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Have you guys heard of this? It's pretty cool. It's a moving autoshow sponsored by GM. There's a closed course, and you drive cars around on it. They have a bunch of GM cars, and also other cars to compare them against. It's all free, and lunch is included. I'm an ex saab owner ( '97 900 SET ) with a 328i who is thinking about perhaps getting a saab again.
Most of the people seemed to be going to look at the trucks, and there was an obstacle course to drive hummers on.
I went to this sunday. I went to the "luxuy" car area. Most of the people there, i think, were trying a luxury car because you had to drive one before driving a corvette.
I tried the new saab 9-3 sport sedan first. The interior was ok, but didn't feel as high-quality as the 900 I used to have. it still had most of those saaby things i like, though. I like the "sensible" aspect of the car. There was a little hump on top of the dash that was a secondary information area. I didn't really care for it, to be honest. The brakes squealed a lot as i inched to the start line for the road course. It was embarassing. The sunroof seemed reluctant to retract, and the power windows made noise and seemed reluctant.
On the road course, it was only ok. It definitely didn't feel as strong as the 900SET in accelleration. I was wating for that "rush" that never materialized. It had some manual shift feature that i couldn't figure out. There were some bumps, and it took them ok, but not great. I didn't have tons of confidence throwing the car into corners. This was the base saab without the nicer interior, higher power engine or sport suspension, and they really should have provided one that was more competitive. Still, i suppose that for a car that you can probably pick up for $25K it was pretty good.
I drove the CTS next. This is a new one, with the 3.6L 255 HP v6. The engine was basically inaudible, even when i gunned it. This was a very quiet car. Even though it's exterior seemed bigger than the saab's it didn't have any more room inside. In fact, the rear seat leg room looked to me to be inadequate with ,my seat how i like it. The interior was weird, it seemed to be trying to look upscale while still being somewhat plasticky. The acceleration was not what i expected, i never got going as fast on the straights as i wnated before hitting the corners. It really felt only marginally faster than the 9-3 linear. However, I was able to drive it around the track faster than the saab, but it was hard to push the limits, because it didn't really seem to give me any feedback. It took the bumps ok, better than the saab did.
I drove the 9-5 areo next. Surprisingly, the driver's area felt snug to me. The inside also smelled bad, "fishy". The ventilated seats were on, and they were LOUD. I turned them off. The seats were great, they were snug and had lots of side bolstering. The back seat area looked ok, though. Generally the materials inside seemed to be better quality than the 9-3. The engine supposedly had a bit less HP than the CTS but it felt s lot stronger, and i had to lay off before hitting the turns. Acceleration was really a RUSH! It also made a really nice accelleration noise. I didn't feel that comfortable turning fast in this car, though. It definitely had some FWD plow. Still it was the most fun to drive so far.
Next i drove the c320. This was the nicest car inside, and the interior felt like the highest quality. It took me some time to figure out the seat controls, and even how to shift the automatic! Everything you can touch is high qualiy and super solid. It did let in a bit more noise than the CTS however. I could hear an odd noise at idle. Sounded like valve clatter, which i find hard to believe on a new mercedes. The seats were very nice, not quite as good as the aero. But good. The inside seemed roomy for what was a pretty small car. It took the bumps better than the aero did, but it didn't accellerate quite as hard, but it definitely felt very strong. Less engine noise than the areo too, but it still sounded "nice." However, i felt really confident taking this car through corners, more so than the other cars that day. Maybe i'm just used to german RWD now. But there was one big sweeper turn and i drifted the car through the whole thing. It was sweet. With the sports package, this would be one nice handling car. The GM people yelled at me to slow down.
Then i went over to the corvette area. I got a manual tranny z06. This car is really a cockpit inside. The interior, frankly, looks very chevrolet. The engine also sounds like a truck to me. The shifter also was cumbersome. It felt like that NASCAR that i drove. Accellerating, the engine went through the rev range less quickly than i expected, but we were already doing 60 by the 1-2 shift, i think. I took the corners really fast of course, but i didn't manage the same drift that i got in the C-class. I felt that if i messed up, i'd spin out. The course was over way too fast. The impression i got is that that would not be a car for me. Lots of fun and adrenalyne, but i had more fun in the z3 3.0L that i used as a service car from the BMW dealer. Again, i think i'm, partially just used to zingy DOHC motors, and better shifters. I don't want to wonder if that rumbling noise is my vette, or that semi.
The two cars that stood out to me were the c320 and the 9-5 areo. The 9-5 areo can supposedly be gotten for $35K, and the c320 with options is $40K. So the 9-5 is better in this regard. It also is a bit larger and has both better power and fuel economy. But the c320 is quieter, takes bumps better, has better handling, an feels more solid. Still, i think the 9-5 areo was the winner between these cars, especially as consumer reports rates the 9-5 areo as more reliable. The c-class i'd be interested in is the c230, it can be gotten for $26K and has the sports suspension and decent MPG. That's a bit less than i paid for my used 328i! But even that car approaches aero price when you put a few options on it. It's only economical if you want non-leather manual non-heated seats and no sunroof. But at that lower HP point, a 9-5 arc is probably a better deal, more power , mpg, and options for similar money.
The c320 chassis with the 9-5 engine would be nice. Mix and match the interior. Saab seats, vents, layout; MB solidity, look & feel.
Saab/GM made a mistake, i think, by putting a liner out with some much more expensive cars.
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
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