The Saab 9-5 Aero Sportwagon is a good balance of handling, roominess, price and power in this thinly populated segment.

Shopping:

When compared to its competitors in price (Audi A4 Avant, Volvo V70 T5, BMW 325 Wagon) the Saab stands out, not as the winner in any particular category, but as one that does very well in just about all categories one would be interested in as a wagon. For us, this would be: sporty handling (such as on Highway 9 in the Santa Cruz Mountains - which is a very twisty mountain road known for 'fun' driving), good cruising ability (like on some of the more tame pieces of Highway 1 on the coast), decent gas mileage, hauling capacity (with and without the back seats up), good sound system, speed and comfortable cabin.

The decision was difficult, though in each category we found the Saab was near the top of our list. While it wasn't as razor sharp as the Audi or BMW on handling, it was pretty close. It wasn't as good at cruising as the Volvo, again it was close. It won in the 'comfort, hauling capacity' categories with a tie from Volvo V70, but we really liked the sound system and cabin comfort. And it was the quickest of the bunch, or so it seemed to us.

When we factored in cost, while the MSRP of the Saab places it near the top in cost, they come with a huge amount of standard equipment that tend to be costly extras on the competitors, and the dealer in our case seemed more willing to cut a deal than most of the others. We felt we got a price that was every bit as good as we could have got on the competition (or even better?).

Now we have one:

We bought the 9-5 Aero Sportwagon about a month ago. As we said before, it comes with a comfortable amount of standard equipment (heated front and rear seats, leather, upgraded sound system, automatic climate control, power seats, trip computer, and 2-3 types of stability and ABS controls to name a few), but we added an automatic transmission, ventilated seats, and the touring package (highlights are rain sensing wipers, xenon headlamps).

The Auto Tranny is not a compromise, and Very Good:

We have found that in our area traffic congestion is pretty fierce, so running errands and commuting, which is 80% of the use any vehicle we'll get will go through, gets kind of stressful with a manual. The stress is almost subliminal, but when driving an auto tranny, we found the stress of low speed, traffic congested, driving to melt away. This points to the fact that we probably *should* get an automatic transmission. Being stubborn, we still would have got the manual, except it appears that Saab has created a automatic tranny that is truly excellent and does not take away from the driving experience, at least to us. We have not been impressed by European automatics we have driven before, they seem to not shift well, and tend to be a poor match to the engine. They hunt for gears, tend to up and down shift inappropriately and always seem to reduce the effective power of engines (in American cars this seems less of an issue, but they tend to have a lot more power available). In this car, however, the automatic seems very well matched to the engine, even driving it normally, feels about what a 250hp engine should in propelling the car. To date I have not detected any mis-shifts (which is better than me on a standard tranny! :) ). And much to our delight it has a "sport" and "winter" mode in addition to the normal mode. When we tried out the sport mode, the character of the car changed from a nice wagon to a sport machine: it responded much as we would have with our own performance shifting, held the gear a bit longer to extract a lot of pulling power from that sweet, super-wide torque band of the 2.3L turbo engine. Living in Northern California, we don't get any snow, so we haven't tried out the "winter" mode, but understand it starts in 3rd gear to avoid undue wheelspin. If it changes character as thoroughly as Normal to Sport mode, we wouldn't anticipate any problem in snowy conditions provided we got good snow tires (the stock tires that came with the car was Pirelli).

Enough talking about the tranny, how about overall?

The car really showed its overall ability last weekend. We took a drive up Highway 1 near Half Moon Bay where it behaved as a comfortable touring car - smooth on the straighaways, and hugging the wide curves as we drove past the Pacific Ocean. The feel of the car was effortless comfortable cruising, the seats pampered us (though the non-ventilated ones we didn't get were a touch more comfortable), and the excellent sound system entertained us with one of our CD's. There was road noise, but much less than we had expected given the reviews in the car magazines. We then experienced its nimble handling when we went back to San Jose across Highway 9 through the Santa Cruz Mountains. Traffic on Hwy-9 is quick and the turns are abrupt. As I learned the limits of the car, and gained more confidence with it, found out that there is little that this thing can't do in the twisties that a BMW can.

Also, when accelerating swiftly ("flooring it") you do notice a slight lag before you have buckets of torque available from a very low RPM, and steady, glassy, waves of torque until about 4000 or so RPM. It isn't obtrusive and is much better than just about any other turbo car we have driven (Volvo, Audi), but it isn't like the instant power on-demand of a large displacement normally aspirated engine - and is only really noticed in its slight form in vigorous driving. People also have complained that torque steer is present in over-boosted Saabs (like the 9-3 Viggen) - I haven't noticed it yet, even over rough pavement. Given that a lot of the car magazines who complain about torque steer tend to rev the engine and dump the clutch to get a tire squealing start for their published 0-60 times, we figured that it might rear its ugly head then. Since this car is supposed to last us awhile, it probably wouldn't do for us to attempt this just yet as the engine is still breaking in. In fact, with an auto, and all the traction control systems it has, it might not be possible to induce it either. For us, torque steer will remain a theoretical possibility, but one we will never seek out.

