@@r.g.crainbow8703 Well, the brand still exists. The SAAB technology is owned by GM as far as I can understand. Christian von Koenigsegg were "close" to buy SAAB, but he turned it down. What a dream it would be, if he changes his mind, and buys it now. The technology he has himself. Just imagine a SAAB 9-5 SportWagon, made by Koenigsegg?
In 1996 this car saved my life. After three years worth of savings and lots of work at 16 I bought a cherry red 900 for $3800 from a very nice man in Washington DC. I come from a long line of car guys and my father and brother both though I was crazy for buying the Saab but there was just something about it that was unlike anything else. The headroom, the heated seats, the ignition under the e brake, the hood, the sound, the different factor.. It was light years ahead of any of my friends cars and for the most part faster around town. So one day about 9 months after I got the car (still 16) a found myself with a friend on a long straight road in a neighborhood in Northern Virginia in February after school. He asked me how fast the 900 would go. I very confidently said "We'll be over 100 by the end of this stretch" He confidently said "I bet you can go faster than that" I asked what happened at the end of the road and he said "There is a little dip but then it just keeps going" And so what happened next was to be expected. With little to no regard for human endangerment and a testosterone driven desire to go fast.. I stopped the car, revved like an adolescent, and took off. We were going about 115 when I saw what really happened at the end of the straight. The road banked HARD right on a big embankment and there was ice from the snow melt that day. I downshifted as hard as I could and remember reaching for the brake when we were already airborne. We flipped sideways 3 times and end over end 4 times until stopping in a oak tree in someones front yard. The last thing I remember was my friend yelling "look out" as we hit the tree and we both ducked at the same time hitting each other on the head. We later found out that a branch had pierced the car upon impact and gone straight through the drivers headrest then through the rear window. We both came to at about the same time. I couldn't see well and my friend yelled. " I smell gas we gotta get out of here." At almost the same time we both pushed our seatbelt buttons and then both painfully realized that we were upsidedown. We crawled out and the owner of the yard we crashed into ran out to help for which I am still eternally grateful. The 900 was upsidedown. The pioneer 5 disc CD player was still playing (a obscure band of the time called "The The") and my friend was screaming at me that I f@*ked up his new skater pants. After an awful experience with Police arriving before paramedics and delaying our time to the hospital I was informed of my complexities and impossibilities of the gift that the 900 had given to me and my friend. I had lots of glass in my head and eye from the automotive gymnastics and subsequent breaking of the driver side window with my head and had suffered some blown disks in my back. My friend had cut his ear and true to his accusations I had definitely destroyed his pants. That's it. Some glass in my head and back pain for me and a cut ear for my friend. That was our gift. Every cop, paramedic, insurance adjuster, witness said that they had never seen anything like it The last time I looked at the speedometer before we hit the ground we were going just over 130 mph. The police would tell me that there were 300 feet of skid marks prior to leaving the road and we then traveled (while rolling and the flipping end to end) an additional 700 feet before ultimately stopping into a 200 year old oak tree. I wrote a letter to both Saab and Pioneer the following week. The first one to Saab thanked their engineers for saving my life and the second to Pioneer thanked them for providing continued music during my experience. I have two daughters now that will both be driving soon enough. I stumbled on this video while searching for something as strong and cool as the SAAB 900. Turns out there is nothing that did before and nothing that does now. Thank you again SAAB for saving the lives of two stupid teenagers.
definitely dumb teenage things, definitely lucky to be driving a saab. Most teenagers back then die on the spot from the combo of speeding+ crashing at anything over 80 let alone 130, a fuckin miracle.
No, they wouldn't Myriad. They showed all kinds of things their cars could do that no one else could - it never was enough. They only built a couple of models, and they could not compete because they NEVER made a dime. That is why Saab Auto was sold to GM (50% in 1990, 100% in 2000) because Saab Aero never made anything designed a smaller car and a larger car for all those years.
They fixed the quality - that was not the issue the last 10 years or so. The problem was they did not have enough of a product line to support themselves. Selling a midsized car and a large car (two cars) is not a brand, it is two cars. I know because I still own my 2006 Saab 9-3 with 164,000 miles now and it runs great. My independent mechanic has over 500 customers, most owning Saabs, and most well over 100,000 and some over 300,000 now. Quality was defiantly not an issue from about 2005 to 2011 when they went under - from selling two cars, not a line of them.
Nickys34 - please explain why my original equipment 2006 Saab 9-3 with now 165,000 has none of these problems you mention? My independent mechanic has a wall of cars over 300,000 miles and most are Saab's (followed by Toyota, then Chevy). Sure it is not rear wheel drive but I did not want that with all the snow I get.
And thats the reason why they arent here anymore. They would not go cheap. And only make the best of the best. Sadly gm couldn't afford these cars. They just wanted to go cheap and rubbish. Luckily Swedish people aren't good to make a discussion. :D so now they are gone. But there are still alot good saab's out there for my lifetime. So i dont have any worries.
@@MAL-Collector Yet another completely oversimplified argument. Saabs were not particularly expensive. If they we SO good than why did so few people buy them? I enjoy Saab as much as the next guy, but enough with the GM bashing.
Typical American business mentality. Profit over everything else, even customer safety. Look at The Chevrolet Corvair and the Ford Pinto. Cheaper to settle out of court compensation than add a few dollars to the price of a car.
most of car buyer don't know how good it is. Because saab is like an engineering geek. They don't know how to advertising their car by making fancy interior and exterior, but every detail they made are well thought, which means it is a really well engineered car, and these well thoughts need cost a lot of money. for example, saab 93 has unsymmetrical rear mirror, seats in saab are extremely comfy, the legendary trionic system, etc. These details are countless on a saab, but remember, these will cost money, and ppl can't see it, and don't know it, and since saabs are not cheap, ppl don't want to pay for the thing they can't see and can't touch.
nowadays, the manufactures like saab is almost nonexistence. Some of them used to be like saab (eg. mercedes and volkswagon) which makes well engineered car, but after 2000, they use more clever way instead of smart way to built a car, that's why we felt so pity when saab bankrupt.
@@garyzhang5099 That is a sad truth. It's much easier to sell a shitty car with a lot of electronic gimmicks and "good looking" interior than a well-engineered car with thought put in little details most people don't even see. Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW, Volvo, and such were once brands like that, that put attention not into making their cars "The fanciest on the market" but really well made and well thought out. You need only look at the first 4 VW Golfs and the current Golf, or the pre 90's Mercedes vs early 2000's Mercedes. Companies that make cars like Saab used to are either Bankrupt, Stopped making cars like that, or are so obscure that almost no one knows about them. It's sad but most people will choose a neatly packaged Shit over a bar of Gold in an average package, just because they don't know any better and think that a nice package means it holds something better.
yeah, this is why we love saab, and also this is why saab bankrupt. After all, not every car buyer knew engineering, most of them don't, so what they can do is judging a car by it's interior, exterior and it's badge.
Most people think that a popular car is a good car. BMW's are very popular but are they good? Some of them sure, but most of them, most of BMW's sold, are not. Saabs were very good cars. You can strip away every piece of optional equipment, all the nice leather, etc. and you are still left with a pathological amount of safety, steel so thick it can shrug of bullets, great engines, good gearbox and nice handling. With BMW you got a Shitty 4 cylinder that has a power of a 90-year-old with a stroke or the most basic 6 cylinder, garden chairs for seats, and pretty average handling, average gearbox, and not the greatest safety... for about the same price.
SAAB is by far my most favorite car brand. Their cars hold up through generations of newer models, their Turbos are tight and kick in early, the seats are comfortable and the cars just generally feel very tight. I am currently driving a 9-3 that I got from my father when he bought a Mitsubishi Outlander last year. He misses the 'kick' the 9-3 has and how it accelerates like nothing else despite not being a sports car. Merely a Sedan with high performance for relatively small engine size. And she purrs like a kitten when driving at low revs at high speed. Roars like a lion, along with that familiar Turbo 'sssshh' sound, when accelerating. I love that car. Before that I had a 900 which I ALSO got from my father when he bought the 9-3. Had no turbo, but it had a big engine. Felt wonderful to drive. Was disheartening to have to send her to the chops when fixing her simply was not feasible due to excessive rust from being parked for over a year.
