"Erik, would you please hold this steering wheel while Per and I attach the column. One moment; it is time for lunch. In one hour we shall return - please do not let go."
According to the company, the Saab 9-3 is designed '....from the driver outwards'. It takes very little imagination to envisage the production process following the same route - starting with the steering wheel and working outwards; like installing a sink and building a house around it.
This is complete nonsense of course, as is, to some extent, Saab's implying that it alone is responsible for the 9-3's design; that somehow it has nothing in common with other GM cars, notably the Vauxhall Vectra. The fact that the 9-3 and the Vectra share the same platform, and most of the suspension components, is not mentioned. Nor are the switches or other telltale similarities.
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The new Saab is still capable of being a BMW-beater |
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Yet however much the same they may be, the Vectra and the Saab are two entirely different cars. Or, more precisely, the Saab retains its individuality, the Saab-ness that has distinguished the marque from its contemporaries since the days of Gunnar Ljungstrom, who turned a tear drop into a motor car and called it a Saab 92.
That was in 1947, and in the succeeding 60 years, Saab cars have managed to retain a trace of the original DNA despite the gene pool's being successively diluted by the likes of Fiat and now General Motors. One endearing feature that no longer is exclusive to Saab, but which remains as a kind of watermark, is the tunnel-mounted ignition switch.
Powered by a 2.8-litre V6, the 9-3 Aero pays homage to Saab's most notable legacy: turbocharging. With a 0.5 bar 'soft' turbo, the 9-3 continues the tradition of the iconic 900i, which had an intercooled Garrrett blower delivering 175 bhp. (This was in 1983, when a 6-pot 3-Series could manage only 143 bhp, and a 1600 Sierra was rated at just 75 bhp.)
The new Saab is still capable of being a BMW-beater, and it takes a 3.0-litre 325i M Sport to keep up with it, and then only just.
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