Saab 9-5 AERO
Saab's Fastest 9-5 Now Punches Hard. Andy Enright Takes A Look At A Viable Alternative To the Executive Block Vote
The Saab 9-5 Aero was always frustratingly close to being able to mix it with the class best. There were always caveats however, considerations that made it difficult to plump for the Saab over its executive rivals. Saab have worked at ironing out these shortcomings and the Aero has benefited from an inordinate amount of modifications. Does it deserve a place on the podium?
Saab aroused a good deal of scepticism, suspicion and outright scorn by choosing to launch their original 9-5 Aero on a road route that consisted largely of arrow straight Swiss motorway. The latest model puts its cards on the table right from the outset. So confident were Saab of the Aeros handling prowess that the launch for the latest model included a section swerving around cones on a windswept Swedish airfield. Whilst itd be an exaggeration to say that the old car would have experienced trouble avoiding an injudiciously located airfield, it was never particularly adept when shown an apex.
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Customers of the original 9-5 Aero will notice a few tweaks incorporated over recent years. These include a revised front grille and headlights and the more streamlined bumpers to freshen up the Aeros face. The air dam beneath the bumper has also been subtly revised and there are some subtle ten-spoke 17-inch alloys.
"Exploit the
Saab 9-5 Aero to the full and you may run out of answers when a JP asks you why you were travelling at 152mph on the Queens Highway"
The major change becomes apparent the first time you decide that restraint is for career civil servants and really drop the hammer. Whereas the original car would shimmy as the front wheels desperately tried to deploy the available power, this 9-5 Aero responds with a light tug at the steering wheel, a quick blink of traction control light on the fascia and then one long, creamy surge of power. Accelerating hard out of tight corners is something of a 9-5 novelty and the Aero relishes the chance to pin you back into your
seat. The reasons for this transformation are manifold.
Saab has worked at increasing the torsional rigidity of the cars chassis so that they can then tune each aspect of the suspension more accurately without having to try to work around the major handicap of chassis flex. The steering system has been extensively modified, and it feels as if Saab have damped the amount of feedback but quickened the steering rack so that your inputs are instantly translated to the front wheels without too much heckling from the front row. You can still feel the front tyres keying into the tarmac as they put down what is now 250bhp, up 20bhp on the old model. ESP traction and stability control appears for the first time, but instead of masking the inadequacies of the 9-5 chassis it works well with the revised set up, intervening only when the car has genuinely run out of answers.
Exploit the Saab 9-5 Aero to the full and you may run out of answers when a JP asks you why you were travelling at 152mph on the Queens Highway. The sprint to 60mph takes just 6.9 seconds, which would at least make entertaining viewing when it appeared on the next episode of "Police, Stop". The 9-5 line-up has been much improved in recent times, notably with the introduction on 5-speed automatic variants of Saabs Sentronic gear selection featuring a gearchange via steering wheel mounted buttons. Drivers can still set Sentronic into a fully automatic mode, but when the gear selector is knocked into the M position, it can then be controlled much like a sequential manual box. Electrically powered door mirrors are adopted from the 9-3 Sport Saloon and can be specified with an automatic folding function to make parking or manoeuvring in confined spaces that bit easier.
This is available together with automatic dimming to eliminate dazzle. Inside the car, there have been a few changes too, the most obvious of which are two revised fascia panels which can be specified in either dark grey walnut veneer or carbon fibre. Other options include ventilated sports seats and a state of the art DVD-based navigation system with a 7-inch colour touch screen LCD panel. The final tweak has been the addition of two metallic paint finishes Merlot Red and Graphite Green.
Otherwise, its as you were. Whichever Aero model you choose, the price includes a
smart (but thankfully subtle) performance bodykit. Front foglights are built into a deep chin spoiler at the front but rather refreshingly, there's no rear wing, preserving the car's understated appeal. Other standard Aero features include leather heated electric memory sports seats, Bi-Xenon headlamps, parking radar, metallic paint, climate-controlled air conditioning, cruise control, a trip computer and a full house CD stereo system with steering wheel controls. Plus all the usual executive features - ABS, power steering, electric windows, power mirrors, central locking, tinted glass and so on. Where the 9-5 Aero has always scored is in terms of value for money.
At £27,400 for the saloon variant, it offers 250bhp and an impressive amount of quality, prestige and standard equipment. How cheaply does 250bhp come if you want something German? The 247bhp Mercedes E240 is nearly £29,500, whilst 264bhp worth of
BMW 545i starts at over £42,000. Neither of these models can approach the Saab Aeros value proposition, the closest rivalry coming from Volvos S80 T6 a car that will still relieve you of nearly £31,000 in SE guise. For so long the makeweight of the executive car class, the Saab 9-5 Aero now punches its weight.
Its taken Trollhatten a while to learn that power is nothing without control. Now that theyve woken up and smelt the coffee, the Aeros going to cause a few long faces in Germany. And the customer wins every way up
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: Saab 9-5 Aero
PRICES: £27,400-£28,600 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 17
CO2 EMISSIONS: 211g/km
PERFORMANCE: 0-60mph 6.5s / Max Speed 152mph
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (urban) 20.9mpg/ (combined) 29.7mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front and Side airbags / ABS / TCS
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Height, 4810/2040/1450mm
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