Tuesday 14th May 2002

New Saab 9-3

9-3 evolves but there's nothing particularly exciting to report on

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[johnnystorm]

I'm not too fussed about the fact its fwd. That didn't stop Carlsson et al from trouncing rwd sports cars on rallys. Not that I would ever buy one......:-)

[adeewuff]

From the photo shown above it does look like an improvement, but saying that the old model was ugly as **** so not exactly difficult!

I was given a lift home in a brand new Saab convertible last month and I do have to say it was one of the worst cars I've ever been in. The road was wet and the car took to scrabbling the front wheels and torque steering at every opportunity.

I think Honda had the right idea of either not putting much torque in a FWD car or fitting a standard LSD. Putting a turbocharged engine in an FWD car is all good & fine but if it can't put the power to the road what the hell is the point??

[Whoozit]

I rented a 9-3 in Spain last year and even though it was only the lukewarm version, it understeered at every opportunity, with soggy steering and a touch of torque steer. It was just plain nasty.

[apache]

the 93 was a compromise based on a Vectra floorpan, it was flawed from the start, I quite like the look of the 95 but have never driven one. I have a 200 bhp 9000 which has excellent manners and no torque steer at all

[thom]

Wow, what a lovely car! I hope Saab continues to build cars in this vein