59 responses so far ↓

• 1 Scott // Jan 14, 2009 at 12:42 pm

  One car family, my wife loves the SAAB as much as I do!

• 2 Charles // Jan 14, 2009 at 12:56 pm

  I’m the odd man out in my family.
  Dad – 04 Dodge Ram 3500 and 1985 MB 350 SDL
  Mom – 08 Cadillac Escalde ESV
  Brother – 08 Hummer H2
  Sister – 09 Cadillac CTS
  Me – 04 Saab 9-3 Aero

  And my g/f drives a 2008 Honda Civic, but she loves Saabs.

• 3 Brad Lauzze // Jan 14, 2009 at 12:57 pm

  I have the 9000 CSE and the MCY ‘vert, my girlfriend has a 900 SE hatchback, and my parents both have ‘04 9-5 Aeros (a sedan and a kombi.)

  Lots of Saabs in the family.

• 4 Carl // Jan 14, 2009 at 1:04 pm

  I have a 2003 9-5 Aero… the girlfriend has a 2001 Hyundai Elantra but keeps hinting at 2004-present convertibles.

  FWIW, my folks are leasing a 2007 9-3 Anniversary Ed. Sedan… that car is hot looking.

• 5 Alexandre // Jan 14, 2009 at 1:14 pm

  Saab family here. Myself, brother, and mother. I even sort of married into one as my mother in law and wife both drive them too.

  At the US Owners convention in August Steve Shannon said all the GM executive wives drive 9-3 convertibles. It can’t hurt to have friends like that.

• 6 Greg Abbott // Jan 14, 2009 at 1:15 pm

  My wife drives a Mercedes wagon.

• 7 Nevitz // Jan 14, 2009 at 1:15 pm

  I am a SAAB NUT! My wife is the supportive wife of a Saab nut.

  With that said, I drive the ‘07 9-3 Combi. My wife drives the ‘03 9-5 Sedan.

  I first had the 9-2x and was at the dealer shopping for a Combi at the time. They didn’t have the one I wanted, so I looked over their inventory online and found the 9-5 for sale, showed her, and she disapproved just by looking at the online add. I met up with her at the dealership a few days later after work to look at some more. She beat me there, and dragged me over to this car that she was in love with and just had to have. I told her it was the same one I showed her online. When we bought it, she loved it!

  We now have a nagging need to have a larger vehicle though, and as Saab has no 7+ seater, considered the Outlook/Acadia or the SRX instead of — or in addition to, the 9-5. No decision yet. We tried out a 9-7x, but it’s too small when it comes to cubic ass space, so we passed on it.

  We have had a bit to be upset over as it has broken down on her on several occasions. Fortunately, it’s CPO and we have had free tows and many MAJOR repairs done at no cost, which is great, but doesn’t make up for time spent during the break-down or inconvenience. But hey, it could be worse, like another non-CPO’d car breaking down and been up the creek, and we are not, by any means.

  She loves the distinctiveness of driving a car that is different. As a nurse, her parking lot is full of Merc’s and Bmw’s, and her 9-5 stands out. She gets many compliments. Saab does sort of carry a certain level of cache!

  Hell, if it’s good enough for Lutz… yeah right… nevermind…

• 8 David C. // Jan 14, 2009 at 1:33 pm

  I drive an ‘07 9-5; my wife’s car is an ‘06 9-7x. Purists may howl, but it’s arguably the nicest iteration of the GM 5-place SUV (Trailblazer, Envoy, etc.). She “gets” the 9-7x and likes the tangible Saab touches. She doesn’t know much about the intangibles (e.g. suspension mods spec’d by the Swedish team that laid hands on this vehicle), but she appreciates the end result. If I had to guess her next vehicle (likely 2011-12), it would be a Mercedes R-class or GMC Acadia. I might recalibrate that guess if gasoline prices return to their lofty mid-2008 heights.

  Thanks, Swade, for all you do!!!!!!!!

• 9 MitchbSC // Jan 14, 2009 at 1:45 pm

  My wife’s 9-7x Aero self-destructed this past May. We got a GMC Acadia in exchange because the Trollblazer hit the lemon law during the repair process. My wife had occasion to drive my 2007 9-5 Aero Sedan after getting the Acadia. Well, she’s recently gone back to work full time. I’m sitting in a meeting at work in December. I get a text message. My wife purchased an ‘08 9-3 2.0T convertible. Thanks to a Red Tag sale, of course.