My dad had an old Saab. A ford Sierra went into the back of it at Newcastle central station drop off zone. There was not a scratch on the Saab. There was a Saab shaped hole in the front of the ford. My dad took one look and said “Oh. Sorry about that!” And drove off. No need to exchange details.
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+George Morley Heard about it when I was watching the H3H3 podcast. If you TH-cam "Post Malone and H3H3 Try to Make Sense of "Elsagate" you should find the video when they're talking about it. It's fucked up
+Jimmie Nilsson GM to rebadge Saab ? Nah,they're ("americans") used and love too low standards.FFS in 2000's or 2010's,they got that ignition key problem at Chevrolet small cars,and they didn't fix it. The company that produced it for them,told Chevy,after tests that " IT DOEN'T REACHED THE STARDARDS".gm's answer ? "LEAVE IT LIKE THAT". And you expect them to reach the highest standards ? Not gonna see it :) "americans" like their JEW MASTERS know only 1 thing : to DESTROY and DEMONIZE the good people and things. Nothing else.
+Andy Raposo Rubio That and you can get screwed by any company. I drove a 2012 Honda Civic when they came out. Several months into driving it, I had a wreck because the linkage (both parts that connect to the front right drive wheel) broke off and I saw the tire fly up in front of me before I ended up flipping 3 times. A month AFTER being in the hospital I finally got a notice about a recall due to those exact parts. I understand that there are some alright new cars, but I just really don't trust them personally anymore, at least until there is a chance for any recalls to happen. Stupid me still drives a Honda, but it is a 97 Prelude so I am not too worried about it. I am addicted to VTEC. xD I also have a Ford Ranger from 2006 that I use up on my farm and I really enjoy it. Either way, at the end of the day I follow the Japanese Car culture. I respect any person's choice in a car regardless on my thoughts of it.
Yea, one thing I can thank Honda for is making a great airbag system because even rolling 3 times on the road, I did not have any injuries except for my left hand was cut open and one of my finger tendons almost severed. I was greatly disheartened especially when Honda stole the car shell so I could not take action against them. (get rid of the evidence and the stupid consumer's crash never happened lol) I just don't like the cars that are designed over seas and then developed here in the US. I feel like they do some of the things they do out of a negligence, but also to make their brands look better. My 97 Honda Prelude was made in the JDM for the USDM so it is an amazing vehicle. I have owned a 80s toyota pickup that was amazing till I was tboned by some a-hole who was on their phone. My father owns a dodge pickup that is alright, but is showing signs of wear after less than 10 years. My mom had a Chevrolet Malibu that was alright, but started falling apart fairly early. She now owns a ~2010 Ford Fusion that is an amazing car. Also, I am glad you found a car that you like. I have seen some very high mileage Mercs that drive around like new. As for the Fiat, there is a reason people say it stands for "Fix It Again Tony" lol
Yea, I even have a JDM H23a inside of my Prelude. It was a specialty racing engine only put in the SIR accords from 1998 to 2001. My car runs like a beast. As for the Honda deal, they did not give me one penny, plus they made me pay for the miles I did put on the car before the crash. I don't really blame the actual Honda corporation though, just the USA faction. Most Japanese people/business owners have too much honor to pull anything like that. I know there are bad eggs everywhere, but honor is something that just flows in Japan. As far as German cars go, I think the only thing made poorly are the engine seals as I have seen a bunch of German engines taken apart. The seals crumbled into dust where most other seals are just fine, but of course that is mainly with the 80s and forward cars. Apart from that, they are great quality. 90s Japanese cars are where it is at. As for those specific cars, they are just icons. It is the same with major brand names. They are great platforms for building a car, but are not really special until you put some money into them. The rest of the cars are decently alright, but the main thing that people do not change out on them are the engines. They replace all the other stuff like suspension, brakes, drivetrain, etc, then build the motor to 400, 500, 600 or above HP.
Love how people blame Saab for its demise. Nothing further from the truth - and this video mentions it in passing. Saab NEVER made money on cars. They only lost money. As a result, yes they engineered the heck out of them but not enough people EVER bought them. So back in 1990 they sold 50% to GM which tried to bring them back to the rest of the industry in cost, but they (SAAB Auto) refused as well detailed here. GM first bought all of Saab in 2000 trying to save it but threw in the towel ten years later. Jimmie, you can blame GM but Saab's failure was that no one ever wanted the cars in a large enough volume - even before GM got involved. I own one (a 2006) and it still runs great with almost 164,000 on it - however, I won't blame GM for what happened - Saab did that all by itself long before they tried to bail it out.
@User Name That's just really ignorant. Aside from Ikea, Swedish interior design in really high quality. And Ikea is also really high quality(probably the best) for the price.
Well yeah, Saab was right, most of the GM shit they replaced wasn't up to standard. Why do you think they needed billions of dollars for a bailout, because their products were outstanding?
No, as a Saab owner, I completely understand why Saab died. GM wanted a car that sold well, but the Swedes kept saying no stubbornly. GM put up with it for over a decade giving them money to develop their cars until 2010 came where the financial crisis in 2008 had its aftermath and forced many companies to drop off brands. Would GM have kept Saab if they could? Hell yes. Were they able to financially? No. Saab sales were a constant downward trend, but GM kept putting up with it. Saab was already going down the drain in sales since the late 80s way before GM bought them. GM only bought a dying horse, keeping it on life support for almost two decades. Saab cared more about the car itself than sales.
It's like Dudley Moore's character said in the movie where he plays an ad campaign manager (or something like that) when coming up with an ad slogan for Volvo ... why can't we just tell them the truth with a slogan like, "Volvo, we're boxy, but good!" :P Obviously in a much smaller nation with a smaller population people are much more likely to care about the impact their products have on their fellow citizens. A global conglomerate like GM has its executives much more removed and insulated from the consequences of their cost cutting measures. They never need to appear in court to face the victims of the cuts they made to climb the corporate ladder.
GM is all about mass profit , high volume production ... their driving force.. undermines the market for low cost well made vehicles . GM are the DDT salesmen, the tobacco pusher of the world
Iceman, Ashley - keep believing that. If you ever looked at Saab's financials before GM bailed it out with their money, you would realize they never made money - so saying GM is all about mass profit, high volume production is just fake news and nothing to it. GM even now is cutting things while making money - think Opel and Vaxhual - they never could make it work, so it was sold last year as well. It is why Sweden no longer has any native car manufacturers - Geeley owns Volvo now. Volvo could not make money either (although they were a lot closer and occasionally made money).
as a saab driver myself i can only agree, but im happy they were put on life support. i love my saab and if the company were still making cars i'd be a saab driver for life.
Youre kidding right? Renault invented the hatchback for starters. And Saabs look like mildly remodeled renault 25s theyre not even CLOSE to stylistically avante garde.
Andy Raposo Rubio theyre no safer than any other european car of the same vintage. Volvo just decided to make it their marketing point coz the 240 series was a slow, fat, ugly evil handling poor riding piece of shit with seats from a cart and a dash so plastic it would embarrass a coke bottle. But ya is safe see? Meanwhile a peugeot 505 has danced around whatever the danger was, looked stylish and elegant doing it and the occupants were serenely unruffled. And were still in a car ATLEAST as passively safe as anything volvo had made to that point (plus 3 methods of stopping the bonnet going thru the windscreen AND anti porpoising seats AND a cardan joint in the steering column AND pedal box designe to go down and away etc etc)
Hit a big moose straight on with my fathers 9-5. The whole moose smashed on the windshield and the a-poles. The results where a small v-shape in the roof and a broken windshield. The a poles slightly dented. All I got was some small cuts from the small glass fragments. The moose rolled over the car after the hit and hit the boot also. Stone dead. I now own a turbo x and I never abandone Saab. Thanks for safety.
