25 responses so far ↓

• 1 Me // Feb 7, 2009 at 9:44 pm

  :,(

  I was thinking about buying one next year, but only a 4-wheel driven diesel.

• 2 Mag-X // Feb 7, 2009 at 10:25 pm

  That sucks for Europe, but I doubt that they will have a diesel version in the US of any kind.

  Hoping it does well here. It definitely looks better than those Volvos.

• 3 Nigel // Feb 8, 2009 at 12:05 am

  A 2wd diesel for a vehicle of this type is crazy in Europe. I would not want to be a Saab salesperson with targets on this.

  It sounds as though they started by thinking they were going to compete with Subaru but even they have a diesel offering now.

  So lets look at the market for this type of family SUV., Alfa, BMW, Audi, Volvo, Subaru all have XWD diesel offerings but SAAB the great marketing and sales success of the past decade think they know better !!! no comment

• 4 Dippen // Feb 8, 2009 at 12:43 am

  i hope the engineers at Saab has come up with something, lets see what Saab will announce in Geneva.

• 5 Eduard(Edusaab) // Feb 8, 2009 at 12:46 am

  In a 2wd 9-3x Diesel, what’s the point of the X??? huuuuh!!!!????

  regards

• 6 Nico // Feb 8, 2009 at 12:54 am

  Hi, I like the license plate: Jet 715.
  What happened to the other 714 Jets? Just kidding.

• 7 ctm // Feb 8, 2009 at 2:07 am

  Eduard(Edusaab),

  Maybe the same as in the 9-X BioHybrid…

• 8 Fasttrader // Feb 8, 2009 at 2:48 am

  Can anyone explain what the issue with Diesel and XWD is? Space? Is the Diesel that much bigger than the V6?

  I really can’t imagine…

• 9 Adrian // Feb 8, 2009 at 2:49 am

  Hey-ho.

  That’s going to sell like yesterday’s newspaper, then.

• 10 Dan9-1 // Feb 8, 2009 at 2:51 am

  well its certainly got the X-factor, even if its not XWD

• 11 joachim // Feb 8, 2009 at 4:06 am

  i live here in austria with some small )) mountains… and i m just back from skiing with my family…

  we love xwd, diesel with combi…. and i love xwd, diesel with combi too…

  and i dont need 210hp… i had enough with 150 diesel-hp

• 12 Eduard(Edusaab) // Feb 8, 2009 at 4:08 am

  But in this case the X is for XWD, not X-facto xDDDDDDDDDDDDD. It’s like the Chevy Captiva, I think there is a version without AWD, only 2wd.

  If you buy one of those is becuase you are going to need it sometime. For example here in Spain. With 3-4cm of snow everything is collapsed. And all the people that goes to “Pirineus” mountains, Sierra Nevada, Navacerrda and so to ski.

  regards

• 13 Rune (the other one) // Feb 8, 2009 at 5:15 am

  Reality check.

  Would you guys rather have a big car with an inferior 4wd system over the 9-3x XWD just because the other choice has a diesel engine?

  Am I the only guy who see how those small SUVs struggle to get up a snow-covered hill, with ALL four wheels spinning helplessly? The other day I had to brake for one of them, and neatly trailed it up the hill, and I only have good-old-fashion FWD.

  Last week a father lost his life driving a big Honda as he slid into a truck sideways — neither vehicle going particular fast according to witnesses. The impact happened on the passenger side of the car. Yes… Drive one of the other brands, why don’t ya… Darwin will take care of the rest.

  AWD is a gimmick on the other vehicles folks.

  It could be that I am wrong about some of this, but you owe it to yourself (and your family) to make some proper research on the topic of safety.

• 14 zippy // Feb 8, 2009 at 6:06 am

  Call me a cynic but whats the point of a 9-3X without XWD, its like a Saab without a turbo!!? Save a good few $$$$ and order the 9-3SC instead with that TTid engine!

  Another seemingly wasted opportunity for Saab.

  PS Show me the 9-5 already!!

• 15 NC // Feb 8, 2009 at 7:07 am

  Swade, do you know if the 9-3X will be available with the V6 or is the 2.0T the top model? I have read that the V6 will be dropped for MY2010, and, as the 9-3X is the perfect car for me, I had plans to order a V6 9-3X (Aero?) this Summer. Should I run to the dealership to order a 9-3 Aero V6 XWD instead before it’s too late? Hi from Moscow BTW.

• 16 Basil // Feb 8, 2009 at 7:12 am

  I think it looks terrific. Just paste the picture into Photoshop and get the white balance right. Also, it NEEDS chrome roof rails, alumirrors and wheels – new Incas.

  Where are them new Incas BTW? Anybody seen ‘em?

• 17 Henk-Jan // Feb 8, 2009 at 7:19 am

  First of all, I need to say the 9-3x is a lot more beautiful than I thought it would become. That’s the plus about this car. However, I’m suprised SAAB isn’t going to offer the XWD-system on the 9-3x for the TTiD. What’s the whole point of buying a 9-3x with 2WD? It’s all for the looks in that case and that isn’t really SAAB-ish. Is it?

• 18 Alex // Feb 8, 2009 at 8:00 am

  Bravo Saab, bravo. You’re only ten years late to the “tall wagon/crossover” game, and even then you can’t manage to make one that has both a diesel AND awd. That takes real skill.

  It’s a shame because it’s such a nice car, but the lack of a diesel AWD version will cost them a major, major portion of the market where diesels are offered. The only people in most markets who will pay extra for the raised ride height of the 9-3X will want AWD, no if’s and’s or but’s, and a huge portion of that market segment in Europe will also demand a diesel.

  On the bright side, the XC70 D5 is probably a better buy anyways.

• 19 Bernard // Feb 8, 2009 at 8:33 am

  Given that I live in Canada and that there’s over 70cm of accumulated snow outside (and that I’ve owned front, rear and 4 wheel drive cars), I can say with some authority that 4wd (or awd or xwd) is absolutely not a requirement for difficult driving conditions. If anything, it’s a liability.

  The problem with 4wd is that it helps you accelerate faster, but it doesn’t help you to brake. If anything, the extra weight makes it harder to stop.

  What gets you through snow is ground clearance, good narrow tyres and predictable handling.

  It’s a bit of a cliché around here, but the first cars to hit the ditch during a snow storm are SUVs and other 4wd cars. Drivers become overconfident because they can accelerate normally, and lose control as soon as they need to brake or turn.

  I know that this will be a hard sell for Saab (as the many negative comments indicate), but there is no real reason for the vast majority of customers to get 4wd. They want it because it’s been marketed to them.

• 20 Me // Feb 8, 2009 at 8:43 am

  Hi Bernard,
  if I follow your logic, what is the point of the 9-3X, why should buy a 9-3X rather than an non Aero 9-3 ?
  30 mm ?
  I think the people buying the 9-3X want to be able to speak about the superiority of their 4WD system.
  That’s life !

• 21 Alex // Feb 8, 2009 at 8:44 am

  You don’t make money by building products that people NEED, you make money by building products that people WANT.

  Though I’ll disagree on the AWD vs FWD thing in the snow. Even with top-level snow tires on both cars there is a night and day difference between driving my 9-5 in the snow and driving my mom’s’ XC70. The 9-5 does fine on flat surfaces but it becomes a total wheelspin machine on hills while the XC70 is able to start from a stop in pretty much all conditions. It’s that sort of added utility that draws buyers in cold climates (like new england) to AWD vehicles.

  Around here, the cars I see most frequently on the sides of the road during storms are FWD toyotas, hondas and american cars being driven by the “I want a 4-wheeled appliance that gets me from A to B” crowd who don’t even bother to put snows on their cars.

• 22 Bernard // Feb 8, 2009 at 9:31 am

  ME, the 30mm can make a difference in heavy snow. It also makes a difference if you are older or have older passengers, or a bad back.

  Alex, where I live the bald-tyre crowd don’t last past the first snow fall. They just need that seasonal reminder.

  Your 9-5 shouldn’t be spinning tyres like that. I know that I had a similar problem (in a Subaru, no less) when I bought a set of Michelin “Ice” tyres. Those things were useless in the snow, and I gave them away after the first winter.
  I guess they are fine in France where ice is a bigger problem than snow.

• 23 Edwin // Feb 8, 2009 at 9:44 am

  Once again… I am happy that I bought my Outback diesel a few months ago but I do really feel sorry for the SAAB brand. I really hope that SAAB is going to do a lot better when they are more independent from GM.

• 24 Rune (the other one) // Feb 8, 2009 at 10:09 am

  Weight, as mentioned, would factor into this.

  OK, let us say an AWD version gets up the hill a notch further than our favorite FWD SAAB. The theory that one wheel will always find a grip is good, and there are two more wheels that can do something about it. Fine.

  On the same token… Once that fails… Once you reach the point of “oh heck, ohheckohheckheckheckheck” as you start sliding backwards to whereever you came from…

  The heavier vehicle will find it harder to stop. And… The FWD vehicle also has braking power on all wheels… So no difference in functionality there.

  There have been a couple of cases in Norway today (I am actually in Sweden this weekend, but alas not conveniently close to Trollhättan, although I could swing by on my drive back if I drive the long way) involving buses sliding down hills.

• 25 Nigel // Feb 8, 2009 at 7:59 pm

  there is XWD and there is XWD. My main car is a Range Rover and I live in the country and it is used for what it was diesigned for.

  I am constantly towing out BMW X5’s and other soft roaders.

  If SAAB are going to offer a “x” model it must have XWD on all models, and because it is a SAAB it better work properly. If not dont bother.