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By
EWAN KENNEDY
12 November 2007
Saab has been struggling in recent years. The Swedish company
once famed for taking an altogether different stance on styling had
become too close to mainstream. It lost some of its traditional buyers,
yet didn’t steal enough sales away from the likes of BMW, Mercedes and
Alfa Romeo to justify the newly conservative shape.
A quick trip back to the drawing board saw the large Saab 9-5
get a facelift last year, its frontal shape being an enlarged
version of the so-called ‘three-hole’ design that had been a
feature of the previous model. Except that the three-hole theme
was now carried all the way across the front of the car, not
simply between the headlights. It worked nicely, making the Saab
look like a Saab, a statement that may sound odd to non-car
people, but those who love their cars will understand it
instantly.
Now the Saab 9-3 has received a similar treatment.
Interestingly, the shape has been toned down slightly compared to
the 9-5’s look. But it still works well thanks not only to the
full frontal treatment, but also to the clamshell bonnet – a
long time styling theme of older Saabs.
Inside, there are no major changes. The designers obviously are
happy with the acceptance of the cockpit styling for the driver’s
area. Saab has a long history in the fighter aircraft field and
its cars have long been popular with pilots. Hence this cockpit
theme.
Every Saab 9-3 is powered by a turbocharged engine as Saab, a
very strong proponent of the environment, feels this is the best
way to reduce emissions without any loss in performance. Most of
the engines are petrol four-cylinder 2.0-litre units, built in
varying stages of tune to give 129, 147 or 154 kilowatts depending
on model.
The 147 kW engine is a BioPower unit, meaning it can operate on
fuel that contains as much as 85 per cent ethanol, the balance
being made up of petrol. The car can run on any shandy ranging
from 100 per cent petrol to the 15 per cent figure just mentioned.
E85 fuel (with 85 per cent ethanol) is about to become
available at two Australian service stations operated by United
Petroleum, one in Melbourne the other in Sydney. The first time
this emission friendly fuel has been offered in general sale.
There's also a fascinating 188 kW V6 turbocharged petrol engine
that’s built in Australia by GM-H in Melbourne before being
shipped to Sweden for installation in Saabs sold worldwide.
And a 110 kW turbo diesel. So there's a staggering array of
engine options from this Swedish marque with a strong engineering
background.
We did some initial road testing of the revised Saab 9-3 range
out of Melbourne and through the picturesque Yarra Valley. There
we found the car to have the long-legged cruising stride that has
been a feature of the brand for many years.
The suspension has been slightly tuned from that of the old
model, but short of testing them back to back we really couldn’t
pick any differences. The ride certainly remains quiet and
compliant and understeer is really only obvious if you push the
Saab at much higher speeds than make sense in day-to-day driving.
That’s pretty impressive for a mid-size car with front-wheel
drive.
As before, the latest Saab 9-3 range consists of sedan, station
wagon and convertible variants, each in a number of luxury levels.
Prices range from $43,400 for the lowest cost 9-3 Linear with a
five-speed manual gearbox, to $73,100 for the V6 2.8T automatic.
Wagons retail from $45,900 to $75,600. Convertibles start at
$65,500 for the four-cylinder and go $93,300 for a topline V6.
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Marque Publishing Company
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