I’ve test driven a friends Saab 95 wagon ethanol and petrol and i expected to downshift up a fairly high hill but the turbo kicked in and it took off I had to brake on top of the hill to not lift the car from the road all together it was a Swedish rocket.
asdeasdification I think you have gm and German mixed my friend. I don't have to take my caddy to a "specialized authorized certified mechanic" to get the battery changed like you would with a bmw
asdeasdification lol drives an American car from a generation ago and labels all modern ones with the same image. I could do the same thing buddy. Neighbor had an 07 330. That this was literally in his garage, or a mechanics garage more often than not. Electrical system problems, battery problems, turbos needed to be replaced, headlight failure. Look up jd power reliability rankings for this year, not ten years ago, and you'll see that Cadillac and Buick are just behind a few Japanese brands.
asdeasdification read this list and get back to me. Buick placed just behind Toyota before BMW, mb, or vw. www.jdpower.com/ratings/study/Vehicle-Dependability-Study-%28VDS%29-by-Make/1881ENG
asdeasdification omg you are so stubbornly ignorant. I prove you wrong outright, and you try to pull sgit out your ass. Just admit defeat and that American cars are better built than your stereotype of it. You have no more legs to stand on
At least Saab never compromised on Safety to save costs. We had Saab's for about 25+years in my family. One holiday our Saab 9000 saved us from serious injury when an Italian driver rear ended us at speed in stationary traffic. The impact was so strong it sent the top box flying into the next lane. But the car absorbed the shock and we were able to get out and walk away, unlike the people in the car behind who had to be cut out of their car. Even our possessions were okay. Luckily, for the car in front, my Dad saw what was about to happen and, although we were stationary, applied the brakes to ensure that we didn't go into the car in front.
its sad that companies that actually care about higher quality at a moderately affordable price cant stand a chance to the bigger more streamlined or whatever designs of other companies. saab in particular was a bit strange because they never really stood out as a cheap car or a differentiated car with super modern stuff or excellent reliability, which in the end killed them.
Saab not only tweaked the GM chassis to be more rigid, they completely developed their own engine management software (T7/T8) which I've never fully understood why when GM provided the complete power-train.
They probably figured it was superior. I don't know what system GM wanted to use, but Saab's Trionic system is super reliable and effective, eliminating the need for cam phase sensor, knock sensor and misfire measurement
Nano M - the engine is from GM as in the engine block and assorted parts. GM designed the Ecotec engine block for all GM cars including Saab as it was reinforced for turbo charging back when they were designing the 2003 remodel of the 9-3. What Saab's engineering had to do was take the GM powertrain Ectotec and using GM specs convert it to a turbo model as the Pontiac G6 used the iron duke 4 and a V-6 as did the Chevy Malibu on the same engine platform. In doing so, they had to develop the engine software for a turbo model as GM Powertrain did not have that. Saab engineering added the turbo unit (from Garrand and then Mitsubishi) and the software so it would all work. The transmission was not from GM starting in 2003 as Saab did not like the ancient four speed that GM still offered. They went with a more modern Asien 5 speed unit which was sourced from Japan. So while the "core" of the redesigned Saab 9-3 came from the German "Opel' unit, the rest of the car powertrain came from many places - Japan, Sweden, and a little from America.
Because GM supplied parts were rubbish. Trionic was a superior system. Still is. It substitutes components for computing power, minimizing failure points and delay measurement. People still don't understand how advanced trionic systems were. It measured the combustion process in realtime by sampling the ion-induced current in the spark plug. It knew when knock happened in real time, how the combustion went, everything was substituted with signal processing of the combustion generated electrical signal. It measures effective pressure in the cylinder, something no one (still) to date cannot do without extra hardware (Volvo/Denso i-ART). And it does all these functions without extra hardware.
Your opinion Christian. They still used parts from all the places I mentioned. The software however was all Saab and it did have innovations you mentioned. Still used today in the GM turbo units as GM powertrain owned those rights when they bought Saab 100%.
I rolled my saab 900t on black ice. Couldn't get out the doors as they were toast, but the hatch hinges broke like they were supposed to and I climbed out. Not a single scratch. I miss saab
My saab 900 went sideways down a 12f ditch into the rocks the gravel was slick from the sleat rain and when she landed she still ran i hopped out flipped her right side up and damn she nearly powered our of the steep incline, got er towed and still drove, i lost my corner gear ealier that day. My dad is right, saab is a car you can crash and blow up and still drive for a week. The tow driver was in shock when i told him just to pull me out and then drove it to park it. She still runs but needs a lot of work now. Saab earned a place in my heart forever that night. Not only did it keep me and my friend safe when i fucked up and lost control but she has so much fight left in her still.
I had a 2004 Saab 9-3, astonishing car, very powerful. It did 250 000 km and started to break down. I sold it and bought a brand-new 2016 Škoda Fabia. It´s great, but I still miss the Saab a lot.
Mohammed Rahman: Has your roof stuck midway between closed and open yet? Don't worry, the dashboard display will tell you what to do. "Visit a Saab Dealership".
I have a soon 30 year old saab 900 with high probability that no wear parts has ever been exchanged such as suspension and steering bushings; not a single comment from MOT. They were definitely made to outlive the first owner
Saab was the best company to ever build cars... This coming from someone who has owned 26 Saab's in their life. Saab 900 SPG's, Saab 9000 Aero's, Saab 9-5 Aero's and everything in-between. Once you own a tuned saab turbo, nothing compares
My favorite car that I have ever owned was an older Saab 900 Turbo. That thing had a turning circle so small I could do a U turn on side roads with parked cars where almost everyone else had to pull into a driveway for a 3 point turn.
My first car was a Volvo 740. Great on the motorway but handled like a tank and I always felt it was “tinny”. The service bill was always around £500 in 1988!!! There was always something that needed replacing in addition to the basic service costs. I was never impressed by the supposed Volvo durability. Fast forward 12 years and I owned a 3 month old BMW 540i sport I bought new, however when in France I hired a Saab 9-3 Aero for 3 days and I was very impressed by the handling, the pulling power, and the solid feel, all at a reasonable price. Go forward another 8 years and I bought a six month old 9-3, 1.9 Diesel for a sales rep who worked for me. I drove it back from Liverpool where I collected it. Again I was impressed. He ran it for 2 years and the service costs were standard with no big extras. My employee said it was the best company car he had ever had (He was 47 at the time). He took it with him in lieu of redundancy when he left me, as he said he wanted the car instead of cash! Great cars, built to last, sporty to drive, cheap to run and service AND safer than Volvos. If only Top Gear had publicised their attributes a year before they went bust, instead of after they had. They might still be going, given Top Gear was shown in 100 countries. Volvos don’t look better, don’t handle better, are not as strong and are far more expensive to run, YET it is Saab that no longer manufacture. Bizarre!!! A real shame. P.S. I am now looking for a good condition late model 9-3. They are an absolute steal, given what I’ve said above.
The bain of my life as a Saab owner going to a garage: "Oh its a Vauxhall" Except if you use vauxhall parts (except where actually used by Saab) it will screw up my brakes, the tracking, the stability, the electronics. Absolute truth, had it in to a garage for a rear stability issue, it was a rear steer toe in link. Completely different to vauxhall, and the garage refused to acknowledge it even existed, changing every part except the one that was ruddy broken! I ended up doing it myself, and having all the tracking done as the garage, through their arrogance had managed to f*** the tracking up so much that the car wanted to pull aggressively to one side.
Yes. GM has in total killed almost every subbrand it has managed. All in all almost 40 the last 100 years. The last ones to bite the dust are Lotus, Hummer, SAAB, Opel, Pontiac, Saturn, Vauxhall, Holden, Oldsmobile. Americana motor history would be much richer if it wasn't for GM.
Christian M you're right, it's not like they made and continue to make American icons today. No let's get rid of gn and have Dodge be the face of American brands. Lol gtfo, stop acting like gm is the only car company to let go of or end it's subrbrands. He'll, most of your European sub brands are owned by Chinese, German, Indian, or American companies.
