Ownership Verified: Going green: 2006 Saab 9-5 Sportcombi (wagon)

Labcoatguy

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Joined
Mar 27, 2005
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14,181
Location
New England region, USA
Car(s)
#Jaguar #XKR #XJR, #Saab #9-3 #9-5 #900
If all goes well, within the next week I will own a house in the countryside with a lot of garage space. It's also a convenient excuse for me to get another car, in this case a Saab 9-5 estate with the "Dame Edna" facelift and a 2.3 inline-4 turbo engine with 260 horsepower. Automatic, alas, but as a utility, vehicle, it'll serve just fine, plus the sport mode is quite exuberant in its downshifts and holding lower gears.
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I still want to know what drugs they were taking when they approved of those "chrome" things around the headlights. Apart from that: Congrats, nice car. :) (y)
 
Ah yes, the Dame Edna model 9-5. ?
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I didn't know that they sold it in that colour, I like it. It looks so lost in the US-spec parking space in the first photo.
 
I still want to know what drugs they were taking when they approved of those "chrome" things around the headlights. Apart from that: Congrats, nice car. :) (y)
My educated guess:

Their nemesis Volvo had just come out with an all-new S80 and the V70 was to follow shortly. Saab had no monies for such things and designers were tasked with making the facelift as radical as possible with no sheet metal changes and a budget of €3.

I remember the Swedish car magazines reviewing the dame edna version at the time, trying their best to make it sound positive.

On topic: i have fond memories of going to a Saab test drive tour in the 00’s. On offer were the 9-3 2.0T and 9-5 2.3T Aero versions. I remember the 9-5 being a more substantial car, and the way it went from 80 to 120 (and then some) was mind-blowing to me back then. Faster than you can say “fucking caravan”.
 
Yeah it's rather hilarious how much parts-binning went on in this car. It has the same key fob and turn signal and wiper stalks as my 9-3, which itself is a lightly warmed-over new-generation 900. The radio is a GM parts bin piece with a Saab-specific bezel, and other bits on the interior have been facelifted with shiny but cheap plastic overlays.
 
But at the same time, Saab used a lot of money they didn't have developing new parts instead of using what GM had.

There's this story about some GM exec touring the Saab plant around 2010 etc and realizing that Saab had invented their own infotainment system instead of using the one GM put in all their other cars, including Opel.

I drive an Opel Insignia and there aren't many interior bits I recognize when I look inside a NG 9-5. Light switch, stalks and handbrake button, that's about it I think.
 
Now that you mention it, the infotainment on the NG 9-5 is interesting. It's as if they remixed the buttons and dot-matrix screen from the previous 9-5 so it doesn't look like a straight-up GM reskin, but the details are very GM, down to the flaking paint on the buttons.
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For reference, here's the GM-based radio in the Dame Edna cars:
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And here's what it looks like in a Chevy Cobalt of the same era.
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Congrats on a new house with more space! Congrats on a new SAAB! Rip out that head unit and put in something modern.
 
Now that you mention it, the infotainment on the NG 9-5 is interesting. It's as if they remixed the buttons and dot-matrix screen from the previous 9-5 so it doesn't look like a straight-up GM reskin, but the details are very GM, down to the flaking paint on the buttons.
Funny how you found a picture taken by a boneyard that's (somewhat) local to me :p Erikssons. I see their roll-back tow truck every now and then, picking up yet another dead something or other from a customer.
 
Haha yeah, I drive past the place all the time. It's on my commute route.
 
Proof pic. It's been proving its worth shuttling furniture and stuff between houses. At some point I'll have the exhaust manifold fixed so it doesn't leak at the gasket and sound like a demented diesel under boost.
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My Series III had a separate switch for the panel lights and for some reason it was quietly terrifying to drive with no panel lights, even if they were tiny and candlelit to begin with. I remember trying night panel in at least one of Davetouch's Saabs, still didn't like it. :p
 
You know it's a proper Saab when it actually looks pretty good with three-spoke wheels. Yes, they need washing.
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