Somewhere in the mountains in the east of France. Twenty years ago. To be accurate, Saturday, the 31st of October 1998. The day when my passion for Saab cars started. The day my parents custom-ordered their brand-new Saab 9-3 from our local Saab dealership. As a 11 year-old kid who loves cars, what a great moment!
A few months before, Saab didn’t meant a lot to me: I remember a neighbor who drove a black Saab 900, but I wasn’t particularly attracted. No. I was more a french cars enthusiast: my favorite game was to play behind the wheel on all the cars I had access, and because my family had not yet exotic tastes, I was mostly familiar with Renaults from the nineties.
But one day, Dad decided it was time to change and went to the Saab dealer. The whole purchase experience was perfect: I got all the brochures, posters and goodies available from the salesman, and my parents were treated like real premium customers despite the poor old Renault they had at the time. The dealer gave them access to a lot of test cars, not only the entry-level 9-3 they wanted, but also the most powerful versions as well as the 9-5 flagship sedan. The day they ordered the car, they even test drove the personal car of the salesman, for the whole day!
In Europe, the Saab 9-3 was launched in the beginning of 1998 and was a major redesign of the 1994 GM-based 900. Saab claimed that 1100 changes were made but the underpinnings were still derived from the Opel Vectra and that somewhat tarnished the reputation of the car for the core Saab enthusiasts. Anyway, the result was a nice car, with distinctive lines and rather powerful engines. The range was wide, from the 130hp naturally-aspirated 2.0 to the 200hp turbocharged Sport version. Aero was not yet in the game. The 9-3 was also the very first Saab to be powered by a Diesel engine.
My parents chose a mid-level 2.0t engine (note the minus « t » which stands for low pressure turbo) with a few optional extras: a rather bland silver metallic paint, fog lights, alarm and CD player. Despite my insistence, they didn’t made the step up to the more luxury SE package, with leather, alloy wheel and burl walnut fascia. I must admit that the Saab was expensive, even the base model.
In 1998, the 9-3 was already a rather old car, and somewhat poorly equipped in standard. There was no futuristic technology available, like automatic windshield wipers or satellite navigation that started to spread among less exotic brands. Fit and finish was barely adequate as well. But as a young boy, I loved all the quirks the car had: headlight wipers, the console-mounted ignition key, the horn-sound when we closed the car with the remote, the Night Panel button, the « Fasten your seat belt » warning light, the power antenna… Still today, I’m fond of those things
After a very long wait, my parents took delivery of their Saab on March 1999. The ownership of the car was rather flawless: despite a climate control screen changed under warranty, the three-year experience was great. My parents appreciated the comfort of the beautiful seats, the nice stereo, huge trunk and the power of the engine. They added original Saab alloy wheels (yes, the car was delivered with steelies and wheel covers). The car was pretty expensive to maintain: the parts cost a lot of money, and the labor was…premium, too.
One thing that was incredible was the attention Saab paid to their customers. Not only we received the quarterly Saab magazine for five years, but we were invited at least twice a year to prestigious events, like testing the Aero models on a track. The dealer even wrote us greetings cards.
But every nice moment comes to an end, and by the end of the year 2001, Mom and Dad were attracted by a much more modern compact car, the Peugeot 307. The Saab could not compete with those new rigs, loaded with electronic features. So my lovely car was traded at the Peugeot dealership and was sold to auction. I guess somebody bought it for a fraction of its original price on a buy-here pay-here lot…
Fast forward to 2019, I am now 32-year old, and I still have the brochures, posters and goodies the kind salesman gave me, plus a lot of others, collected up to 2011 when the brand disappeared. And of course my very clear souvenirs of those moments.
A few examples of the extensive commercial material from Saab circa 1999-2000.
Oh, by the way, I personally owned two Saabs, but that’s a different story….
They were nice cars, but by the time GM got their hands on the brand, it tailspinned. Most of the cool, idiosyncratic features went away and the cars became rather dull and conventional.
Seven or eight years ago, before the brand fully died out, you could get a whale of a deal on a used one, at least here in California. The resale value was awful, and I picked up a ’99 turbo with 89k on the clock for about $3k.
The car was a joy to drive, but it was too expensive for me to upkeep. In those days, I didn’t do any wrenching, so the bills piled up fast. First the ignition cassette crapped out. Then I remember the cheap LCD and steering wheel buttons going too. When the ECM module gave up the ghost, I threw up my hands and moved on.
There is nothing like being a pre-teen car nut while your parents are in the hunt for a new car. I never got brought into my father’s treks to dealerships for his choices in 1968-70 but I was there every step of the way during Mom’s purchase of a new 72 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme.
I too got all of the literature and clearly remember the salesman (Shorty Weber) who had been a longtime fixture at Collins Oldsmobile in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He sent my mother birthday and Christmas cards for several years. He was her first stop when she was looking again in 1974 but Cutlasses were in such short supply he was unable to find her one late in the model year.
