Solid, comfortable and fast

I have driven my 9-3 for over 55,000 miles in the 18 months I've owned it and the car still amazes me.

COMFORT - I'm 6'5" with a muscular build and still have 3" above my head with the sunroof closed - something I couldn't find in any other car I looked at. By extending the steering column and raising the seat up, my 5'4" friend also finds it comfortable to drive. The heated seats are wonderful on a cold morning, and I can make a 6 hour drive without a sore back. The car is virtually silent on the road until you hit around 80, where some wind noise kicks in. The upshift light is a real annoyance, but it's easy to forget to shift up because you don't really hear the engine.

PERFORMANCE - Some drivers find this car slow off the line, but you have to understand how to drive it. When you keep the car in the 2.5-5k rpm range there's power to burn. They've engineered it so most of the power is available in the 40-80mph range, right where you need it for highway merging. As a matter of fact, you have to be careful; downshift into 4th and step on it and you'll wind up in the triple digits quickly if you're not careful! The car becomes more glued to the road with increased speed and feels very secure. I would like the stiffer sway bars that come in the Viggen model for quick turns, but the car stays stable even if it does roll a bit if driven agressively. The car has averaged 30.1 MPG over 55,000 miles of mixed driving. An amazing result considering you can make BMW 3 series owners really mad at stoplights! LOL...

CONTROLS ETC This is the one area where I have a real gripe with SAAB. The car is very well laid out except for three things: 1. Wiper controls are completely counterintuitive. You push down for on, up for off, and the indicator for intermittent is labled backwards from every other car I've driven. I still push the lever the wrong way for rain after 18 months. 2. Controls for (head, fog, brake) lights are all over the place, some have indicator lights, some don't, 2 are hidden. 3. The car has the worst cupholder on the planet. There is only one, it's right in front of the radio and computer display, and it doesn't hold a large drink or some bottles. It also has a tendency to dribble coffee into the CD player.

STORAGE The 5-door design (hatchback is a dirty word these days) is wonderful. I carry toolboxes, kits, and sometimes large bulky items. In the normal setup there is a HUGE secure trunk with open access top and back. Flip everything down and there is a space 6' by 40" in case you want to take your fridge along for a ride.

I think GM made a real mistake in eliminating this body design for 2003. It's the only one of it's kind on the market. For those of us that want flexible storage, but don't want the stodginess of a station wagon, it's a great idea - sporty storage! HEY GM IT'S OK TO BE DIFFERENT!!!
I'd much rather drive a unique car with a few quirks, than the euro-jap squashed jelly bean clone cars that everybody else is making...and now SAAB too :-(.
I looked at the new 9-3 during a recent service visit, and while they fixed the controls, they shrunk the interior and eliminated the hatch. Might as well buy a Toyota Camry...

My last SAAB 900 (predecessor to the 9-3) lasted 312,000 miles doing only normal maintenance (really important in a SAAB!) and replacing the turbo unit at 120,000. I think I'll see if this one can top the old record.

WHICH REMINDS ME. Make sure you have a good shop - the SAAB dealer near my house is SO BAD, I drive 90 miles to get mine serviced - but they always give me a new 9-5 as loner car and I go shopping for the day...