SaabCentral Forums banner

Hugely Surprised (Disappointed) by new 9-5 Radio Unit Choice

2K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Cosmicflash 
#1 ·
All right, so I was at the dealership today to bring in my vert aero for some issues (roof won't work, tough starts, etc.) to be fixed under warranty. I know the car is a 9-3 and this is the 9-5 forum but I (being the devoted SAABer that I am) immediately went and looked at the new 9-5s.

This is the second time I have seen the new 9-5s. The first time I saw one (absolutely gorgeous), with the navigation interior, etc, the car cost around 50k. Great. The car was extremely attractive, and I'd honestly pay 50k for it.

Today I saw the 9-5s WITHOUT the navigation units and with the stock radio units. All that I can say is...what was the thought process of the people who designed the non-nav radio?! It is a sea of plastic (ugly, ugly plastic) with just a tiny row of buttons beneath the screen and a huge, empty space between the buttons and the screen. This unit looks like it was made in the 80s (ok, maybe late 80s) and is just plain ugly. Moreover, this thing was in ALL OF THE 9-5s I saw on the lot. The ugliness was in the 9-5s that cost 45k and in the 9-5s that cost over 50k.

I just don't understand the thinking behind this radio unit. You can get a much-better looking one in a regular cadillac, for 35k! I like SAABs and I was instantly turned off by this thing--imagine a person who is just scouting cars. He'd look inside the vehicle and be instantly disgusted by this radio unit. I mean, it just seems so ugly and so out of place...damn SAAB (or GM, not sure who designed this unit)--what were you thinking? Every other part of the car is just gorgeous but the radio kills the whole look, especially because the radio unit is so large.

Rant over.


By the way, what's a 'bio power' 9-5?
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I guess we're all entitled to our opinions. I own one of those ugly, non-nav 2010s... at first I thought there was too much blank plastic on the dash, after a couple days of ownership, I don't notice it anymore... and like it compared to the "flashy bling" dashes, I find in my jap and us rental cars.

The radio display is also the climate display. Different screens show different things. I haven't found it is overly large in practice. It works pretty good, much better than that crap in the 9-3.

I originally thought it looked dated - green graphics, the horror! the horror! It reminded me of the computer screens I worked with in the 80s, BUT, I then drove the car at night, and it all made sense... There's green ambient lighting throughout the car - It's really cool, and it works better than the blue night light in my honda (with green, I can see better, and it is less distracting, and they light up more cubbies with the green)... What color should the graphics be if the interior takes on a pleasing green glow at night? Green, of course.

"biopower" means it can run on E-85 (85% ethanol).
 
#4 ·
I thought they had just phased in a revised dashboard for the 9-5 a few months ago. Obviously late 11's or maybe that was for the new SC.

Oh you can thank GM bean counters for the Chevy Cruze dash.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top