I always considered the SAAB 99 and 900 as being pretty cool. Very understated and a 'rational' car to buy. As a kid, a posh Old Dear neighbour had a 99 and the horizontal action headlight wipers always fascinated me.

Orange upholstery. Cool...

 

god I loved those 99 turbos!! Back in 1986 a double family trip down to Nice had us driving down in a 99 turbo in white and my dad's old Montego Vandem Plas Estate

Yeah and I remember the horizontal head light wipers, the little neumatic arm sort of came out from behind the grill - how cool!!

 

The car that built SAAB's image.

I even thought the (quite successful) 900-alike on the J-car platform was a great stopgap.

Trouble is, everything they then did was also a similar stopgap, whilst GM raped out the technology for their own use.

Gareth, GM cannot even do those things without making a complete balls of it...

One wag suggested Sweden ought to declare war on the US over the matter, but since all they could do would be to pelt 'em with lingonberries and leave critical bolts out of Ikea furniture packs, it probably wouldn't work. I quite liked that!

 

A bit OT, but just remembered that at the time our neighbour had the SAAB 99, our family car was one of these:



We, fortunately, didn't have the spot lights on ours.

Lovely looking car and it went pretty well IIRC.

 

I had a classic shape 1990 Saab 900 T16S in white with the full aero pack including the full on 911-a-like whale tail! Mine was like this but the rear spoiler much bigger...



It was a beast, the turbo lag could be measured by a sun dial... then you'd blink and have been "teleported" quarter of a mile down the road...

The seats were fantastic... I loved it - still chastise myself for getting rid!

GM ruined Saab after that... and have finally finished the job by the looks of it.

 

Saabs are (were) quirky, innovative and ultra reliable.

I hope they survive.


Instead I wish it had been Vauxhall that had gone. They've been turning out pieces of s hite for years and deserve to go under - I'd be delighted to seem them go.

 

Saabs were/are the thinking mans purchase. Popular with solicitors, lawyers, doctors and the like. Raely driven badly or with arrogance like most Mercs/BMW thes days. Maybe Vauxhall Cavaliers/Vectras for badge snobs?

Sort of agree about Vauxhalls, as current turbo diesel 6 speed auto Vectra beater goes like the clappers but has a crap all grey interior and on my turd ( sorry third ) turbo. Otherwise after 80k miles of being thrashed all the toys still work and no rattles or sqeaks.
BUT the Senator & Elites where a wise buy, big, comfy, and seemingly indestructable. Big fat Plod loved spending cushy hours patroling the motorways in the former.

 

Reading last months Car Mechanics and the 9-5 features.

Not that reliable they say, unless had proper care and servicing.

 

As a result of the Lopez affair, GME quality went down the shitter an thus SAAB's did too.

It's one of the reasons they've fallen out of bed in the US.

IF GM had let them build some of the interesting proposals (remember all those SAAB concepts that went precisely nowhere?) and not cancelled replacements for the 9^3 and 9^5, then there might have been some hope.

The only thing GM is good for is buggering up crops. No wonder the unwashed distrust DNA manipulation with an association like that.

As an aside, GME is also up for sale. Maybe Vauxhall can go back to producing superbly engineered niche vehicles, such as the 30/98 engineered by Laurence Pomeroy. Before being acquired by the Chinese...

 

We've got a 9-3 as the family wheels. Bought 12 months old with 7k miles on the clock, for about half it's original retail price, and that was well before the current price crash.

It's not a bad car, but that says it all about why the company is struggling - it's unremarkable and very average. Not bad looking for a family saloon, but the engine, gearbox, ride, handling etc. is all average. Not good enough to be a sports saloon and not refined enough to be a proper exec, i.e. what Saab market it as. It's just a decent looking Vectra.

Saab had a brand image that a savvy owner could have exploited so well over the last few years. Turbo charging is the thing of the moment, both for petrol and diesel engines, and there's few, if any, car makers that go hand in hand with turbos like Saab. Also, I reckon there would have been plenty of people who would have jumped at a product with a decent badge that wasn't one of the established names, if it had been a decent product......

But GM just tarted up a Vectra and kept facelifting the very old 9-5. They were never likely to compete with the likes of Ford, let alone the exec big guns.

I hope Saab survives as an independent and starts building decent, interesting cars again, but I'm not holding my breath.