When General Motors took over Saab, in the 1990s - early 2000s, hard-core aficionados of the Swedish manufacturer were aghast. One of the more interesting vehicles on the market, they argued, would be mainstreamed and neutered by the world’s largest car manufacturer. Saab would become just another Buick, indistinguishable from its stablemates and just as unexciting as the rest of GM’s lineup.
Despite their fears, however, Saab has benefitted from its relationship with The General. True, it may not be quite as idiosyncratic as before, but the fact is, pre-GM Saabs weren’t that great when it came to quality control and reliability. I can remember driving a 1990 SPG 900 that literally had parts falling off it and leaked like a sieve in the rain. Not to mention, Saab was losing big money at the time of the merger and it’s debatable whether or not it would have survived without GM’s intervention.
A good example of the new improved Saab is the 9-3 series, which comes as a sedan, convertible, and station wagon. I recently spent time with the wagon - called the Sport Combi by the company - which is available with either a four cylinder or V6 engine. Both are turbocharged, and my test car, the 9-3 Sport Combi, is powered by a 2.0 litre four cylinder that develops 210 horsepower. The V6 version is much the same but is tagged as the Aero.
In just about every respect, the Sport Combi is still very much a Saab. It has the ignition key on the floor, those excellent aircraft-style flow-through heat-a/c vents, top-notch instrumentation, and arguably the most comfortable front bucket seats in the industry. Although they weren’t the best-built cars on the road, the non-GM models were always entertaining to drive, and that hasn’t changed. I looked forward to sliding behind the wheel of this car every chance I got, and were I in the market for a station wagon, it would be on my short list.
You can choose from either a six-speed manual or five-speed automatic transmission with the 9-3 Sport Combi; my tester had the former and as far as I’m concerned, it added to the car’s overall appeal. Gears are nicely spaced, linkage has just the right amount of feel, clutch is smooth and linear. It may be a station wagon - or an “estate” wagon as they call them in Europe - but the 9-3 Sport Combi has the heart of a sports car.
All is not perfection, however. Back seat legroom is severely compromised if anyone even remotely tall sits up front. Push the front buckets back to the full extent of their travel, and there’s only room for munchkins in the back. I also grew to dislike the handbrake design on the 9-3. Aircraft style, it folds down into a kind of grab-handle arrangement, and if you don’t pay attention, it’s amazingly easy to pinch your fingers. Annoying.
On the other hand, storage room is more than decent; with the rear seats folded down, you’ll find 2047 litres of space back there, accessed by a huge one-piece tailgate that unlocks remotely is easy to deal with. By way of comparison, Subaru’s Legacy wagon offers 1874 litres, and the Audi A4 Avant, 1672 litres. In a nutshell, Saab seems to have decided that carrying cargo is more important than accommodating large people in the back seat. Okay then.
But I would still put up with that because, in my eyes, the 9-3 Sport Combi has that elusive and very desirable driveability quality in abundance. The turbo boost is a lot more refined and better behaved than some earlier models I could name - the Viggen, for example - and the car has an excellent sense of balance. Brakes are four-wheel disc with ABS and you won’t find better ones in this market.
The 9-3 Sport Combi also has nice little touches like - oh - a turbo boost gauge, handy little storage shelves under the radio, rotary-style temperature/ventilation controls, and one of the funkiest fold-out cup-holders I’ve ever seen. Who thinks of these things?
With a price tag starting at under $37,000, the Sport Combi comes well-dressed. Leather interior, heated front seats, steering wheel-mounted audio controls, cruise control, climate control, MP3 jack, a cooled glovebox, and wood trim are all part of the package. My car was also a 60th anniversary edition, which commemorates Saab’s 60 year history in the car-making business. It has special interior trim, rear parking sensors, special alloy wheels, and assorted other bits and pieces. It adds some $3395 to the car’s base price.
In Europe, carmakers have a tradition of building lively, well-engineered wagons that can easily match their sedan counterparts when it comes to handling, performance, and driveability. Not so long ago, another Swedish manufacturer taken over by a North American company - Volvo - used to campaign one of its S40 wagons in various sedan racing events, and although Saab has yet to do so, it seems to have survived its amalgamation with General Motors quite nicely.
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