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You’re a Saab nut.
It’s frustrating times for a Saab nut.
There hasn’t been a new model in the Saab range for around 5 years or so. Your car’s three or four years old now and you know that there’s an all-new Saab due at a motor show some time later in the year.
Saab are doing great deals now but you don’t know whether to take one of those or wait for the new car. You’re tempted, but the last few times you’ve been to see your dealer he’s talked about this new car – and in quite glowing terms. He really needs this car. He needs the new product and he kinda needs it to be a home run because with an ageing lineup (the newest car’s around five years old and oldest is over 10 years old) it’s getting difficult to sell Saabs these days.
You’ve been reading bits about it the magazines, though information is fairly scant. You’ve only recently got on to the internet and it’s kind of difficult to navigate and find the things you want. Why won’t someone invent a good way to search this thing? And why won’t someone build a page about Saabs that’s easy to find?
Oh well. The motor show’s only a few months away. May as well wait.
——
A few months later…….
It’s motor show time! You’ve held on to your car, deciding to check out the new one. Everyone was buzzing about this new Saab 9-5 at your local Saab Car Club meeting last weekend.
You’ve figured out this internet thing and found a website where they say they’ll be showing pictures of the new car. You can’t wait. It seems like you’ve been anticipating this new car since……forever!
You log in. Hit your favourites and wait for the page to load. Your wife thinks you’re nuts, but she knows how long you’ve been looking forward to this.
Slowly, the page loads. And then you behold the object of your dreams for the last six months or so…..
So what do you think????
——
Oh, did I mention at the start of the article that it’s early 1998. Whoops.
If you find that picture a little underwhelming after the buildup, then consider what’s happening already this year.
I guess the point of this little perspective piece is to hose down expectations of the Saab 9-5 we’ll see later this year. I know we’re all looking forward to it with great anticipation, but the fact is that Saab don’t need to release a super-sedan later this year. They need to release a well designed, well executed and well received vehicle.
The Saab 9-5 was a major step and we’ve come to love it, cherishing especially the performance variations. But on release it was a solid, perhaps even a slightly conservative vehicle.
This new 9-5 might be another step in that direction. A flawless debut of a solid car is what Saab needs most.
–
20 responses so far ↓
1 ctm
// Jan 13, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Swade, you goose, I thought you hade pics of the new 9-5 after the link…
So it worked, then
Agree. They need a new car that looks new and comes standard with what is standard today all around. That alone would make people buy it.
2 Saabboy1
// Jan 13, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Swade you’re killing us. I thought I was going to see something wicked…
3 alaero
// Jan 13, 2009 at 9:15 pm
if its a as good as the 1998 model.. then i am waiting 5 years..
a.
4 van god los
// Jan 13, 2009 at 9:19 pm
You know you will go to hell for this Swade (As I’m certain God drives a Saab).
5 Markac
// Jan 13, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Didn’t fool me!
It certainly can’t afford to be average. It’s got to be clearly above the Opel and the Buick, especially dynamically so it can compete on a level footing with Audi and BMW. It also needs a hatch eventually, to woo back the 9000 owners that went elsewhere.
If it’s more conservative and mainstream than the existing 9-5, then it won’t work. If it’s only average, it’s game over. So much is riding on it, no wonder it’s so well hidden.
6 Daniel Bentzer
// Jan 13, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Jesus Swade, You had med RIGHT THERE:::
hahaha… Fooled and slightly disappointed haha…
Swade for President!!
7 JohnK
// Jan 13, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Considering how well the Insignia and now the Buick has been received I would expect the new 9-5 to go beyond that since they have had a long time to go over the design elements. I hope it goes beyond all of our expectations…Saab’s future depends on it as well as the 9-4x and 9-1….they need these vehicles now…not…two…three years from now….Saab won’t be around if that happens.
New product sells cars.
8 Brian Mills
// Jan 13, 2009 at 10:12 pm
We have seen the new 9-5 and is is called Buick. I get irked in life when somebody does the work and takes claim for it. Really the Opel and Buick brands are NOT dying for a new model replacement are they? The Saab large sedan and wagon have been in the waiting line longer but somehow B & O get released first at shows and surely production while a brand with plenty of promise for value and environment gets 3rd place. Ford is pushing Volvo turbocharging now in all thier mainstream cars, GM is stealing designs and proud of it? Hmmm…
9 Eduard(Edusaab)
// Jan 14, 2009 at 12:36 am
I am saying this some time ago…….the first 9-5 saved the company of closing, this new 9-5 will be as important for Saab as the last one, could be the success to continue or the disaster.
