Review: 9-5 Turbo4 Premium by Left Lane News
July 21, 2011 in News
While we know the situation with the factory being closed I want to post this regarding Left Lane News that has tested a MY11 9-5 Turbo4, as this is pure joy to read. It’s not so much news for us Saab-nuts, but still it is a nice read.
With quotes regarding equipment like
“Our no-option tester lacked a few optional goodies like self-guided parallel parking, laser cruise control, a 10 GB hard drive audio/navigation system, ventilated seats and a three-way adjustable sports suspension.
But it still impressed us with a high level of equipment that is optional on most rivals – things like Bluetooth, leather upholstery, active head restraints, rear side airbags, rain sensing wipers and passive entry with push-button start. It seems like the Swedes have had a lesson in adding value.
And if the 18.2 cubic foot trunk isn’t big enough, Saab will sell you a 9-5 SportCombi (that’s Swenglish for station wagon) next spring.”
or the design like (more after the jump…)
“But that’s not to say that the 9-5 isn’t an interesting-looking vehicle. Certainly more stylized and unique than most rivals, it is undoubtedly a love-it or hate-it design. Nordic-inspired highlights like blue-tinted headlamps and clear tail lamp lens covers provide an airy feel of relaxed elegance. By no means did this sedan come from buttoned-up Germany.”
Left Lane have a two good points against each other why or why not you should buy this car:
Why you would buy it:
It’s an appealing executive express with room for the whole family and a style all its own.
Why you wouldn’t:
A creature of habit, you’re uncomfortable trying anything new.
This is a good read and worth it time. Their bottom line is perhaps the best and I will not post it here, so go over and read it. It will make you smile! Send it to your friends thinking about buying a new car!
http://www.leftlanenews.com/saab-9-5-turbo4-review.html
zippy said on July 21, 2011
Love it!! SCNA please take note.
Carl-Henrik said on July 21, 2011
Of course you had to spoil it for everyone… hehe!
And YES, I don’t mind them writing that.
terry9000k said on July 21, 2011
SUSH….BMW might be reading this…Ha!!
ryanonsrc said on July 21, 2011
The 9-5 being rated more highly than a 528i is an astonishing precursor of things to come. From what I have been reading in Car-And-Driver, the Bavarians are starting to show evidence of loosing their way … first they gave us iDrive, then Chris Bangle went nutso with the styling of the 5-series and now they are sabotaging the driver experience with a poor implementation of electronic steering control.
Once again: I see Saab has a huge opportunity to turn the tables and bounce-back fighting.
ryanonsrc said on July 21, 2011
Incidentally, I have just discovered that the car parked outside that has been annoying everyone in my office with its constantly running car alarm is a BMW 7-series.
GerritN said on July 21, 2011
Don’t worry, Saabs will start doing that too when the alarm backup battery flakes out after a couple of years.
Rogge said on July 21, 2011
thumbs up
terry9000k said on July 21, 2011
Re; Saab will sell you a 9-5 SportCombi (that’s Swenglish for station wagon) next spring.”
Is this just mis-information or is the date, the ‘new’ production date (slightly off subject, sorry)
Carl-Henrik said on July 21, 2011
I’ll see that as a fault writing until other things can confirm ot or not. And yes, that is OT, so we leave it like that..
Troels, Denmark said on July 21, 2011
Great reading !
Thank you C-H !
mikaik said on July 21, 2011
So the no-option Turbo4 has bluetooth and my Turbo6 Aero with gps and the rear seat entertainment doesn’t. That’s a bit of an akward choice.
ryanonsrc said on July 21, 2011
To anyone here has doubt that SAAB is going to pull themselves out of their current situation: I suggest you read this article review. I just read it, in its entirety and it was indeed a joy to read. It actually resonates with me, when I think back about my first test-drive of my 9-3 SS. Before I knew much about Saab, I would quickly discount ever considering a front-wheel drive car with a 4-cylinder engine as “sporty”. During the first 30 seconds of driving: which involved taking an on-ramp on to the highway, accelerating to highway speed and passing some slow drivers, I realized that I was grossly mistaken. I still can’t get over how wonderful my 9-3′s 2.0T sounds, Especially when I compare it with the gurgle-laden sound of the 2.4 L naturally aspirated 4-cylinder of my previous car. My brother has a 1987 Mazda RX-7 with a rotary engine that has a strikingly similarly refined “rumble” to it. So, I am now a firm believer that a car’s engine note tells a lot.
What’s funny is that the supposedly “slow moving” Saab actually beat BMW, Audi by delivering a 2.0T engine in an ultra-premium luxury car to market well before they started talking about doing the same.
terry9000k said on July 21, 2011
My 1st 9K, was in 1985, a 2.0i, with velour trim.
Good car, but so slow to get itself moving.
My 2nd 9K, was a 2.0T SE, which I fitted an airflow bodykit too. Fabulous metallic Gold, Chocolate Brown Leather, 16″ cross spoke alloys. The Blaupukt ‘New York’ stereo, with seperate in dash amp/equalizer. Sunroof. all THIS IN 1985 COST ME £25.500.00p GBP.
But the sheer pleasure of that B202 2.0T engine & it’s power still haunt me……..
zippy said on July 22, 2011
@ryanonsrc – it’s one heckuva feeling isnt it?! Does your turbo whistle at you when you are driving in town? I turn the CD player off just to listen to the whistling sometimes. GO SAAB!!
