Moving from 900 to (visually identical) 9³, Saab claimed more than 1,000 alterations and improvements. The seats were wider and more comfortable, side airbags were standard, and various bits and pieces inside were upgraded, including an anti-whiplash head restraint. Plus, there was the first diesel engine ever installed in a Saab; the 115-horsepower 2.2-liter.

"It's amazing to think how quickly Saab seems to have lost any sporting image that they once had," mused Tiff Needell of BBC's Top Gear, adding, "it seems like only a few years ago that the old shape 900 turbo was all the range among the trendy, enthusiastic driving set!"

Not that it mattered to Saab, whose customer loyalty in the U.K. was second only to Mercedes-Benz; 80% of Saab owners came back for another.

Some of that loyalty dissipated in 2003, however, when a new 9³ ditched the familiar hatchback body style for a trunk.

For 2008, the Saab 9³ sedan; estate, and cabriolet are facelifted with a front end featuring the 9⁵'s eyelash headlights, and a grille recalling Saab's Aero-X Concept.

More than 2,000 changes are made, including the front fascia; new door skins with rubbing strips removed, and door handles. The interior remains largely the same, as a revised dashboard has been in production for a year.


Originally, Saab's next-generation 9³ was to have been based on GM's longer and wider Epsilon II platform (used for the 2009 9-5). However, Saab is considering radically downsizing the model to fit GM's Global premium compact platform.


The biggest change for 2008 is Saab's Cross Wheel Drive XWD system, the ultimate expression of the facelifted 9³ range. XWD is based around the new, fourth-generation Haldex clutch, mounted ahead of the rear differential. The unit is predictive, able to send torque rearward before front-wheel slip occurs.

Saab engineers have fitted a second Haldex clutch - dubbed the eLSD - to the output side of the differential so that torque can be divided between the rear wheels (a system similar to that in Acura's RL).


Under the hood, Saab offers the option of a new 180 bhp twin-turbo diesel engine.

A new 2.0t turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline motor will deliver 200 bhp when filled with E85 ethanol.

Saab buyers looking for V6 power can select from 255 bhp or 280 bhp 2.8-liter V6 engines. The latter mandates the XWD Cross Wheel Drive system, to control torque steer, although low-end torque is marginal; turbo lag is considerable, and steering - while quick - wants for feel.


Among the changes are improvements to refinement. The gearbox gets a new linkage between it and the lever, while the automatic transmission gains a Sport mode.


At Frankfurt 2003's showing of the 9³ SportCombi Concept, its designer Michael Mauer pretty much describes it as a crossover, calling it "testimony to the emergence of a new automotive order, one where orthodox classifications are no longer relevant to demanding owners who require one vehicle to fulfill different functions."

695 new parts make up the SportCombi. Its chief engineer, Per Fjaestad, confirms that the car retains the torsional rigidity of the 9³ sedan.

Though low volume, the SportCombi is an image car for Saab, which has long done wagons well. It features 15 light-emitting diodes in the tail-lights, while an aluminum hatch saves 9.5 pounds over steel.

Saab hopes to sell between 2,000 and 4,000 SportCombis in the U.S., annually.



Drawing its name (which translates to thunderbolt) from the Saab 37 Viggen jet fighter, this 230-horsepower screamer, with 258 foot-pounds of torque at its disposal, torque-steered its way across the landscape, all the while threatening the make its driver part of it. Nimonic replaced sodium in making the engine's exhaust valves sufficiently heat-resistant.

In a sense, the Viggen was Saab's (pre water-cooled) Porsche 911: flawed, but oh, so tempting in its taunts. Perhaps too untamable for Saab, Viggen disappeared after 2002.