The staff remembers with great fondness the Saab 9-5 wagon long-termer that graced our garage in 2001. It was trouble-free, practical, comfortable and powerful, great for long-distance cruising, parts hauling and plain just having fun with.
On the other hand, our most recent stints in the previous generation Saab 9-3 left us hungering for more-balanced handling, modern ergonomics and a fresh look. It's not that we hated the old 9-3, it's just that it was running a lap down from the competition.
Then that changed with the new 9-3. We previewed the car in our October 2002 issue, in which I reported on a drive in Sweden of a "base" 175-bhp version. To say I was quite taken with the car is an understatement. So much better was it than its predecessor that I wrote, "The new 9-3 is nothing less than a very big statement from a small group of passionate protectors of the Saab faith."
Still, one day's drive on smooth Swedish roads isn't enough to judge whether the restyled sedan has the goods to compete in a very tough segment. So many excellent cars are available in the $25,000-$35,000 range that even experts have a tough time recommending a "best" car out of them all.
We decided to wait for a chance at the top dog in the 9-3 lineup, and it wasn't until the end of April that a new 9-3 Vector showed up in the parking lot. Dressed in black with a Parchment (think lighter than beige and much more agreeable to the eye) interior, it had been used for a short time as a press launch car, so about 3,000 miles were already on the clock when it was delivered.
The black sports sedan is equipped with the stronger of the two four-cylinder all-aluminum turbo engines offered in the 9-3. The 2.0-liter 16-valver is rated at 210 bhp at 5500 rpm, with an impressive 221 lb-ft of torque at 2500 rpm. (The base engine outputs 175 bhp.) It's controlled by Saab's vaunted Trionic engine management system, now called Trionic 8. For the new 9-3, Trionic now incorporates engine start-up and temperature control, plus further refinements for improving torque management and throttle response among its many duties. As an example of its sophistication, Trionic 8 monitors ionization rates at each spark plug, which involves about two million calculations per second, to individually control and adjust the combustion process for each cylinder.
We like to row the gearshift lever, so ordered it up with the six-speed manual transmission, passing on the optional five-speed Sentronic box. It's an all-new six-speed with improved syncromesh for more precise shifting, and double output shafts for lightness and compact size. The sixth gear is very tall for economical cruising.
Chassis dynamics are also much improved, beginning with a longer wheelbase and wider track. Front suspension is MacPherson strut, the lower A-arms mounted on a rubber-isolated subframe, plus coil springs and an anti-roll bar; in the rear is a four-link independent setup, including Saab's new Re-Axs passive rear-wheel steering system. Advanced electronics aid the stability of the car, including Electronic Stability Program, Electronic Brake Force Distribution, Cornering Brake Control and Traction Control System. It sounds obtrusive as hell, but Saab's engineers tuned the various aids to be virtually transparent, retaining the feeling of driver control over all dynamic ranges.
The front and rear disc brakes are larger than the previous 9-3 and, of course, are augmented by ABS.