• 10 SAABoy // Jan 14, 2009 at 2:06 pm

  I have two 86 c900s and a 96 9000 aero. I would love to find a nice 04-05 9-5 aero, but am worried that 95% of them are abused. My dad has a 99 9-5. My housemate now has an 01 9-5 aero.

  My partner, girlfriend, enjoys my SAABs very much, and could see her driving a 9-3 vert, she can’t afford one yet though

• 11 zippy // Jan 14, 2009 at 2:25 pm

  Mine partner doesnt even have a drivers licence so he leaves the driving to me. Bummer – not!

• 12 Tedjs // Jan 14, 2009 at 2:25 pm

  My wife drives a 2003 Pontiac Vibe, which is hardly the most sophisticated vehicle on the road – but it gets decent fuel economy and you can haul just about anything in it. At the time it was an excellent value for the money.

  She loves my 9-3, but probably more so for the heated seats in this weather than anything else. I would consider getting her a 2.0T SportCombi down the road, but with Saab’s future up in the air, not sure where we will go with that. Service and parts cost could become an issue long term – and having two Saabs that could be expensive to maintain is not a good idea.

  I like the new Saturn VUE as well, but the current model is not very fuel efficient and even though a hybrid is in the works, and given the complexity of the drive train I would prefer to avoid one all together. I tend to keep a car for awhile and have no desire to be paying for hybrid parts/batteries out of warranty either.

  In the end we both like the utility of a wagon, and want something somewhat fuel efficient and unique but GM doesn’t really bring anything innovative to the table in that area. A friend just picked a new 2.0T GTI, and it is a fun little car – plus it has some decent cargo space.

  Guess we will have to see how Saab (and GM) shake out of this current mess, and hopefully there is something decent down the road when I am ready to buy again.

• 13 Jakob // Jan 14, 2009 at 2:42 pm

  I have a 2005 9-5 and my wife has a 2003 9-3.
  Also my uncle in Norway had a 9000 and my aunt had a 99, which I believe a cousin now has.

• 14 Joelsoo // Jan 14, 2009 at 2:45 pm

  I have the ‘01 9-5 wagon, the wife has the ‘04 9-3 sedan.

  She is supportive but not as obsessed as I am!

• 15 Kevin Miller // Jan 14, 2009 at 2:48 pm

  My wife drives a 2001 9-5 sedan. We bought it new when my daily driver was a ‘95 900. She LOVES her 9-5, and even though I’ve moved on to a V70R daily (and a c900 project car) she is as enthusiastic about the 9-5 as ever- she seldom lets me drive it.

  Just as JWV said yesterday, Saab owners are a devoted bunch. If only GM was as devoted to the brand…

• 16 Karen // Jan 14, 2009 at 2:50 pm

  I had a gentleman friend once who liked my 900 more than he liked me. When he asked to drive it, I told him no one drives my Saab – that is more intimate than sex. (my 900 was stick shift – I loved that car).

• 17 swade // Jan 14, 2009 at 2:59 pm

  He may have been a friend, Karen, but with a request like that he was obviously no gentleman.

  

• 18 Bruce // Jan 14, 2009 at 3:12 pm

  We both drive the 07 9-5, but I more than my wife because so far we mostly use it on weekends and long trips. Our in-city car is a Vectra-related cousin, an 01 Saturn L200 with 207000km going very strong. My wife drives to work, I walk. We both like a vehicle that has some uniqueness, but also the amazing comfort without looking like a sofa. When the Saturn eventually croaks the 9-5 will become our daily driver–could be years away. (I do not allow valet-parking attendants to drive the 9-5.)

• 19 Daniel Bentzer // Jan 14, 2009 at 4:01 pm

  My wife drives MY 9-5 Sport Edition 2000 SportCombi, and I get to drive her Ford Focus:)…
  Next dream setup in a few years would be to change the 9-5 to a NG 9-5 and the Focus to a current generation 9-3 Combi…. In 2-3 years maybe…

• 20 Curtis // Jan 14, 2009 at 4:12 pm

  just my buddy. thats it.

