Obviously, Saab has added a few more goodies and refinements over the years to keep in line with the market demands for luxury features, but the company has retained that Saab-like "sensible approach" to this. Basically, the 9.3 Sport-Combi has "everything you need, a few things which are nice to have, and very few useless gimmicks".
Now although the Saab cockpit appears to be a nice place to reside in, and has pleasant surprises like satellite radio, that radio is mounted in what can only be described as "a rather hard shell" (Note to GM: soft-touch is IN, I want to caress a dashboard, not drum along with ABBA on it!)
However, they make up for this by giving us a steering wheel which is simply gorgeous. It is nicely leather bound, with silver inserts which resemble the flight stick controls of an airplane. Only Saab with their aeronautical background could have made that work.
Seating in the Sport-Combi certainly lives up to its name as it is form-hugging, and yet extremely comfortable. Legroom in the rear is about average for this type of vehicle, and besides, anyone 7 ft tall is probably playing big-time basketball and driving around in a pimped-out Cadillac Escalade.
Cargo Carrying Capacity (C.C.C., don't you just love these abbreviations. It sounds like I'm ordering coffee on a cold winter morning). Anyway, back to the story...the Sport-Combi offers reasonable luggage space (L.S.). Obviously, the stylish sloping lines of the vehicle cut into this somewhat, but I think it would work rather well for most families.
The Saab 9.3 Sport-Combi comes as standard with the 2.0L i-4 engine and a six-speed manual, but as my tester carried the Aero Touring package, it was equipped with the larger 2.8L V6 Turbo engine which produces 250 HP. The 6-speed auto box option had also been added, complete with a nudge-up, nudge-down feature.
Performance can only be described as exhilarating, and although it occasionally suffers from a little lag, when the power comes on...'It comes on"!
Now although the Saab cockpit appears to be a nice place to reside in, and has pleasant surprises like satellite radio, that radio is mounted in what can only be described as "a rather hard shell" (Note to GM: soft-touch is IN, I want to caress a dashboard, not drum along with ABBA on it!)
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| The interior looks nice but lacks quality material. |
However, they make up for this by giving us a steering wheel which is simply gorgeous. It is nicely leather bound, with silver inserts which resemble the flight stick controls of an airplane. Only Saab with their aeronautical background could have made that work.
Seating in the Sport-Combi certainly lives up to its name as it is form-hugging, and yet extremely comfortable. Legroom in the rear is about average for this type of vehicle, and besides, anyone 7 ft tall is probably playing big-time basketball and driving around in a pimped-out Cadillac Escalade.
Cargo Carrying Capacity (C.C.C., don't you just love these abbreviations. It sounds like I'm ordering coffee on a cold winter morning). Anyway, back to the story...the Sport-Combi offers reasonable luggage space (L.S.). Obviously, the stylish sloping lines of the vehicle cut into this somewhat, but I think it would work rather well for most families.
The Saab 9.3 Sport-Combi comes as standard with the 2.0L i-4 engine and a six-speed manual, but as my tester carried the Aero Touring package, it was equipped with the larger 2.8L V6 Turbo engine which produces 250 HP. The 6-speed auto box option had also been added, complete with a nudge-up, nudge-down feature.
Performance can only be described as exhilarating, and although it occasionally suffers from a little lag, when the power comes on...'It comes on"!
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| This V6 engine is mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission with manual mode. |