New garage-mate for our Mazda 5. Sorry - not a Mazda

Currently have a 2012 Mazda 5 Sport (6-sp) with 60k and a 2002 Saab 9-5 Aero SW (5-sp). The Saab just rolled over 232,000 miles and it was time to look for a replacement. I considered another used Saab wagon (9-3 or 9-5), used Volvo wagon (V50, 60, or 70), new VW Golf Sportwagen (gas, 5-speed), and new Mazda CX-5 Sport (6-sp).

The new car had to have a manual transmission, seat 5 (including 3 kids; 1 booster,1 car seat), have good trunk space for medium sized dog or groceries, and be fun to drive.

Test drove the CX-5 Sport and was underwhelmed. I wanted to like it, but it was severely underpowered. Test drove the VW - drove quite well, but it was a bit tight in the back seat, and sales approach could be best described as predatory. So, after much searching, I got this:

2007 Saab 9-3 SportCombi 2.0T, 6-speed.




Call me crazy...

JMJ

You're not crazy. That's a great car - it has Unicorn status and a touch of Swedish weirdness, but it's use of the GM parts bin should make it easy to maintain.

How old are your kids? I went with the 5 because I can't fit a high-schooler and two little ones in a regular backseat without issues...

Chris

Thanks Chris. My kids are 3, 6, and 8. I have the carseat behind the driver, booster is behind the front passenger. 6 & 8 year olds can both buckle their seatbelts unassisted, so win-win. This is my 4th Saab. Probably my last daily-driver Saab for sure.

Footnote - I see you're in Brooklyn. Funny, I had this car shipped to me from Yonkers.

Giving up my "old" Saab will be pretty tough...


JMJ

Why give it up? Is is breaking with alarming frequency? 232k is just getting started for one of those isnt it? Maybe im biased my lowest mileage car right now has 135k on it..

Secondtyme, I'd like to keep it, but only have garage & driveway space for 2 cars. If it was a pickup truck, then I'd keep it, but I can do pretty much everything with the 9-3 that I needed the 9-5 to do. It gave many smiles per mile, that's for sure. A real joy on long swooping 270 on/off ramps! Brought home a fridge and a washing machine inside with the seats down, a few loads of lumber and a mattress on top, no problem.

Reliability-wise, it's been about on par with what I expect out of a Saab. Just replaced the rad, and I'm due for the 240k service soon and new tires. Just wanted to get ahead of the next big expense with a planned purchase versus an emergency one. On the last road trip, we opted to rent a van versus driving the Saab or loading the cargobox onto the Mazda 5. pretty much sums it up.

JMJ

Makes good sense to me! Post some pictures of the new one once you have it in your possession and have put your "stamp" on it.

Well... just got it detailed. About as clean as it's gonna be for a long time.







JMJ

this is CRAZY. I was literally just looking at a $2000 9-5 estate!

how do you find the rear room of the 9-3 vs the 9-5? (I had the 9-3 when I was single and ppl hated sitting in the rear).

TonyC,

The 9-3 is smaller than the 9-5, but the rear seat fits my 3 kids without complaint right now, configured like I do. In the 9-5, it was also snug, but I had the carseat in the middle, secured with the seatbelt instead of LATCH anchors. Now the carseat is behind the driver & secured with the LATCH anchors. The buckles for the 2 remaining seating positions are together, so as long as my 6YO & 8YO daughters are not trying to buckle in at the same time, there is room enough to do so.

I ran the numbers before I bought:
9-5 vs. 9-3 vs. Mazda 5

HP 250 - 210 - 157 bhp
torque 258 - 221 - 163 ft.lb
weight 3640 - 3320 - 3457 lb
headroom f 38.7 - 38.9 - 40.7 "
headroom r 37.6 - 37.0 - 37.1 "
legroom f 42.2 - 42.3 - 40.7 "
legroom r 36.6 - 35.1 - 30.5 "
shoulder f 56.9 - 56.3 - 55.5 "
shoulder r 56.5 - 55.1 - 49.3 "
trunk 37.0 - 29.7 - 44.4 (3rd row down) ft^3

I've never had people complain about the 9-5 rear seat - maybe the wagon rear seat is different from the sedan? My 9-5 is an Aero - probably the most comfortable sport seats I've ever had. I'll surely miss those seats.

I actually wanted another newer 9-5, but Saab changed the interior in 2006, and the exterior a few years later. Finding any low-miles 9-5 is rare. Owners are driving them into the ground.

In the 9-3 lineup, they revised the interior back to the simplified "identify all controls by touch" theme in MY2007, and revised the exterior in MY2008. I didn't like the look of the '08+ exterior, and hated the '06 "sea of buttons" interior, so finding a low miles '07 with the prefered interior & exterior was serendipitous.

JMJ

thanks for the comparo, I meant to say I had the 9-3 and ppl hated sitting in the back, which would make sense since it has 6" less leg room than your 9-5.

here in SoCal, finding any 95 wagon is sorta like looking for unicorns...

You are a brave man for buying a car uncheck from NYC premeiters. Certainly a nice looking and well kept car. The only Saab I'd want is the 900 vert but will take a post GM Viggen too. Here's to hoping it lasts a long time and no saab story (doh)

and the 9-5 is gone

I just sold my 9-5 wagon. Posted it on CL on Friday and had 4 respondents within 2 hours. It rolled out of my driveway about 2 hours ago (Sunday).
Well, here's to the new wagon.

JMJ