So GM is kind of like British Leyland or BL as they liked to be called. A good idea on paper but a sack of horse shit in reality. They killed Jag u ar (not Jagwahhhh), Rover, Austin, Morris, Triumph (car division). But hey, it was a good idea at the time. X¬D
I am 1000% sure that if saab designed both the ng900 and the og9-3 they would have been the safest cars in their eras. Instead it was gm that designed the platform and that's why the crash test results of these cars wasn't that impressive. Even though saab made changes to the chassis to make it stiffer....
Joel Sanford No they did not design almost 100% of it. The saab ng900 is basically based on an opel chassis. Yes saab did a lot of improvements including making the vehicle safer and so and tweaking the chassis, but you can only do so much if you have a "not so safe/good" chassis to begin with.
Christian Rahi the actual design of the car is 100% Saab. The crash protection is also 100% Saab. Only the cracking bulkheads are a Opel/GM feature. Saab even changed the wheelbase on this platform so...
My wife tried a 9000SC (no turbo) around the time when GM put the hammer down. Her comment: Not much power to be found here!! She bought a Volvo 940T instead, - less expensive and still build from Swedish Armour. Still, the SAAB cars were good, safe and driveable, but too expensive in our country (Denmark). Especially if you wanted the turbo versions, the 180% tax and 25% VAT on top removed it from the best selling list. It is a shame that the car division of SAAB has been closed down. They were good. /oakey Denmark
Who the hell buys a SAAB without a turbo? That's like a complete affirmation of being mentally retarded. No wonder the 940 T (As in TURBO) had more engine power.
I was hit by Toyota ForeRunner, just about a foot in front of the drivers door. The wheel well panel and its rivets popped and were pulled away, after fire department, sawed away the front end of the Forerunner from my 85' Saab 900. Fortunate, after I was whacked at 25-30mpg... Saab On!!
Sadly it's rarely the best product which wins/sells the best. Drivers buy a car along the lines of "This car will be great when I crash it!". Drivers usually don't factor in the chance of a crash. They look at price and features and in that regard Saabs were just too expensive for many. They were the "logical" cars, but buying a car is rarely a logical thing because consumers tend to have a very odd relationship with their cars.
What a shame that a TRUE quality car maker was allowed to go bust. If only Top Gear had shown this sort of admiration a year or two earlier, then Saab might still be in existence. Their programs were shown in 100 countries, imagine the difference it would have made to Saab sales. I’ve had a new BMW 325 6 cylinder and new 540i 8 cylinder. The three series certainly felt no where near as SOLID or as well put together as my Saab 9.3 2.8, 6 cylinder turbo. The five series was more comfortable but couldn’t match the Saab for acceleration and certainly didn’t feel better put together, just a softer ride.
I loved Saabs and owned most of the models bit they went downhill rapidly in the mid 90s to The point where I was no longer happy to put up with all the common faults and switched allegiance to Jaguar. Truth is nothing g[d lasts forever. RIP SAAB
I had 4 SAAB's the last 9-5 was like an Opel in quality. Just orfull! A couple a years I tried a used 9-3 late model with less than 100.000 km on the clock. It was a terrible wacky experience. As if the whole car was about to disintegrate. In spite of all this I would love to own a 900 aero coupe today from the 80ies
Well, that is weird. I have driven almost every Saab (except models like the Viggen and 2.8 Aero) from the 1980's - 2012 and I never had that experience. The suspension on the older models are a little bit soft, but the quality felt solid and the performance was better than the average modern car.
John, you had bad luck. I own a GM built Saab 9-3 from 2006 that now has 164,000 miles and is the best maintenance free car I have ever owned. Far better than the Toyotas and Hondas I owned before it.
This entire episode of Top Gear about Saab was epic. If I learned a lesson from the Saab story is that obsession is dangerous. Saab was good in many cases too good to be true. Sadly, no matter how good you design and manufacture your product if you cannot sell it is worthless. That was the Saab's bit of contradiction they were too good that cost of manufacturing caused the end to the brand SAAB and made it SAGA instead throwing into the dusty shelves of the history.
They died with their principals and ethics intact, more than what can be said of most brands.
Nah only the brand died the spirit lives strongly
@@r.g.crainbow8703 Well, the brand still exists. The SAAB technology is owned by GM as far as I can understand. Christian von Koenigsegg were "close" to buy SAAB, but he turned it down. What a dream it would be, if he changes his mind, and buys it now. The technology he has himself. Just imagine a SAAB 9-5 SportWagon, made by Koenigsegg?
In 1996 this car saved my life.
After three years worth of savings and lots of work at 16 I bought a cherry red 900 for $3800 from a very nice man in Washington DC.
I come from a long line of car guys and my father and brother both though I was crazy for buying the Saab but there was just something about it that was unlike anything else. The headroom, the heated seats, the ignition under the e brake, the hood, the sound, the different factor.. It was light years ahead of any of my friends cars and for the most part faster around town.
So one day about 9 months after I got the car (still 16) a found myself with a friend on a long straight road in a neighborhood in Northern Virginia in February after school. He asked me how fast the 900 would go. I very confidently said
"We'll be over 100 by the end of this stretch"
He confidently said "I bet you can go faster than that"
I asked what happened at the end of the road and he said
"There is a little dip but then it just keeps going"
And so what happened next was to be expected.
With little to no regard for human endangerment and a testosterone driven desire to go fast..
I stopped the car, revved like an adolescent, and took off.
We were going about 115 when I saw what really happened at the end of the straight.
The road banked HARD right on a big embankment and there was ice from the snow melt that day. I downshifted as hard as I could and remember reaching for the brake when we were already airborne. We flipped sideways 3 times and end over end 4 times until stopping in a oak tree in someones front yard. The last thing I remember was my friend yelling "look out" as we hit the tree and we both ducked at the same time hitting each other on the head. We later found out that a branch had pierced the car upon impact and gone straight through the drivers headrest then through the rear window.
We both came to at about the same time. I couldn't see well and my friend yelled.
" I smell gas we gotta get out of here."
At almost the same time we both pushed our seatbelt buttons and then both painfully realized that we were upsidedown. We crawled out and the owner of the yard we crashed into ran out to help for which I am still eternally grateful.
The 900 was upsidedown. The pioneer 5 disc CD player was still playing (a obscure band of the time called "The The") and my friend was screaming at me that I f@*ked up his new skater pants.
After an awful experience with Police arriving before paramedics and delaying our time to the hospital I was informed of my complexities and impossibilities of the gift that the 900 had given to me and my friend.
I had lots of glass in my head and eye from the automotive gymnastics and subsequent breaking of the driver side window with my head and had suffered some blown disks in my back. My friend had cut his ear and true to his accusations I had definitely destroyed his pants.
That's it.
Some glass in my head and back pain for me and a cut ear for my friend.
That was our gift.
Every cop, paramedic, insurance adjuster, witness said that they had never seen anything like it
The last time I looked at the speedometer before we hit the ground we were going just over 130 mph. The police would tell me that there were 300 feet of skid marks prior to leaving the road and we then traveled (while rolling and the flipping end to end) an additional 700 feet before ultimately stopping into a 200 year old oak tree.
I wrote a letter to both Saab and Pioneer the following week. The first one to Saab thanked their engineers for saving my life and the second to Pioneer thanked them for providing continued music during my experience.
I have two daughters now that will both be driving soon enough. I stumbled on this video while searching for something as strong and cool as the SAAB 900.
Turns out there is nothing that did before and nothing that does now.
Thank you again SAAB for saving the lives of two stupid teenagers.
definitely dumb teenage things, definitely lucky to be driving a saab. Most teenagers back then die on the spot from the combo of speeding+ crashing at anything over 80 let alone 130, a fuckin miracle.
They were phenomenal. I've owned ten 900's. Any pics of the car after crash by any chance?
Its kinda sad that actualy making a good product will kill a company financialy.