After the trip through the mountains, we stopped by OSH (A hardware and garden store) and got 6 bags of wood chips to take home for yard work the following day. We were able to load the back without folding down the seats or removing the privacy tray. With any of the other wagons, save the Volvo, putting the seats down would have been required for this little errand, reinforcing our high marks for the Saab 9-5 wagon's utility.

Ergonomic/Cockpit Notes:

Inside, the controls are all a short arms reach from the driver - like in an airplane. From small things in the driver seat like the ball mounted map spot light and overhead fasten seatbelt light showed that the designers want to make you feel like you are in a airplane (or let you know that Saab autos used to be made by Saab-Scania who made a number of airplanes). The layout of the cockpit makes the driver space seem a bit cramped, but after a bit of getting used to, it is hard to imagine it any other way. The climate system is unobtrusive and efficient, and from a read in the owners' manual, completely customizable! The sounds system is a good one with faithful reproduction of some of our rather complex Jazz CD's. You will be able to tell if a CD is a bad recording, though, so beware.

Now the BAD:

The concerns we would have for someone considering this car, though, is twofold. First, the fit and finish is not BMW/Audi/Mercedes quality. It isn't BAD, but it isn't anything to write home about. It compares favorably with cars made 5-10 years ago, but expectations have risen, especially at this price point ($40k). Secondly, Saab autos tend to depreciate rapidly, partly due to the fact that leases are very inexpensive & MSRP tends to be discounted generously, but also the Saab 9000 and 9-5 have hovered around $40k for many, many years. Since most other marques tend to creep up their prices year after year, they take the used ones along for the ride, so to speak. Advice: If you are the type to buy a car new, and keep it for a really, really long time, this car will serve you well. If you tend to lease, there are some good deals to be had if your timing is right. If you buy a car that is 2-3 years old and drive it, Saab is even a better bargain than new!

Last Remarks about Exclusivity

For people who enjoy being different, Saab is a bit less common than most other cars. While you see a plethora of BMW, Mercedes and Audi on the road (perhaps this is just Northern California?), Saab is relatively rare, and makes it feel all the more exclusive.

Summary:

Overall, we are very happy with this car so far. It offers a good blend of performance, practicality and work surprisingly well with the optional automatic transmission! For what we wanted, this is an all around great car.

If you are in the market for a premium wagon, we would suggest checking it out!

Disclaimer: I am not a GM/Saab employee, nor do I have any affiliation with GM or Saab other than a so-far satisfied customer.

UPDATE! Aug 20, 2003

Well, the fickle finger of fate has us in our new city of Rochester, NY! We moved from California to here for work, and a try at a less crowded place. Looks like we will get to find out what the "Winter" mode of the auto tranny is like - and we will update at that point further.

What was of note so far, is that the "premium grade" gasoline available here is 93-94 octane, and makes the 9-5 Aero seem like it is rocket powered compared to the surprisingly weak 91 octane "premium grade" in Northern California. While we thought it was great in acceleration and overall speed before, it totally exceeds our expectations now, using the higher octane fuel. On a weekend errand to Syracuse, we found the car eager to get to highway speed and almost begging to far exceed the speed limit! Showing admirable restraint ( :) ) we got to and from Syracuse without attracting the attention of our new state's highway patrol. The "Speed Warning" indicator that the driver can set in the computer was a godsend in this case - and easy to set!

We will post further when it gets colder and we experience the first real winter for us in 8 years. I think we'll be shopping for snow tires in about a month.

February 11, 2004 SNOW UPDATE

Whew! A real winter - we got some Nokian tires and smaller wheels before the first substantial snowfall and have been using it in snow, slush sleet and all the other forms of frozen precipitation we had forgotten about in our time in California.

First off, from what I have heard, the stock tires on the Aero are supposed to be "warm weather" tires, and the dealer told us up front that in upstate NY, about 2/3 of the Saab owners get snow tires for the season. We had planned to be in that group anyway - and after looking around, ended up using the dealer out here for the tires and wheels.

How did the car do in this nearly-record snowfall on the banks of Lake Ontario? Two words: Mountain Goat. This baby is like a mountain goat now - the road noise has increased with the new tires, but the grip in snow has improved a lot. The traction control, antilock brakes, and winter mode make the car handle very securely in the slippery conditions. Without losing composure, the Saab communicates the fact that you are still subject to the laws of physics through numerous indicators when a safety feature activates like one of those, but not in a startling way. You can tell the basic engineers deal with this kind of condition when driving since it seems like everything is thought of.

Overall, we are still VERY happy about the purchase, and when it is time for the next car to be replaced - we will have a difficult choice not being a 2 Saab household!
Amount Paid (US$): 39000
Condition: New
Model Year: 2003
Model and Options: Saab 9-5 Aero Sportwagon, Automatic, Ventilated Seats, Touring Package