Saab launches luxury estate
Put your dogs and kids in the back but keep it clean
   |
Saab's new mid-sized premium estate, the 9-3 SportWagon, arrives for sale in the UK on 1 September 2005.
Top of the range is the new £27,795 Aero unit with a 2.8-litre V6 from GM’s Australian Holden factory but with a Saab-designed turbocharger. Power output is 250bhp with 258lb ft of torque. Saab GB expects it to account for between 10 and 15 per cent of SportWagon sales.
Four other specification levels, Linear, Linear Sport, Vector, and Vector Sport, will be available, with seven engine options, five petrol and two diesel. Petrol engines include a normally aspirated 1.8-litre unit with 122bhp and three turbo-charged four-cylinder units in 150bhp, 175bhp and 210bhp form. The two diesel units are 1.9 TiD with outputs of 120bhp and150bhp.
The wedge shaped five-door Saab SportWagon provides 419 litres of cargo area space with all five seats in position. 1273 litres of space is available with the rear seats folded. A twin rear load floor allows a further 20 litres of secure storage space. The 60/40 split rear seat also has a ski hatch. With the front passenger seat back folded there is a maximum ‘load through’ carrying length of 2.65 metres. Saab has produced a wide range of accessories for the SportWagon in keeping with its ‘lifestyle' use.
Saab reckoned it will be competing with the Audi A4 Avant, BMW 3 Series Touring, Jaguar X-Type Estate and the Mercedes C-Class Estate.
GM sees Saab as its premium brand in Europe and, said GM, it has benefited from the closer ties with the parent company, especially in the UK, where Saab increased its company car and fleet markets sales. So far this year Saab’s UK sales are up 39 per cent and GM claimed it to be the fastest growing premium brand during the last 12 months.
This year Saab expects UK sales to exceed 25,000 units, an all time record. The UK is Saab’s third largest market in the world behind the USA and only just behind Saab’s home market of Sweden. Saab expects its world sales in 2005 to be around 130,000 units, 3,000 more than last year.
Corporate comment
Saab boss Jan Ake Jonsson said at the international launch in Sweden of the new SportsWagon, "We at Saab now have all the ingredients to be successful as we have GM’s global organisation behind us so we can utilise all their design, development and sales resources. In the past we have had a too limited portfolio of models but the SportWagon is the first new model to extend our range. Future models will allow us to grow our sales with incremental business.
"There are now three key elements to the Saab brand, progressive design, sporty driving, but with a focus on environmental issues, and functionality of our products. Safety has always been and important factor for us and all our current models and the new SportWagon have Euro NCAP five-star ratings. My mission as managing director is to take all these elements, to mould them into ever model we make and to develop the Saab brand to be the best premium range in the world. The new SportWagon will become our best selling model worldwide"
UK boss Jonathan Nash said, " This sector is growing and we have arrived with the SportWagon at the right time. The premium estate sector in the UK is worth around 75,000 units and I eventually want 10 per cent of that in a full year. This year to the end of April, UK premium saloon car sales are down 11 per cent but the premium estate car sales are up 16 per cent. I expect this new range to achieve between five and six thousand UK sales next year but this year we will only have 2,250 units to sell unless I can persuade Saab in Sweden to let me have more. I think UK fleet customers for the new Sport Wagon will account for a little under 50 per cent of sales against the 9-3 Saloon where fleet business takes 55 per cent of availability".
"In its first full year of sales I expect the SportWagon, which has a £1,000 price premium over the equivalent 9-3 Sports Saloons, to account for 50 per cent of total UK 9-3 registrations" said Nash.
Saab was formed in 1937 to build aircraft has been part of the GM family for 15 years. They built their first car in1949. UK sales started in 1960. The first estate car from Saab, the 95, was produced at the end of 1959 and it had versatile seating for two, five or seven people. The four millionth Saab will roll off the production lines this month.
Prices
UK on the road prices start at £17,995 and range up to £27,795 for the Aero 2.8T. Best selling model will be the150bhp low emission Vector 1.9 TiD priced at £22,845.
Still the new estate... looks nice...
Same power as my 9-5 Aero but in a slightly smaller body and using a V6. Should be fun if they have the handling right.
The question was posed - "What is it about Saabs that makes them different?" or words to that effect.
Well, after 6 months with mine and comparing it to my two previous cars - Omega Elite and Vauxhall Senator -it has an even more comfortable interior which feels more solid (not that the other two were bad except for the dashboard bulbs) and the attention to detail on the trim and finish is far superior IMHO. Until you look you don't really spot it but everything is 'finished'. Edges have trims or, as in the case of the doors, are 'turned under' for a horizontal edge rather than a vertical drop exposed to road dirt. Joints in plastics or metals have finishing trims. Awkward spaces are used to provide useful storage.
The 2.3 HOT engine offers effortless performance and enormous torque from very low revs (for road use purposes). Mine is Auto and the matching of engine performance and auto is spot on IMHO - much better than any other auto I have driven. Put it into sport mode and it can become quite a beast - considering it is a largish and heavy estate. Still gives better mpg than I could get from the Omega on a like for like usage basis. And the brakes are far and away better than the Omega (which could be dreadful) and the Senator.