10 SaabKen
// Jan 14, 2009 at 1:20 am
Swade – are you a Carly Simon fan or somethin’ ?!? [wink]
Thank goodness you’re not a stripper, LOL.
11 zippy
// Jan 14, 2009 at 1:45 am
Swade, you rotten bugger! LOL!!
In reality we have seen the 9-5 in the current Insignia (which is beautiful I might add) but I am expecting a car of such outstanding beauty with a few quirks here and there that shouts SAAB.
I look forward to the day that Swade puts up the headline “New Saab 9-5 pictures here!”.
12 washaero
// Jan 14, 2009 at 1:54 am
Ugh…I’m getting Saab fanatic fatigue. Thanks for this Swade…it was a bit of humor I need. I’m growing more than weary of Saab’s fate at the (back) hand of GM. And the plunging value of my ‘06 9-3 Aero SC doesn’t help (nor does the hideous rattle in my dash). Anyway, thanks for keeping me from the brink of straying away from our beloved Saab…it’s getting too close these daze.
13 Nate 9-3
// Jan 14, 2009 at 4:35 am
Oh – Dagger!
14 Peter
// Jan 14, 2009 at 4:56 am
All around the internet, folks say they wish the C900 or the Ovlov 240 were still in production, and that they’d buy one new if they still could. “they don’t make ‘em like they used to” and similar lines. Both cars were around for a lot longer new than the 9-5 so far, the Ovlov from 1974 to 1993, and the C900 from 1979 to 1994 (far longer if you count the evolution from the 164 or the 99).
The thing is, the 9-5 is not yet appreciated for the fact that it is far and away better than either of those classics. It is an extremely comfortable (sit in a new 9-5 front seat next time you have a chance), extremely safe (top side crash test ratings even without curtain airbags), practical (fold down those seats in the sedan or wagon to appreciate), inexpensive to own (check out how low the insurance rates are) large car with the mass of today’s much smaller cars. It is efficient (for it’s size, and even without direct injection), fast (still keeps up with 9 out of 10 cars in it’s segment), nimble (lots of body roll doesn’t negate how tossable it actually is), and immediately identifiable as a 9-5 and only a 9-5.
Sorry to ramble but what I’m getting at is that a 10-15 year old Swedish design is better than most brand new cars.
15 Ying
// Jan 14, 2009 at 5:22 am
I still think 9-5 gen one is one of the nicest looking cars ever designed. It still excites me today, shame about the Dame Edna edition.
16 jc7222
// Jan 14, 2009 at 11:24 am
Wow! That’s scary I feel like you were in my house listening to a conversation with my wife. I have been itching for this new 9-5 even more than the ‘98 model.
I think this one can’t be just an average car. This is supposed to make the unbelievers want to believe. It is like a woman she can be as nice as can be but, you won’t necessarily want to know her more. If she is hot then you will!
This car needs to be hot period. Aero X hot! Here’s an idea… a four door Aero X!
17 Kurt W. Krauss
// Jan 14, 2009 at 11:52 am
Echoing what Peter said, my ‘07 9-5 Combi has been the most trouble free car I’ve had ever had, including quite a few Saabs and every German marque that exists. It is amazingly comfortable, cozy, quick and I think rather handsome after all these years, even with the last make over which may not suit everyone.
18 Rogan
// Jan 14, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Dang. This makes you think… the 9-5 is such a good car.
19 Ed K.
// Jan 14, 2009 at 6:16 pm
This is my first post – have been lurking on this excellent site for two years now but have never been moved to post before.
What this posting reminded me is how great Saab is at developing a design. The new 9-5 is almost an entirely new car compared to the first generation 9-5. My parents have the first generation 9-5 2.3t, and it is a wonderful car (got it used, 4,5 years old with 50K on the odometer for a song), but the new version of the 9-5 is better in almost every aspect. The interior materials are much nicer, the body design works much better and is more exciting in my opinion (am I the only one that thinks this??) and the packaging is better.
