2001 Saab Viggen: Regular Car Reviews
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- Опубліковано 26 бер 2023
- This week on Regular Car Reviews, we review the 2001 Saab 9-3 Viggen! This is one of the final cars from one of the most iconic car brands to ever die, Sweden's own Saab. But does the Viggen live up to the Saab standard? Or did General Motors prevent Saab from making a true performance car? Why was the GM-Saab partnership so controversial? We'll take the Saab 9-3 Viggen out for a drive, and answer all these questions, plus a whole lot more on today's episode of RCR!
For more on Saab, watch our epic 3-hour RCR Stories on The Life and Death of Saab: • The Life and Death of ... - Авто та транспорт
SAAB BOY HOURS
GOT DIFFERENT SAAB STORIES
SAVE YOUR SOLILOQUIES
They took away our baby
Get ready to know how to machine a new transmission!
You call?
YEAAAAH BABY THATS WHAT IVE BEEN WAITING FOR
The GM/ Saab relationship was like an arranged marriage doomed to fail because the bride’s wealth was tied up in an exotic fruit that tastes like a common one.
Wow, now THAT a similie worthy of this channel
Brilliantly worded.
Now that *_is one hell of a comment - well done, sir, well done_*
Went as well as the Daimler-Benz/ Chrysler relationship.
That Saab Viggen medical commercial was pure gold! I’ve got to rewind and watch again
The Skip Ad watermark was great :))))
I am glad you announced it.
@@vtr0104 my dumbass tried to click it
you know what ad I got after that spoof ad? BMW! 🤣🤣
omg the footnotes, the bit about owning a Ram
The Viggen, V6 Aero, and Turbo X were the last gasps of Saab turbo fun, and I'm glad they existed.
@@rasklaat2 that half charged 3.0 V6 was never an aero. I think he means the 2.8l V6 9-3 aero
@@Raigoor09 Yeah we don't speak of the crap 3.0. the 2.8 was a pretty solid engine. Mines going on near 250k miles, still pulls like a rabid dog.
The Saab 2.0 turbo is better than the V6, because it's made by Saab. It's better than the 2.3 because it's balanced.
I was very close to buying one of these trims
If you have a 9-5 Aero those are toys.
“With a Turbo that lags more than counter strike on dial up”. This writing is top notch
"Considerate people don't buy BMW's" probably the most true quote i've ever heard!
Sorry, but when the light is green and traffic is moving and you stop in the middle of the road to let somebody in from the Taco Bell drive through exit, I am honking my horn. But I drive a BMW not a Subaru WRX so I am not going to continue to honk while flipping you off and swearing out the window. I just want to get where I am going, quickly and not draw a bunch of attention to myself.
It's annoying, because I like BMW's but am typically quite a considerate driver. Mind... my BMW is an early 70's 2002, which hits a bit different than other Bimmers.
@Thomas Durant I drive a modified '86 Grand Marquis that *moves* like a 3 series and I shout out the window at those folks and stand on my horn and drive around them when they jump on their brakes 10 feet from the light as it turns yellow because they're worried the CIA is reading their plate number from outer space 😂😂😂😂
E46 is better in every way, even with 212k miles. GM and wrong-wheel-drive are just too many flies in the ointment that not even swedish jet fighter skunk works can get rid of. You aren't required to neglect an e46 as much as possible and drive with exceptionally high blood pressure like a middle manager. You also don't have to stance it like a misguided youth. Drive it like a normal considerate person and very few people look at you weird, and who cares if they do, enjoy your car for you. Just don't drive like one of the aforementioned hot heads and all will be well.
God damn Bobby bmw is a superior car choose
Smoke the streets
Not the your meats
The Viggen is one of those cars I am always keeping an eye out for, because it is rare and obscure enough for people not to know what it is.
I'm 25 and I've owned 2 different Saabs, a 2003 Saab 95 Linear (my first ever car), and a 2007 Saab 93 Aero V6 Wagon 6-spd. My favourite part was always people saying "you drive a what?"
