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A test drive story: Saab 9-5 vs E46 325xi
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Posted by masupra [Email] (more from masupra) on Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:35:29 Share Post by Email
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It's a bit off topic since it has little to do with 9k's, but I am a happy 9k owner so..here is the story hope you find interesting.

This past weekend, we went to the dealer and test drove a 2005 9-5 Arc with only 35k miles . Very clean, looks like new, and the dealer was kind enough to let me drive on both twisted back roads and on freeway. Well, after 20 minutes behind the wheel, I can only say it was a huge disappointment. The steering is numb, the suspension is loose, the acceleration is mediocre at most. The only good thing I can say is the brake, which appears to be modulated well. In one word, it feels like a typical American sedan. The typical tight feeling that you'd get from a $35k European car is totally gone. To make sure we were not driving a bad example, the next day we test drove a 2006 Aero with even lower mileage. It was quicker, a bit tighter, but overall not much difference. After I stepped out of the 2 years old 9-5 and started driving my 12 years old, 170k miles 9000CSE£¬I was surprised to find that my 9k is much crispier, tighter, and much more fun to drive. My wife, who doesn't know much about cars, started commenting about how cheap the 9-5 interior looks compared to my 9k. Anyway, we arrived the dealer thinking one of the cars they had would be a great deal, but left their parking lot knowing we won't be buying a 9-5 any time soon.

Then later Sunday we went to check out a 2003 BMW 325xi with 60k miles, which was supposed to be in the same class with 9-5. The minute we sat in the car, my wife fell in the love with how nice the interior feels and looks (the car is for her to replace the old Volvo). We did a test drive for about 30 minutes and were totally amazed by how nice the car drove. It has less power than the 9-5, and the xi model is taller than RWD model. But the car still feels very quick. With three adults in car, it handles lane changing like riding on rails. The engine was super smooth at 5krpm, the auto tranny shifts flawlessly. Also to my surprise, the inside room is not much smaller than the 9-5. I am 6 feet, and the seller is 6'2" and he sat in the back seat, but the car does not feel crowded at all. The car was also extremely clean (my wife said it seems as if no one ever sat in the car). It has verifiable maintenance history at BMW dealer and has 1.5 year CPO warranty, so we did not bother having it checked by mechanic and left a deposit to the seller. My wife was so happy that she even started reading posts in bimmerforums.com (albeit gave up after 20 minutes:)).

Anyway, I loved my 9k so much that I used to think my next car would be a 9-5. But now...I am pretty sure 9-5 is off my list.

posted by 68.83.161...
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