Johan Van Der Heide I know
If they had showed this test in their TV adverts they might have sold a lot more cars
No, they wouldn't Myriad. They showed all kinds of things their cars could do that no one else could - it never was enough. They only built a couple of models, and they could not compete because they NEVER made a dime. That is why Saab Auto was sold to GM (50% in 1990, 100% in 2000) because Saab Aero never made anything designed a smaller car and a larger car for all those years.
They fixed the quality - that was not the issue the last 10 years or so. The problem was they did not have enough of a product line to support themselves. Selling a midsized car and a large car (two cars) is not a brand, it is two cars. I know because I still own my 2006 Saab 9-3 with 164,000 miles now and it runs great. My independent mechanic has over 500 customers, most owning Saabs, and most well over 100,000 and some over 300,000 now. Quality was defiantly not an issue from about 2005 to 2011 when they went under - from selling two cars, not a line of them.
Nickys34 - please explain why my original equipment 2006 Saab 9-3 with now 165,000 has none of these problems you mention? My independent mechanic has a wall of cars over 300,000 miles and most are Saab's (followed by Toyota, then Chevy). Sure it is not rear wheel drive but I did not want that with all the snow I get.
No one pranks GM like Saab does
Well, Saabs WERE made in Trollhattan... ;)
Jokes on Saab considering they no longer exist.
SAAB still exist... It's just that they don't make cars anymore
And there will be Saabs on the road for at least 15 yrs.
4 scoops GODDAMMIT LMFAO
It is very sad that saab went under. they were serious about making good cars.
They were. I had a 1986 900 Turbo 16S. It flew.
I now own 2 BMWs, such was my choice limited.
And thats the reason why they arent here anymore. They would not go cheap. And only make the best of the best. Sadly gm couldn't afford these cars. They just wanted to go cheap and rubbish. Luckily Swedish people aren't good to make a discussion. :D so now they are gone. But there are still alot good saab's out there for my lifetime. So i dont have any worries.
@@MAL-Collector when you have high standards there is absolutely no space for trash. Simple as that, the Swedes have high standards.
@@tony_5156 yes 😍 rip SAAB probaly the best car in the World 😥
@@MAL-Collector
Yet another completely oversimplified argument. Saabs were not particularly expensive. If they we SO good than why did so few people buy them? I enjoy Saab as much as the next guy, but enough with the GM bashing.
So in other words....SAAB failed because it was so good?
yup, pretty much...
Typical American business mentality. Profit over everything else, even customer safety. Look at The Chevrolet Corvair and the Ford Pinto. Cheaper to settle out of court compensation than add a few dollars to the price of a car.
most of car buyer don't know how good it is. Because saab is like an engineering geek. They don't know how to advertising their car by making fancy interior and exterior, but every detail they made are well thought, which means it is a really well engineered car, and these well thoughts need cost a lot of money. for example, saab 93 has unsymmetrical rear mirror, seats in saab are extremely comfy, the legendary trionic system, etc. These details are countless on a saab, but remember, these will cost money, and ppl can't see it, and don't know it, and since saabs are not cheap, ppl don't want to pay for the thing they can't see and can't touch.
nowadays, the manufactures like saab is almost nonexistence. Some of them used to be like saab (eg. mercedes and volkswagon) which makes well engineered car, but after 2000, they use more clever way instead of smart way to built a car, that's why we felt so pity when saab bankrupt.
@@garyzhang5099 That is a sad truth. It's much easier to sell a shitty car with a lot of electronic gimmicks and "good looking" interior than a well-engineered car with thought put in little details most people don't even see. Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW, Volvo, and such were once brands like that, that put attention not into making their cars "The fanciest on the market" but really well made and well thought out. You need only look at the first 4 VW Golfs and the current Golf, or the pre 90's Mercedes vs early 2000's Mercedes. Companies that make cars like Saab used to are either Bankrupt, Stopped making cars like that, or are so obscure that almost no one knows about them.
It's sad but most people will choose a neatly packaged Shit over a bar of Gold in an average package, just because they don't know any better and think that a nice package means it holds something better.
So BMW is expensive because of the name! But SAAB was expensive because of proper engineering!
MafiosoItaliano458 shut up
@@Lindamacishere why should he. He is correct
@@Lindamacishere shut up you BMW
yeah, this is why we love saab, and also this is why saab bankrupt. After all, not every car buyer knew engineering, most of them don't, so what they can do is judging a car by it's interior, exterior and it's badge.
Most people think that a popular car is a good car.
BMW's are very popular but are they good? Some of them sure, but most of them, most of BMW's sold, are not.
Saabs were very good cars. You can strip away every piece of optional equipment, all the nice leather, etc. and you are still left with a pathological amount of safety, steel so thick it can shrug of bullets, great engines, good gearbox and nice handling. With BMW you got a Shitty 4 cylinder that has a power of a 90-year-old with a stroke or the most basic 6 cylinder, garden chairs for seats, and pretty average handling, average gearbox, and not the greatest safety... for about the same price.
SAAB is by far my most favorite car brand. Their cars hold up through generations of newer models, their Turbos are tight and kick in early, the seats are comfortable and the cars just generally feel very tight. I am currently driving a 9-3 that I got from my father when he bought a Mitsubishi Outlander last year. He misses the 'kick' the 9-3 has and how it accelerates like nothing else despite not being a sports car. Merely a Sedan with high performance for relatively small engine size. And she purrs like a kitten when driving at low revs at high speed. Roars like a lion, along with that familiar Turbo 'sssshh' sound, when accelerating. I love that car.
Before that I had a 900 which I ALSO got from my father when he bought the 9-3. Had no turbo, but it had a big engine. Felt wonderful to drive. Was disheartening to have to send her to the chops when fixing her simply was not feasible due to excessive rust from being parked for over a year.
My dad had an old Saab. A ford Sierra went into the back of it at Newcastle central station drop off zone. There was not a scratch on the Saab. There was a Saab shaped hole in the front of the ford. My dad took one look and said “Oh. Sorry about that!” And drove off. No need to exchange details.
George Morley hope thats not a Sierra RS
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Manuel Monterde You’ve fallen asleep on your keyboard mate. Wake up.
DantesGrill WTF?
+George Morley Heard about it when I was watching the H3H3 podcast. If you TH-cam "Post Malone and H3H3 Try to Make Sense of "Elsagate" you should find the video when they're talking about it. It's fucked up
Thx you GM... you given us shit again! They should have had Saab building there base platform insted and they could rebadge
+Jimmie Nilsson GM to rebadge Saab ? Nah,they're ("americans") used and love too low standards.FFS in 2000's or 2010's,they got that ignition key problem at Chevrolet small cars,and they didn't fix it.
The company that produced it for them,told Chevy,after tests that " IT DOEN'T REACHED THE STARDARDS".gm's answer ? "LEAVE IT LIKE THAT".
And you expect them to reach the highest standards ? Not gonna see it :)
"americans" like their JEW MASTERS know only 1 thing : to DESTROY and DEMONIZE the good people and things.
Nothing else.
+Andy Raposo Rubio That and you can get screwed by any company. I drove a 2012 Honda Civic when they came out. Several months into driving it, I had a wreck because the linkage (both parts that connect to the front right drive wheel) broke off and I saw the tire fly up in front of me before I ended up flipping 3 times. A month AFTER being in the hospital I finally got a notice about a recall due to those exact parts. I understand that there are some alright new cars, but I just really don't trust them personally anymore, at least until there is a chance for any recalls to happen.
Stupid me still drives a Honda, but it is a 97 Prelude so I am not too worried about it. I am addicted to VTEC. xD I also have a Ford Ranger from 2006 that I use up on my farm and I really enjoy it.
Either way, at the end of the day I follow the Japanese Car culture. I respect any person's choice in a car regardless on my thoughts of it.
Yea, one thing I can thank Honda for is making a great airbag system because even rolling 3 times on the road, I did not have any injuries except for my left hand was cut open and one of my finger tendons almost severed. I was greatly disheartened especially when Honda stole the car shell so I could not take action against them. (get rid of the evidence and the stupid consumer's crash never happened lol) I just don't like the cars that are designed over seas and then developed here in the US. I feel like they do some of the things they do out of a negligence, but also to make their brands look better. My 97 Honda Prelude was made in the JDM for the USDM so it is an amazing vehicle.