@@adamhinckley5062 Oh yes there is so much hair I would purchase it if you are willing I love hair and eating hair
It WAS obscure... 'till now
SAAB Sunfire
I own a 9-3 viggen convertible. Love it
That “commercial” was amazing! The fine print was the cherry on top.
"Like an incel whose only allergy is portion control" is an amazing, quality line.
too amazing for me; some of these reviews are literary masterpieces
So is the urine stain mention
Saab, visionaries without the means to fulfill their ideals. Since I happen to live in Sweden, Saabs of that generation are plentiful and reasonably priced. We've driven Saabs in my family since my dad bought his first 9-3 in the late 90's/early 2000's. In 2006, he bought the newest 9-3 estate, completely optioned out (except for the "Aero" package).
His forum posts still exist out there of that car. You can really tell he loved that thing, and he must have been devastated when he was forced to sell it only a couple of years later.
Saabs are not the best cars, they never had the means to push that far. What Saabs are however is something immensely special, whilst also being fun, practical and safe for their time.
As a Swede, I am going to do my utmost to ensure that whatever Saab I get is taken care of, and is able to stay on the road as long as it possibly can.
My dad also had a '99 9-3 and mom an 06 9-3 Aero sportcombi. Something special for normal people. Now they drive Toyotas -- it never was about the image. They were just excellent cars with enough performance to smile.
If saab is destined to be a footnote in automotive history, let it be preserved as an interesting one.
Those seats you could sit in them forever
I have an 02 9-3 SE that is tuned and I enjoy the heck out of it. Trying to get it back to perfect.
I have an 85' 900 Turbo. I'm not Swedish but I have Swedish lineage. This car was a one owner before I got it with a 2nd generation Swedish family. They had done 330,000 miles before they blew a head gasket. Warped the block and head. I've got a new motor in it and and almost to the point I can work on the paint and interior. I'm having break troubles. I'm leaking fluid but have no visible leak anywhere. Thinking it's the brake master and/or vacuum booster. Planning to keep the old girl running for a long time.
I remember going west on i70 at triple digit speeds so my brother could see how fast my lightly modded Talon was. A Viggen passed me like I was standing still 😂.
This might be my most favorite episode of RCR in the past couple years. Something about the comedic gut punches and that mid-episode “commercial” make this truly special. Bravo team!!
Thank you! Glad you dug the commercial 😂
@@LimitedTimeRoman "skip ads" really got me lol
@@LimitedTimeRoman Beautiful execution. I think I need to speak with a doctor about AM.
SAAB’s accurately hit my G spot for some reason
Proper girth
I'm with you there
@@floydblandston108 🥰
G spot rocks the g spot, g spot rocks the g spot
GM did to SAAB what EA does with it's studios, force them to follow a certain mold , and then when they inevitably don't turn a profit, just kill them off and onto the next one.
Saab really missed out on a golden opportunity here, the "Black Saabath" edition
Dammit now i want mine back lol
I bought a used 9000 Aero in college for $2500 - it just needed a new exhaust. I was obsessed with the 2nd gear rush, and had my friends drive it to experience it. Was a great college car and was also great in the snow. I had that from 2008 to 2013, and still miss it 10 years later!
The Hank Hill impersonation was enough on it's own to deserve another "like" but your Saab Viggen pharma-Ad was just absolutely fkn brilliant hahahaha
Even as a Volvo guy, I still love Saabs. It's sad they never got the funding they deserved.
They would’ve burned through whatever funding they got anyways. You know, because J E T S!!!
了7Ikmkjn6uppm。哦李ioi你空间y665慢慢你空间kkik你哪里PkIhi 吗＝5😢就没了离开家j66。676655秘密lmmimkkkmm吗t9mm578kmjdmmj687kikkiioi
6就88
I ja sam volvist. Tri Volva zasad. Nažalost nikad nije bilo dobro vrijeme da kupim Saaba. Možda je sad vrijeme uzeti jednog za dušu.