• 21 MarkoA // Jan 14, 2009 at 4:21 pm

  “Is he/she a Saab driver, and if so, an enthusiastic one?”

  Yes. Very!

  She´s a Saabnut and quite enthusiastic driver too! Actually I had realy hard time when I started considering to replace our 9-3 by Subaru… We had to have a discussion or two even before we could go for a test drive.
  She likes OB a lot, but she´d pick Saab any day. And I guess there´s no need to say that she truly loves the C900.

• 22 Ryan M // Jan 14, 2009 at 5:15 pm

  Not married but…

  Dad drives a Saab. Best friend drives a Saab. Brother-in-law’s Father drives a Saab. (All from my influence).

• 23 Robin M // Jan 14, 2009 at 5:53 pm

  I guess you know my wife drives a Saab, we only have the one at the moment but sometime soon we hope to add a second Saab to the house hold. But yes my wife drives a Saab.
  As do 3 others in the extended family.

• 24 Sensonic // Jan 14, 2009 at 6:14 pm

  Of course my wife drives a Saab. She has no option She had a Volvo but we sold it.

  Both of my cars are Saabs so she has to drive a Saab when she’ll need a car

• 25 Melli // Jan 14, 2009 at 6:19 pm

  The only car in this household is MY 2000 9-5 Aero Wagon. My girlfriend loves it and she’s really become a Saab fan after I bought it three years ago.

  But now she has to live with the daily joking from the local VW and Audi dealer she works at

• 26 JohnnyBravo // Jan 14, 2009 at 6:23 pm

  Me: 1999 9-3 Conv. Hirsch Performance
  My girlfriend: 2003 9-5 Aero Station Wagon

  

• 27 ctm // Jan 14, 2009 at 7:14 pm

  Me: Saab
  My g/f: Saab
  My sister: Saab
  My sisters husband: Saab

  

• 28 wilfried // Jan 14, 2009 at 7:31 pm

  Now she is mostly driving the jet black 9-5, mainly her choice of car and her choice of colour.
  No enthusiastic driver, the thing is simply seen as as a functional daily traffic solution.

  Before she drove the 9-3’s (1st gen) in the same way. The silver one was her favorite, the cosmic blue she disliked, only the colour that is.

  The 900 convertible (1st gen) she disliked (?!).

  Nothing intimate or enthusiasm while driving, I guess. And most times I suspect, she would be happy with some other car as well.
  Altough, about 10 years ago, someone made a (partly positive) remark about the the 9-3 interior while driving at night “is this the new ford mondeo ?”. OK,there is a plant in our backyard producing mondeo’s but my wife reacted emotionally explaining it is a saab, it is made in sweden by Trolls, it is very ergonomical and functional, it is well designed … etc.

  And before the saab decade, she drove happily a golf GTD (2nd gen), small 2 doors hatch, repsonsive steering, a diesel turbo kicking in in old fashioned way, not very linear power and much body roll in fast taken curves/bends. Trim was for a golf back those days rather luxurious. She liked it very much, but never complained after being replaced by the 9-3.

  Singular wive and plural saabs, so in Lutz-terms “my wive does not want to drive anything else except her saabs”.

• 29 Frank // Jan 14, 2009 at 8:11 pm

  Does a Cadillac BLS count ??

• 30 wilfried // Jan 14, 2009 at 8:37 pm

  BLS ?
  I’m sure Frank must be related to Bob Lutz or some of his wives.

• 31 VI99EN // Jan 14, 2009 at 8:37 pm

  My wife has never really been a Saab fan so I let her drive the new Viggen the other day and told her to put the foot down….She’s just discovered what torque steer is…and she loves it. I now have a feeling a 9-5 Aero estate is on her wish list once the baby arrives.

• 32 saabaudi // Jan 14, 2009 at 8:45 pm

  Since 1973 we have been owners of eight Saabs. Ever it is only one car for my wife our son and me we are driving. Always at the beginning of buying a car I have been the initiator focusing on Saab. Now for some years my enthusiasm on the brand is decreasing. But all the time I start a discussion to change the brand my wife is protesting vehemently. She is feeling at home in a Saab and our son is keeping a similar attitude.

