It’s 2026. The automotive world rolls on and I’m interested in knowing… what are you driving?
Most of you got here via SaabsUnited, the website I ran back when Saab was still a going concern. I’m guessing that while some will still have a Saab (or two), most won’t.
So what’s driving your automotive interest now? Pun fully intended.
I’ve had a semi-deliberate hiatus from the online automotive world for a few years now. Back in the SU days, and in the early days of this site, I was in a good earning, two-income household with minimal debt and plenty of parking space. I could indulge my automotive interests with very few restrictions. And I did, again and again and again. That world changed in 2015 when a) I moved to Sweden to work for Koenigsegg, and b) that marriage broke up (the two circumstances were not related).
Since then, while I’ve had a couple of interesting vehicles – most notably an RS Megane (below) and my Alfa Giulietta – cars have been a bit on the backburner. I didn’t want an online automotive life to consume me the way it did in the SU days, and being at Koenigsegg quenched much of my interest, anyway.
My current circumstances are very different to 10+ years ago. I’m now in a one-salary world, busily trying to build a second, and we have just one parking space in our apartment building. Indulgence has to blend with practicality. It matters if the stupid car I bought breaks down now.
But I do miss it. The online side of things will not be allowed to get so big again, but sharing this interest with friends around the world has always been a joy. I’d like to keep that flame burning.
Saab is Gone. Long Live Saab!
I couldn’t write Saab is dead. Because it isn’t, right? I’ve seen it first-hand and I know many of you have, too: The Spirit of Saab is alive and well.
But the bankruptcy did happen. And while I know a few peeps who’ve maintained/expanded their fleet, I also know many who’ve moved to explore other brands.
There’s no judgement here, by the way. I’ve been exploring other brands for 15 years. I love cars. I love what they’ve meant to me, and what they’ve meant for the world in terms of mobility, independence, exploration and achievement. I loved Saabs most of all – I still do, and will have one again some day – but as SE Hinton wrote way back when: that was then and this is now.
So…. what are you driving?
Have you maintained your Saab fleet?
Did you move to the other Swede (and I don’t mean Koenigsegg)?
Have you changed tack entirely and sought comfort in something other than a 4-banger turbo hatchback?
Have you taught yourself how to wrench so you can maintain your weekend Miata/Integra/Golf/Insertnamehere?
Have you gone (cue theatrical Beelzebub voice……) electric?
Enquiring minds want to know (i.e. mine).
Hi Swade,
Happy new year. I just sold 2008 9-3 2.0T Aero, spent almost £2k on it 1.5 years getting it right. Decided Inwasreally chucking good money after bad. I just took delivery of a 2025 Peugeot 208 GT Premium Hybrid in vertigo blue. He is fully loaded but its gonna take me ages to get my head around all of the features.
They pack those Pugs with stuff nowadays. I had a look at one while getting the Croissant worked on and they were pretty loaded. And handsome.
After a string of 9 Saabs I’ve gone over to the dark side with a BMW 330d X-Drive Touring. It is a truly great car.
But, of course, it isn’t a Saab…
We’re a forgiving bunch, Chris 😛
My 328 GT did it’s job pretty well, too. Ticked the bodge off the list with no regrets and thankfully, minimal repair costs (I’ve heard they can be costly).
Hi Swade. Well I’m still very much into Saab and get to Sweden normally once a year. All the 9-5’s I’ve ever owned have been back to Trollhattan and in 2027 Svea will make the journey again. But these days she is ready for semi-retirement having covered 174,174 petrol driven miles. Of course I’ve had other Saabs as well as my main stay drivers. Normally owning two cars at any one time. Many years ago I had four Saabs, my 9-5, a 99, 900 vert and 9000 saloon but o my have two spaces I had to let them go. A year ago I actually had 3 NG9-5s for my sins.l got a week. But. I’ve bought myself a V90 as my new daily. So looking forward to it being delivered and yes she was built in Sweden.