I will always have a soft spot for SAAB. I used to have a 2001 9-5 Aero wagon with a stick. Wonderful sleeper of a car when you put a tune on it. Those 2.3 engines will take a lot of power without complaining. It was still pulling strong and smooth at almost 300k miles when the body rusted out around it. I wish I had the money to have kept it pristine but the New England winters had taken their toll.
Sold my 2001 Aero Wagon manual today. Same problem here, Finnish winters ate the body. E85 remap.
That's why I got two, an 02' and a 03'. Im looking to buy another, one I would only drive in the Massachusetts summers. I can only drive one at a time but it's nice to have backups. The one in the garage is nearly complete and getting close to that fresh from the showroom look. I never want to drive another car, it does everything and you can move a drum kit or several large speaker cabinets.
I drive a '04 9-5 manual up here in Montreal. It's low mileage, but rust is a problem because of salty winters. I love this car.
I had a 2000 9⁵ aero wagon manual and miss that thing terribly. Unfortunately it went out due to the pickup screen PCV issues. Had the 17" RKs too
@@giorgio. still hanging onto my ‘01. Ontario also loves its salt.
The thing thats always struck me about the turn of the millenium 9-3s is how good the front seats are. No other car seat fits me as well as they do.
Agreed I had a 2004 9-3 and I could drive that thing for hours feeling no discomfort. Great for napping too.
I miss the two 9-3s Dad had, I got one as a hand me down and it spoiled me for seating expectations.
@@alastairward2774what happened to it?
try a p2 s60
@@marvellousm except the lumbar support made of twine, which snaps if you sit down too hard. The back of the seat caves in and goes to shit
I remember my dad's Viggen. I loved that thing so much. I remember when a good friend of mine died right when we got out of high school, my dad handed me the keys to his black convertible Viggen. In the CD player was Radiohead's The Bends album. I never cried so much while simultaneously smiling. I remember picking up my friends and quietly sitting by the lake in a park with the top down and heat blasting. One of those sad moments we always look back on fondly.
Man. No other channel puts the effort into the bits like RCR. Bravo boyos
I didn't think I'd see another Saab on this channel so this was a pleasant surprise. I really miss my 9-3.
Same. I watched the "lie to me" review of the Sportcombi, just yesterday.
Still hoping to see 9000, it must be really rare in the US.
@@worawatli8952 a few of them show up every year for sale on autotrader. But it’s very rare now
That drug commercial was the cherry on top. I feel like RCR is getting back to what made it great in the first place.
When I saw the title was like:
"Wait you're doing jet reviews now?!"
The detail of the "skip ad" countdown on the Viggen commercial was absolute perfection!
Easily my favourite road legal car, can’t wait to see you review the other Viggen. Haven’t driven one myself but I heard they’re built to handle well on roads (it’s a Cold War thing). Turbo doesn’t lag as much as it’s little brother, although you get the best performance at about 15000 ft in the sky. Fuel economy is ok, 28 miles to the gallon which is better than most fuel guzzling trucks ford puts out, plus it comes with drop tanks. Would recommend as a first time car for any students out there, it’s affordable, handles well on country roads, and once intercepted an SR 71 Blackbird over the North Sea.
Mr. Regular's videos are the best part of my Mondays.
Karma is an airstrike you call in on yourself. Pure gold.
True, what a great line.
With that Rollercoaster Tycoon reference, you are really speaking to a specific age of people out there and I finally feel seen.
I've owned about 14 SAABs in my lifetime, among them was a Viggen - a wonderful expression of individuality and passion! Thanks Mr R!
OMG this whole Saab Viggen drug advert is awesome. Great writing, delivery, the music and stock footage are spot on. This is awesome
I’ve got a Monte Carlo Yellow 5-Dr Viggen and love telling people about it and the brand at gas stations, parking lots, local car shows to people that know nothing about the brand or the car. SAAB was truly unique and special. Thank you for taking the time to put a piece like this out there for more people to appreciate.