• 33 John // Jan 14, 2009 at 9:11 pm

  What is the collective noun for a group of Bob Lutzs? And is it Lutzs or Lutzes?

  Whilst many believe that the collective noun for the Lutz is a clutch (which is not unreasonable, given the motoring connotation), the correct collection noun for the Lutz is, actually, a clutz.

  (Urban Dictionary gives a good definition of a clutz: one who is careless and a hazard to be around. That seems to fit the bill when Bob is concerned with Saab)

• 34 Tompa // Jan 14, 2009 at 9:18 pm

  I grew up with Saabs and my first own car was a -88 9000i. Since then I´ve owned a whole bunch of nice Saabs. Nothing new, but all the same nice.
  My girlfriend and I now own a 9-3 2,0T 185. She loves it and would have a hard time driving anything less. I love it too but could consider changing to a 9-5SC, even with a 2,0t 150.
  My inlaws drive a black 9-5SS 2,0t and has been driving Saabs the past 18 years ever since they first testdrove a 9000 and fell head over heals for it.
  One of my brothers drive a brand spankin new 9-5SC Linear Griffin 2,3t BP.

  My mom does not own a car and her man drives a Bimmer. But she recognize Saab as the best she has ever driven.

  My dad sourly drive a Mercedes E290 CDi. It´s his wife that has some sort of prestige issues. He often tell me that he miss his Saabs. And when he went with my brother to sign for the 9-5 he almost traded his Mercedes for a 9-5 of his own behind her back. But for peace sake he declined.

  Cheers/Tom

• 35 Mark_Belfast // Jan 14, 2009 at 9:31 pm

  My wife never really ‘got’ the Saab thing I had always harboured and my Dad has always driven until December when my new leased Chrysler 300C had arrived and I ‘lent’ her my outgoing ‘06 9-3 SW. Only when she drove it for a few days did she start to ‘get it’ and after three weeks, until her new GM Zafira arrived, she really was sad to see it go. If only the 9-4x could be a 3 row-er, she could be another Saab conquest sale.

  I’m biding my time til the 9-4x or 9-5 (whichever first) appear and hope to get back in the Saab seat asap – have to say I love my 300c but equally still would like the more intelligent choice of car if it made sense financially.

• 36 saabyurk // Jan 14, 2009 at 11:50 pm

  Odd man out (2004 9-3 Arc). Wife loves her Aztek.
  My brother’s sort of a car guy, but he drives an 04 BMW M3, and a 96 328i.

• 37 John in Bismarck // Jan 14, 2009 at 11:52 pm

  My wife drives our 9-5 Aero, and she completed the Aero Academy back in 2005 when the car was new. I mostly drive my 4wd Dodge pickup (Cummins turbodiesel, 6 speed manual). When the weather is decent (and it’s not nice at all right now), I drive my Porsche Boxster.

• 38 Nate 9-3 // Jan 14, 2009 at 11:55 pm

  My fiance is has a 2007 9-3 SC Anniversary Edition. We were not engaged when she bought it, though we were dating. She went into the experience wanting a wagon so it was between the A4, 331 or the 9-3. I stayed out of the decision but helped her arrange the test drives. She looked at the Audi, then drove the SAAB and made up her mind right there. She did not even look at the Bimmer or drive the Bimmer or Audi.

  That was a really hot moment!

• 39 Andy Rupert // Jan 15, 2009 at 12:05 am

  “BLS ? I’m sure Frank must be related to Bob Lutz or some of his wives.”

  That was funny, wilfried.

  After owning several Saabs and Jaguars, my wife asked that we get another SAAB. So, she is currently driving a Green 1995 Saab 900 5 speed. I drive it every Tuesday on my day off and it’s starting to rub off on me.

  I currently drive a company vehicle — usually a late model Volvo, but have occassionally driven a 9-3 or 9-7x. And when it comes to clearing snow off all the cars, I make sure the Saabs are taken care of.

• 40 detroitsaab93 // Jan 15, 2009 at 12:08 am

  My wife drives a 2006 9-5 SportCombi 2.3T. She has been a Saab fan ever since she first laid eyes on NG900 convertible back in high school. She is the one who put the Saab bug in me. I knew I married her for a reason, ha!

