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Amen! Posted by B Millar [Email]  (#1109)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from B Millar) on Tue, 1 Dec 2009 07:22:52
In Reply to: Re: "40-50k range", James, Tue, 1 Dec 2009 04:42:28 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
I agree. As far back as I can remember having an interest in cars (mid-90's) "SAAB" always had a little bit of a hoity-toity snobbish yuppy ring to it. I don't want to call it a strong competitor, but it definitely had a presence within the Audi/BMW/Merc market. The 9-5 was a very impressive car when it came to the US in 1999 (I was WAY jealous of a classmate in 5TH GRADE (!) whose father had gotten one). But then GM came onto the scene a little bit stronger, strangling Saab's funding, forcing them to make cuts in quality, and the use of cheap plastics.
The current 9-5 has been around for 11 years now, and if anything has gone backward in quality (I am going to get hammered by 2006+ owners for this one). Sure, the engine now blasts out 260hp and the suspension has been revised multiple times, but I feel like everything you touch and feel and see has gone down hill, especially next to the cars Saab used to compare to. The leather is plasticky with no leather smell, the 2006+ 9-5's are littered with hard black plastic inside, and is kind of sterile feeling compared to the earlier models.
Of course the worst thing GM did for Saab was not REPLACE the 9-5 with a completely new redesigned state of the art (nah, GM wasn't capable of that then) 9-5 in oooh... 2006! Even that would have been a little too late. I'm not saying the 9-5 is a bad car. Given the fact that it's still around after 11 years just goes to prove how good it was from the beginning, but there is absolutely NOTHING in my opinion that would attract anyone without previously catching the Saab "bug" to walk into a Saab showroom and buy a new (OG)9-5. It is absolutely archaic. The chassis doesn't even support side-curtain airbags, where basically EVERYONE has had them STANDARD since 2005!! Outrageous! Of course the economic downturn has put some strain on car sales all over, but on top of that for Saab to have only ONE viable product, the 9-3, is why they haven't made a profit in the 20 years of GM's ownership. And even the 9-3ss generation is getting a little long in the tooth...
Now that Saab has a new 9-5 sedan and wagon, 9-4x, and a new 9-3 coming in a couple years, you would need to be functionally retarded not to see the promise the brand has. Somebody better scoop it up and make a killing with it, bringing it back up to par with the rest of the sporty/luxury European group. They need to make cars that people will want to show off. Face it, 90% of everyone buys a car as a status symbol these days... and the other 10% are Camry owners. Haha. 0:b
, Wed, 2 Dec 2009 11:38:21, Tue, 1 Dec 2009 07:22:52 <-- Viewing This Message
, Tue, 1 Dec 2009 11:33:36, Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:31:26
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