What a stunning car. What a stunning beard. Everything you could possibly want in a review
That real quick Ferengi comparison was great, always makes me happy to see a random Star Trek reference in the wild
This one was near poetry. Roman's Viggen drug advert was spot on and hilarious. A new high bar gentlemen!
I think this might make the top 10 RCR episodes of all time but time will tell
The Finnish car plant which made cabriolet versions and these had interesting project brewing in the background. They made five prototypes of Saab 9000 with 4.0 v8 engine with 300 hp. The engine was made from two inline four blocks hitched together. Unfortunately GM buyout probably killed that project.
The GM buyout axed a lot of stupid things Saab was doing. Ultimately, it didn't do enough and Saab drove itself off a cliff anyway
I'm wondering how difficult it would be to swap the Ferrari engine from a Lancia Thema 8.32
@@JK061996 would swap right in, but I'm not sure why you would want to. The b202, b234 and b308 were all making more power and torque than the 2.5
GM = Anti-christ.
@@iceman5117 "stupid things" such as what?
Used to own a 9-3 2001, loved it. It was base model with 150hp, joined the Saab club and had a mate flash the ECU for 100€. 5min swap job later, FlexFuel with 230hp and 400Nm. Worked like a charm with E85 for years.
GM took a lot of Saabs safety features though.
I remember when these came out when I was 15 and reading every car magazine’s review of the Viggen I could get my hands on and completely lusting after these. I remember going to Auto Shows and sitting in them and thinking wow these seats are comfortable and thinking I’d pick one up used in a few years but it was not be.
I really miss SAAB.
I miss Saab. The first car I bought myself was a 9-3 Aero, and it was a good car. It felt like a rocket compared to the 90hp teenage economy cars that preceded it. Hugely practical too, the 5dr hatch was almost wagon-like in its carrying capacity, and the seats were great for long distances.
Slow clap.
This is easily my favorite RCR of the last year. I can't put my finger on why, but this tickled me in places I did not know that I have.
I spent $700 on a 07 Saab 9-5 manual. It was misdiagnosed to need spark plugs and a coil. The previous owner wanted it gone when all it needed was a crankshaft position sensor which cost me $50. Now, it's my 2nd daily 😅 . It needs a clutch (pretty badly) but I love the car and I'm gonna have one put in. I never knew I'd love a Saab but here I am. Lusting for a second one.
OH MY GOD EASILY MY FAVORITE RCR VIDEO OF ALL TIME
As a 3 SAAB owner, I appreciate the depth of research this channel puts in to the minute details of a brand or particular cars history. I learned alot here
Deadset thought you were reviewing a swedish jet when I saw this notification
Me too haha. Honestly the speed and turbo of the car fits well with the character of the jet
Having blackwater park play in the background of this episode was probably the most comedic timing I will ever accomplish in my life. Ever.
The timing of that Challenger pulling out at 14:14. Dont know if it was intentional, but... priceless. It signified that America wanted buffet wings, strippers, and MOPAWAH, not refinement, quality, and vehicles that had culture.
Dr Roman with the brilliant infomercial 😂😂😂
Jesus is here!
@@joempoem478 It's about damn time! The Bible thumpers have been waiting for 2000 years. I think the book his 12 home boys wrote about him is a bit hyperbolic and hard to follow. What do you think Mr. Poem?
This. This is the kind of content I come here for. This was spectacular. Over the years I have occasionally found myself wondering how much different things could have been had GM just given SAAB money and didn't put any restrictions on them. How much better SAAB would have been, how much better GM could have been.
Had Saab survived they probably would have turned into what Polestar is today. Futuristic, well-designed but quirky EVs and maybe a lightly tuned but well-handling gas-powered sedan. It was a shame Saab was driven into the ground by GM.
my dad got a 9-5 wagon in the 90s years before he had kids and liked it so much he ended up owning THREE more after that until the final one chose to die one fateful day. at the time I was still in elementary school but I still remember how much he loved his Saabs.
