Regarding the blind spot monitoring and ACC.... BMW and Audi do not have it at this price point either.
Not true. BLIS and ACC are available on the Audi A4 Prestige, as well as the A6 and A8. ACC is available on the BMW 3, 5, & 7 series, and BLIS is available on the 5 & 7 series cars as well.
I must say my wife's new X5 5.0 has ACC and I hate it..... they don't let you get close enough, so what happens if someone pulls out in front of you, you are thrown against your seatbelt as the car slows down. Call me old fashion, but I prefer not to have it.
Either the Bimmer has a bad implementation of the technology or else it isn't set up correctly. The Volvo version of ACC is integrated with Queue Assist, which allows the driver to regulate the distance (in time units, not feet) from the car ahead. It works very well at all speeds, with no lurches or surprises. After having used it for five months, it is very much missed when I drive my wife's S40, which has just standard cruise control.
However one item that is missing is the back up camera. This car is very LONG, so it is almost impossible to back up and not hit anything
For sure. Also, the rear window field of vision as seen through the rearview mirror is *very* small, especially top to bottom. And the driver really has no sense whatsoever where the tail of the car is. I suspect that is why Saab has made front and back parking sensors standard on all models now. Of course, a backup camera, which is standard on Volvos with nav systems, is a far better solution. I have never been a big fan of parking by ear.
I drove the Volvo and I was not that impressed..... plus I like that Saab for its uniqueness. I was at a stoplight the other day and a guy in a new S550 rolled down his windows and complimented me on the ride. I don't think that would happen in a Volvo. So far this car has gotten more attention than my Audi R8.
I fully agree that the Saab 9-5 exterior is much more attractive than the Volvo S60, which is why I looked into the Saab in the first place. Too bad that the Saab interior is cheapened by the cheesy plastic trim parts on the center console. Probably taken from the GM parts bin. In any event, I am secure enough in my tastes and choices in cars that I neither seek nor welcome validation from some DB driving a Benz or Bimmer. My cars only have to please me.
My wife says it is the most comfortable car she has ridden in as a passenger, our past cars have been BMW 535i, X5 4.8, Jeep, Saab 9-3, Infiniti M45, Audi R8, Acura MDX, Infiniti FX45... you get the idea. Also, she was very impressed with how many ways the seat could move and how comfortable it was/is.
I find the Saab 9-5 seats to be very good, but the Volvo seats are even better. They provide better support and yet are also more comfortable. However, tastes in furniture are very much a personal matter.
Regarding the deal... it was fantastic. The 2011's are due in at any point and they will go up in price by $3500 dollars, so my dealer wanted to do everything he could to get the 2010's off the lot before they roll in.
For sure. The 2011s are already arriving at dealerships in my area. What I found a bit annoying is that Saab kept the MSRPs pretty much where they were for 2010, but raised the invoice prices by c. $3K. So there is no longer the big $5K delta between list and invoice; now it is more like $2K. There is some great money back on the 2010s, but relatively little on the 2011s, which is making them a lot less competitive. Given that most dealers seem to have a lot of 2010s and a fair number of 2011s now, Spyker is going to have to put a fair amount more money on the hood to get buyers' attention and move them off the lots.
Also the new "sun roof" is a large front to back glass piece that weights a lot. So much so that you don't get a spare tire or the car goes over the 5k mark and you get hit with a gas guzzler tax (this is what my GM for my dealership said). Saab wanted a lighter one, GM pulled one off another car and made some modifications.
Very interesting info. My dealer told me that the spare was no longer available as a factory option, but it could still be supplied as a dealer option. I guess they just wanted to keep it off the sticker. I thought that the gas guzzler tax trigger was determined by the final drive gear ratio, but that may have changed in recent years. The last car I owned that was saddled with the GGT was a 2001 BMW 740i with sport package. The non-sport package models were exempt from the tax, however.
Oh, one thing I don't like, when you aim the middle air vents away from you, there are still areas where the air hits you in your face. My eye's (and my wife's too are very dry all the time), so we end up closing off the center vents completely. Attached are more pictures....
A few comments on other aspects of the 9-5 vs. the S60: I found the Volvo drivetrain to be much smoother than the Saab. The latter seemed at odds with itself in some traffic situations. I also found the ride in the Saab, after having fiddled around considerably with both the DriveSense control and the Sport Suspension and Sport Steering settings in the Configuration menu, to be in general a bit busy and jittery on some surfaces; the ride in the Volvo S60 seemed to be smoother, more solid, and better modulated overall, regardless of whether I was driving a car with Touring Chassis, Dynamic Chassis, or 4-C. The latter is similar to Saab's DriveSense, but it impacts only suspension, not all the other parameters. There are three steering settings, but they are selected independently through a menu. I welcome comments from other drivers on these issues.