The 9000 was similarly improved over its life to the point where it was almost a totally new car. My parents’ first Saab (which started our family’s love affair with them) was an 87 fully loaded Turbo. Our next car was the slant nosed ‘91 Turbo (with the 2.3 liter engine, but basically the same spec). Although I absolutely loved the 87 9000, I remember thinking how much more refined, well put together and better driving the ‘91 model was. Our last Saab 9000 was the ‘95 Aero. Again, based on the same body design and basic interior of our first 9000 almost ten years on, but the two cars could not have been different. I believe the only exterior panels which were the same were the roof and door panels. They had developed the 9000 to the point where it was almost a new model! I still frantically lust after that Aero – What a car!!! The only complaints I had with it is (i) the rear space was a little slim thanks to the huge front seats – which were oh so very comfortable, (ii) the steering was a little rubbery, (iii) fuel consumption got scary when driven with a lead foot (hard not to). I read a review of the 9000 Aero back in the day, and one of the main complaints was that there was too much power for the front wheels. For me, this is exactly what made the car so darned exciting to drive! I loved dropping gears into a corner, flooring it, and feeling the wheels struggle as I sling shotted myself out of a corner.
I guess what I am trying to say is that what I find most impressive about Saab engineers is their ability to develop a design. Yes, they do not have much to work with. But boy do they know how to bring the best out of a design! Often what they start out with is less than perfect, but they are great at finding creative ways to make an old design new (if you did not know the history of the 9000, surely you would have thought that the last generation was a totally new car compared to the first generation).
Thanks to that first 87 9000 Turbo my father purchased, I am a total Saab nut. We were a Mercedes family before ‘87, but my father had a terrible accident with his then brand new Mercedes, broke his back (it is a mirracle he can walk), and had a terrible time finding a car he could sit comfortably in. He tried the 9000 on a friend’s recomendation, and the seat in the car was the first place he could sit comfortably without back pain (this is one of my favourite things about Saabs – the most comfortable seats in the industry for sure). This sold him on the car. I was 13 at the time, and spent hours sitting in the car while parked in the garage running my fingers over the futuristic interior (do we forget how awesome this was in the 80s??), listening to the amazing Clarion sound system with dancing leds second box equalization system (mostly GnR) and smelling the sumptious leather interiour…..I felt like I was sitting in the cockpit of a luxurious airplane.
And let’s not forget the decade plus life span and developments of the 900 which still made it arguably up to date in ‘93, even though it was based on the 99 of the 70s!!! Talking about doing a fantastic job with an old design…
I now have a December ‘05 9-3 TID Hirsch Sportcombi and absolutely love the car. The saab engineers got the turbo charging on the Fiat/GM diesel engine just right – and as massaged by Hirsch it is absolutely amazing. The performance is incredible, and there is amazing fuel economy to boot (in my view, this car is as quick as the 210HP 9-3 in real city driving conditions, and I get on average 7l/100KM combined city/highway consumption). I also absolutely love the way the combi looks (that upward side swoop is sooo Saab), and honestly feel that the driving characteristics are excellent for a front wheel drive car (the only big complaint is that the suspension is not as refined as I would like, but I have test driven the new 9-3 and this has been since fixed). My other complaint is that there is too much standard GM in this car – you can feel where the engineer’s had their hands tied, but tried to do the best with what they have. My first car was a 81 Saab 900 that was rusting to bits, and my 9-3 car does awaken many memories of that car. In fact, lately I have begun seriously lusting after Saabs from the 80s (in my view, the glory days of Saab), and have been searching for a good example locally. As I live in Hungary (moved here three years ago), this is not easy (Saabs were not sold in Hungary until the 90s). Unfortunately, there is a hefty import tax in Hungary, which makes it unviable to import good examples….that said, my heart beats a little faster every time I see an OG 900 or a good condition 9000. A family friend of ours had a mid 80s 900 Aero, and used to drive us to school in it. Wow, what a car!! I know that Swade is down on his, but if I could find a decent example at a fair price locally, I would jump on it in a hear beat.
So I got a little side tracked on this posting…..something which is not hard to do for someone who had had Saabs in the family for over 20 years!
In any event, my hat’s off to the Saab engineer’s
Ed
20 AEROPILOT
// Jan 14, 2009 at 6:20 pm
9-5 is the best Saab ever !
It will go into history as that.
The new gen. 9-5 can not beat it, -unless they make a Swedish developed NEW car- if it shows up as a rebadged Insignia !
Believe me. I have tested the Opel for half a day, while I wanted a hint of what may be waiting.
Very dissapointing indeed.
Can´t figure out how they could transform this mainstream car into a Saab.
If this is going to be next gen 9-5, I am out !
I prefer the present Swedish version.
Going back to my ´04 Aero it was like taking an old pair of shos on. -Perfect.
May sound grumpy, but if this opel is the new alternative I would like an upgrade of the current 9-5.(out with the GM fingerprints, i.e.reinstall the original dash, redesign the front in a Aero X style, keep current Swedish engine, make 4WD available, and of course – bring back the hatch)
That would giwe me a modern version of my belowed 9K Aero !!