Originally Posted by
drzoidberg
PROS:
- Supple supportive leather seats with good side bolstering, and comfortable headrests.
- Ergonomically friendly steering wheel.
- Sure footed handling.
- Eyebrow lights on headlamps
- 0-60 time feels faster than it really is.
- Not much turbo lag.
- Steering feel channels just the right combination of lightness and road feel.
CONS:
- The turbo engine is just a turboed 4-cyl Ecotec engine!
- Interior space too cramped; heck, the VW Jetta I rented last time was much roomier.
- 0-60 time of 8.3 seconds is econobox slow.
- Fuel gauge difficult to discern whether at full tank or not.
- Eyebrow lamps make it a wannabe BMW.
- Identical radio screen and controls to that on BMW 3-series, except with green instead of orange font colors. But really, a car in this price range should have some sort of touchscreen display with standard XM satellite radio. Monocolor display? Uggggh...Even the 2011 Dodge Charger has a standard 4.3" color touchscreen.
- Windshield wipers only have 2 speeds, and fastest speed isn't fast enough.
- Considering it stickers at $33K, you don't get very much bang for the buck. Weak engine, no power controls for front passenger seats, terrible plasticky interior, substandard radio, no touchscreen, etc.. It's competing against rivals like the Lincoln MKZ, Nissan Maxima, and Hyundai Genesis, all of which are far superior to this 9-3. Doesn't even come standard with Sirius XM.
I used to have a 1980's Saab 900. I still read about Saabs occasionally at
www.saabworld.net and
www.saabnet.com (that's an ugly website).
Some cons are not fair assessments. A 16 valve turbo is better, in general, than a V-6, which is just marketing the V name and 6. The acceleration time is slow?? Yahoo answers quotes 6.5-7.8. Eyebrow lamps are the rage...Audi, BMW, Saab.
- Identical radio screen and controls to that on BMW 3-series, except with green instead of orange font colors.
This is actually an advantage! The eye sees green better, less intensity of light needed. Red or orange is just fashion. Also, can get millisecond confusion to other car's red brake lights.
- Considering it stickers at $33K, you don't get very much bang for the buck.
That's a pricing gimmick. They are purposely priced high but $25K is common, which makes it overlap in price with the Honda Accord.