• 41 Ned // Jan 15, 2009 at 12:18 am

  My wife loves riding in our 2001 9-5 Aero, and drives it often enough, but she prefers smaller cars to drive. Her favorite was our 1995 Jetta GLX VR6, which was a phenomenal car with the right suspension mods. I doubt I will ever own another car with such a fantastic sounding engine.

  She does like Saab generally though, and I think would be happy in a 9-3. Unfortunately, for all the reasons we discuss here on a daily basis, it’s difficult to justify one these days.

• 42 RMinNJ // Jan 15, 2009 at 12:42 am

  No… the wife drives a 2002 Mazda Protege 5 which has been the most reliable vehicle we’ve ever owned but we will never buy another Mazda product as long as we live. Why.. its a completely rusting out everywhere…body, wheels, components. We didn’t pay much for it new and now we know why. Say what you want about any new Saab but even my old C900 which was not galavnized had less rust on it.
  Saab needs to stay around so she can get one.

• 43 Adam // Jan 15, 2009 at 12:51 am

  I think Alexandre answered the question.
  I can’t think of anything similar to the 9-3 convertible under GM’s roof. The XLR is probably much less practical.

• 44 Howiez5150 // Jan 15, 2009 at 1:48 am

  I drive a 99 9-5 that is close to being replace with around a 06 9-3. My wife drives a Pontiac vibe and likes my mine, but not the propensity for visiting the auto parts store.

• 45 David N. // Jan 15, 2009 at 3:06 am

  First: After hearing the NPR interviews with Lutz at the Detroit Autoshow, I now get physically ill when I read his words or hear him speak. Can’t Wagoner put a muzzle on that thing? For crying out loud, with an arrogant (fill in your favorite derogatory adjective here) like that being the voice of GM, I now don’t feel so bad for them getting the beat-down in Washington. Mabye Wagoner doesn’t deserve it, but Putz…er… Lutz clearly does.

  Second: No, the wife doesn’t drive a SAAB, but with ‘08 9-3’s SOOO cheap, I really tried the hard-sell to get her into one. But continuing to have no car payments was a bigger incentive to her. C’est la vie.

  However, the vast majority of ‘03+ 9-3’s seem to be driven by women, at least in the Chicago area.

• 46 Marco Marulanda // Jan 15, 2009 at 3:42 am

  I’ve been working at a Saab dealer for about eight years,and since then I driven everything from viggens to aero’s and so on. My current vehicle is a 94 900s w/185K.mi. The wife’s vehicle is a 97 9000cse w/85K.mi.silver w/black leather and griffin wheels.

• 47 triple // Jan 15, 2009 at 3:51 am

  Not anymore. My wife actually had our first Saab, an 05 9-3. I bought my 02 9-3 about 2 years later. Couldn’t give the 05 away recently and end up trading it in. The depreciation on the newer models in outrageous. We likely won’t ever buy a new one gain.

• 48 Danni // Jan 15, 2009 at 4:09 am

  We had two MY01 9-5 Aero. I got the cosmic blue 9-5 Aero 2001 wayback in 2002 and she got smitten and in 2004 we acquired another MY01 9-5 Aero manual sedan in red. Apparently she liked the enourmous grunt at low rpms and the comfortable seats. Interestingly, I noticed an alarming propensity of speeding fines popping up in our mail on a quartely basis without my initials on the front page…

  I will forever treasure the 1500km one way trip to Cape Town to have them serviced – it was a sight at every filling station to see the attendants wanting to know the type of cars and some inquisitive car nuts wondering whether we were nuts to travel 3,000km round trip to service the cars. En route we swopped cars, and really, it was the highlight of any car ownership we had to date.

  However, she has sold the 9-5 Aero to a good house friend in 2006 and got a MY08 Honda Civic VXi sedan. Rock solid, safe and agile but does not have the torque – her words, that is. Once this has been fully paid for, she wants to get a 9-5 as used ones are heavily being discounted now.

• 49 Ying // Jan 15, 2009 at 5:13 am

  My boyfriend/fiance is into Mazdas RX-8 (no thanks for me), but at the moment he’s not financially in a position to get one. So, when I get my seconds Saab (hopefully a lovely blue VIggen), he will be driving a Saab .