There's a funny thing about when they made the 9-3 in 2005. They took a Vauxhall Vectra and it was meant to be just a badge swap.
It was so different that the wheel base was changed, which meant some of the parts from a Vauxhall couldn't fit properly.
This is a very bold statement as I have been a fan of this channel back in its weird, short video days, this is with out a doubt, the most hilarious video yall have dropped yet
recently had some pressure to retire our 2001 9-3 for a low-mileage 2010 fusion from the family and we just couldn't do it. the most practical impractical car out there! the things we've hauled! and so pleasant to drive, whether you drive it fun like my wife does or like a trolley driver the way I do
I owned one of these and loved it. It met its end at the hands of a drunk driving a Saturn Outlook, ran right into it while it was parked on the street. Probably one of the rarest combinations of vehicles in a collision.
Nice touch with the "skip ads" button in the Viggen ad. I actually tried to click it out of habit lol. Tried at least 3 times before I realized it's not a ad lol.
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say DUMB ASS
My 2001 9-3 is like an old girlfriend, I often think about her.
OMG. That is Viggen right for you commercial was pure gold! Loved the warnings underneath. 5 years treatment if untreated previously and no ownership history of a dodge ram. Hahaha you guys killed it. Also still a kind of sad story. What a cool car. Last of a cool funky brand. Always wanted a Saab!
The ad and the sabotage cutaway make this an instant classic.
Oh the commercial... that commercial... boys you hit every single note. That was priceless. Thank you. My day just bloomed.
i miss saabs. such good cars pre GM
Very interesting perspective on Saabs. they are well liked vehicles in Europe, as ive come to find out with recently coming into possesion of one.
I'd like to have another but the listings just show fewer and fewer with higher and higher mileage.
I wish I had the money to keep my old hand me down 9-3 alive instead of having it go for scrap a year ago.
My brain is so programmed to skip UA-cam ads that I went to click the "skip ad" button on Roman's schtick for 'Automotive Malaise' haha
I haven't seen commercials that entertaining outside of VanZandt
8:15 I was legit expecting a KUNKLEMAN CHEVROLET commercial to unexpectedly pop up here.
“once you have their money never give it back” Ferengi Rules of acquisition 👍
“Ask your doctor if Saab Viggen is right for you”. Love it!! 😅
"In the land of the dollar, the king is whoever makes the boss look good to the shareholders."
Legendary
That was very well done. It made me smile.
It made me smile but now I'm crying
Ah yes, the Saab you NEEDED to drive. This was well done guys, and a great redemption for Saab after letting you guys review my 9³ Wagon
When I was in middle school, my family bought a black '07 Saab 9-3. We loved it so much a red '07 9-3 joined the family a year later.
I'm now a sophomore in college, and I drive the red 9-3. Drove it during high school, during the pandemic, and now during college. It has a stage 1 tune from Maptun Perfomance, and they're front strut brace. Absolutely awesome car to have. Both cars still remain in the family, and i hope they never have to leave our family.
Saab has a special place in my heart for how fun, quirky, and safe they are. GM really dropped the ball with this brand.
Best episode of RCR ever! Without vulgarity to boot
Never driven a Viggen, but a good friend of mine used to own a 9-5 Aero 5 speed. He let me drive it, and it was actually the second turbocharged car I ever drove (behind my dad's old 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan which I got my driver's license in). That thing embodied what I love in turbocharged cars, that surge of power that hits you like a truck when boost builds. I bought myself a turbocharged performance car a few months later, a 2009 Mazdaspeed 3. And it had all the good attributes I liked about the Saab, but in a more practical package. It had an old school turbo that felt very punchy on boost.
The 2006-2009 Saab 9-5 with the 260 horsepower 2.3 Turbo are very fun to drive also
I waited all day to watch this video because I miss my 96 900 Turbo so much and I didn't want to be depressed. The only turbo that can run 87 and still thrill you. This is a great tribute to the best brand.
