The Vehicles Earth

The Saab 9-5 is still here!
In case you hadn’t heard, Saab is dead. But our Saab 9-5 2.0 TTiD Aero long-term test car is neither dead nor showing any signs of deadness. Death. Whatever.

No, in fact, the perception of  the 9-5 at CAR HQ is doing what Saab used to do jolly well in the days of Erik Carlsson: rallying. You’ve heard of the dead cat bounce, yes? Well here’s the dead Saab bounce, a phenomenon in which a car that had been slightly underwhelming suddenly starts to take on a strange allure once it’s imperilled. Have you ever dumped your girlfriend for several sound reasons, and then immediately started thinking how lovely and attractive she is? Or quit your stressful job and then instantly started enjoying it? No? Just me then.

But I’m now approaching the long (VERY long, in fact, at 5008mm) red saloon with a sense of increased affection and delight. It’s always been a good-looking car, the 9-5, and I reckon we got the wheels right too (19in Edge alloys at £105 a corner). Which helps. But now I’m looking at those architectural hindquarters, those graceful 900-alike C-pillars, that raked roofline, and I’m starting to wish we could keep the car for good.

Inside, too, it’s becoming more pleasurable, as the black leather upholstery settles into that 12,000-mile bagginess that you just know won’t change again for another 100,000 miles.

Luckily, before we get carried away on a cloud, there’s still the grotty diesel engine – that carbuncle which reminds me every morning and every evening how GM has screwed up, big time. If Achilles had been a 9-5 then we’d be talking about Achilles’ engine, not Achilles heel.

Finally, keep an eye on the fuel consumption. I can’t explain why but it keeps getting better. Back in the November 2011  issue I was returning 34.4, which in itself wasn’t bad against a claimed 37.2. Now I’m inching towards 38 and rising. Saab’s epitaph might be this: ‘The first car I’ve ever driven that returned a better-than-claimed mpg’.

By Greg Fountain