The era, car and continent are different, but your great story resonates across all of that.
Reading this I wonder if the 9-3 made the same effect in Saab sales in France than in Spain. The 9-3 was the car that put Saab in the map. Until then, Saab sold a few cars in Spain, some 900 OG and 9000 to well-off entrepreneurs that wanted something different to the typical Mercedes Benz or BMW. Saab took a (slightly) more aggresive marketing with the 9-3, and prices were a bit more competitive. But above all the trigger was the 2.2 DI Isuzu sourced diesel engine: in the middle of the diesel storm that took Europe in the late ´90s and the next decade, the 9-3 TiD quickly became the best selling Saab.
A shame, given Saab had rather smooth and quiet petrol engines. The Isuzu diesel NVH weren´t the best.
It was the same case in France, indeed. My parents are the living example that Saab cars where more affordable. Around the year 2000, there were 3 Saab dealers in a 200km radius in my area! By the way, I’m pretty sure the Diesel engine in the first gen 9-3 was from Opel. Isuzu provided later the V6 Diesel of the 2002 9-5.
Until the late 90´s the Saab importer for the Spanish market imported Porsches too, and both brands shared the same dealer network, so you can imagine how few Saab dealers we had in Spain…From 1999 or so Saabs were sold in Opel dealers. While that meant Saab dealer network was vastly expanded, it ended the myth of “all Saabs have Porsche engines” that you can still read in some used Saab classified ads in Spain! Like every used Rover advertised as having “Honda engine”…
The four cylinder 9-3 and 9-5 2.2 TiD engine was designed by Isuzu, then a GM subsidiary, although used by Saab and Opel (Astra, Vectra, Zafira and Omega).
According to the German Saab 9-3 Wikipedia site, FWIW, the 2.2 diesel was built by Opel and developed by Steyr-Puch. Introduction model year 1999.
I just picked up a 2000 9-5 aero for $200 a couple days ago. My plan was just to part it out but the thing is so fun to drive! I can’t get the stick to go into 5th gear or reverse, but it’s still a fun car to zip around in. If I could get the shifter figured out I might just keep it and drive it until something else goes bad and then part it out. The guy I bought it from just spent $500 to have the clutch pedal assembly replaced in December and then he drove it for a day and the clutch pedal went to the floor and wouldn’t engage. He was told it needed a slave cylinder. I bled the clutch and it’s working great now.
There’s a plate on the side of the transmission with the selectors under it. You might want to take a careful look. Or was that on the older 99/900?
I have never owned a Saab but always loved their heritage that goes back to the 1950’s. They have such an interesting design history. There is an old Saab Sonnet that comes out to play in our area in the summer. A neighbor of mine has a pre-GM 1990 Saab 9000 in emerald green, well kept with 400,000KM he drives in the summer months. A coworker has a 2001 9-5 she refuses to part with. I personally love the last saab…the 9-5 and see one once in a blue moon here. I think it’s a beautiful vehicle. Listen, I’m no GM defender, but it can also be argued that GM extended the life of the brand almost 20 years. Sure they made missteps with the brand but it was up for sale in the first place by the parent company for a reason: it wasn’t making much money (or losing money) and they wanted to get out of the car business.
Agreed, I can’t readily think of a better-looking sedan from the last ten years than the final 9-5. (And to be honest, I can’t easily come up a worse-looking sports car than the Sonnet 3!)
I quite like the proportions of the sonnet. It is very, very tiny however.
Meant to attach this…
Saab is the one that got away for me. Back in 87 when I was looking for a car I test drove a base 900 but the seller backed out and relisted for a higher price so I got my 78 Scirocco instead. Saabs always interested me but post GM I lost interest in the new ones and had no spare coin for an old one. I would still like to find a classic as a fun car.
Wow…I sold my ’78 Scirocco back in 1987…still my favorite car (though I have only owned 3 cars since 1981 when I bought the Scirocco, all VWs and all manuals).
I never owned a Saab, but they were really popular when I lived up in Vermont (this was many years ago; my Dad owned a Subaru at that time, but they still had FWD only models, though some 4WD models like the BRAT and a GL Wagon were also available). I remember seeing the 2 stroke Saabs back in the 60’s and thinking they were mighty odd…even compared to my Dad’s VW Beetle and later Renault R10. My sister and brother-in-Law owned a 900 briefly (they are opposite of me, I lost count of how many different cars they’ve owned, it has to be in the 30’s or so…brother-in-law did remark that changing the clutch was pretty easy as I recall, but that was long (decades) ago that they owned it. I’ve always liked their roomy hatchback models, particularly because they were one of the few mid-sized cars that are available as a hatchback (and understand the hatch area is very large on them)….but I never ventured away once I started my VW run, though who knows about the future.
