Question for Canadian Saab owners

[Airboy]

How is the Saturn/Saab/Isuzu combination dealership working out, in terms of sale and service experiences.

Wondering because it is kind of a strange combination, having the "no-frills", "value-priced" Saturns and the Saab at the same location. Does the service take a hit? Would you end up with a Saturn ION for a loaner?

Sure doesn't seem like GM wants to sell Saabs in Canada; high sticker price and no rebates. Maybe that was why they sold a whooping 1710 cars in 2003. As "rare" as Porsche (1612) and Land Rover (1603) . Explains why I have only seen one 9-3 in Calgary.

[SS]

I live in Montreal and you already know. The Saturn/Saab/Isuzu is the BEST dealership in canada in terms of service and customer care. It was given that rating by JD Power and Associates. So it rated #1 on the list of all the dealerships, including BMW and benz. You better be proud. They will fullfill your every need but for a loaner, i dont know. I am not entitled to a loaner so i wouldnt know!!

[mav238]

Originally Posted by SS

I live in Montreal and you already know. The Saturn/Saab/Isuzu is the BEST dealership in canada in terms of service and customer care. It was given that rating by JD Power and Associates. So it rated #1 on the list of all the dealerships, including BMW and benz. You better be proud. They will fullfill your every need but for a loaner, i dont know. I am not entitled to a loaner so i wouldnt know!!

My dealer in Richmond, BC, is the best. Their service manager always provided a loaner car (be it a rental or one of their own) and made sure that my concerns were addressed. Friendly service too.

[Nairda]

I find the combination very odd also, nothing like a premium
car being hidden behind econoboxes??? Maybe they think
Saturn will get a boost in image if they're sold beside a Saab.
GM Canada does the same thing with Cadillac, selling them next
to cheap looking Chevy's I have never seen a stand- alone
Cadillac dealer in my life, seems like GM Canada is making no
effort. Canadian's are always sitting on both hands.

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by SS

I am not entitled to a loaner...

What do you mean by that?

[P3 Nav]

I Can't say enough good things about SSI Halifax. They have one senior tech, and one junior tech that work on the SAABs, but I have never had any problems getting in. We seem to have a lot of older cars around, and Mike is never not busy. They always are able to slide me in and accomodate me. The dealership in general bends over backwards for me. It may have something to do with the fact that my family has bought 9 vehicles from them in the last 8 yrs too though.

[brunp]

Originally Posted by Airboy

What do you mean by that?

I am in the same boat....if I purchased the extended warranty, I would be guaranteed a loaner, however, as I am on a three year lease, that would not have made to much sense. On this past 30 day service, I did get a rental, but that was because my car was in at the service center for a period of five days until a couple of Banjo Bolt Sealants for the power steering unit came in as replacement items. However, for regular service intervals, I can use the shuttle instead.

Paul

[gadgetgrrl]

[quote="Airboy"]How is the Saturn/Saab/Isuzu combination dealership working out, in terms of sale and service experiences.

Wondering because it is kind of a strange combination, having the "no-frills", "value-priced" Saturns and the Saab at the same location. Does the service take a hit? Would you end up with a Saturn ION for a loaner?
quote]

Airboy, I work in service for an SSI dealership in the suburbs west of Toronto. We have recently stopped selling SAAB at our location for a couple of reasons. The 2003 model year with the introduction of the 9-3 Sedan pushed interest in SAAB (in my store and in the GTA) to new proportions. It was clear to us when still early in the model year we were scrambling to get cars for eager buyers and literally having to turn them down due to availibility issues. That said, SAAB needed it's own identity. In keeping with it's forward movement (the 9-2 and in the distant future the 9-7) it was apparent that we had to separate fron Saturn and move our SAAB business to be sold exclusively out of our Oakville location, where it will be a stand-alone dealership. In all, the popularity for SAAB is growing, and it is time to separate from the Saturn showroom. This is not unlike the separation of Lexus from the Toyota showroom that is currently happening.

We still continue to service SAAB with SAAB trained techinicans to work on these vehicles. There will be a point that we will cease to service SAAB but that date has not been mentioned, so it is business as usual. We do have loaner cars - and yes they are from the Saturn line up!

Happy driving!

[Nairda]

Hi Gadgetgrrl, welcome to SaabCentral. Can you give us some
more info about this stand-alone Saab dealership? Whatever info
you can scrounge up will be appreciated.

[gadgetgrrl]

Originally Posted by Nairda

Hi Gadgetgrrl, welcome to SaabCentral. Can you give us some
more info about this stand-alone Saab dealership? Whatever info
you can scrounge up will be appreciated.

Thank you for the warm welcome Nairda!

A bit more about the Oakville location...While Saturn and SAAB will be technically sold under the same roof, things could not be more separate. There will be a separate entrance, separate sales staff and different decor in the showroom to service SAAB clientle. The Midtown location, as mentioned in previous posts, has somewhat of a separation happening between brands - but the Oakville location will be quite a distinct separation. They are moving out of their current location into this new building this friday and of course will be open for business on Saturday.

Hope this helps!

[McG]

Airboy:

Have you bought your car yet?

Hyatt has a Black 9-3 Aero 6 speed in right now that I took for a long test drive....was pretty impressed with it.

[Saba]

Originally Posted by gadgetgrrl

Thank you for the warm welcome Nairda!

j/k :wink:

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by McG

Airboy:

Have you bought your car yet?

Hyatt has a Black 9-3 Aero 6 speed in right now that I took for a long test drive....was pretty impressed with it.

No, not yet. I checked their (Hyatt) online inventory and didn't see any Aero (for '04, its Arc with Aero package) listed. The only 6-speed 9-3 that I could find is at "Saturn Saab of Calgary NE". Not that it would matter, the only 9-3 that I would consider now is a 5-speed Linear, I think. Anything more and I am in BMW325i territory (not trying to start anything here)...

I have posted elsewhere about the number of software updates required by the 9-3. After putting a little more thought into it, I think the problem might be bigger than "just software". It appears that "software" related issues (radio, memory seats, mirrors, auto transimission) aren't consistent among cars, pointing to hardware issues. Poor/noisy electrical system? Don't know. Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to put the ECU all the way beack in the trunk. In any case, problems are problems, regradless of origin.

[Nairda]

:wink: