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My family has owned 25 Saabs over the last 40-odd years, starting with my half-brothers' father, who is a pilot and a retired air traffic controller. I think that Saab appealed to him because of its uniqueness and Saab's aviation heritage. My brothers have both driven Saabs because it has become a family tradition. I've driven Saabs because of tradition as well, but also for Saab's performance and economy.
All in all, though, I think that we've all driven Saabs, too, because they are uniquely designed and are very driver-centric. Particularly with the OG900s (pre-1994) the emphasis has been that of good ergonomics. Safety has also been a very high proirity. Saab seems to combine design, performance, economy and safety in a way that is unusual and appeals to a person's individuality.
Saab has always been very innovative and has been the first to offer many things that we now take for granted in other cars. Saabs were among the first to have shoulder harnesses, seat heaters, turbo-chargers, front wheel drive, distributorless ignition, active head restraints, etc.
We like the fact, too, that you don't see Saabs at every stop light. I can remember times as a kid when Saab owners would blink their lights and wave when they saw another one. Saabs were quite rare back then.
Are Saabs superior to every other brand? Not in my opinion. However, they do offer very good value for money and have very long lives if taken care of well. Even despite Saab's relatively small R&D budget and the fact that they still sell relatively few cars, Saab has been a real leader and has pushed the rest of the industry to add new features and better their quality and designs.
As far as the demographic my family fits into... not speaking for myself (lest I sound pompous), my brothers and their father are very unique people. They have an incredible wit, are very creative, and are utterly brilliant. They don't really care what other people think - they're real individuals. I think that these characteristics best describe the average Saab owner. They're smart, discerning, they tend to steer away from the 'average' and enjoy being unique.
My eldest brother is an architect, my other brother is the CIO for a large ski resort and complex of hotels, and I am a Civil Engineer and Land Planner in the field of real estate development.
FWIW. I hope this gives you some insight.
posted by 207.92.198...
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