A 99, too!! I’d love to drive that back to Sweden from Yeovil. That’d be a hoot!
Hey, great to have new content from you Swade!
I moved on from my 2004 9-5 Aero SW about 3 years ago to a 2021 BMW M340i. My wife moved on from her 2004 9-5 Aero
Wagon to a 2020 Volvo V60.
We still have a 1997 900 Turbo (that has many, many mods) but maintaining is becoming more difficult as time marches on. At the moment, struggling to get it to pass California SMOG to obtain a registration renewal.
I miss our Saabs, the Volvo and BMW are nice cars, just not the same…
Having two 9-5 Aero wagons would creates a pretty high bar for whatever follows. I loved my Vector wagon in Sweden. Still one of the comfiest cars I’ve ever had.
Still flying the Saab banner. I have the Viggen Vert and C900 Turbo Vert, as well as the ’73 Sonett. All are three season cars kept off the salty roads here in New England. I miss my two 9-5 Combi’s. Lost one in 2023 when the building it was parked near burned down and it melted. The Aero Combi
succumbed to rust last year.
But being a wagon guy all my life my daily driver is now a 2021 Mercedes Benz E400 Estate. Really nice car and a joy to drive but so many bells and whistles that are really not needed. Had it a year and so far it’s been reliable, but cross my fingers every time I press the start button. Repairs and ven routine maintenance will be expensive.
And thanks for jumping back into sharing your writing online. Always an enjoyable and informative read.
That’s one hell of a Saab garage, Jim. But then you know that 😉
I’m sure you’ve waxed on this in the past, but perhaps you could write a post expounding on what it was that you saw in Saabs specifically. What was the essence of that third-way manufacturer and its unique, often special, and idiosyncratic offerings that so spoke to you?
I enjoyed my 2000 9-3 Cabrio. I enjoyed it, but was never in love with it. That design was a practical improvement over the OG 900 though the earlier Cabrio (and coupe) was the heart and soul of the manufacturer..
I myself found more attachment with a ‘96 Volvo 850 wagon/estate. The design was sharper, the handling surer and more playful in the corners, it tracked better in the snow (and both were FWD), the exhaust note was sportier, the five pot engine revvier, the seats comfier and it was passively safer.
Those 850s – for all their sad gremlins – now enjoy a cult status too. Sightings are about as rare as 9-3s. But here in LA, every once a full moon, I see both in the wild and smile. And when I see an OG 900 Cabrio in yellow, I actually catch myself dreaming…
I can tell that story, Gunnar. I’ll write it up some time soon. I have mentioned bits of it before but I’m not sure if it ever came together in one place.
I answered two posts ago, but I’ll repeat it so it’s in the right place. I’m on my second Volvo since Saab stopped selling cars. The first one was an S80 (last model year with “Drive-E” 4 cylinder turbo), which I kept for a decade. The current one is a C40, aka EC40. The S80 was just like a 9-5. It even had the same seats as the NG 9-5. The C40 is a modern 9-3 hatchback. I would have prefered two Saabs, but Volvo is a lot more Saab-like than it used to be. I suspect that many Saab engineers ended-up there. Volvos handle now, and they accelerate, and they aren’t gas guzzlers. The C40 doesn’t use any gas at all, of course, but the S80 was more economical than my 9-3.
The EV transition has been seamless. It wouldn’t have made any sense (to me) to buy a new car that wasn’t an EV. I plug-in once a week at home, only visit fuel stations when I need a winter car wash, and it costs me 10% as much as gasoline did. Longer trips are not an issue in Canada, even in winter. You plug-in after 4 hours, go to the bathroom, get a refreshment, and the car is back up to 80% by the time you get back. I would have a Saab EV if it was available (I know they were working on it), but the C40 is as close to a modern 9-3 as anything. I guess that Polestar is slightly closer to a Saab clone, but they didn’t have a dealer in my area at the time.
