[SIGP2101]

I went shopping last Saturday. I was looking into couple of 9-3’s at various dealerships. I was astonished by discovery that metal used to built these cars is as thin as paper. Anywhere I pressed with my finger body panels just cave in without resistance. My 900 feels much more solid, and feels at least 2X more thick. Knocking on the 900 panels and knocking on 9-3 panels feels totally different. Fricking GM had to cheapen on these cars in every possible aspect.

 

[loochy]

...it feels like most other cars to me...

 

[JMarkert]

My 900 feels much more solid, and feels at least 2X more thick. Knocking on the 900 panels and knocking on 9-3 panels feels totally different. Fricking GM had to cheapen on these cars in every possible aspect.

I'm guessing you have a c900, not ng900. My ng900 was even worse. I hated how the roof rippled when you slammed the door.

On the plus side, all the structural stuff is fancy high-strength alloy, so the body will be stiffer overall. And it's galvanized.

 

[SIGP2101]

I'm guessing you have a c900, not ng900. My ng900 was even worse. I hated how the roof rippled when you slammed the door.

On the plus side, all the structural stuff is fancy high-strength alloy, so the body will be stiffer overall. And it's galvanized.

No, i have NG900 94 2 doors. Feels solid as rock.

 

[JMarkert]

No, i have NG900 94 2 doors. Feels solid as rock.

That might be the diff. The 4 door I owned was all flippy floppy. My SS feels waay more solid. Not as good as the c900, but pretty good.

FWIW, the SS is far safer than the previous generations, no matter how it feels.

 

[Vector-SS]

I'm by no means an engineer, but I believe this has nothing to do with cheapness of the car.

Almost all cars "bend" nowadays and even an average car is probably still lightyears ahead of any rock solid metal old car in terms of safety.

Same thing goes for bumpers - some older cars had metal rods as their front bumpers :lol: and nowadays, even the top of the line S-class has a plastic bumper that I can probably bend with my index finger.

What I'm trying to say here, is that cars are no longer built the same way they used to be built years back.

 

[Vector-SS]

......

 

[jlrdrony]

saab body structure is one of the best in sporty cars.
All the body structure are welding reinforcements brackets supports, really thick in:
-all underfloor
-engine bay,
- front bumpers rails all underfloor to the rear bumper,
- passenger frame ( and all the pillars A,B,C),
- also the trunk.
- roof reinforcement transversal bars.
all the interior panels and underfloor are protected against corrosion (was).
hood&tailgate aerodynamic aluminum not cheap.......
that's not cheap...

 

[08manny]

a non-pliable exoskeleton on a car means the passengers end up absorbing the energy in a collision....

saabs have crumple zones, impact resistant beams, blah blah blah... its meant to be how it is... heck, you think we have thin cheap metal cars... go look at the composite materials used for mercs and bmws... opening the bonnet of a current gen merc ml usually involves sideways torsion with the bonnet swaying in the wind.

 

[Dustin]

saab body structure is one of the best in sporty cars. All the structure are welding reinforcements in engine bay, front bumpers rail all under floor to the rear bumper, passenger frame (all the pillars A,B,C) and also the trunk. roof reinforcement transversal bars. all the interior panels are protected against corrosion (was).
hood&tailgate aerodynamic aluminum no cheep.......
that's no cheep...

feel proud of your saab.

I can attest to this. There's some serious quality underneath. Aluminum is used very extensively, and is well done.

Also, I recently noticed that my friend's brand new '09 Audi A4 3.2L Prestige's body panels are, for the most part, ... plastic.