Minneapolis Street Sighting: Saab 9-5 Aero Turbo6 XWD

I have a thing for Swedish cars; really, I am a newbie at most Swedish cars, especially Saabs. Sure, I know of the 900, and the 99, but I know next to nothing about the earlier cars. Unfortunately, the Saabs I'm most familiar with are the ones slapped together by GM and burdened with a price-tag that doesn't quite match the build quality.

Many Saab enthusiasts will agree that even the Viggen wasn't quite what a Saab should, and their place in the luxury car market was an odd one; were the cars focused on luxury or were they focused on sportiness? No one really knows, as Saabs weren't quite BMW luxury, nor did they have the panache expected with a $35,000 car.

After a decade of morbidly underwhelming cars, GM looked to revitalize Saab in the later half of the 2000s, by offering them deals with Subaru (the 9-2X), and then Cadillac and Opel. Unfortunately, GM handled Saab the exact same way they handled Isuzu--horribly. GM purposely gave Saab shitty, underclassed vehicles as starting points, and ultimately drove Saab to its death.  At least the final farewell was a great car.

The previous 9-5 was a bit of a dud; it wasn't a fast car, it wasn't a sports car, and it wasn't overly expensive; it was an alternative to Volvo's cars, which do hold a specific place in today's evergrowing luxury car market. What Volvo had that Saab didn't is dealers; for every Saab dealer, there were two Volvo dealers. In my home-base-state of Kansas, there were a few Volvo dealers when I was little, but only one Saab dealer.

The Saab 9-5 is a striking car, if not only for its rarity; in this color, it looks great. Stunning wouldn't be far off, to be honest. It's a far cry from the Saabs of old, but  this example is by far prettier than than anything else churned out by GM.  The lines flow, and although the car looks relatively bland with the base wheels on it, these 19" turbine wheels look amazing, and enhance the car's presence--dramatically.

While I dislike the Opel-esque cutline in the lower flanks, the execution here looks considerably better than the approach taken on the Opel Isignia/Buick Regal. Another area of concern, stylingwise anyway, is the lack of any sort of front or rear bumper. Yes, the slim "bumper"-area looks good, but because my state requires front license plates, the front plates look tacked on--and they are.

Overall this is a very cohesive design that was only plagued by lower-level wheel choices. On the bright side, Saab (and GM) realized that even on base model, hubcaps are pretty stupid at this price point.

I am glad I shot this as these are very scarce in my area. Quite a pretty end to a very storied automobile marque. What it lacks in overall quirkiness, it makes up for in rarity--just like any Trollhattan automobile.