I was this (imagine my thumb and forfinger nearly touching) close to an XC40 but the Cupra was £100 a month cheaper and the Volvo didn’t feel £100 a month better. But they’re a great car. I also nearly went EV but the Terramar is only petrol ot PHEV and the EV Born is too small and I didn’t like the Tavascan.
Not sure about fuel prices in Canada but my neighbours have EVs and put up solar panels. Payback they think at current proces is 24 months as the ‘fuel’ for the car is now free and their electricity for the house is maybe 60-70% from the roof…
I tried so hard to get a Volvo, Bernard. I really did. I scoured for the right V40 when we arrived back in Australia. I even went and tested one – a T5 R-Design. Sounded amazing. Well equipped. Super comfy. But that bloody badge on the steering wheel staring back at me – Erik Carlsson would have cursed my soul.
I still really like the V40 (I’m a small car guy, at heart). Maybe I can get a steering wheel center cover that’s blanked?
If the EV hat fits, you wear it, right? I still have problems finding the interface interesting. But the running costs would be awesome.
After my 9-3 went, I never went back to Saab. I was stuck in company cars for a while.
I ran a Peugeot 407 for a while, a close cousin of your DS. As a major Peugeot fan, it was massively underwhelming. It drove well, but the rest of the experience was poor.
After that, I ran a Passat Estate. Boring, but a Swiss army knife—the perfect tool for work and family. I can see why they sold.
Next was a Peugeot 108, a lockdown car bought so my eldest daughter could learn to drive in it and eventually take it over. Neither happened. Essentially a Toyota underneath, it was hilariously nippy and fun. But a terrible clutch, combined with a very sharp, peaky tiny engine, meant she couldn’t get it moving.
Next? Mazda CX‑30. Again, underwhelming. My advice to anyone buying one: spend the money on a CX‑5 and make sure it’s a manual. A rare car I started out loving and grew to hate. Unmissed. Next!
Cupra Formentor. Bought drunk, over the Internet. That’s not a lie. I was doing the ‘decent family thing,’ looking at a sensible SUV for family use. Then I looked at my wife’s 128ti (massively underrated, and BMW fans HATE them) and realised I needed joy in my life. A few beers on a Friday, and the next morning I was the proud owner of a car in Scotland. I live in Ireland. For foreign listeners, a map will illustrate my error.
It was a great car—I loved it—but involved in an accident I’m not going to talk about. Helpfully, the insurance company delivered an identical loan car as a constant reminder… until I bought a new car. Even better: a few months later, the Spanish rental company told me, “You’re in luck, sir—you’ve been upgraded.” I knew before I even walked outside. A f***ing Grey. CUPRA. Formentor.
And a bloody manual too. I looked to the heavens and said, “Cancer and now this? You’re having a laugh, right?”
Next!
Daughter Number two had to lear, and so did I. A torquey 1.4 Corsa with a leaner friendly clutch, I can see why driving schools love them. 90% of the kids with cars at her school run them.
With heated seats, wheel, CarPlay, cruise, auto lights, wipers, parking sensors. I liked it. Daughter two loves it. I drove it to keep the insurance down while she passd her test (in the UK we can add a separate learner policy to our own car)
Three months to pass her test, I reckoned. Eleven months later, I cracked and bought another Cupra. Couldn’t sit in a Formentor again. So I bought a Terramar. She passed 3 weeks after I bought it. From Scotland, but sober this time. See? I can grow.
Cupra is a car brand loathed by some, but I love it. It’s got space, it handles, and it looks good. Does it have a Saab’s soul or thought in the details? Nope. But what does?
Life has a funny way of laughing at us sometimes, eh? Good to hear you’ve settled into something you love.
And I get the impression you’re still in remission? Going well?