I had a small poster of the 93 Aero and the Viggen. I loved the angular look and the fighter plane name badge.
Love this one as always but please try the 9-5 aero whenever you can... There's one waiting for you if you ever come back to the U.K! Any pre 2006 ones still were wasting GMs money being brilliant, after that they really shut off the money tap and what it loses in weight it makes up for in having overboost in 2nd and 3rd instead of nuking power in second (probably because its that much heavier but worth a drive if you get the chance)
Had a 2007 9-5 Aero/HOT and loved forcing downshifts on it to get around passing-lane campers on the freeways. Aside from my Datsun Roadster, it's the most beautiful and fun to drive car I've owned. Unfortunately, it wasn't very reliable, the tight suspension made for painful drives on Michigan roads, and gas mileage wasn't great at 18 MPG combined -- even lower in the winter. Moved on to several vehicles that are less harsh and easier to get in and out of but I'll always cherish my handful of years with it (when it wasn't in the shop).
I owned a 99 Saab Viggen - it was a fantastic vehicle....I kept it until I picked up a new 2014 Fiesta ST when they launched in North America.
That really is the only car you could replace it with.. I've heard so many good things about the driving experience
@@TheoPhilpot nonsense. You’ve obviously never driven a 2001 Ford Taurus station wagon.
@@haroldbeauchamp3770 your right. I've only driven the mercury sable wagon 😅😂
@@TheoPhilpot another phenomenal, high performance machine. No doubt you were enthralled by it.
Saab and Mazda were 2 brands I always had a lot of respect for, and I felt like they both shared the same spirit as a company.
I am very sad to see Saab gone now
"Roller Coaster Tycoon instead of homework" literally describes what I did throughout grade school. Mr Regular were you my English Teacher 🤣
"I would've made an engineer out of you, sonny" 👴🏻
I strongly believe GM had the chance to make Saab their european Audi/Bmw contender. They should've let Opel/Vauxhall build a base platform, then let Saab spend more money on tweaking and perfecting them and selling them as a true premium product. If they had started doing this in the early 2000's, and let the Saab engineers do more of what they wanted, I do think we would still have new Saabs rolling of the production line today.
//A sad Swede living 100kms from the old Saab plant in Trollhättan.
Night Panel!
Every car should have that option.
Bring back soft green, red, or amber gauge lighting. Get rid of blue and white screens beaming into your eyes. I drive my car with the gauges dimmed so low I can barely see them but I wish I had Night Panel.
The night panel was really nice on the eyes on my last long night drive across Idaho.
Roman nailed the prescription drug/car commercial thing 😂
Opeth + AbbA connection cameo = god tier UA-camr.
I was a Saab salesman for less than a year back in 2000 when this car was new. I loved taking it out of the lot for a drive when the showroom was quiet. Man did it pull! You had to keep both hands firmly on the steering wheel, the torque steer was crazy. I now drive a 2004 9-5 with the same 2.3T engine, it's perfectly suited for the larger 9-5, although not as fast as in the 9-3 Viggen.
Get a stage 2 tune and it will surprise you. I have a 9-3 with a 2.0 that really pullls.
@@Matticus-mb6wl Yes, that's in the plans. Mine is the Arc trim that with 220 hp and a 5-speed manual gearbox. It's the same engine and turbo as the Aero (and Viggen), but tuned down. So technically, I can get the same tune as the Aero, but the bump would be quite a bit higher then if I had the more powerful Aero to start with.
@@giorgio. That sounds really fun. I let a red Saab aero 9-5 5 speed get away from me recently and I am still kicking myself.
@@Matticus-mb6wl Ah man I hear you, they’re so rare in manual, especially in North America. Wishing you luck finding another one!
The skip ad button isn't working😂
The Saab Viggen ad might be the best thing ever uploaded to the internet.
Roman provided a Ad better than a Superbowl ad, that was amazing!
Don't we all appreciate a Saab story?