  Is this evil? By controlling what car your partner will drive? LOL

• 50 Kilb // Jan 15, 2009 at 6:06 am

  I’m in the awkward position of having introduced my wife to my Saab obsession, via my 97 9k Aero, and then worked hard to convince her it was the brand for us. Our first car together was an ‘03 9-3, which we still have. Now I feel ready to move on and am jonesing hard for an Audi S4 or S5. But she is utterly in love with our Saab and won’t have anything else. Careful what you wish for, I guess.

• 51 MarkS // Jan 15, 2009 at 6:50 am

  My wife has been driving Saabs since we met…looks like I got her hooked too! She’s still driving her ‘97 900SE 3-door and still loves it. She’s a little concerned that Saab doesn’t have a 3-door model on the market at the moment! Saab, please bring back the hatch for my wife’s sake (and for mine)!!

• 52 Thomas // Jan 15, 2009 at 8:17 am

  I never drove a Saab until a year ago. My wife got pregnant, so I sold my 1999 Toyota Tacoma base model and started looking at family cars. My wife shot down every idea until I stumbled across a 2005 9-5 sport-combi. We bought it and both love it, so a couple of months ago I sold my 1999 Subaru Impreza and replaced it with a 2004 9-3 linear. Very happy.

• 53 PT // Jan 15, 2009 at 8:30 am

  Yep, she is on her second Saab, a 2006 93 Sportcombi Linear in fusion blue. Loves it and will not even let me near it without written permission.

• 54 BenT // Jan 15, 2009 at 9:28 am

  We’ve had a few Saabs, the wife has had a ‘97 900 SE for the past 5 years and loves it.

  She does complain about large blind spots over the rear quarters, but her previous car was a Saturn, and that was like driving around in a greenhouse – a small, noisy, cramped, rattling greenhouse. Other than that, it’s been reliable, and she enjoys the acceleration.

  I’ve had all 9000’s with 5 speeds: an ‘86 turbo, a ‘92 turbo, and a ‘94 Aero (currently).

  I will share this one story, which may point to a woman’s perception of Saabs:

  Yasmin (my wife) had stopped at the station to put gas in and found a stray dog running around. My wife hems and haws for a while, because we already have a house full of animals, and our back yard wasn’t really suited to having a dog (no fence), but ultimately decides to take the poor creature in. Just after she’s called me and told me “I found this dog… and he’s in the car”, another woman pulls up to the station, and starts talking to my wife. Turns out this woman has a high fenced yard and 2 dogs of her own and they agree that the little mutt would be better off at her house.

  At the end of the conversation, the lady tells my wife, “You drive a SAAB, so I knew you had to be a good person.”

  I’m not sure what that means, but definitely something for the brand analysts out there to chew on.

• 55 Spamouflage // Jan 15, 2009 at 10:06 am

  We only own one car, my 2008 Turbo X. I’ve noticed Saab ads on gay websites and at least one gay character on TV (Brothers & Sisters) drives a 9-3. A friend of mine in Dubai (who is gay), drives a 9-3 as well. Lastly, Google “Gay Car” and the first hit mentions Saab. Am I making this up in my head or is GM promoting (successfully) the brand to the gay community? Just saying and I certainly don’t want to insult anybody at all.

• 56 Ying // Jan 15, 2009 at 12:17 pm

  Spamouflage: Well they at least have me hook and tackled.

  To be honest I don’t think there’s any difference to a gay person’s car choice. But I do condole car makers with an open minded policy to their staff.

  I’d say it was more the engineer side of me rather than the gay side of me that picked Saab.

• 57 2-Don // Jan 15, 2009 at 2:18 pm

  We each have a 9-3. I drive the hatch. We both love our cars!

• 58 mackan // Jan 16, 2009 at 7:30 am

  Wife = Saab 9-5 SC -00
  And no she won’t change to another brand as long as there is a modern Saab to buy

• 59 Sirius // May 19, 2009 at 7:49 am

  I drive a ‘99 9-3 hatchback, and my wife drives an Audi A-6 avant. But…she loves to drive my old 900 Convertible whenever possible -and not just in “top down” weather.