I live in the south now (for some 36 years), but still seem to prefer cars that are/were popular in New England…like the Golf I own now, though sporty GTIs aren’t uncommon here, regular Golfs are…well outnumbered by Jetta and Passat sedans. When Saab was acquired by GM, then abandoned hatchbacks, they also lost my interest, so that’s likely one reason I never bought one (and lost my opportunity years ago when they were still making hatches, even the newest one is pretty old now).
Yes this gen had a certain kind of GM-sameness about it, but I still liked them and thought the styling and interior was quite nice. I remember sitting in one of these at a Toronto Auto show back then and thinking how comfy the seats were.
We have more than a little experience with SAAB (it’s an acronym like BMW, so should always be in capitals). We bought a used 1967 96 2 stroke in summer of 71, a new 99 in 1973, and have had 9 more in the family since, and still have an ’82 900 Turbo, an ’87 900, ’99 9-3, and ’07 Sport Combi Aero between our 2 sons and me. We have had 96s, 99, 900s, 9000s, 9-5 Aero and 9-3s plain and Aero. Would love a NG 9-5 but are leery of possible parts issues. The ignition cassette and lcd display problems were typical of ’99 to ’01 9-3s. Some NG (post ’03) 9-3s had soft valve metallurgy, depending on the suppliers. Interior quality suffered much under GM. But the basic SAAB legacy engine will easily go 300+k with decent care, and imo there’s no safer vehicle for it’s size. The 9-3s of both generations, as well as the earlier models 99 and newer, have turned out to be great cars for us. You have to understand and appreciate them to make them work well for you, and mechanical knowledge is helpful. We’re now looking on with interest as SAAB transitions to all-electric NEVS vehicles, made first (now) in China, and next soon to be made in Trollhattan, where design and engineering is still centered, for possibly our last car (we’ll always have an suv) in retirement.
A nice tale, and I’m jealous of your carefulness. I too collected many brochures in the ’70’s and ’80’s as a kid (including Saabs) but in a fit of supposed de-cluttering one day as an adult, I threw the lot away. Sigh.
I always coveted 99’s and 900’s, and in 2001, finally tried a variety of models at a (very honest) Saab repair and sales business. I was to do much city driving, so wanted an auto. I loved everything about the immaculate ’92 Aero I drove, the bar-stool seat height, the comfort, the ergonomics, the steering, the curved screen, the whole light-aeroplane feel of the thing. But alas, the outdated 3-speed auto was just awful at low speeds, with nothing to offer til at least 10-20 metres had been covered, when the turbo would arrive just in time to have me stamping on the brakes for the next light. So I tried an identical manual, which as a power delivery system, worked vastly better – beautifully, in fact, no real sense of lag – but even bigger alas, the gearchange was rotten. False slots, notchy, light then stiff, in short, an unpleasant, stress-inducing chore in traffic. I later read over numerous tests of the 900, and found with growing disappointment that complaints about the poor gearbox were always made, as they were about the laggy auto, sometimes very tartly. The complaints only got louder as the car design got older. The specialist told me that the manual I’d driven was a good one too! He also said the boxes are often, though not always, rather short-lived, sometimes as little as 100,000k’s between rebuilds.
This man then suggested I try a GM-era 900. All I can say of that thing was that the gearchange was quite ok, as was the engine, which didn’t stop everything else about it from being horrid. Clumpy ride, dead steering, and above all, a weak, creaky body. It felt utterly cheap. The guy wasn’t really an enthusiast for them either.
At that time, the only updated 9-3 like the one in this post was beyond my means, so I didn’t try it. The kind specialist did say it felt a lot different, from and a lot better than the first GM 900, which reports of the time seemed to say also.
But I didn’t want a GM-era Saab anyway. I wanted the proper one, I still do really, but I know the reality is not for me.
Yes, the pre-GM SAABs were where it was at. They were quirky but in a good way. As usual, GM destroys everything they touch. I had a coworker at the Chevrolet dealer I worked at get a huge bargain on a 9-5 with employee pricing and all the rebates and discounts. He traded his Corvette for it. Needless to say, he was very disppointed. I think he bought the car based on his experience with SAAB in the 1980s and didn’t even bother to test drive a new one (must have been 2010 or so.) He ordered it sight unseen and undriven. He said he liked it, but I could see the look of disgust every time he got into it. This was in no way comparable to the “real” SAABs. At some point he stopped driving it and it sat in his garage for a few years while he drove his demo. One day he tried to move it and of course it doesn’t start. I heard him say something about the ignition or key and he couldnt get the part (by this time, SAAB was out of business) so the car was basically bricked. The car didn’t even have 20k miles when he got rid of it, but he didn’t tell me what it sold for.