2011 Saab 9-5 Turbo4 Premium Sedan

Mid-sized sport sedan with all-turbo engine line-up

By Nina Russin

2011 Saab 9-5 Sedan

Saab is to the Swedish car world what Porsche is to the Germans: a niche manufacturer focused on performance. While Saab shares Volvo’s safety focus, the automaker has more specifically targeted driving enthusiasts who enjoy its uniquely Scandinavian designs and small, peppy engines. The 9-5 mid-sized sedan is Saab’s bread-and-butter car, appealing to the largest segment of its buyers.

The newest model which rolled out last fall competes against European sport sedans such as the Audi A4 and BMW 3 Series. There are four available grades in the United States: two four-cylinder turbo front-wheel drive models, and two all-wheel drive V-6 sedans. All grades come with a six-speed automatic transmission with manual gear selection.

The test car is the 9-5 Turbo4 Premium: the more upscale of the four-cylinder grades. A modified two-liter 220 horsepower engine can run on E-85: a renewable fuel.

Base price is $43,435, not including the $825 destination charge. A technology package adds a heads-up display, lane departure warning, xenon headlamps, automatic headlight leveling and park assist ($2490), bringing the price as tested to $46,750. Read the rest of this entry »

2008 Saab 9-3 Turbo X SportCombi

Updated sport wagon features available all-wheel drive
By Nina Russin

2008 Saab 9-3 SportCombi

Three years ago, the Saab 9-3 SportCombi won our Active Lifestyle Vehicle award in the best value, on-road category. Athletes who test drove the Saab loved its sporty performance and ergonomic interior. Despite its small footprint, they were able to slip a road bike in back without removing either of the wheels.

Recently, I had the opportunity to take a new 9-3 SportCombi Aero on a road trip to California’s central valley. The twelve-hundred mile route included a combination of urban freeways around Los Angeles, and winding two-lane roads through the mountains near Sequoia National Park.

A late summer heat wave drove temperatures in the California desert over a hundred ten degrees, testing the car’s cooling and air conditioning systems. I also compared my average fuel economy with the EPA’s twenty-six mile-per-gallon estimate.

Turbocharging and all-wheel drive enhance performance

The upscale Aero grade comes with a turbocharged six-cylinder engine rated at 255 horsepower and a six-speed manual gearbox. Intelligent all-wheel drive is standard, improving traction on slippery roads.

Eighteen-inch wheels with low-profile Pirelli tires are great for driving at speed, but not well suited for dirt roads where rocks and roots could bend the rims. An aggressive chin spoiler that seems to get hung up on every driveway would not survive long in the wilderness.

Temperature changes of up to fifty degrees each day of the trip put the standard tire pressure monitoring system to the test: tires frequently fell below recommended inflation levels in the cooler morning air.

The turbocharged six-cylinder engine has exceptional low end torque. For those readers not familiar with how turbocharging works, blowers driven off the exhaust stream enhance power by improving airflow through the engine.

In the past, turbocharging got a bad rep for coking oil and reducing engine life. But modern turbochargers have more progressive boost patterns and better lubrication systems. Engineers have also eliminated the turbo-lag, that made for uneven acceleration.

Big overdrive gears on the six-speed automatic transmission allowed me to maximize fuel economy on deserted stretches of highway between Phoenix and Los Angeles. By keeping the car in sixth gear and making liberal use of cruise control, I was able to average about twenty-five miles-per-gallon.

Overdrive gears on manual transmissions can be anemic, but they’re not on the Saab. Because the turbocharger enhances the car’s low end torque, it’s possible to drive in sixth gear and maintain plenty of power for hills and passing. In fact, I was able to use the gear in most of the drive through the Angeles Crest mountains, while maintaining speeds of about eighty miles-per-hour.

Chassis tuned for performance

Driving the freeways in and around Los Angeles inevitably brings out the Mr. Hyde in me. It’s hard not to drive aggressively when surrounded by six lanes of traffic on a mission. The fact that I tend to forget which ramps exit to the left or right doesn’t help.

Fortunately, the 9-3 SportCombi makes quick lane changes easy. The rack-and-pinion steering has a very positive feel at speed, and the sport-tuned independent suspension makes it all but impossible to break the wheels loose in a turn.

Standard electronic stability program modifies wheel speed to prevent the driver from losing control due to excessive yaw. Standard four-wheel disc brakes with four-channel antilock braking help the sport wagon stop in linear fashion on a variety of road surfaces.

Better night vision

Xenon cornering headlamps, standard on the Aero grade, adjust horizontally in conjunction with the steering to improve visibility. A winding stretch of road near Three Rivers, California allowed me to put the feature to the test.

