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Hello, all...Seeing as how I had this lovely mid-September day off, I decided to go to Boston and take a look at the new 9-3SS they had there, along with other 2003 9-5's and 9-3 convertibles..
They were all available to take for a spin..EXCEPT for the 9-3SS..They told me that it was a pre-production car and that they could not allow anyone to drive it..
Well, here is the low down IMHO....YES!!! They GREATLY reduced that annoying footrest in the new 9-3, and it has more than adequate leg room for anyone now...Same amount of front driver leg room as the NG900's have.
Seats were comfortable, of course...Here are a few of the things I noticed...
The steering wheel is now both telescopic and height adjustable, and there is alot of play in either direction...GREAT...But, the lever that adjusts the steering wheel is now kind of a half ring which fels very cheap and breakable...The old style lever was MUCH more sturdy..
The trunk is now close to that of a Honda Accord, if not a bit smaller.....Bye-Bye to the immense cargo space of the hatch.
The seats were ALL leather in this one...Apparently a Linear with launch package...But the center arm rest was cheap material, and the door inserts were also textile...The same textile material found on the textile/leather seats of the 2002 9-3's.....
The butterfly cup holder was missing on this one, but the VERY nice young lady told me that it would surely be in place on the ones at the dealers in October....14th??
This particular one was an automatic...It had a 6-disc in-dash CD player, and this one came with an integrated compass on the rear view mirror, but the same young lady told me that in October, the for sale 9-3's WILL NOT have this feature....That stinks..
All in all....I think I would have to see this new 9-3SS in the Vector/Aero trim package before I make my FINAL judgements, BUT!! If they all looked like this one ?? I would buy a 2002 9-3 over it..
I think the current 9-3 looks MUCH richer and is layed out better than the 9-3SS.
I even test drove another 2002 right after I left Tufts, and LOVED it!!
If the right deal comes along...I will buy a 2002 9-3...PLUS...For showing up today I got a $ 500.00 gift certificate towrds the purchase of either a 2002 or 2003 9-3 or 9-5 if I buy by December 31st, 2002..
Not bad, so, I can now get a 9-3 SE for $ 4,500 .00 off...Sounds almost too sweet to me.
As for the colors....I saw the new Merlot Red on a 9-5 Aero......Very pretty color, and it looked SWEEET with the black leather...But I saw a color wheel of my Graphite Green, and it is way too dark for my liking....anything other than FULL sun, and at the right angle, and it looks black....If I want black, I'll buy black.
I have included several pics...Please be forgiving, as I am not a professional photographer..
I will answer all your questions..Funny....The showing was from 11 AM to 4 PM...I arrived at 10:50, and I observed the new 9-3SS ALL by myself until 12:00....Not a soul around looking at this car..Others took the 9-5 and 9-3 convertibels for a ride, but very few people at all..
I know it was the middle of the day, but, I thought being in Boston, with PLENTY of parking in the area, there would be much more interest!
John
GoldenTalladega
posted by 68.14.7...
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