Test drive Saab 9-5: Swedish kings

Saab is already under the protection of Holland. A new 9-5 is currently being developed, which should help the company regain its position in the market in the near future. What are his chances of success?

For anyone who will once again say that this is not a real Saab, let's sum it up. The Swedish brand has been developing cars since 1947, and the last model that appeared without foreign intervention and help is the 900 from 1978. 32 years have passed since then, which means that the period when Saab is produced in its purest form. , shorter than the one in which it was made jointly or when it was owned by GM. By the way, the first model created together with another manufacturer was the Saab 9000, which shared a structural basis with the first generation of Fiat Chroma. Does it make sense to worry about the new Saab 9-5 being associated with Opel Insignia? Given the quality of the German model, this is more of a privilege, and stylistically the 9-5 is not like the car from Rüsselsheim.

Increase your size

The 9-5 rather cites its predecessors with its steep windshield, small glass area and overall top end architecture. In terms of size, it breaks tradition - in most cases, the brand's models belonged to the more compact part of the segment, and the new 9-5 exceeds its predecessor in length by as much as 17 cm. The reason for this is largely due to the fact that the model claims to be more representative and therefore larger than its donor Opel Insignia, whose length is almost 18 cm shorter.

However, the implementation of the design and the more voluminous shapes of the 9-5 resulted in an overall reduction in visibility in the car. Large areas in front and behind slip out of the driver's field of vision - not a very pleasant fact, which, however, is somewhat mitigated by the presence of parking sensors. The large turning circle is also to blame for the lack of traffic in the city. However, apart from these facts, passengers can only enjoy the benefits of increased body size - they really are riding in the back in first class. Despite the low roofline, they have plenty of legroom and headroom. We won't be tempted to qualify it as a coupe line, because now that hackneyed cliché is being used even for a station wagon. Volvo...

In the salon

Comfort is inherent in the front seats as well, with one caveat - you have to be careful with the flex due to the steep pillars mentioned and the low, far-reaching roof, which, however, creates a pleasant feeling of coziness. Incidentally, this is one of the typical traits of the Saab brand, along with a dash-shaped dashboard. The canons of inheritance are respected, although for ten years the automobile company has not been involved in the production of aircraft. The folklore in this area continues in the form of a head-up display (plus 3000 lv.) and a digital speedometer that can be turned on and off and which resembles an aircraft altimeter.

The kinship with the Insignia is immediately visible in the interior - both by the glass control keys and by the abundance of buttons on the center console. Instead, many control functions are accessed via the touchscreen of the infotainment system.

On the road

It's time to start the engine, and in classic Saab style, we find a button for this on the console between the two front seats on the gear lever. Petrol. Four cylinders. Turbocharger. All prerequisites for testing the full brand experience have been met. However, the direct injection engine also comes from the Insignia, but this is the best gasoline engine from General Motors. Despite the increased size of the car, and here it works perfectly, it offers powerful traction, accompanied by a quiet hiss of the turbocharger.

For an additional €2200, Saab combines this engine with a six-speed automatic transmission. When the 9-5 moves calmly down the track, the two units are in perfect harmony with each other. Unfortunately, it is lost when driving on secondary roads with a lot of turns - often right in front of them, when the gas is released, the transmission shifts up, which leads to a decrease in traction, and then, with a feverish and not very accurate gas supply, it starts to flow. fluctuates between gears. For this reason, it is recommended to order a version with additional steering wheel mounting plates, although they only work when the transmission lever is in the manual shift position.

Drive Sense reasonable

As soon as we move on to the subject of the order, you must use the option of adaptive bi-xenon headlights - 1187 levs, as well as an adaptive chassis with Drive Sense damper control. It offers three modes - Comfort, Intelligent and Sport.

The latter can give you pleasure for no more than three minutes, after which it begins to crawl along your nerves with constant jerks and intermittent sensations in the steering wheel, reacts sharply during acceleration, and the transmission becomes too hectic. The other two modes significantly improve suspension comfort. Another reason for choosing Drive Sense is the fact that there is a certain lack of comfort with the regular chassis in the 9-5, largely due to the 19-inch low-profile tires.

The adaptive chassis does an excellent job of tackling this problem when setting up Comfort, responding gently to bumps, but then the car starts to wobble around corners. This does not have a significant impact on safe handling, but the smart mode is the best choice, in which the dampers get a little tighter and the 9-5 moves more dynamically without losing much of its comfort. However, even in this case, the malfunction of the dull feedback steering system remains. However, it should be recognized that at least there are no sharp shocks when the compressor pressure arrow starts to vibrate in front of the red zone and the torque wave hits the front wheels.

The 9-5 is criticized for its high fuel consumption, inadequate driver assistance systems for this class and imperfect traffic sign recognition system. But the 9-5 does not claim to be the perfect car, but a model that offers pleasant long-distance travel comfort and is a true Saab. Since the 9-5 has achieved these goals, if only thanks to him, Saab will wish it could get out of the situation it found itself in.

text: Sebastian Renz

a photo: Hans-Dieter Zeufert

Character recognition

Saab also includes a character recognition system complete with a ribbon matching assistant. A camera located behind the interior mirror scans the area in front of the vehicle and, when the software recognizes overtaking, speed limit or cancellation signs, displays them on the dashboard.

The system comes from Opel, but in the 9-5 its performance is not at a high level. The recognition error is about 20 percent, and this reduces its usefulness, since the information provided cannot be completely relied on.