Drove a 9-7x 5.3i today......

[giagastormer]

Long story short, I had the chance to drive a Saab 9-7x 5.3i today.

First off, the interior is amazing. My dad recently got rid of his Rainier (shares platform with 9-7x), and the difference between the two interiors is night and day. Today was the first time I've had the chance to sit in a 9-7x, and if anyone calls it a "rebadge", then you are seriously mistaken.

The dashboard materials/graining looks like it came straight out of an Acura/Honda. GM currently has nothing like it. I was very impressed with the door panels, which featured leather stitched grab handles. They were soft, and the stitching was white, a nice contrast on the black leather. There were also leather inserts on the doors.

The quality of the leather seats felt the same as the leather in my dad's Rainier, very soft and comfortable. I believe it's "nuance" leather. Whatever that means.

The headliner was a soft mouse fur, but nicer than the Rainier's PURE fuzzball headliner.

The steering felt drastically different than the Rainier, much better on center feel.

Now for those of you who put down OHV engines, the 5.3 was as smooth as butter, you seriously have to sit there and try to hear the engine running.

Not the most extensive review, but I didn't get a long test drive.

I walked away very impressed. I was expecting much less.

[mgescuro]

TOld ya so!!
I always thought the dash was a lot closer to the X5.

[CobaltSScrazy]

thats intense. now if GM would just set the bar above the 9-7x as the benchmark for the next TB/Envoy, maybe they'd gain sales and reputation points? nice short review. i drove a decked out envoy a few weeks ago, it wasn't worth 35k...

[Tomko]

I drove a 9-7x almost a year ago and liked everything about its interior except for the crap GM carpet, the great looking but hollow sounding shift grip, unnatural sounding Bose stereo, lack of electrochromatic rear view mirror, nav and rear parking assist.

[ByTheLake]

Originally Posted by giagastormer

The quality of the leather seats felt the same as the leather in my dad's Rainier, very soft and comfortable. I believe it's "nuance" leather. Whatever that means.

'Nuance Leather' is a GM marketing term, and its used on GM vehicles from Chevy to Cadillac.

Unfortunately it doesn't reflect any specific grade of leather. The Nuance Leather in the DTS is quite soft, but the Nuance Leather in the Torrent is rather hard.

[Butz]

The only thing I don't like about the 9-7x is the steering wheel and the shifter. Everything else looks and feels great.