Three Rivers, which is a couple miles east of the Sequoia National Forest, was the site of the wedding my husband and I were attending. At night, the two-lane road between Three Rivers and the nearby town of Visalia is dark and treacherous. The mountains provide plenty of blind corners and decreasing radius turns.

Not wanting to blind drivers in the oncoming lane with high beams, I used the low beams for much of the drive. The headlamps provided a long and wide enough beam to safely negotiate the road while maintaining speeds of between fifty-five and sixty-five miles-per-hour.

The intelligent all-wheel drive system automatically transfers torque to the wheels with the best traction. In combination with the low-profile tires, gives the SportCombi an especially stable footprint. Saab’s “reaxs” system adjusts the caster of the rear wheels to enhance rear axle stability.

Good stalks, bad stalks

When automakers first came up with the idea of using stalks off the steering wheel to combine a variety of accessories, it was an improvement over the myriad of buttons and knobs they replaced. Since then, new and better ways of doing the same thing have emerged: controls that mimic the function of a computer mouse, and better controls on the steering wheel itself are two examples.

Though I usually like the way Saab designs driver controls, the stalks on the 9-3 are a big disappointment. The cruise control actuators are combined with the turn signals on one stalk. Every time I accelerated or decelerated using the cruise control, I mistakenly flashed the turn signals as well.

A second stalk that controls the front and rear windshield wipers is equally frustrating: not at all intuitive, and hard to use properly without taking one’s eyes off the road. I know that Saab has featured computer-style controls on some of its concept cars. I’d love to see something along those lines replace the outdated stalks on the 9-3.

Ergonomic interior

With the exception of the steering wheel stalks, the SportCombi’s interior lives up to Saab’s people-friendly reputation. Simple knobs on the vents make them easy to adjust: dual-zone climate controls keep both the driver and front passenger comfortable.

Eight-way power seats, standard on the Aero, are easy to adjust, and provide excellent lower lumbar control. As a runner whose had more than her share of back problems, any car I can sit comfortably in for five or six hours earns my respect.

Redundant steering wheel controls allow the driver to adjust the standard satellite radio and other audio functions with a minimum of distraction. Audio and HVAC controls on the center stack are easy to reach from either front seating position.

The rear seats have plenty of legroom for two adults: the center console makes the middle rear position a little cramped. The rear seats fold flat to create an even longer cargo floor that easily meets our bicycle-friendly standards.

An airplane-shaped handle lifts up the cargo floor to reveal a small storage area underneath. The SportCombi’s low liftover height makes it easy to load large items in back.

Standard safety

The 9-3 SportCombi comes standard with front, side and side curtain airbags, and active head restraints. A cold weather package on the test car adds high pressure headlamp washers: a boon for drivers in snowy climates.

Base price on the Aero grade is $42,565, not including a $745 delivery charge. The cold weather package and a touring package that adds rear park assist, driver’s seat memory and an automatic dimming rear-view mirror with compass adds $1445 to the sticker price.

Saab builds the 9-3 SportCombi at its assembly plant in Trollhattan, Sweden.

Likes: Outstanding performance makes Saab’s versatile wagon as much fun to drive as a sport sedan. Standard all-wheel drive improves traction on wet roads, while the sport-tuned suspension keeps the wheels glued to the ground in the corners. A large cargo bay with a low liftover height makes the SportCombi a great choice for active buyers.

Dislikes: Stalks on the steering wheel are poorly designed and hard to use.

Quick facts:

Make: Saab
Model: 9-3 Turbo X SportCombi
Year: 2008
Base price: $42,565
As tested: $44,755
Horsepower: 255 Hp @ 5500 rpm
Torque: 258 lbs.-ft. @ 2000 rpm
Zero-to-sixty: N/A
Antilock brakes: Standard
Side curtain airbags: Standard
First aid kit: N/A
Bicycle friendly: Yes
Towing: No
Off-road: No
Fuel economy: 16/26 mpg city/highway

2006 Saab 9-3 Sport Combi

Saab’s newest sport wagon is big on fun, easy on gas

By Nina Russin

2006 Saab 9-3 SportCombi

The Saab 9-3 Sport Combi is a mid-sized sport wagon based on the same platform as Saab’s compact sedan. However unlike the sedan, the Sport Combi comes with a choice of two engines: the base turbocharged four cylinder, or an all-new 250-horsepower V6.

For fans of the old Saab 9-3 Viggen five-door, the Sport Combi offers a similar approach to performance and versatility. Both the base an upscale Aero models are spirited road cars, with road-hugging suspensions and the ability to pull hard off the line.

Gone, thankfully, is the Viggen’s tendency to understeer, thanks to a new rear axle suspension geometry. As a result, the average driver can push the Sport Combi at speed and in turns, without worrying about losing control.

The four-cylinder version won our 2006 Active Lifestyle Vehicle of the Year award in the best value, on-road category. We loved the Sport Combi for its peppy, turbocharged performance, responsive steering, and just-right cargo area that easily holds a bike with the second-row seats folded flat. The classic Scandinavian design is attractive and timeless: exceptional interior ergonomics make the Sport Combi a comfortable ride for passengers of all sizes.

A great ride on twisting, two-lane roads

We tested the the four-cylinder, turbocharged base model with the five-speed automatic transmission.  In addition to its appealing sticker price (beginning at about $27,000), the four-banger gets exceptional fuel economy: 28 m.p.g. average city/highway.

The turbocharger pumps extra air into the engine during hard acceleration to make better power without using more gas. Turbocharging also helps the engine to compensate for altitude, maintaining good performance at elevations up to 8,000 feet. Because the engine is running more efficiently, it also emits fewer bad emissions into the exhaust stream.

The two-lane roads through the canyons around Borrego Springs, California provided the perfect setting for putting the Sport Combi through its paces. A rear roof spoiler kept the wagon tracking flat at all speeds, while minimal aerodynamic drag enhanced gas mileage.

The Sport Combi features Saab’s proprietary ReAxs suspension: the dynamics of the rear axle are tuned to give the wheels better grip in the corners and resist the tendency of the front-wheel drive car to understeer. The system works by turning the rear wheels slightly in the opposite direction of the front wheels. 

As a result, a driver can push the Sport Combi to its limits without worrying about a loss of steering control.

A four-wheel independent suspension comes standard, and a low-mounted rack-and-pinion steering rack provides a positive on-center feel when driving at speed. Antilock braking, traction control, and brake assist are standard active safety features.

Ergonomic interior minimizes driver distraction

The driver and front passenger seats are well adapted to drivers of all sizes, with good lumbar support, and a standard whiplash protection system that minimizes the risk of injury in rear-impact collisions. The instrument panel is configured to make it easy for the drive and front passenger to reach both the audio and dual-zone climate controls. The on-board computer automatically turns off warning lights when the driver’s workload is high: determined by heavy braking or use of the signal indicators. The idea is to minimize any driver distraction that could cause an accident. There is also a dimmer that turns down the instrument panel lights at night to reduce driver fatigue.

The upholstery takes its cues from Scandinavian furniture: both the light (parchment) and dark (gray) color schemes give the interior a spacious, airy feeling. All models are available with a choice of three audio systems and a DVD-based satellite navigation system.

The 60/40 split second-row seats are easy to fold flat, creating a long, functional cargo space. A standard tonneau cover hides the cargo fry prying eyes. Cargo nets hold grocery bags or other small items to keep them from spilling out onto the cargo floor. An airplane-shaped handle in the middle lifts up the rear of the cargo floor to reveal a second storage area under the floor with dividers to hold small items in place.  Roof rails are standard on all models.

A solid body structure that focuses on safety

A special team of engineers investigate all traffic accidents in Sweden that involve Saabs. As a result, Saab has a database of over six thousand real-life collisions. Product planners use that information to design software for safety engineering.

While the 9-3 Sport Combi is similar to the sedan from the B-pillars forward, the rear of the car is all-new. Engineers reinforced the rear C and D pillars with transverse beams in the floor and roof for loss of the sedan cross-bracing. The central passenger area has a high percentage of high-strength and ultra high-strength steel, to create a rigid body structure without adding weight. The ignition switch is located in the center console, away from the knees, so that it cannot cause an injury if the legs hit the steering column during a collision.

A true Saab through and through

A lot has been written recently about the impact of shared General Motors platforms on the Saab brand. The 9-3 Sport Combi is a unique vehicle, designed and built in Sweden. Long-time Saab aficionados will appreciate its peppy performance, user-friendly interior and Scandinavian design. Newcomers with love the Sport Combi for its fun ride, class-leading safety, and cargo-friendly interior.

Saab’s new sport wagon is a practical car for urban dwellers, with exceptional maneuverability and fuel economy. It also excels on twisting two-lane roads. It has an exceptionally high level of standard active and passive safety features.

Although it is a relatively small vehicle, the Sport Combi can hold a lot of cargo, including camping equipment, bicycles, kayaks, skis, and other essential gear for people with active lifestyles. We love the Saab 9-3 Sport Combi because it does all of these things seamlessly, and for a price within the limits of many new car buyers.

The Saab 9-3 Sport Combi begins rolling into dealerships in January of 2006.

Base price: $27,620
Price as tested: $33,165
Horsepower: 210 @ 5500 r.p.m.
Torque: 221 lbs.-ft. @ 2500 r.p.m.  
Antilock brakes: Standard
Side curtain airbags: Standard
First aid kit: No 
Towing: No
Off-road: No
Bicycle friendly: Yes
Fuel economy: 23/34 m.p.g. city/highway