2011 Saab 9-5 Aero Review

2011 Saab 9-5 Aero

This 2011 Saab 9-5 Aero is a nice car, but is Saab on anybody's radar anymore? It could indeed be a less expensive alternative to the Audi A6/BMW 5-series/Mercedes-Benz E-class cliché, though I wonder how many BMW, Audi and/or Mercedes owners even realize Saab is still in business. Or care.

We'll see how it plays out in the marketplace as Saab hangs on by its fingernails, but the car drives well and I guess it should since it's been roughly 14 years since the old 9-5 came out. The car is roomy and tight, the turbocharged six-cylinder has more than enough power and the ride is smooth. The gearbox is smooth, too, whether using the paddles or not. The seats are among the best in the business, in my opinion, and the dash has the historic Saabness to it. 

The question is--under new ownership will Saab be able to get enough buyers into the showrooms for a test drive? If it can they might well be impressed with this car. I'm looking forward to trying the 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder.

INTERACTIVE ASSOCIATE EDITOR JAKE LINGEMAN: This has a turbocharged V6!? I thought for sure it was a four-cylinder. The 300-hp unit doesn't seem to move the big sedan as quickly as one would think it should. When I was driving last night I was thinking that this four-cylinder is pretty good, but I can't believe it doesn't have a six, because the car is bigger. Surprise, surprise.

The exterior is pretty sharp. The futuristic front end looks good, as does the rear. The xenon headlights that move around curves are pretty cool, too. The only weird part about the outside is the cut of the window. It tapers from front to back giving the profile a strange look. 

2011 Saab 9-5 Aero Interior

The interior of the Saab is well done and comfortable, with a little sport thrown in for good measure. The seats are covered with perforated leather. There is good lower back support, good bolsters and it has that extra piece that slides up under your knees. It all makes for a comfortable driving position.

The Harmon-Kardon stereo system booms and the iPod input worked great. It seems much of the interior bits are from the General Motors parts bin, but it's all laid out well.

The thing about Saab for me is that it might not be the best car in its class, but it has some character that most brands don't.

DIGITAL EDITOR ANDREW STOY: Victor Muller is pawning his gold fillings to keep Saab going on a daily basis, yet the company has the gall to ask near $50,000 for a sports sedan with just adequate performance, a monochrome driver information center, no navigation and no back-up camera? I was actually kind of indignant for the first few miles I spent with our 9-5, though that could be due in part to the fact that I'm a former Saab 9-5 owner, and the experience was, ahem, less than satisfying.

But as the drive continued, the car began to show me its various sides and I softened toward the new sedan. First, the interior: Saab seats are, hands down, the best in the business. And I discovered the lack of a multicolor, multifunction nav/XM/etc. display smack dab in the middle of the dash actually caused me to focus even more than usual on the road ahead and the feel of the wheel in my hands.

2011 Saab 9-5 Aero

And the thick, flat-bottomed Aero wheel felt good. It's connected to a well-tuned steering system that brings the Saab around corners with nice progression; I found it neither too quick nor too slow, and the XWD system seemed to complement the steering feel on both sweepers and quick turns. In fact, I tried to overcook it a bit on one backroad left and the lack of drama almost disappointed me.

As for the engine, it felt like a Saab turbocharged six-cylinder. That's the only way I can describe it; not overly potent but if you watch the boost gauge (and thank you Saab for including one, an oversight on many manufacturer's new turbo cars) and drive with an eye toward on-boost engine load vs. rpm, the 9-5 is faster than it feels. All in all it reminds me a lot of the 9-X I drove a few years back. Saab aficionados will be at home here.

I also fell for the look of the car. It's got an almost French fuselage styling to it that reminds me of the Citroen SM. It's not pretty but it's uniquely stylish, and it updates Saab design cues just enough to keep it in the family without appearing dated.

Will it be enough to keep the company afloat? Not likely. But if this is the last new Saab I ever have the opportunity to drive, my memories of the marque will be sweeter than they had been.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR--AUTOWEEK.COM BOB GRITZINGER: Putting aside whether Saab is relevant in the marketplace, I find the 2011 Saab 9-5 Aero quite unique, handsomely styled, Swedish in drive character and just Saabish enough to win my kudos. The car is highly refined in ride and powertrain, with the XWD taking care of any torque steer problems of the past and laying the power down with quiet strength. I'm sure the XWD saps some of the power from the turbo V6, or at least makes it feel a little less powerful, but the car scoots to speed in a hurry once the engine overcomes the initial turbo lag.

