Two new Turbo-X reviews

Posted by swade on July 10th, 2008 9 Comments Printer-Friendly

Like the rhyming headline?

I haven’t featured any reviews for a little while as they were all starting to blend into one another. Given that we’ve had a bit of a break, though, I thought it OK to bring these onto the front page.

From Australia:

Here we have Drive.com.au’s coverage of the event I attended at Lang Lang a few weeks ago. I had the option of attending the press event and maybe I should have as they got the chance to drive the car themselves.

It seems it made the appropriate impression, too. Whilst they’re not jumping out of their skins about it, the surefootedness of the car was noticed:

Saab invited us down to Holden’s cold, windswept proving ground at Lang Lang where we could put the hottest 9-3 through its paces in relative safety.

First was the skid pan, where a slalom course would demonstrate how tightly the Turbo X could spear through the cones. Yes, it goes hard, but although it is claimed the 9-3 could almost match a Porsche 911 for exit speed at the end of a slalom, with no 911 to test it against, we’ll just have to take that on trust. Then it was on to a wet circular track to demonstrate the Turbo X’s grip. Sprint halfway around the outer edge of the circle, switch to a full inside loop, and then down the other outside half to a stop.

It’s difficult looking at the speedo when gravity is trying to throw you out the side window, but other drivers said they had the Turbo X up to 80 km/h in a loop no wider than a soccer pitch.

And from the US:

MotiveMag got to drive the Turbo X at Road Atlanta and their tagline We’ve been waiting nearly a decade for a Saab like the Turbo X should tell you most of what you need to know:

We tested a standard 9-3 and a Turbo X sedan back-to-back at Road Atlanta and around a wet skidpad, and found that the Turbo X is a huge improvement over the 9-3 according to any metric you care to use.

It really is. that. good.

Enjoy either review at your leisure.

And if you’ve picked up a Turbo X recently and we don’t know about it yet, then why not shoot through a photo as well as your initial impressions of the car.

Maybe August should be the month of Turbo X loving? The photos mightn’t change much, though

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Comments

Kroum said:

Me thinks I got a fresh few pics for the month of Turbo X lovin’.

-July 10th, 2008 at 4:27 am
rogan2915 said:

How does that rhyme?

-July 10th, 2008 at 6:47 am
unclefester said:

I’ll save some of my juice for August, but I like my X better each time I drive it.

-July 10th, 2008 at 7:28 am
Greg Abbott said:

I think he’s trying to rhyme “new” and “reviews.”

But it doesn’t work.

And now he has the blues.

-July 10th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Swade said:

What’s the accent where “two”, “new” and “review” don’t rhyme?

You funny-speaking people give me the poos.

-July 10th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Ken. T said:

The 19″ wheels are so much better looking.
Sad that they wont offer them in North America.

-July 10th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Alex said:

I just saw my first Turbo X out on the streets this Tuesday(I’d seen a bunch sitting at dealerships or on transporters before), and it looked like a great combination of sportiness and good old-fashioned understated Saab tasteful styling once it’s mixed in with traffic.

It’s looking to me like a better and better “buy CPO in 2-3 years” car, though the upcoming 9-3 2.0T Aero gives it a big run for it’s money as far as I’m concerned.

-July 11th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
steve squires said:

Well…..I purchased my Turbo X sedan, 6 speed back in early June. Actually I was one of the first 100…but didn’t go to Road Atlanta. Just did an autocross this weekend with the local Mercedes Club (other car). First off I have only done about a dozen autocrosses, and maybe 2 track events. I was NOT impressed with the Turbo X. For all its horsepower, and AWD, I did not do very well. It has more lag than my trade -in 9-3 Aero. Yeah, I know, first time I drove it, but the first time I drove my 2000 S4, (less horsepower, more weight) I did quite well. It is a nice car, is it great? I dont know. I guess the first track event will tell…..Honestly, it just doesnt feel that much faster than my old car, and it seems to be very nervous on the highway. Just my 2 cents

-July 15th, 2008 at 8:36 am
XfreakX said:

The X looks and drives good, it feels a little bit slow but it isn’t, the road handling is superb and the sound of the exhaust is more than nice !!! I like to have it faster and a bit lower but I’ll wait a while and then make a decision which tuner is the best for the job…

Here are some pics from the beast

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3117762

Regards,

Fil

-July 19th, 2008 at 3:55 am