Detroit News Reviews 2008 Saab 9-3 SportCombi

Posted on 31. Oct, 2007 by Ryan in 2000-2009

Photo Credit: Saab Automobile AB

Scott Burgess of the Detroit News has recently provided an interesting writeup about his test drive of the Saab 9-3 SportCombi.

In his writeup, he compares the SportCombi to crossovers, which will be even more interesting of a comparison after the debut of Saab’s crossover in January up in Detroit where one could compare both vehicles side-by-side.

There is one thing I have to completely disagree about when it comes to his experience driving the new 2008 9-3 SportCombi, was how he indicated that the shifting was “a little loose“. I am unsure how he arrived at this unless someone’s been messing around with the shifter linkage lately, but this was one of the 2,100+ changes that Saab made which was to tighten it and that they did when I experienced the test drive back in August here in Washington, D.C. In fact, the tightened shifter was the first immensely noticeable change I encountered in terms of mechanical changes. We are all entitled to our opinion, but I am extremely surprised how he could arrive at this conclusion about the shifter, as I recall it being anything but loose.

Here is his summary of his exprerience.

It’s a car that pampers your senses with luxury appointments while also
feeding your adrenalin with power and performance. That’s certainly a
winning Combi.

For someone looking for a car with European driving dynamics and Swedish
sensibilities, the 2008 9-3 Aero SportCombi should be on the shopping
list. It’s fun, stylish and has all the practicality of a crossover.

It just performs better than most.

Tags: 9-3, 9-5, Aero, Automotive Component Group, car, Detroit, new 9-5, new saab 9-3, saab, saab 9-3, saab 9-4x, saab 9-5, saab 9-5 wagon, saab 900, saab 9000, saab 99, Saab Automobile, saab ng900