@terry9000k – I remember reading CAR magazines review of said car. 175bhp/201ftlb of torque and the fastest in gear acceleration on the market. I’d LOVE to get my hands on a 225bhp Aero model for a day.
ryanonsrc said on July 22, 2011
@zippy: You know, I think I’ve actually heard it, but I’ll need to listen carefully next time. Lately, it’s been rather hot and I’ve had the A/C blasting but next time I’m driving in the evening I’ll have to listen for it.
ThomasJ said on July 21, 2011
I would say correct writing.
Let more people drive and expire the new Saab cars.
I love the new 9-5, but next up is a 9-3, until the 9-4x will be in da house.
Toby K said on July 21, 2011
Its a shame about the comments though..almost everyone is concerned about Saab’s longevity.
Carl-Henrik said on July 21, 2011
Not at all. We have the forum for that. We have to be aware of the present situation and at the same time focus on the good things. And regarding the comments on that site – all we can do to balance it is to make our own comments there.
maanders said on July 21, 2011
It is a problem, but not one that can be helped at the moment. Until the new funding things all drop into place and Saab can get back to consistent production, there will continue to be concern. But, when Saab does get there….I think everyone loves an underdog and good reviews of the product like this will start to gain more traction.
davidgmills said on July 21, 2011
You still have to have owners coming up with the cash. Right now, whether the owners have the cash is questionable. And with three different players vying for ownership — Dutch, Chinese and Russian — and with GM still holding a huge chunk of owner financing stock, ownership just seems to be in disarray. Throw in EIB financing and Swedish guarantees and you have a clusterfuck.
Carl-Henrik said on July 22, 2011
Do we once more have to remind of the comment-guidelines? In this post we discuss the Left Lane review of the 9-5 and not the current situation of Saab.
If you want to discuss the current situation regarding the start up date for the factory use this link for the forum with that topic: http://www.saabsunited.com/su-forum?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=107.0
Carl-Henrik said on July 22, 2011
In this post we discuss the Left Lane review of the 9-5 and not the current situation of Saab. Do we have to remind you regarding the comment guidelines at SU?
If you want to discuss the postponed start up date for the factory use this link for the forum with that topic: http://www.saabsunited.com/su-forum?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=107.0
Tripod said on July 22, 2011
“Its a shame about the comments though..almost everyone is concerned about Saab’s longevity.”
Everything else would be a great surprise on a blog like this. But if you take a look at the two comments above, about funding and production, you can’t say that they are on topic in this post, a post about a 9-5 review.
davidgmills said on July 22, 2011
It’s a great review about the car. But the review also had comments about Saab’s survival. So do we stick to the review or are we able to discuss the comments to the review about Saab’s survival as well, without being off topic? You are the one who made the link the topic of this thread; not me.
Frankly, I don’t see any sense in divorcing the two, especially since we talk about Saab’s finances all the time on this board.
davidgmills said on July 22, 2011
By the way, I love my new 2011 9-5 turbo 4 premium. But my wife doesn’t let me drive it often. But having to drive my 9-3 sport combi instead of the 9-5 is hardly torture. Others should be so lucky.
RS said on July 22, 2011
When Saab gets going again they should really focus on “selling” the idea of one or two Saabs in the family to the smart wives around the world.
)
I’m sure a marketing guru could pull this off. I mean ones they get hooked it’s the only thing they’ll ever drive. I too got one over here.
Didn’t even VA’s wife leave her Bentley the minute she got her TTID convertible? (sorry for going OT
davidgmills said on July 22, 2011
Sorry Tripod, this post was meant for Carl-Henrik, but it does pertain to you to some degree.
Tripod said on July 22, 2011
A comment to both comments,
I think you are “lucky”, having more than one Saab, not just any but one of the best, having family members that enjoy Saab; so regarding that it couldn’t be much better.
There has been quite a lot written about the Turbo6, at least as far as I’ve seen, so it’s nice to see a review, comments, about the four-cylinder engine, even if it wasn’t much. But it is indeed a great review. A bit of confusion could perhaps be that the Aero on some markets comes only with the Turbo6 engine; while here, for example, there is also the four-cylinder engine, same as in the Turbo4 Premium, mentioned in the review.
(Yes there were some comments to the review, but they can have their little discussion, blah blah 44k to much, blah, blah, resale etc. We have seen plenty of them, and it’s the usual discussion; we don’t win the battle or save Saab there, IMO. But of course should one be able to discuss those when it’s the topic. Btw, it’s certainly not up to me to judge what’s on topic here, and I’m quite new when it comes comments here, it’s up to the SU folks, I just felt that it would be nice if the comments followed the posts a bit more, makes it easier to follow, easier to find where the discussion is going on etc.)
Carl-Henrik said on July 22, 2011
Well.. I did make a post about the review of the car and not about the comments of that review.
If we don’t think those comments are good we can make our own comments there to balance it.
And yes we talk about the financial situation for Saab as well in some posts, but here we also stick to the topic of the post. And that is, for this post, the review of the 9-5 Turbo4 by Left Lane News.
Carl-Henrik said on July 22, 2011
In this post we discuss the Left Lane review of the 9-5. Do we have to remind you regarding the comment guidelines at SU?
If you want to discuss the postponed start up date for the factory use this link for the forum-discussion regarding that topic: http://www.saabsunited.com/su-forum?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=107.0
Chicago Fred said on July 22, 2011
Great review! Here’s to SAAB and it’s survival. Keeping fingers (and toes) crossed. Can they pull another rabbit out of the hat?
theSandySaab said on July 22, 2011
This is my own experience, posted in the SU forum:
http://www.saabsunited.com/su-forum?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=106.0