The XWD also plays a part in keeping this chassis sharp through the corners--it feels precise and predictable and easy to drive hard. The steering seems overboosted but I think that's a deliberate Saab trait carried over from past cars. Not saying that's good or bad--but it does get the job done. The chassis seems well-isolated and therefore soft but it doesn't seem to suffer from any roll or dive.

I find the car's styling is attractive in a classic sense. I suspect it will still look good once the last payment is made. Inside, the car is functional and offers just the right Saab-style appointments and extras, such as the Saab-centric center-mounted ignition button and mandatory turbo boost gauge, the clean center stack, the huge sunroof covered by a linen sunshade, the well-bolstered leather seats, and flat-bottomed thick leather-wrapped steering wheel. I still miss the artistic Transformer like pop-out cupholders, but I can forgo that stuff for this overall better car.

The only annoyance in my notes is the creaking sound in the lower driver's seat on our test car, seemingly coming from where the seat plastic cladding meets the leather. That'd drive me batty in no time.

MOTORSPORTS EDITOR MAC MORRISON: A $50,000 base price for this Saab appeals to me as much as self-penetrating my cranium with a pitchfork, as there are just too many other luxury cars, sports cars, performance cars--just too many cars, period--that you could drive home in for that transaction price.

But you know what? If it is possible--and sure, that's a big "if"--to put the price aside for a moment, I was happy to spend a couple days behind this flat-bottomed wheel (a nice touch, by the way). 

I could compare this car to the finally retired former 9-5, but that Swede's extended life makes such an exercise irrelevant; in car terms, the old 9-5 was a centenarian. This model--perhaps remarkably, perhaps depressingly, depending on your stance regarding the world of Saab--manages to step into the present while retaining some quirky elements well-known to the marque's loyalists.

A confession I have no trouble making: I do not care for the 9-5's exterior lines, specifically from the C-pillar back. It somehow manages to simultaneously yell "Saab" and "Saturn," and perhaps even "'80s-era Jaguar XJS." There does appear to be some airplane influence, as usual, but the package comes together in a disjointed, inelegant fashion I wish its designers had discarded or at least reworked significantly prior to production.

Yet this is a nice car to drive. The engine is smooth; its performance does not overwhelm you, but unlike some of my colleagues I certainly never believed it was a four-cylinder. The entire powertrain is smooth and quiet, and the car responds nicely to driver inputs. "Flowing" is the best word I can summon to describe how the driving experience felt to me. The ride is comfortable, the handling not watered down to benign characteristics and quite surefooted, and I found the steering gave me enough feel and feedback to guide the Saab along smoothly and quickly with little effort. There's certainly a European personality evident, despite the General Motors-backed development history.

I liked the interior, which as other noted offers a nice, comfortable seating position. I did not miss the nav or backup camera screen one bit, and I smiled at some of the carryover quirks, such as the dashboard air vents and matte-finished center stack. If this was not a Saab, I'd have probably felt like the center stack was direct from an unfinished preproduction prototype, but it just looks and feels natural in this car. The remainder of the interior is attractive and provides a relaxing driving/riding environment. Enough so, in fact, that I repeatedly forgot all about the 9-5's outward appearance and simply just enjoyed the ride.

And then I remembered the price…

EXECUTIVE EDITOR ROGER HART: This is the best Saab I've driven. GM did a good job in developing this car for the new owners. The somewhat funky exterior design is rather toned down considering Saab designs of the past, and its looks actually grew on me. The interior was comfortable, extremely quiet and functional. I liked the thick, flat-bottom steering wheel and I really liked the functionality and layout of the center stack and the all the controls. The turbo six is fine in this application, although I was a bit surprised with the amount of lag present. Most turbo cars today have somehow managed to greatly reduce, or eliminate, turbo lag. And it was nice to feel no horrendous torque steer that Saabs of old were known for.

The question of Saab surviving is still in doubt, but in the 9-5 Aero, the company has a solid car on which to sell to hopefully keep the customers coming. Obviously one car, even a solid, $50,000 car, cannot sustain an entire company. It will need more solid, somewhat less expensive products to survive. But if Saab does fail, it won't be because its one main new product was a dog.

2011 Saab 9-5 Aero

Base Price: $50,390

As-Tested Price: $51,385

Drivetrain: 2.8-liter turbocharged V6; AWD, six-speed automatic

Output: 300 hp @ 5,500 rpm, 295 lb-ft @ 2,000 rpm

Curb Weight: 4,156 lb

Fuel Economy (EPA/AW): 20/18.3 mpg

Options: Harmon-Kardon audio system including 11 speakers, 5.1 surround sound ($995)