Well... Finaly took the plunge...

[djdube525]

After a long journey of trying many many cars (Lexus ES330, Acura TL, Accord EX-V6, Camary XLE-V6, Infinity G35, BMW 525i really had no plans buying this), Audi TT (had to try it... it was right next to the Acura dealer) , Saab 9-3 and Saab 9-5, my wife and I finally settled on a...

2004 Saab 9-5 Arc in Steel Grey with Graphite Grey Interior with:

Premium Package, Touring Package, Xenon, Ventilated Seats, and Automatic Trnsmission.

We struggled long and hard between a 9-3 and a 9-5. Part of the issue was due to our buyign via the GM employee pricing plan... so we had to get something that was either on the lot or something that could be shiped in (ie could not order).

The 9-3 was a little bit more fun to drive, but there was never a configuration of color and options that worked out for us. The 9-5... a bit roomier... little plushier ride (nice for our road trips to Colorado and Maine), ventilated seats (nice in North Carolina Summers), a perceived impression reliability will be a little better in the 9-5 than the 9-3 since it's been out longer, and to be honest.. it just has a bit more elegant touch to it.

Kudos to our dealer... we must have tried 10 different Saabs... going back and forth with what we wanted... and he remained patient as ever.

Can't wait to pick it up tomorrow. :-)

Thanks all for answering my questions in a eariler thread.

Dave

[candiazoo]

Nice! My neighbor just bought a 9-5 wagon. I think I will try to get him to go to SCD in Boston this Fall (I missed last year)...

Mike

[SaabScott]

Very nice! 8)

You know pics are required the day you pic it up, right?

One of the odometre with low miles on it would be very cool! :wink:

[Automaggot]

Yah Maine! Maybe I'll see you cruising around this summer. :wink:

[djdube525]

Here are a couple pics from when I picked it up at the dealer. Temperature yesterday was in the high 90's... dew point in the 70s... those tush coolers came in handy.

[djdube525]

crap... the pictures didn't attach... I did something wrong...
I'll see what I can do to figure it out... must be doing something wrong.

[djdube525]

Ahhhh... you can't upload pics. DOH!
I'll get them up on a server when I get a chance.

[Paul]

Originally Posted by djdube525

Ahhhh... you can't upload pics. DOH!
I'll get them up on a server when I get a chance.

:-?? You can upload pictures..

See here: http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5168

[djdube525]

Oh... that was the issue... the pics were 640x480... so that's probably why they never showed up. I'll fix it when I get home. Thanks for the pointer!

[Stefano]

You can subscribe to some picture hosting website (it's free, I use www.photobucket.com and it works great), upload the pics there and cut and paste the link here. There's no limit to the dimensions of the images you can upload there and link here, besided those of common sense of course.... 640x480 is great though.

[GearHead]

pic pics pics!Congrats on purschase.

[djdube525]

Ok... finally got some time to resize them... here's another try.

Not the greatest of pics... but they are something.
These were taken at the dealer before we took the car.

[candiazoo]

Very sweet! I want one now!



Mike J.

[candiazoo]

I had my 9-3 ss in for an upgrade and got to take one of those beauties for the day. Definitely a different ride from the 9-3, but I really enjoyed it and had a little fun with the manual mode in the auto tranny. After using manual mode I couldn't stand leaving it in regular ol' DRIVE. The pick-up was truly inspiring!!

Alas, a bit out of my price range when I was looking.

Mike J.

[benji9k]

WOW! AWESOME! The second picture shows how the aerodynamic downforce on your car is so good, you can drive sideways on walls. I want one now!


Seriously though, nice car. Got a name for it yet?

[djdube525]

Unfortunately no name yet... hoping for some insiration to come kick me upside the head.

I have to admit... we typically wouldn't have looked at a car in this price range... but my wife's grandfather worked for GM, so we got in on the GM family deal. We were originally looking at 9-3s... but for kicks asked about the 9-5. Turns out this car was just a couple thousand more than the 93 we were considering due to a larger incentive being given for the 9-5.

Now I just have to figure out what if any mods I want to do. Was thinking about possibly upgrading the speakers... crutchfield is not being all that helpfull in figuring out sizes for the speakers... says there's no information available. I need to do a bit of research.

I tell ya... it's been over 100F here the past couple of days.. the ventilated seats are definately coming in handy.