It's not perfect - there are a few things, mostly small I like less. The cruise control controls are mote as usable as the Omega and the speed threshold is higher. The door mirrors, once wet, don't clear. Ever. The electric windows don't seem to want to go UP on a one touch basis, though they will go down.
But these tend to be balanced by the additions - the delayed extra screen wipe after using the wash, the headlight wash only activating after prolonged use of the screenwash and then not spraying water all over the screen. The tailgate auto locks once the vehicle is moving. And so on.
But most of all - it just feels so solid. That is seems to me to be what Saab's are all about. Solid, quality, performance oriented cars with excellent design touches. But you have to live with them for a while to understand the subtleties.
On the other hand the Aero performance induces grinning very soon after starting the engine ...
I have been a 9-5 owner for just under 2 years and done 20K miles in that time. Mine is also an auto and its really very good, especially in Sports Mode. My previous experiences of autos has been dreadful, to the point that I only tried the 9-5 auto after the manual because there were many more about. I was immediately converted and "dumped the clutch" in favour of effortless one footed driving.
I agree that Saab build quality is excellent and the body and trim seem to have a longevity beyond that of comparable cars. A quick clean inside and out, and it would be difficult (bar looking at the registration) to put an age on the car. The aforementioned attention to detail and those little touches show real common sense rather than being contrived. Altogether, I have been (surprisingly) pleased with the Saab and now understand why once people have had one, they get another and another. They are so much rarer than BMWs, discrete to travel in, but stonkingly quick and fun to drive. I am pleased to see that they are coming out of the doldrums and people are realising what quality cars they are.
Are there any GM cars that have components from three or more subsidiary companies?
Duncan
LongQ said:
The door mirrors, once wet, don't clear. Ever. The electric windows don't seem to want to go UP on a one touch basis, though they will go down.
To clear the door mirrors when wet just zap on the heating elements for 5 or so mins, I usually find that dries them pretty well.
The 9-5 does not have one-touch up mode on the windows, as it's not equipped with anti-trap sensors. One-touch closing is an option on the 9-3SS only. I do find it annoying though, especially when negociating car park barriers, and especially as the wife's Focus Ghia has one-touch closing and so does my Mum's Merc A-Class.....
agent006 said:
aeropilot said:
ICSD said:
If it were RWD or 4WD I'd have had one - come on Saab, make us a real drivers car!
'Drivers' cars for what purpose...trackdays, competition..??
Err, driving perhaps? Or are you happy with a sloppy handling shed?
A bad workman always blames his tools.....;-)
For day to day driving from point A to point B there's nothing shed like about my 9-5 Aero.
I wouldn't want to take around the 'Ring though, but then it wasn't designed for that.
I had a couple of things in the garage much more suited to that...;-)
>> Edited by aeropilot on Thursday 2nd June 15:40
agent006 said:
ICSD said:
If it were RWD or 4WD I'd have had one - come on Saab, make us a real drivers car!
'Drivers' cars for what purpose...trackdays, competition..??
Err, driving perhaps? Or are you happy with a sloppy handling shed?
Shed's a bit unfair - I've had a couple of Saabs and they're pretty good for FWD cars. OK maybe they're not meant to be track-worthy but I think that if they were to use Subaru's 4WD technology then they could be and then they would be a viable alternative to a BMW - and God know we need one!
Its unfortunate that Saabs suffer horrific depreciation, the estates defintely do better than the saloons. With a 9-5 facelift due 1st September then the current and previous models will suffer further. Some of the depreciation wasn't helped by a large list price cut about 3 years ago.
My 2000 9-5 estate has worked brilliantly since we've owned it, but now on 96K miles I was offered £4K trade-in at a Saab dealer against a 20K car on their forecourt. That makes it worth probably 5-6K as a private sale, not good since I paid £22K for it as an ex-dealer demo, 4 and half years ago!
However it feels ripe enough for another 96K miles, so for the next few years I won't suffer such bad depreciation.
At the end of the day, depreciation is very influenced by the badge value and Saabs just don't have it. You've got to own one and drive it many miles to really appreciate them.
davidy
blackangel said:
The only nagging worry is the massive depreciation. Why do these apparently great cars shed value so fast compared to the German alternatives?
I'm afraid this massive depreciation has also been a by-product of parent GM's marketing strategy.
It's all about perception as well.
Joe Public believe all they read in the tutonic biased motoring press and so the desirablity of niche brands such as Saab/Volvo/Alfa Romeo etc suffers accordingly.
Last year one of the German magezines did a JD power style ownership survey of perception against reality, and the perceptions survey had the German marques filling the top ten, but the reality saw Japanese marks filling those spots. IIRC, Saab were the best placed of all the mainstream euro brands coming in 12th or 13th place, only one behind Porsche.
Having said that I don't like what GM are doing to Saab, soon they'll be no more than an upmarket badge on a Vauxhall/Opel in the same way a Ghia badge is to a Ford.
Gassing Station | Motoring News | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff