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Jacco has been kind enough to scan a story from the print version of Autoweek magazine, the Dutch version. It’s too long for him to translate and I can’t read the thing so I figured I’d just post the photos and check out how the Saab 99 Turbo stacks up against the new black turbo after 30 years.
It’s 280hp and XWD vs 145hp and FWD. Power everthing vs power assisted disc brakes. If they weren’t made by the same company and if they didn’t occupy a similar space in the Saab pantheon, then it would be chalk vs cheese. If you take pure mechanicals, the Turbo X wins with daylight second and the 99 a distant third. But if you add character and history to the mix, it becomes a much closer contest.
The 99T doesn’t lose much at all, if anything, in terms of frontal presence.
And it doesn’t do too bad from the rear, either…..
In fact, if the Turbo X doesn’t respect its elder to the proper extent, it could open up and swallow it whole!!
The Turbo X should probably take the points on over all dash layout. The 99T’s was functional, at best. And if we complain about materials nowadays, then we shouldn’t forget the flimsy center console in the 99 or the fake wood decal stuck across the dash.
The 99T does get points for the Bordello Red interior, though!
Seat comfort and safety….goes to the X
…and headlamp look and functionality….
….but no car has ever had a cooler gauge than the 99 Turbo’s dash-top mounted turbo gauge
I think the 99T wins out on badging, too:
The Turbo X is a better car than the 99 Turbo in almost ever conceivable way you’d like to test it. The only measure by which the 99T might outgun it’s younger brother is in character. But cars take time to develop character, or more accurately, to have character attributed to them. The Turbo X might just stack up pretty well in that department in 2038.
For now, I guess we’ll have just settle with the conclusion that the Saab wins this test, or if you want to be more specific, the black turbo.
——
I can’t read this funny language, but I have a feeling that AutoWeek come to a similar conclusion.
And one final look at old man 99T in full flight:
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18 responses so far ↓
1 Lance Cole (Author)
// Dec 31, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Nice- really nice. A magazine gets it right.
Oh and the Dutch are saying that the 99 T is the perfect classic car for everyday use and the 9-3X is the best handling Saaby yet. That’s a loose translation.
Once again I want a 99T….it will take more than one book to pay for it though…
Gellukig Nieuw Jaar to all Dutch readers then mates – excuse the spelling will you. At least I tried.
2 John
// Dec 31, 2008 at 6:26 pm
The 99T is the one for me. I’m fortunate enough to have acquired my second. (I sent a photo to Swade, yesterday) We’re long overdue for a chat over a pizza, Lance, so let me know when you are back in blighty and you can take it out for a drive.
3 swade
// Dec 31, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I figured I’d keep that one under my hat until we tell the full story, John. Soon as you’re ready.
4 van god los
// Dec 31, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Also a “Gelukkig Nieuwjaar” Lance and all the other readers, bloggers, … of TS.
5 Wulf (Northern Michigan, USA)
// Jan 1, 2009 at 12:35 am
I checked on autoweek.nl to read the article but they don’t have it online yet..
Een prettige jaarwisseling en de beste wensen voor 2009!
6 tksaab
// Jan 1, 2009 at 2:39 am
What a great article. The comparison kind of reminds of how I feel about my c900 vs. my 04 9-3. The 9-3 is better in every way, but I still love my c900 a lot more.
7 albert
// Jan 1, 2009 at 2:59 am
It is a great article.
And a “gelukkig nieuwjaar” to all of you folks!
As sson as I can find the time I’ll send a translation, probably Friday.
It’s not an easy article to translate. The author uses much idiom.
8 Danni
// Jan 1, 2009 at 4:00 am
Swade – great article and the source. I understand Dutch perfectly having completed my under-graduate studies in the Limburg province in Maastricht.
To Wolf and Albert – “geniet van wat oor is van 2008 en ons almal wat kaaskoppe is wens Saab alles van die beste vir 2009.”
9 aeronaut
// Jan 1, 2009 at 4:07 am
seeing those cars side by side really shows how little of classic saab design has survived. you would hardly know the were built by the same company.
10 DP
// Jan 1, 2009 at 4:15 am
Nifty comparison article. I wonder how the two cars interior dimensions compare. I have little doubt which car would be just fine after hitting something–front or rear–at 5 mph.
11 Robin M
// Jan 1, 2009 at 5:30 am
Great Article.
Lance, maybe it’s time for another book?
12 Markac
// Jan 1, 2009 at 9:05 am
I think the hatch and the boot (trunk) shot says so much. Unfortunately the article seems to highlight just how conventional Saab has become. I hope now that trend can be reversed?
I don’t think the Turbo X will ever be remembered quite the same way as the 99 Turbo. It is perhaps, the most memorable version of what otherwise is regrettably, quite a forgettable car.
13 Andy Rupert
// Jan 1, 2009 at 12:31 pm
The 99 Turbo is more to my liking. Despite the advances in technology, I still like the older styling better. To some of us old fogeys (ha ha) the old cars are good enough.
14 Tedjs
// Jan 1, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Kind of makes one wonder what would happen if GM would build a modern version of this car with the classic styling. It worked for the Ford Mustang and I am sure GM will sell plenty of new/old Camaro’s as well.
No need to re-invent the wheel, it has always been right there.
15 Golfhunter
// Jan 2, 2009 at 7:48 am
Very cool run
16 zippy
// Jan 2, 2009 at 11:16 am
That 99T is fantastic and started the whole turbo thing for Saab but that TurboX – drooling!!
Having said that I do think the TurboX was a massive opportunity for Saab that was wasted. They should have dialed in another 50bhp and lent one out to every car magazine on the planet. I would love to know what Jeremy Clarkson thinks of this beast.
17 PT
// Jan 2, 2009 at 11:30 am
Great comparison & although I cannot read a word of Dutch beyond “Heineken” , it seems like the article was done in good spirit.
18 Testa-Rossa
// Jun 25, 2009 at 7:56 am
Perhaps a bit late…
But I’d rather have a poster of the 99T in my bedroom than a Turbo X parked outside my house with the keys in my back pocket.