Darn-it!SAAB is a Swedish car company that has its roots in aviation and is owned by General Motors. Fine, the small talk is over and done with. Now, if you are like me and love to surf on the net looking for car videos, you will have undoubtedly viewed the Saab Suite or Saab Ballet videos and those performed by the Saab Performance team. These short movies feature 900s, 9000s and 9-3s careening around a series of cones or themselves. These videos are an incredible display of talent and automotive prowess. The cars handle the slalom course, the jumps and driving on two wheels as though these stunts were second nature. I have always been impressed by the shorts and could only imagine that the cars were up to the hype.
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| (Photo: Olivier Delorme) |
The last Saab I drove was a broken 1988 9000 Turbo that no longer had any boost. In other words, I have never had the opportunity to drive a real Saab. Last year, GM announced that the 9-3 was going to get a new wagon version called the SportCombi. Regardless of how the name sounded, the car looked absolutely fabulous, simply one of the hottest looking wagons on the market period. The moment I heard that one was available on the GM press fleet, I booked it. I was certainly not the only one as I waited ten weeks before I could get my hands on it. So, here we are.
Great packaging |
| (Photo: Olivier Delorme) |
I have already mentioned how great the styling of the SportCombi so I will say it again, darn it is HOT! The smooth chiselled lines of the handsome coupe apply up to the rear doors and the rest, as we say, is gorgeous. I cannot help myself, I love wagons and the SportCombi hits all the right buttons: the 17" wheels, the taillights, the hatch, the spoiler, the roof rack, I really am unable to find anything wrong with the design. The exterior body panels are well aligned and paint application glossy and even.
Quirky Saab interior |
| (Photo: Philippe Champoux) |
I have long admired Saab for sticking to its guns when it came to their unorthodox dashboard layout and design. My favourite and I am sure it goes for many fans of the brand, is the location of the ignition switch. The plethora of buttons and controls located on the center-stack may throw off some buyers of luxury cars as the trend is more towards a spartan uncluttered look than a visual attack of switches. One way or another, it works. Figuring out the audio from the HVAC is simple enough when the proper amount of time is taken.
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| (Photo: Philippe Champoux) |
Now, the bad... I am frustrated by the seemingly lack of assembly quality of this car. In fact, it infuriates me to say that by the first 20 kilometres that I travelled, I was loosing my mind. My tester has just over 12,000 km on the odometer and sounds as though it has ten times that much. Some of the centre console panels are loose to the touch and the flip-flop cup holder ridiculously flimsy and cheap looking. Much of the plastics are high quality soft-touch materials, however the ones where our eyes travel when meddling with the A/C controls belongs in an Aveo. The seats are very supportive although legroom is sparse but not tight. Overall fit is good.