I have owned a 80s toyota pickup that was amazing till I was tboned by some a-hole who was on their phone. My father owns a dodge pickup that is alright, but is showing signs of wear after less than 10 years. My mom had a Chevrolet Malibu that was alright, but started falling apart fairly early. She now owns a ~2010 Ford Fusion that is an amazing car. Also, I am glad you found a car that you like. I have seen some very high mileage Mercs that drive around like new.
As for the Fiat, there is a reason people say it stands for "Fix It Again Tony" lol
Yea, I even have a JDM H23a inside of my Prelude. It was a specialty racing engine only put in the SIR accords from 1998 to 2001. My car runs like a beast.
As for the Honda deal, they did not give me one penny, plus they made me pay for the miles I did put on the car before the crash. I don't really blame the actual Honda corporation though, just the USA faction. Most Japanese people/business owners have too much honor to pull anything like that. I know there are bad eggs everywhere, but honor is something that just flows in Japan.
As far as German cars go, I think the only thing made poorly are the engine seals as I have seen a bunch of German engines taken apart. The seals crumbled into dust where most other seals are just fine, but of course that is mainly with the 80s and forward cars. Apart from that, they are great quality.
90s Japanese cars are where it is at. As for those specific cars, they are just icons. It is the same with major brand names. They are great platforms for building a car, but are not really special until you put some money into them. The rest of the cars are decently alright, but the main thing that people do not change out on them are the engines. They replace all the other stuff like suspension, brakes, drivetrain, etc, then build the motor to 400, 500, 600 or above HP.
Love how people blame Saab for its demise. Nothing further from the truth - and this video mentions it in passing. Saab NEVER made money on cars. They only lost money. As a result, yes they engineered the heck out of them but not enough people EVER bought them. So back in 1990 they sold 50% to GM which tried to bring them back to the rest of the industry in cost, but they (SAAB Auto) refused as well detailed here. GM first bought all of Saab in 2000 trying to save it but threw in the towel ten years later. Jimmie, you can blame GM but Saab's failure was that no one ever wanted the cars in a large enough volume - even before GM got involved. I own one (a 2006) and it still runs great with almost 164,000 on it - however, I won't blame GM for what happened - Saab did that all by itself long before they tried to bail it out.
"Perfect" for Italians is "Not good at all" [Crap] for Saab
@User Name Ikea is good.
@User Name That's just really ignorant. Aside from Ikea, Swedish interior design in really high quality.
And Ikea is also really high quality(probably the best) for the price.
LMAO @ :38. "If you were Richard Hammond you'd be all right."
I worked at Saab for years! Thanks for showcasing our absolutely mental engineering - you might say it DROVE our competitors insane. 😂
Makes me sad that they don't make cars anymore. I really like their cars
Well yeah, Saab was right, most of the GM shit they replaced wasn't up to standard. Why do you think they needed billions of dollars for a bailout, because their products were outstanding?
Crazy how Saab has become a dodo in the motoring world. Shame..GM wanted less safer cars and all round less quality.
No, as a Saab owner, I completely understand why Saab died. GM wanted a car that sold well, but the Swedes kept saying no stubbornly. GM put up with it for over a decade giving them money to develop their cars until 2010 came where the financial crisis in 2008 had its aftermath and forced many companies to drop off brands. Would GM have kept Saab if they could? Hell yes. Were they able to financially? No.
Saab sales were a constant downward trend, but GM kept putting up with it. Saab was already going down the drain in sales since the late 80s way before GM bought them. GM only bought a dying horse, keeping it on life support for almost two decades. Saab cared more about the car itself than sales.
It's like Dudley Moore's character said in the movie where he plays an ad campaign manager (or something like that) when coming up with an ad slogan for Volvo ... why can't we just tell them the truth with a slogan like, "Volvo, we're boxy, but good!" :P Obviously in a much smaller nation with a smaller population people are much more likely to care about the impact their products have on their fellow citizens. A global conglomerate like GM has its executives much more removed and insulated from the consequences of their cost cutting measures. They never need to appear in court to face the victims of the cuts they made to climb the corporate ladder.
GM is all about mass profit , high volume production ... their driving force.. undermines the market for low cost well made vehicles . GM are the DDT salesmen, the tobacco pusher of the world
Iceman, Ashley - keep believing that. If you ever looked at Saab's financials before GM bailed it out with their money, you would realize they never made money - so saying GM is all about mass profit, high volume production is just fake news and nothing to it. GM even now is cutting things while making money - think Opel and Vaxhual - they never could make it work, so it was sold last year as well. It is why Sweden no longer has any native car manufacturers - Geeley owns Volvo now. Volvo could not make money either (although they were a lot closer and occasionally made money).
as a saab driver myself i can only agree, but im happy they were put on life support. i love my saab and if the company were still making cars i'd be a saab driver for life.
I still miss Saab
Saabs xars looked way ahead of their time in 2010 and '11
They were even more advanced in the eighties performance-wise.
Fuentes is a xar a type of saab?
Youre kidding right?
Renault invented the hatchback for starters.
And
Saabs look like mildly remodeled renault 25s theyre not even CLOSE to stylistically avante garde.
Btw the waffle may is on about with the thema, the renault 25 and fiat chroma were also based on the same chassis.
Andy Raposo Rubio theyre no safer than any other european car of the same vintage.
Volvo just decided to make it their marketing point coz the 240 series was a slow, fat, ugly evil handling poor riding piece of shit with seats from a cart and a dash so plastic it would embarrass a coke bottle. But ya is safe see? Meanwhile a peugeot 505 has danced around whatever the danger was, looked stylish and elegant doing it and the occupants were serenely unruffled. And were still in a car ATLEAST as passively safe as anything volvo had made to that point (plus 3 methods of stopping the bonnet going thru the windscreen AND anti porpoising seats AND a cardan joint in the steering column AND pedal box designe to go down and away etc etc)
Hit a big moose straight on with my fathers 9-5. The whole moose smashed on the windshield and the a-poles. The results where a small v-shape in the roof and a broken windshield. The a poles slightly dented. All I got was some small cuts from the small glass fragments. The moose rolled over the car after the hit and hit the boot also. Stone dead. I now own a turbo x and I never abandone Saab. Thanks for safety.
Saab was originally an aircraft company, GM built horse wagons... Swedish cars good value,built for the long term.
BMW also originally was an aircraft company
Tom Dodds Cadillac built tanks, and Mercedes built transportation for nazis. Can't keep living in the past
wasn't VW aswell in the begin? :D
I’ve test driven a friends Saab 95 wagon ethanol and petrol and i expected to downshift up a fairly high hill but the turbo kicked in and it took off I had to brake on top of the hill to not lift the car from the road all together it was a Swedish rocket.
Wish I had money to continue saab(((
GM and German brands make money off of maintainance costs. The Saab business model was too good for customers.
asdeasdification I think you have gm and German mixed my friend. I don't have to take my caddy to a "specialized authorized certified mechanic" to get the battery changed like you would with a bmw
asdeasdification lol drives an American car from a generation ago and labels all modern ones with the same image. I could do the same thing buddy. Neighbor had an 07 330. That this was literally in his garage, or a mechanics garage more often than not. Electrical system problems, battery problems, turbos needed to be replaced, headlight failure. Look up jd power reliability rankings for this year, not ten years ago, and you'll see that Cadillac and Buick are just behind a few Japanese brands.
Andy Raposo Rubio your grammar is so bad, it doesn't warrant a proper response
asdeasdification read this list and get back to me. Buick placed just behind Toyota before BMW, mb, or vw.
www.jdpower.com/ratings/study/Vehicle-Dependability-Study-%28VDS%29-by-Make/1881ENG
asdeasdification omg you are so stubbornly ignorant. I prove you wrong outright, and you try to pull sgit out your ass. Just admit defeat and that American cars are better built than your stereotype of it. You have no more legs to stand on
That bmw they crushed would be worth so much today 😭😭
Yeah, that part hurt to watch, if the engine is running it's not a ride-off.
This is the best description of what went in with the Saab - GM companies that I've come across.
At least Saab never compromised on Safety to save costs. We had Saab's for about 25+years in my family. One holiday our Saab 9000 saved us from serious injury when an Italian driver rear ended us at speed in stationary traffic. The impact was so strong it sent the top box flying into the next lane. But the car absorbed the shock and we were able to get out and walk away, unlike the people in the car behind who had to be cut out of their car. Even our possessions were okay. Luckily, for the car in front, my Dad saw what was about to happen and, although we were stationary, applied the brakes to ensure that we didn't go into the car in front.
Love Saab. I’ve had 5 of them. I just restored a 9-5 wagon. Love it. Loved all of them. Want to buy a final year 9-5 because they are the Swan song
its sad that companies that actually care about higher quality at a moderately affordable price cant stand a chance to the bigger more streamlined or whatever designs of other companies.
saab in particular was a bit strange because they never really stood out as a cheap car or a differentiated car with super modern stuff or excellent reliability, which in the end killed them.
You can thank the consuming public for that. Cheaper wins out more often than better.
I had an 81 900t and an 88 900. They had the most comfortable seats ever. Great road cars.
Drove 3saabs over 15 years , happiest days of my life.
my dad STILL has his 1997 Saab 9000 he brought it when he came out it has 1012749 miles
Saab not only tweaked the GM chassis to be more rigid, they completely developed their own engine management software (T7/T8) which I've never fully understood why when GM provided the complete power-train.
They probably figured it was superior. I don't know what system GM wanted to use, but Saab's Trionic system is super reliable and effective, eliminating the need for cam phase sensor, knock sensor and misfire measurement
Simon Björkén it does all that through its idm on 9-3 models up to 2003 and 9-5 up to 09
Nano M - the engine is from GM as in the engine block and assorted parts. GM designed the Ecotec engine block for all GM cars including Saab as it was reinforced for turbo charging back when they were designing the 2003 remodel of the 9-3. What Saab's engineering had to do was take the GM powertrain Ectotec and using GM specs convert it to a turbo model as the Pontiac G6 used the iron duke 4 and a V-6 as did the Chevy Malibu on the same engine platform. In doing so, they had to develop the engine software for a turbo model as GM Powertrain did not have that. Saab engineering added the turbo unit (from Garrand and then Mitsubishi) and the software so it would all work. The transmission was not from GM starting in 2003 as Saab did not like the ancient four speed that GM still offered. They went with a more modern Asien 5 speed unit which was sourced from Japan. So while the "core" of the redesigned Saab 9-3 came from the German "Opel' unit, the rest of the car powertrain came from many places - Japan, Sweden, and a little from America.
Because GM supplied parts were rubbish.
Trionic was a superior system. Still is. It substitutes components for computing power, minimizing failure points and delay measurement. People still don't understand how advanced trionic systems were. It measured the combustion process in realtime by sampling the ion-induced current in the spark plug. It knew when knock happened in real time, how the combustion went, everything was substituted with signal processing of the combustion generated electrical signal.
It measures effective pressure in the cylinder, something no one (still) to date cannot do without extra hardware (Volvo/Denso i-ART). And it does all these functions without extra hardware.
Your opinion Christian. They still used parts from all the places I mentioned. The software however was all Saab and it did have innovations you mentioned. Still used today in the GM turbo units as GM powertrain owned those rights when they bought Saab 100%.
The 88 on E30 had a stronger bodyshell so would survive that as well as the Saab.Still kudos to Saab for priotising safety.
I rolled my saab 900t on black ice. Couldn't get out the doors as they were toast, but the hatch hinges broke like they were supposed to and I climbed out. Not a single scratch. I miss saab
My saab 900 went sideways down a 12f ditch into the rocks the gravel was slick from the sleat rain and when she landed she still ran i hopped out flipped her right side up and damn she nearly powered our of the steep incline, got er towed and still drove, i lost my corner gear ealier that day. My dad is right, saab is a car you can crash and blow up and still drive for a week. The tow driver was in shock when i told him just to pull me out and then drove it to park it. She still runs but needs a lot of work now. Saab earned a place in my heart forever that night. Not only did it keep me and my friend safe when i fucked up and lost control but she has so much fight left in her still.
My biggest regret is selling my 1985 900S instead of getting the repairs it needed... I miss that car... especially in the winter.
I have owned three Saabs and each one has been such a dream to own and drive
Makes me very happy I own a 2006 Saab 9-3
Mohammed Rahman saturn L series
I had a 2004 Saab 9-3, astonishing car, very powerful. It did 250 000 km and started to break down. I sold it and bought a brand-new 2016 Škoda Fabia. It´s great, but I still miss the Saab a lot.
I was happy when i had one and crasched fliped over two times at 60mph in the ditch and got away with a broken arm.
I have a 2005 9-3, just changed the oil on it last week
Mohammed Rahman: Has your roof stuck midway between closed and open yet? Don't worry, the dashboard display will tell you what to do. "Visit a Saab Dealership".
I have a soon 30 year old saab 900 with high probability that no wear parts has ever been exchanged such as suspension and steering bushings; not a single comment from MOT. They were definitely made to outlive the first owner
i reckon if Saab in the late 90s would of went all wheel drive in they still be in business to this day..
They actually had a prototype of a 9000 with 4WD IIRC
Part 2 part 2 part 2, where is the rest of it
My dad owned a 9000 CSE Anniversary Edition.
I loved it so much I wanted it as my first car...
Sadly, it had to go
Does anybody know how long this clip is uncut ?
Or is there a second part that only I can't find ?
Thanks in advance !
Don't ever DARE to touch my '80s BMW! .......... (it might get dented)
Saab was the best company to ever build cars... This coming from someone who has owned 26 Saab's in their life. Saab 900 SPG's, Saab 9000 Aero's, Saab 9-5 Aero's and everything in-between. Once you own a tuned saab turbo, nothing compares
My favorite car that I have ever owned was an older Saab 900 Turbo. That thing had a turning circle so small I could do a U turn on side roads with parked cars where almost everyone else had to pull into a driveway for a 3 point turn.
Do that with a 9-5 and you will hit 10 different cars, still great, but has a turning circle like a truck haha.
My first car was a Volvo 740. Great on the motorway but handled like a tank and I always felt it was “tinny”.
The service bill was always around £500 in 1988!!!
There was always something that needed replacing in addition to the basic service costs. I was never impressed by the supposed Volvo durability.
Fast forward 12 years and I owned a 3 month old BMW 540i sport I bought new, however when in France I hired a Saab 9-3 Aero for 3 days and I was very impressed by the handling, the pulling power, and the solid feel, all at a reasonable price.
Go forward another 8 years and I bought a six month old 9-3, 1.9 Diesel for a sales rep who worked for me.
I drove it back from Liverpool where I collected it. Again I was impressed.
He ran it for 2 years and the service costs were standard with no big extras. My employee said it was the best company car he had ever had (He was 47 at the time).
He took it with him in lieu of redundancy when he left me, as he said he wanted the car instead of cash!
Great cars, built to last, sporty to drive, cheap to run and service AND safer than Volvos.
If only Top Gear had publicised their attributes a year before they went bust, instead of after they had.
They might still be going, given Top Gear was shown in 100 countries.
Volvos don’t look better, don’t handle better, are not as strong and are far more expensive to run, YET it is Saab that no longer manufacture. Bizarre!!!
A real shame.
P.S. I am now looking for a good condition late model 9-3.
They are an absolute steal, given what I’ve said above.
The bain of my life as a Saab owner going to a garage:
"Oh its a Vauxhall"
Except if you use vauxhall parts (except where actually used by Saab) it will screw up my brakes, the tracking, the stability, the electronics.
Absolute truth, had it in to a garage for a rear stability issue, it was a rear steer toe in link.
Completely different to vauxhall, and the garage refused to acknowledge it even existed, changing every part except the one that was ruddy broken!
I ended up doing it myself, and having all the tracking done as the garage, through their arrogance had managed to f*** the tracking up so much that the car wanted to pull aggressively to one side.
Love my Saab 93 aero ! Great cars ! Thanks Saab for not cutting corners !
I love this video, I just wish it would have been a more common 900 than a flat nose 5 door hatch.
I just bought saab 900s with 200k km, just like new
0:38 If you were Richard Hammond you'd be alright!
Oml😂
My next cars will be a god damn saab! Love em!
So basically GM is shit.
chevy has always been a pile of shit
Yes. GM are useless. They had no idea what to do with Lotus either.
Yes. GM has in total killed almost every subbrand it has managed. All in all almost 40 the last 100 years. The last ones to bite the dust are Lotus, Hummer, SAAB, Opel, Pontiac, Saturn, Vauxhall, Holden, Oldsmobile. Americana motor history would be much richer if it wasn't for GM.
Christian M you're right, it's not like they made and continue to make American icons today. No let's get rid of gn and have Dodge be the face of American brands. Lol gtfo, stop acting like gm is the only car company to let go of or end it's subrbrands. He'll, most of your European sub brands are owned by Chinese, German, Indian, or American companies.
So GM is kind of like British Leyland or BL as they liked to be called. A good idea on paper but a sack of horse shit in reality. They killed Jag u ar (not Jagwahhhh), Rover, Austin, Morris, Triumph (car division). But hey, it was a good idea at the time. X¬D
December 2017 - my Saab 9-5 07 still going strong
May 2019 - my saab 9-5 01 is still going strong.
June -21 My 9-3 Biopower -08 still going strong
My 2006 9-3 still runs strong. Bought it new!
My dad owns a 04 93 and in 4 months i will have my license and it will becone eventually mine. I love this car so much!
I got the 2.8 in my 06
I am 1000% sure that if saab designed both the ng900 and the og9-3 they would have been the safest cars in their eras. Instead it was gm that designed the platform and that's why the crash test results of these cars wasn't that impressive. Even though saab made changes to the chassis to make it stiffer....
Christian Rahi Saab designed those for the most part. Almost 100% of the NG.
Joel Sanford No they did not design almost 100% of it. The saab ng900 is basically based on an opel chassis. Yes saab did a lot of improvements including making the vehicle safer and so and tweaking the chassis, but you can only do so much if you have a "not so safe/good" chassis to begin with.
Christian Rahi the actual design of the car is 100% Saab. The crash protection is also 100% Saab. Only the cracking bulkheads are a Opel/GM feature. Saab even changed the wheelbase on this platform so...
WTF??? why does it cut off halfway through the clip?
Video incomplete ... why?
11 years ago i escaped a head on collision with an oaktree at 70mph with only minor brucing. The car was a 1989 900 Turbo.
Saab should have showed us how strong and good their cars were in ad's, because they were bloody good cars.
they better given that saab to me instead of destroying it :((
Maxim Volodkin It’s not destroyed it just needs some repairs.
Maxim Volodkin theres plenty of them dont worry
Dominik Maslyk *roof collapsed*
I do love that they absolutely wouldn’t sell out even when in massive debt
which episode is this?
Saab was too fucking good for us
James, long hair went out in the 60s. Now No. 1s are in.
I feel like Saab may have had a future with their newer cars but they bit the hand that fed them
"If you were richard hammond, you'd be alright"
What a fortuitous comment about the hamster!
Season and episode? thanks
do the same drop test on an 80's volvo
My wife tried a 9000SC (no turbo) around the time when GM put the hammer down.
Her comment: Not much power to be found here!!
She bought a Volvo 940T instead, - less expensive and still build from Swedish Armour.
Still, the SAAB cars were good, safe and driveable, but too expensive in our country (Denmark). Especially if you wanted the turbo versions, the 180% tax and 25% VAT on top removed it from the best selling list.
It is a shame that the car division of SAAB has been closed down. They were good.
/oakey
Denmark
John Due nice comment.
/Kevin Spacey
Mars
Who the hell buys a SAAB without a turbo? That's like a complete affirmation of being mentally retarded. No wonder the 940 T (As in TURBO) had more engine power.
I was hit by Toyota ForeRunner, just about a foot in front of the drivers door. The wheel well panel and its rivets popped and were pulled away, after fire department, sawed away the front end of the Forerunner from my 85' Saab 900. Fortunate, after I was whacked at 25-30mpg...
Saab On!!
Sadly it's rarely the best product which wins/sells the best. Drivers buy a car along the lines of "This car will be great when I crash it!". Drivers usually don't factor in the chance of a crash. They look at price and features and in that regard Saabs were just too expensive for many. They were the "logical" cars, but buying a car is rarely a logical thing because consumers tend to have a very odd relationship with their cars.
What a shame that a TRUE quality car maker was allowed to go bust.
If only Top Gear had shown this sort of admiration a year or two earlier, then Saab might still be in existence.
Their programs were shown in 100 countries, imagine the difference it would have made to Saab sales.
I’ve had a new BMW 325 6 cylinder and new 540i 8 cylinder.
The three series certainly felt no where near as SOLID or as well put together as my Saab 9.3 2.8, 6 cylinder turbo.
The five series was more comfortable but couldn’t match the Saab for acceleration and certainly didn’t feel better put together, just a softer ride.
Both Saab and Volvo were great cars. The key word is were. Today the Chinese own Volvo and Saab cars are no longer made.
Volvos are still made in Sweden (and Belgium, USA and some models in China) by Swedish engineers.
I loved Saabs and owned most of the models bit they went downhill rapidly in the mid 90s to The point where I was no longer happy to put up with all the common faults and switched allegiance to Jaguar.
Truth is nothing g[d lasts forever. RIP SAAB
If you were Richard Hammond you would be alright 😂
OI!
I WAS WATCHING THAT!!!!!
I had 4 SAAB's the last 9-5 was like an Opel in quality. Just orfull! A couple a years I tried a used 9-3 late model with less than 100.000 km on the clock. It was a terrible wacky experience. As if the whole car was about to disintegrate. In spite of all this I would love to own a 900 aero coupe today from the 80ies
Well, that is weird. I have driven almost every Saab (except models like the Viggen and 2.8 Aero) from the 1980's - 2012 and I never had that experience. The suspension on the older models are a little bit soft, but the quality felt solid and the performance was better than the average modern car.
John, you had bad luck. I own a GM built Saab 9-3 from 2006 that now has 164,000 miles and is the best maintenance free car I have ever owned. Far better than the Toyotas and Hondas I owned before it.
Therazer43 i agree now!
The video ended very abruptly.
thanks for cutting it off at the end ?????
This entire episode of Top Gear about Saab was epic. If I learned a lesson from the Saab story is that obsession is dangerous. Saab was good in many cases too good to be true. Sadly, no matter how good you design and manufacture your product if you cannot sell it is worthless. That was the Saab's bit of contradiction they were too good that cost of manufacturing caused the end to the brand SAAB and made it SAGA instead throwing into the dusty shelves of the history.
The sad truth is profit is more important than quality, safety, etc.
Wow the e30’s really crush like tin cans :S
how about a 89 saab 900 s
i want to see modern cars fall, or I want to see a model S fall down
whats the song from 0:00 to 0:20 thankss
bobby womack - california dreaming
the real swedish tank
Swedish steel 💪🏻💪🏻
Miss saab
The SAAB 9000 is one hell of a car. You have to own a good one and you never like a new car again. The feel of the road is like a pro build super car.
Who knew a high standard would kill a company
RIB SAAB 💔🌺
Did they really just destroy a e30. It’s a e30, a classic by today’s standards
It was a 325i aswell ):
SAAB is a Rebel Teenager, GM is the parents
GM is not even close to SAAB
Forward Thinking parents doesn't kill their son
This is a Saab story.
Awww man i like Saab ❤️😭
Volvo and Saab and so so solid