I was out taking photos near water downtown Stockholm. It was a blast in the 28 C temperature and blistering sunshine. Walking and driving along the boats I saw a black beauty parked near a Boat charter company. Some photos where taken of my convertible and this 9-7 AERO. Later I met the owner by chance and we got to talk. As it turned out he was 48 years old and for a month owner of his very first Saab and what a powerful one he picked a 400 BHP Corvette powered. He just loved it. Apparently there are 12 of them in Sweden and this one was bout at an bankruptcy auction house. The owner regards this car as a classic in its own special way. I gave hime a tour of some of the stuff in the car he had little knowledge of. Only complaint was a somewhat his gas bill but concidering the price he paid for the machine ha can buy a lot of gas for the money saved. SaabsUnited was of course mentioned and was going to look into it. Anyone who has the centerpiece grille saab wing should leave a note here since it is missing. Notice how a got him to cover that up… Also if there is someone with an extra plastic aluminum lower grille piece that is broken.
This is one of those vehicles that has been forgotten by everyone except for die hard Saab fans and maybe a few car enthusiasts who keep up with everything happening everywhere! This is a very underrated vehicle in my opinion. The platform is basically very proven and very good. one of GM’s better efforts over the years. Saab took that stock and added their own ingredients to give it a different driving personality (sportier), better looks (in my opinion), a nicer interior treatment and that exclusivity that comes with owning something that relatively few others can claim. I’ve ridden in one of these—-a loaner car/shuttle from the Saab dealer. It was luxurious, quiet, smooth and powerful. That example had higher mileage, but was free of rattles or vibrations. Used 9-7 models offer perhaps the best value in a luxury SUV of that time period. If you don’t mind taking the risk of having a hard time finding body parts and trim pieces—-these are well worth the prices they are selling for. And many of the mechanicals are common GM—-easy to find.
Saab 9-7, and that why saab went bust. It like putting a saab badge on a KIA. You just don’t do that.
Respectfully disagree with you. I hope for those that talk down of the 9-7X can actually tell me that they spent time in one. If you have not, you have nothing to base your comments on. The 9-7X was a way better vehicle than the Trailblazer. If you sit in one and drive one you will simply understand what I am saying.
I totally agree Jason, This Saab deserve respect! It is a very good vehicle!
I have driven 9-7X many times and I have to say I am impressed.
also, how can a vehicle that wasn’t sold under the Spyker era be something that brought them down?
If Saab re-badged KIAs they’d be floating on money !! [grin]
Seriously tho’, I’ve always liked the “TrollBlazer” because Saab actually had the chance to “Saab-ify” it a lot more than they did with the 9-2X. Not that the TrailBlazer was a bad vehicle, but Saab really made it much better. I quite like its overall size, appearance and clean lines and design. And I would have really seriously considered buying one as a 2nd vehicle, except that gas is not cheap locally and the 9-7X is not known for being frugal on gas. The Aero, with its LS2 6.0L V8 is seriously fast in its class (IIRC 0-60 in 6.0 sec). Definitely a classic in the Saab history.
Regardless of whether the cars are good, much of what GM did with their badge engineering and chassis restrictions caused damage to the brand, and that became a real problem for consumers.
Saab. Nothing on earth comes this close to perfection.
I agree with Angelo, the 9-7X was the best SUV ever made by GM especially in Aero trim with its sub 6 second 0-60 times.
Friends,
I agree with John. The 9-7x is complete rubbish. I owned a 2007 with 5.3 V8 for a year because my wife needed a vehicle to haul her photographic gear. The chassis felt typical GM rickety rubbish, the car got awful mpg, and the plastic key switchgear was more than a joke. It is nothing but a Chevy trailblazer with a Saab sticker and front end treatment. Don’t try to pull that one over us bursting the 9-7x was “underrated.” Yes it was underrated because it was badge engineering at it’s worst and nothing else. Please.
