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The current body style isn’t a issue to me.. Since I’m shopping for a new sport wagon (very limited offerings) I’ve got in my own mind what I’d love to see…
Bring back a SPG line of Saabs; but do it up right and introduce it into the 9-3 and 9-5 lines as a performance step up from the sporty appearing Aero. Use the newish V6 turbo engine, reinforce it and boost it to within a hair of it’s life.. 300hp+, sub 6 second 0-60 runs and skidpad of 0.89 should be the absolute minimum goals on the paper fight.. I’d want more actually. Utilize the new awd system and lighten the car to get there; alum or carbon fiber hood, roof and suspension parts would be a start. Go with big brakes… real ones, not the single caliper clamp style junk ones on the Viggen. Use big boost and quality engine internals to keep the mpg and reliability in line.
Now I’d go with a wide body kit and aero trims. Emphase the wide body with just doing the big fat fenders and tires.. sportcombi should keep the top deck narrow with big fat wheel wells like the Volvo C30. Generally stiffen the chassis, retune the suspension, short throw stick or a real manual mode auto (that doesn’t shift out and rev matches downshifts) and dress up the interior finishings to emphasise the “sport”. Add in lots of full disables for traction control, yaw control, etc. and maybe make it user adjustable. Reinforce the performance and put in timers/g-force, lap times stuff into a console (maybe reuse the older dash bubble from the 9-3 ss) You should be able to slip the rear of the car out if you want. Do something to liven up the steering as well. The car should feel taunt like you have to exercise a lot of self control to restrain it from being bad.
You should price this in the 36k to 60k range because there isn’t competition. There is hardly any performance family haulers anywhere, and I’m sure there are a ton of guys like me that have the need, but not the selection out there wanting to get away from SUV’s… Audi S6 Avant, Dodge Magnum SRT, Mercedes E class Estate AMG are the only performance wagon offerings out there… Audi/Mercedes are $60k except the gas guzzler SRT ($40k equipped). Lesser performance is the Mazda 6 wagon just announced, BMW 535xi… Dump the numbers guys sales projections; I’m not buying because the offerings are garbage or overpriced.
I wouldn’t think it’d take much to develop this through Hirsch or any number of means since I’m not talking about an entire new product…
And finally dump the GM service department mentality that customers are cattle to be shuffled around. Maybe it’s just my dealership, but once I had a “friend” in the service department (my personal service manager)… I never had to deal with anyone else including the cashier.. I had Saab loaners. I had a vacuumed and cleaned car even for minor work. I’m willing to pay more to get back that kind of service I’d get with BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus… hell, make it a “premere service option” on the purchase..
posted by 165.236....
, Thu, 25 Oct 2007 09:43:13
, Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:49:39, Wed, 24 Oct 2007 14:14:15, Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:47:49, Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:00:40
, Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:50:56, Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:50:37, Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:32:28
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