First Drive: 2010 Saab 9-5 proves being born from chaos builds character

A funny thing happened on the way to bankruptcy court for General Motors. As part of a bid to have its red-stained slate wiped clean, it moved to divest itself of a number of brands in its bloated portfolio, with Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and Saab all earmarked for sale or closure. However, only one brand inspired sufficient passion among both owners and those with the financial wherewithal to rescue it from GM’s ‘wind-down’ apple polishers. Oddly enough, it was the tiny Swede that successfully swam out to the life raft. Saab, the marque with the smallest and oldest product lineup, lowest volume, and the poorest brand recognition among American consumers somehow found a way to survive.

How, exactly, did this come to pass? For starters, unlike any other of GM’s death-row divisions, owners and fans rallied in dozens of countries, urging anyone who listened to “Save Saab.” Now, we’re not na?ve enough to think that a band of loyalists were all it took to change the course of automotive history, but it’s telling that there were no pitchforks and torches – or even a handful of picket signs – produced over the axing of the other brands. Saab remains a seldom understood, much loved brand, and we know that the displays of unity from Saab’s scorned faithful stoked the fire of unlikely suitor Victor Muller, CEO and owner of Spyker Cars, as his team waded through a stomach-churning series of negotiations. After watching from the sidelines while bids by other small automakers and investment groups fizzled, the Dutch businessman and his team eventually pried the battered brand away from GM – but not before Saab had been partially liquidated.



While Muller clearly has an affinity for the Swedish marque, he insists it wasn’t boyhood sentiment that drove the purchase – it was the company’s robust Trollh?ttan operations and a raft of promising, almost-here product that pushed his team to persevere. That stream of shiny new tin begins with the car you see before you: The 2010 9-5. Click through to the jump to see if Muller and Company have good reason to be optimistic.

During our trip to Gothenburg, Sweden to drive the new Saab 9-5, representatives vigorously pointed out that their new sedan positively brims with “Saabishness” despite being developed entirely under GM’s corporate umbrella. We had to wonder: Could the same Detroit decision-makers that gave us the half-hearted Subaru-based 9-2 and the utterly cynical Chevrolet Trailblazer-in-drag 9-7X actually know enough about the brand to deliver a competent and authentic 9-5 as a parting gift to its new owners – a Saab Saab? As it turns out, yes.

As Muller told us, GM finally started to ‘get the picture’ with Saab in 2005, back when it decided to develop the stunningly canopied Aero X coupe. Despite never making it to production, the arresting 2006 concept (only the second showcar in Saab’s entire history) actually gave Saab a much-needed fresh design direction, the production adaptation of which can be clearly seen in the new 9-5.

While the 9-5 doesn’t have the Aero-X’s jet-inspired tilting canopy, clear acrylic gauges or its novel drawer-style trunk, it does have an expressive, modern design that’s extremely slippery (.28 cD). Its face is clearly evolved from the Geneva concept, along with details including blue-tinged ‘ice block’ lighting, turbine-style alloys, and blacked-out A pillars that lend the windshield a similar wraparound look. More traditional Saab cues including the ‘hockey stick’ greenhouse surround and prominent C-pillars also make the scene. Overall, it’s a deeply handsome set of clothes that we think will wear the years particularly well because it doesn’t rely on fussy surface development, tacked-on aero addenda or a lather of chrome.

Make no mistake – this is a very big car whose clean design helps it hide its bulk. At 197.2-inches long, the 9-5 shadows its chief rival, the Audi A6, by nearly four inches, and it’s more than four inches longer than BMW’s new 5 Series. Dimensionally, the closest comparison we can draw is actually to the Buick LaCrosse, which is predictable because they both ride on long-wheelbase derivatives of GM’s Epsilon II architecture, the basic platform of which also underpins the Opel Insignia and Buick Regal (albeit in a shorter form).

Despite shared architectures and similar drivetrains, the 9-5 looks, feels and goes down the road in a wholly different fashion than its TriShield relatives. Indeed, sampled back-to-back, you’d probably be hard pressed to find much common ground. That’s not a knock on any of the models in question, but instead a testament to the efforts of both Saab’s stylists and its engineers. Perhaps we shouldn’t be terribly surprised – GM made sure that the Scandinavian team had considerable input into the dynamics of the entire Epsilon II family, an assignment that apparently gave technicians the proper perspective to ensure adequate differentiation and, well, Saabishness.

That coherence may start with the exterior, but it carries over into the 9-5’s cabin, which is unlike anything else in GM’s stable. Traditional Saab cues like a driver-centric dashboard, joystick-toggled eggcrate vents, green instrument lighting, and a console-mounted ignition (now push-button instead of key-based) are all present and accounted for, as is a nifty new round information display nestled in between the analog tachometer and speedometer. The latter can display everything from trip mileage to speed limits to an amusing altimeter-style speed readout that’s more fun than functional.

There’s even Saab’s excellent ‘Night Panel’ function that extinguishes all non-essential gauges for distraction-free nighttime driving – something that’s particularly welcome now that there’s an eight-inch screen in residence. Unfortunately, the Night Panel switch looks exactly like other automakers’ start buttons in both form and location, and while that won’t be a problem for owners who spend a few weeks with the car, it’s an ergonomic snafu likely to haunt the unfamiliar.

More praiseworthy are the center stack controls and the easy-as-pie touchscreen infotainment unit. The buttons and knobs are all logically arrayed, and we’re quite pleased that Saab has avoided the temptation to fit an all-in-one controller like those popularized by German rivals. One thing that is remarkably Teutonic in feel, however, is the 9-5’s somber dashboard. Particularly on the doors and in front of the passenger, there really isn’t enough to hold one’s interest in terms of trim. We’re not advocating for wood (we hear a grain package will be available, however), but something to break up the darkness would help make the interior feel more premium, be it piano black or some sort of additional aluminum trim.