I had a 2002 Saab 9-3, it wasn't the viggen but it was still my absolute most favorite car
best compliment i ever got in life was a coworker telling me i "seemed like a saab guy"
2001 Saab Viggen. For the man that likes mash potatoes & gravy. But wants the gravy in a separate bowl.
One of my low key attainable dream cars. Not 100% sure I want to finish this review on the small chance it spoils it for me.
Same
How much do they usually sell for?
No worries abouth the review, RCR has a soft spot for Saabs(I mean, how could you not?).
@@fhujf yeah, I got to watch it a few minutes ago. I still want one.
I'm so conditioned, I tried to click "Skip Ad". Well played Mr. Regular and The Roman. Well played.
"If Saab has made being an underdog their brand, then GM has made buyer's remorse theirs." Brilliant!
Laughs in Equinox
I am such a mark for 80s Saab...
I will say, I've driven a fair number of cars, trucks, and things in-between, either my car, a friend or family member's car, a rental, or for a test drive, and the one Saab I've driven was the only one that I got into and immediately knew where every corner of the car was. No idea how that knowledge invaded my brain, but it did. I had to do a 3-point turn to turn it around in a parking lot and scared everyone by coming within a couple inches of a bollard because I didn't feel like making it into a 4-point turn. Knew, intuitively, exactly where the front corner was. No problems. Fortunately for my wallet at the time, I decided to pass on it because it required premium fuel. I've come to deeply appreciate the amount of progress we've made with direct injection turbocharged engines, because you can get great power out of them while still running 87 octane and it doesn't complain. It doesn't attempt to send the valves through the top of the valve cover to ping off the inside of the hood like a particularly aggressive pan of jiffy-pop.
Saab was a woefully underappreciated and misunderstood car company and I wish they had better marketing when they entered the US. It probably would have helped if they also had better styling like the very last generation of Saab vehicles did, but they were just such quirky and well engineered bits of kit and it's such a shame that their proclivities led to expensive and unmarketable vehicles. Admittedly, if given the choice between keeping Saturn and Pontiac or sacrificing Saab, I'd probably opt for the former. Saturn and Pontiac had some really amazing cars at the end, based on the designs from their European market division. But daddy Chevy refuses to pare down their product portfolio to give their subsidiary companies a chance. Like, if Chevy had opted to continue their product line with just their sports cars, some large SUVs, and some large trucks then the rest of their brands would be better off. Pontiac could make a small, quirky little sports car, sedan coupe-styled cars, and crossover vehicles based on Toyota hatchbacks. Saturn could then take over regular sedans, crossovers, and small SUVs based on Vauxhall and Opel designs and potentially keep their own iteration of the tiny sports car that they stole wholesale from Opel. GMC could then actually continue producing small to midsize trucks and midsize SUVs. It would be so much more efficient not to have to keep shelling out just to reskin the same chassis and try to trick people into thinking they're all different vehicles with marketing and different interiors. I'd be more forgiving toward them if it were just a matter of a base brand and a luxury brand, like with Honda and Acura, Nissan and Infinity, Toyota and Lexus, Ford and Lincoln, etc. But with GM, it's just a weird incestuous side-grade bonanza. Back in the early 2000's they had Chevrolet, GMC, Pontiac, and Saturn as "base" brands all sharing related vehicle platforms with a lot of overlap. Then they had Saab and Buick as the semi-premium option. Finally they had Cadillac as their "luxury" brand. Like, it was never going to be sustainable, but they could have allowed the brands to specialize more instead of just axing almost half of them. It just seems like a lot of customer good-willand brand recognition to waste.
This was my fav car to drive in Forza Motorsport 1 and I have no idea why, but I want one of these IRL now.
saab are like the kid who dont want to be ruled by the parent, GM
GM forced saab to follow their strict opel regulations, instead why not flip that around and make the rest of the brands follow saab?
and yes saab did make GM spend 1 million dollars to R&D a cupholder
Saab and Saturn were both ruined by GM.