128 SAAB

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Walk Around

The Saab 9-3 is a near-luxury car. The 9-3 sedan is similar in size to the BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and Audi A4. These cars are smaller than mid-size Japanese cars, like the Honda Accord, Lexus ES and Infiniti G35 sedan, but larger than compacts like the Toyota Corolla.

The 9-3 cannot be mistaken for anything but a Saab. The sloping, wedge-like profile, the shape of the windows, the sleek, integrated headlights, and the distinctive grille are all unmistakably Saab.

Unlike Saabs of old, however, the windshield is steeply raked, a result of the redesign that began with the 2003 models. The rear fascia no longer presents the edgy, Saab-signature look. Instead, a smoother, more rounded, monochromatic body panel integrating the bumper houses taillights somewhat reminiscent of earlier Saabs, only now wrapping around to the trailing edge of the rear quarter panel.

The SportCombi is one of the coolest-looking station wagons on the planet, front to back. It looks sleek without the roof rack, purposefully sporty with it. The huge white-lens vertical LED tail lamps don't intrude on the cargo opening and finish off the body shape perfectly.

Convertibles feature a soft top that merges cleanly with the car's lines, retaining all the proper proportions and relationships with windshield, wheel openings and wedge profile. With the top down and tucked away beneath the solid tonneau cover, the rake of the windshield draws the eye over the passenger area to the tonneau behind the rear-seat head restraints, which tapers into the trunk lid. The soft top features a glass rear window with a defogger.

Saab's entry-level 9-3 treads Trollhatten's narrow path, upholding the company heritage of quirky eccentricity while reaching for a broader audience among modern sports sedan buyers. Like every Saab built in the past 60 years, it borrows from and trades on Saab's history of aircraft manufacture. SAAB is an acronym for Svenska Aeroplan AktieBolaget, literally the Swedish Airplane Company, which was founded to produce fighter aircraft for the Second World War. Saab still uses a stylized airplane for its marque logo, and calls its top-trim models Aero to complete the connection.

Interior

2007 Saab 9-3

The Saab 9-3's interior is pretty much what one would expect in a near-luxury car, although certain Saab styling cues remain. The ignition key goes into the lock between the bucket seats, on the floor console. Some consider this awkward, but Saab aficionados would have it no other way. The instruments are arrayed in an easy-to-view layout with a big speedometer in a sweeping instrument panel that blends into the center console. It's a relatively high dashboard compared to that in most other cars, but that's long been a signature Saab styling cue.

For 2007, the most significant changes to the 9-3 are the revisions to the instrument panel. While the basic shape and style of last year's panel are retained, the main instrument cluster is expanded, and has absorbed the warning lights that used to be set in a separate binnacle above it. Many of the fussy little buttons that used to operate the climate system have been replaced by three large knobs. Radio and navigation controls have also been simplified.

Overall quality of the 9-3's interior is very good. Door handles and the center console shifter surround are trimmed in brushed chrome, and a bright outline surrounds the instrument cluster. The Aero steering wheel is wrapped in leather with brushed chrome trim on the spokes. The glove box is one of the largest in the class, very useful.

The front bucket seats are firm but comfortable, with side bolsters that restrain during spirited motoring without restricting while climbing in and out. The available Sport seats are more aggressive and best suited to slimmer, narrower bodies.

Rear-seat passengers in the two-door convertible do not fare as well as those in the four-door sedan, of course: The convertible gives up nearly 10 inches of hip room and nearly 3 inches of legroom. A center console can be folded down between the rear seats that contains cup holders and a map storage area.

Cargo space for the sedan is 14.8 cubic feet. The SportCombi has an impressive 29.7 cubic feet with five passengers aboard, or 72.3 cubic feet with the back seats down; and that's all broad, deep, tall usable space. The cargo floor is split into two covers that lift to reveal additional hidden storage, and the flexible cargo cover has a closed position and a semi-closed position. The 60/40 split rear seats can be folded for versatility when carrying one rear-seat passenger and cargo. Trunk space drops to 12.4 cubic feet in the convertible with just 8.3 cubic feet available with the top down.

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