2005 Saab 9-5 Arc

[IAMCANADIAN]

It's been a few months that my mom has had the new 9-5. Now that it's broken in, I was allowed to see how good this baby performs. With 220 HP on tap, it has great power, but the ETC doesn't provide this car with a lot of pep unless you use 3/4 throttle. However there is a Sport Mode which gives you more low end pep at the same throttle position. With it activated, it's a lot better. Torque steer is there but it isn't too bad, mainly because the Saab is on the heavy side. Handling is good, but not as good as the 9-3 we had. Mainly because the Arc was designed to be more of a highway crusier, it's on the soft side so it's comfortable over bumps, but not floaty. The car does lean in the turns, but Saab says this is good for handling, especially on rough surfaces. The car comes with tons of safety features like most Saab's do. Quality is very good, the materials fit the price, they're better than the 9-3 but not class leading. The interior is like an airplane c0ckpit, it even has a warning light on the top with a rotating map light similar to what you would find in a passenger aircraft. Our car comes with the optional ventilated seats, sunroof, heated rear seats, memory driver seat, power driver/passenger seats and the Harmann Kardon system. The ventilated seats are great for hot days and keep you nice and cool. If you want more power and better handling, then you should opt for the Aero, that's a true driver's car. Overall the 9-5 is a great car and costs thousands less than a BMW 5-series or Mercedes E-Class making it a great choice if you want good old european engineering.

[giagastormer]

How much was it?

[IAMCANADIAN]

With the employee discount, we got it for around $40,000, then minus the 27,000 we got for our 9-3 Linear. Without the Employee Discount and the dealer discount we got, it would be about $50,000. The BMW 530i is almost $70,000 CDN.

[mgescuro]

If I'm not mistaken, the 2002-2005 9-5 Arcs used the old 2000-2002 Aero suspension setup, so I'm not quite sure where you're getting the "soft side" feeling on your Arc. The 9-5 absorbs the bumps a bit more, but it's not soft at all. The 200-2005 Aeros have a far tighter and sportier suspension and are more fun to throw around curves.

Do you have the Sentronic system in the Arc??

[IAMCANADIAN]

Originally Posted by mgescuro

If I'm not mistaken, the 2002-2005 9-5 Arcs used the old 2000-2002 Aero suspension setup, so I'm not quite sure where you're getting the "soft side" feeling on your Arc. The 9-5 absorbs the bumps a bit more, but it's not soft at all. The 200-2005 Aeros have a far tighter and sportier suspension and are more fun to throw around curves.

Do you have the Sentronic system in the Arc??

I've driven the car many times and it's a softer suspension, it's more like a touring setup, it absorbs bumps very well and leans more in the turns compared to the 9-3. Yes, we have the sentronic paddles on the wheel.