First drive: Saab 9-5

Newswheel staff :: 15 October 2005 :: Filed under Estate/Wagon, Saloon, Saab, Europe & UK, US

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Good enough?

Saab ain’t gonna like this. But it’s impossible to begin any discussion of the revised 9-5 without dropping the following bombs. Firstly, this car is eight years old. In an age of ever shrinking product cycles, that’s positively antediluvian. But worse, it shares its core underpinnings with none other than GM’s ghastly previous generation Vectra. Yuck.

The Italian launch event: a sounder of Saabs (look it up)

Of course, it’s often overlooked just how heavily the Swedish outfit overhauls its GM hand-me-downs before applying the Saab badge. There’s simply no way, for instance, the old Vectra could match the 9-5’s 5-star Euro NCAP crash rating. What’s more, quite apart from the work done developing the Vectra chassis for the first 9-5, Saab claims to have made no less than 1,367 modifications in translating that car into this second-gen model. The obvious exterior rhinoplasty and mild cabin makeover aside, headline tweaks to the oily bits include new springs, dampers and anti-roll bars along with wider tracks front and rear and a sharper rack. There’s also a revised engine and trim line-up. So, it all sounds plausible enough. But is the new 9-5 any good?

Well, it may not match the best German barges for all round structural integrity and that hewn-from-solid-billet-steel feel. Nevertheless, it’s still nicely screwed together and far more robust than it has any right to be given the unpromising origins.

Winner by a nose



As for the new styling, the revised front end treatment is a top drawer job in isolation. It’s modern, distinctive and not in the least bit derivative. Problem is, it doesn’t match the rest of the car. Firstly, the extensive use of brightwork up front jars with the de-chromed, low key approach elsewhere. And the core body including doors, roof and glass house have been carried over untouched. It shows. However, the new nose grates most of all because it provides a glimpse of a potentially fabulous, but as yet non-existent car: an all new 9-5.

Inside, the carry-over contagion continues, with the core architecture surviving unchanged. Still, there are new door trims and instruments and a fancier multi-function steering wheel nicked from the 9-3. The centre console has also been freshened with new controls and an optional sat-nav infotainment system complete with a 6.5-inch LCD screen and up to 200 watts kidney-crushing sound output via nine speakers.

Two new engines join the range, a 1.9-litre turbo oil burner pumping out 150bhp and 240 lb/ft and a new take on Saab’s familiar 2.3-litre blown petrol four. As you’d expect from a thoroughly modern diesel lump, the 1.9TiD is gutsy and reasonably refined, if not entirely taciturn in this installation.

Scintillating Swede?

However, the new 260bhp 2.3-litre turbo four, as fitted to the Aero model, is a classic Saab powerplant. It may only offer an extra 10bhp over the previous unit, but it’s smooth and cultured for a four pot and packs a totally devastating midrange punch. Performance wise, the 1.9TiD shimmies to 60 in 9.7 seconds and tops out at 127mph, while the Aero will creep up to 155mph and complete the sprint in just 6.5 seconds. And if you were wondering, it was judged too expensive to rejig the 9-5’s bay to accept the new 2.8-litre turbo V6 as fitted to the 9-3.

Still, add in the compliant and accomplished ride (complimented by seats that remain among the best in the business) and you have a recipe for a crushingly effective motorway car.

But not a great driver’s car. For starters, you can forget steering feel, this car’s helm isn’t so much dead as positively extinct. Making matters worse, in Aero trim the chassis doesn’t even pretend to cope with the 2.3’s beefy 258 lb/ft of twisting force. It simply speed-dials the traction control algorithm at the slightest flex of your right foot. In short, this is another large, nose-heavy, front-drive failure in terms of handling brio and traction.

Good enough?

So, the 9-5 still doesn’t do twisties. That’s no surprise. But it is large, comfortable, practical and understated. Think functional, not frilly, in a sector where chintz and style are beginning to get the better of some manufacturers (Audi, BMW and Mercedes, mentioning no names), and you’ll get the idea.

Good enough for today’s market, then? Just. But it won’t be for long. Saab is currently suffering from a chronic case of under funding thanks to parent company GM’s piddle poor financial situation. Hence, the all new next-gen 9-5, based on an extended wheelbase version of GM’s Epsilon II platform, won’t appear until 2008 at the earliest. Saab, its loyal core of customers and the 9-5 itself deserve better.