Re: S60 vs 9-3 - Saab NG900 & OG9-3 Bulletin Board - Saabnet.com
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Re: S60 vs 9-3
Posted by rfellman (more from rfellman) on Thu, 31 May 2001 18:44:23
In Reply to: S60 vs 9-3, Dutchman, Thu, 31 May 2001 07:47:51
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My 9-3 is in the shop for repair of dents dues to hail damage and I rented an S60 from Enterprise. I have also test driven the S60T5. MY impressions:
Visually: the Volvo has nicer interior materials and a better stereo and AC set up and maybe better overall exterior looks, but its brakes are too grippy and hard to modulate, its steering is numb and gives too little road feel and feels especially dead on center and both the base and T5 lack low-end torque which makes them much less enjoyable and not as safe as the 9-3 with its flawed conestoga wagon (buckboard) chassis. After three days in the S60 I hate it and think it lacks the crucial element of driver satisfaction (on-demand acceleration) or what I like to call a SAAB's soul. Even a base 9-5 is two times more fun to drive than the S60-5. By the time the S-60's power kicks in at 3000 RPMS plus, the base 9-5 would be a fading image. For daily driving I find the Volvos hold no allure for me. The base s60 revs high before downshifting to accelerate and if the rpms are down, there is no boost or acceleration. Problem for merging into traffic. The base S80 wallowed like a old Buick in the twisties and always felt floaty and unconnected to the roas although all Volvos feel solid, one does not like to push a Volvo hard even though there is less body lean than a SAAB, there is a numbness and disconnected suspension so that the driver really has a hard time telling if the car's tires are losing adhesion.
Both the 9-5 and 9-3 SAABs are better values and much, much more fun to drive.
The SAAB 9-3 and the SAAB 9-5 (any model) are preferable to any S60 or S80 that I have driven or rented from Hertz and Enterprise. The Volvos simply are not designed around the driver and are not driver's cars.
Posts in this Thread:
- S60 vs 9-3, Dutchman, Thu, 31 May 2001 07:47:51
- Analysis, Iilonen, Sun, 3 Jun 2001 04:42:25
- Re: S60 vs 9-3, rfellman, Thu, 31 May 2001 18:44:23 <-- Viewing This Message
- Re: S60 vs 9-3, EGD , Thu, 31 May 2001 14:21:02
- Re: S60 vs 9-3, John A., Thu, 31 May 2001 13:51:11
- Price and power (horsepower, that is), Kirk R., Thu, 31 May 2001 13:28:39
- Congratulations..., Senneca, Thu, 31 May 2001 12:45:49
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