If you do a little research about the vehicle, you’ll find that it’s more than taking a Trailblazer and putting a Saab emblem on it. Engineering went into stiffening the suspension—-improving the steering response and handling. And if you’ve sat in both of them, you’d see how the Saab interior is an upgrade as well. This is far from badge engineering at its worst. Saab needed a lot more badge engineering to survive—-and it’s a shame GM didn’t do more for Saab, giving them derivatives of some other vehicles—-a broader product line might have saved Saab and we wouldn’t be in the current mess.
Nobody in the UK would have wanted to buy a Vauxhall Corsa with a Saab badge and interior at twice the price, even if it did have 200 quids worth of stiffer springs! Badge engineering needs to work down the chain, not up.
Except the 9-7 wasn’t “twice the price.” Oldsmobile had a version of this vehicle, the Bravada. Equipped comparably to the Saab, it sold for about the same amount. Also, regarding the need to badge-engineer “down the chain, not up” tell that to Cadillac (Escalade) and Lincoln (Navigator). Hundreds of thousands of very satisfied customers with those tricked out luxo yachts. Millions of dollars banked by Caddy and Lincoln by offering them. Very nicely promoted—-unlike the Saab 9-7, which most people didn’t know existed.
Oh and the sub 6 second quote I just read is also bologna. More like 8.
Oh and my 9-7x had plenty if rattles and when I brought the issue up to Saab they told me that since there was no service bulletin the couldn’t help me…
The dealer workhorse I had experience with had no rattles, squeaks or vibrations—high mileage, short trips over not so great Falls Church, Virginia pothole roads and rock-solid. If yours had rattles, it would indicate horrific abuse driving or some defects. Assuming it was defects, the dealer and/or Saab were the problem, not only the vehicle.
Trued, Julie Gardner should be able to assist w sourcing him a part from Saab Parts NA. As for the 9-7x- we dismissed the truck after test driving a 4.2 and a 5.3. When bankruptcy was announced we discovered an off lease aero- and Denise fell in love w the power and ride of it. Is it the best Saab? No. But it’s a shame how much this truck is maligned by other Saab owners/ enthusiasts. I guess I’m of the opinion that all SAABs should be cherished as children of the brand. A few weeks back a tractor trailer truck couldnt stop and shoved a new Sentra into the back of Denise’s SUV in standstill traffic. The Nissan was totaled, but the ladder on frame construction of the Saab absorbed most of the impact. Denise is fine and the 9-7x aero is back fresh as new. I think NEVS has a tough road to hoe. I just borrowed a company sales car last week (2014 Impala LTZ) the interior materials outshine my 2010 9-5 aero and sits in the 9-5 turbo4 price tier. GM has learned from the errors of the past. Perhaps the 9-3 should be relaunched as the 9-1. It can stand for their first line of Saabs – and with a platform dating back to 2004- price point might be easier at that competitive tier. Then NVES can invest more dollars into refinement of materials and justify it with a longer production schedule as they should have capacity for both the 9-1 and the Phoenix 9-3.
I agree with everything you say—-except I would reserve the “9-1” name for a smaller car. If you think 9-3 should be saved for the Phoenix model as a new introduction—-I might consider using a one-off model name if NEVS begins to produce the current generation 9-3 again as they’ve been talking about. I still think the best idea is to keep the name 9-3 because that’s what it is. As far as the 9-7 goes, platform sharing is nothing new—-and if it’s done correctly, it’s fine by me. This gave Saab dealers a luxury SUV to sell—-for a fraction of the cost to develop one that was “Saab exclusive.” In fact, there is simply no way they could invest in coming up with a series of new platforms to give dealers enough products. I wish GM would have done more of this. Anyone who believes Saab could have developed their own cars has no idea of the enormous costs involved and how unrealistic that notion is. Also—-to believe they could have made it selling one or two models that were “real Saabs” is also ridiculous. They failed for a lot of reasons—-but badge engineering wasn’t one of those reasons.