might also want to look at the 2009 A4. The larger dimensions and new 2.0 TFSI engine have upped the anty for this class.

-June 11th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
aeronaut said:

Maybe its not such a bad thing. they are way overpriced, take up alot of space in the dash, and can become obsolete in a couple of years. a proper install of an aftermarket can be ok or in my case i just use my blackberry phone which has satnav and looks fine dashmounted.

hope it gets worked out Marks satisfaction, it is a car to be enjoyed for sure.

-June 11th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Mark said:

Thank you all for making light of this issue on your great website. I agree with the above posts that this is unacceptable. I realize that the number of SC’s w/ nav in the USA is tiny so I am not optimistic. I still do love the car and am not ready to write off Saab yet however, the customer service rep I initially spoke with didn’t know what a Turbo X was and didn’t know they were made in Sweden. I have subsequently emailed some other Saab authorites who say they have forwarded my email to the appropriate people. We will see what happens. I appreciate the above advice and will try to keep you posted on the developments. Regards.

-June 11th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Saaboy said:

Swade,

excellent idea with the IPhone!

-June 11th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Neutrino said:

A couple of positive Turbo X reviews:

Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/video/?video=fvn/lifestyle/mdp_veh060608

Bloomberg:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601093&sid=a9_kov_cKARg&refer=

-June 11th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Gunnar said:

That’s okay. The GPS in the Turbo X that I drove was rather daft.

Or maybe it was just the driver.

Sorry, Jan-Willem

-June 11th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
WooDz said:

I hear that the TurboX has now a very limited stock availability. I wonder if SaabUSA would care to post an available stock list to Swade for him to post. It would mean some customer’s who have had problems could pick out a few alternative vehicles and show them to their dealer without the sales manger having to second guess a specification. It still might not match the original order but could have some options that would be worthy of some compensation.

Personally I wouldn’t order an integrated SatNav system due to initial expense, plus the cost of an upgraded DVD later will cost more than a handheld device.

If this had happened to my order then naturally I would not be best pleased. However; I’m not sure how I would react given the exclusivity of the TurboX. The car will drive just as well without a SatNav and if you do get lost, It might make the adventure more exciting?

-June 11th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Mark said:

To provide some follow up, today I received a call from my saab dealer saying they are going to retrofit a satnav to a SC, I was told that the Nav would be equal to or better to the factory Nav and you should not be able to tell the difference cosmetically. This is actually not the car I ordered but another SC they already have in stock. I will be able to see it next week and look forward to the results.

-June 12th, 2008 at 1:32 pm