Saab test drive 9-5 2001-2005 sedan

Blood analysis

During the race on a narrow and complex highway, someone must fly out of asphalt and finds himself in outsiders. In Russia, Saab 9-5 and Alfa Romeo 166 were on the sidelines.
 
Such annoying misses happen not only in sports: life, especially business is also an eternal struggle for a place on the road to a bright future. The struggle goes according to the rules that are much tougher than in car races. One wrong turn of the steering wheel - and you are almost out of the game. Competitors with a dense wall rush past, and in order to return to the group of leaders, one must have not only skill, but also luck.
So, in fact, happened before our eyes with two brands - Saab and Alfa Romeo. Competitors for the production of business class sedans went around them on a steep turn and are now confidently leading on a straight line. Why this happened, we decided to find out, taking two very interesting cars for the test-Saab 9-5 and Alfa Romeo 166 of the 2001 model year.
PIT STOP. The Saab brand officially appeared on the Russian market in 1993 and immediately took up the leader’s positions - she was loved in government agencies and the private sector. It is enough to recall that it was Saab that created one of the first official services and stores of spare parts in Moscow. In the early 90s, business pioneers traded nine thousandths, like hot pies: one and a half hundred per month. At that time, the new word Nissan just began to displace the usual name Jeep from our vocabulary, and the top of the chic was considered a respectable family Volvo. Over the past eight years, Saab has acquired a good service infrastructure - in the European part of Russia there are six authorized service centers - most in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The owner of the brand and manufacturer Alfa Romeo, the Fiat concern, still cannot decide how interested in our market and what models, in fact, should be sold here. At the same time, Fiat does not allocate special quotas for Russian dealers, as is the case with SAAB. As a result, sellers collect cars with a world along a thread, from other markets. By the way, the common opinion that this is the southern car and an unusual machine is unusual to our climate is a misconception. We do not need such a fiat learned by bitter experience and enthusiasts from the social movement! dealers pull out cars intended exclusively for Northern Europe. And even independently, without the support of the center, they take on warranty obligations - a year without limiting a run. Let us give tribute to their courage and enthusiasm-Russian dealers provide a similar guarantee on Saab 9-5, but use all the benefits that the official assembly for Russia guarantees.
By the way, the FIAT service network, where theoretically can serve and repair ALFA 166, turned out to be much wider. Today these are twelve stations, four of which are located in Moscow, while others are scattered through the regions, from St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod to Kopeisk. Outwardly, everything is not so bad, but the models are still skidding.
 
Cuore Sportivo. The Italians came up with the phrase for the sports heart for the Alfa Romeo style. According to designers, the solidity of a businessman and elegant ease of playboy is harmoniously combined in it. The idea is subordinated to the appearance, interior decoration, dynamics and temperament. In Western Europe, this approach makes an irresistible impression on the consumer - after all, the refusal of smoking and the sports cut of business suits in fashion. Business lunas were replaced by business parties to squash and negotiations at the bar in fitness centers.
 
Another thing is Russia - while the President is skiing in Austria, discussing the problems of financial ANSHLUS, a significant part of domestic businessmen visits not only theaters and sports clubs, but also casinos, night clubs and private saunas. And in the latest establishments it is not customary to boast of the appearance of the aristocrat in the tenth generation-we all came out of the people ... The car is still important as a social symbol that reports the position of the owner in the boundaries understandable encirclement.
The appearance of the Saab 9-5 is more suitable for our mentality: its forms are thought of a confident business, a strong family, a decent bank account. Although it also feels this very Cuore Sportivo, but in the Swedish presentation it looks more restrained and hidden. The Russian Saab, rather, causes memories of the aviation glory of the brand - and in the Soviet country, the Air Force pilots received a good salary and enhanced food.
 
Business package. The Swedes quite rightly believe that the consumer of expensive cars in Russia prefers complete minced meat, so they supply us with cars in a very rich basic configuration. This is the heating of the seats, climate control, cruise control, an on-board computer, an almost complete electric package, a minimum of two airbags with a company SAHR active head restraint system. In addition, there are also such rather exotic things as the rain sensor and a self -clever intransal mirror.
Alfa is more democratic. Cruise control is absent, like electrochromatic mirrors and heating of the seats. For an additional fee, you can get folding side mirrors, curtains for all rear windows and xenon headlights. And then, even contacting 9-5 on the set of options, the 166th will still be somewhat cheaper.
In other words, and the 9-5 and 166th offer almost the entire gentleman's set of business class, without which an expensive modern car cannot be thought.
 
BUSINESS PLAN. The times when wealthy Russians drew attention to the fact that on the surface-an electron-leather-climate, have already sunk into oblivion. Competitors understood this earlier than Saab and Fiat. And not only they figured out how to sell their cars cheaper. They gained strength to scream about the merits of their models at every step. We have already learned to fall asleep under the ford anthem, which does not sound only on cable channels, read on every corner about Revolvolution, and come from the street to free test drives BMW and Audi.
And who heard about Alfa Romeo? Only stubborn fans buying European auto -magazines that are full of advertising of this brand. But Russians are interested in largely not only cheap Palio. Alfa Romeo 166 with its combination of price and quality multiplied by sled abilities, I would probably be able to take strong positions. We have many people who, in addition to money, have a little more blood in the blood.
 
The former glory of the Saab was overshadowed by another - the high price of the car itself, coupled with the high cost of operation. The final transition of the brand under the power of General Motors, which only since the end of last year, began to more or less actively engage in the promotion of the brand in Russia, who began to start special prices from the end of last year, played in this way. But the GM giant is weakly pressing on the eyes and ears of customers - in Russia, it seems that he is more interested in the sales of a more democratic Opel, the reincarnation of the Niva and other projects for mass baking of hot pies.
 
In Alfa Romeo 166 and in Saab 9-5 in abundance power, dynamics, maneuverability and speed. Thanks to the turbine, the torque in Saab has the best characteristics and is more active in pickups. The Alpha six loves the momentum, and when the motor is spinning to its 3500-4000 thousand, the Italian is ready to give a good head start.
Saab is equipped with a traditional automatic machine with normal, sports and winter modes. Automatic transmission is very lively and instantly responds to the work of the accelerator pedal. Adaptive Sportronic with electronic control and manual gearbox mode on Alfa Romeo in 40 minutes adjusts to the style of the sitting at the wheel, and in manual mode is switched to higher gear only when the revolutions reach the limit and automatically switches to the first gear.
 
The controllability and behavior of both cars on the road deserve excellent ratings. The work of the suspension, the accuracy of reactions - all this enjoys the control process itself. We only note that the Saab suspension is significantly softer, but the Swede replays the Italian a little in terms of energy intensity.
 
Both cars in terms of their sled qualities clearly surpass many competitors in the class - primarily in that they harmoniously combine comfort, safety and ease of management with an active driver character. We drove them through the streets of the city and was surprised to notice how alone these two cars were in the Moscow stream. They turned in Russia into a kind of gourmet dish: very tasty, but painfully little and expensive ...
Text Andrey Timofeev, photo Alexey Ilyin
Cars were provided by the representative office of General Motors of the CIS in Russia and the company Army Auto, (095) 289-9191. Insurance is carried out by Ingosstrakh, (095) 956-5555.

 

Source: "Autopilot"