Hi Swade, good to have you “back”! In response to your questions regarding my current drives, I haven’t moved away from Sweden, as I’m now on my 21st “Swede” over the past 33 years (I was a late starter!) since buying my first – a 9000i – in 1993. I then ventured into 95V4 wagons – 4 of them but only 2 runners – as fun cars to augment my daily company car. My then wife also got into Saabs and had a few over the years, all autos (I count them amongst the 21 total as I also drove them!). Fast forward to 2010, when I bought my first 96 stroker from Chris Partington – ever so slightly modified by him but I made it faster and better with a Jetex exhaust, bigger main jet and 33mm venturi. Much better! In 2011 I replaced my 9-3 Hirsched TiD wagon with a 9-3 Aero TTiD wagon, 11 months old, from Saab UK, with 14k on the clock, and a ’93 900S Aero convertible – still have it. In 2022 I sold the 96TT to a friend and bought a 1962 96 Sport from my Belgian friend Henri Brusten (RIP). It’s in pretty good shape, body-wise, but hadn’t been driven for at least 10 years – I’d seen it in Henri’s garage in 2010 and asked to buy it – he told me to f**k off but I was able to buy it from him 12 years later! There’s some history – delivered new as a prototype Sport to Saab Finland and, I’m told, rallied by Simo Lampinen. I have some Finnish paperwork that hints at that story – and lots of correspondence from the guy who restored it before selling it to Henri – but haven’t been able to contact Simo, who now lives in Germany. Maybe he’ll be at the 80th Anniversary “do” in 2027 – I’ll be there. I’ve had the engine completely rebuilt and am renewing all the rubber suspension parts, disks, brakes, hoses etc. Slow progress with the aim of driving it to Trollhattan in 2027, along with several friends who’ve also recently acquired strokers. Should be fun!
The 9-3 was accidentally written off in a flash flood in March 2024 – my fault entirely – so I scrapped it (150k miles) and bought my first Volvo: a 2015 XC60 D5 SE Lux Manual with Polestar and just over 100k on the clock. I absolutely love it – it goes like stink and is fairly economical, just a little bit thirstier than the 9-3. Great for dogs, towing etc and with a superb driving position.
Well, you asked for comments – hope this hasn’t been too wordy. All the best from west Dorset, UK. David
Hi David,
I actually wrote to Simo after your last comment here, hoping to establish a connection with you. I’ve heard nothing back, sadly. I’m not the Saab guy I used to be, I guess. But Simo is of an advanced age, too, and maybe doesn’t access his mail often. If I hear anything, I’ll pass it on.
Hi Swade,
Actually started reading your postings after your time with Saab ironically. Have a 1973 Saab 96 (Bob the Saab) named after the former owner. Planning for my wife and I to use as a fun weekend car to drive to the beach in North Carolina. She passed away in 2024 and I have been taking body work and painting classes in the evenings to fill my time after work. With those completed I was allowed to take the restoration classes and have painted my car the California Red it originally came in. Working on the way it looks first as it runs and drives then will work on freshening up the mechanicals.
Also have a 1986 900 SPG in Edwardian Grey. Working in the mechanicals and have this one pretty solid. Just fitted the Trionic 5 swap to basically make it coil on plug and with the engine management from a 9-3. Will work on body work to fix the hood and a few imperfections, but with the rear louvers on the hatch it looks totally 80’s.
Wish we could post photos.
Daily driver until right before Christmas was a 2016 Honda Accord manual with 225,000 miles. Hit and totaled the car. Never an issue with it. So as a replacement….. you guessed it…. buying a friends 2004 9-3 Convertible. Unfortunately it is an automatic but with on 88k on the odometer and in great shape should last quite a while.
I do enjoy working on my cars and when servicing the 9-3 the 900 can serve to run around.
Enjoying my Saabs and enjoy your writing in your time there as well as what you are up to. Wishing you nothing but peace and success in the coming year.
Adam
Sad to hear about your loss, Adam. Heartbreaking.
I don’t think I can enable photo-uploading but I might consider a series on people’s cars in the future. It’d be great to see them and hear the stories in full.
Hi Steven, greetings from Boston! I’ve continued to drive only Saabs since the demise of the company, thanks to a number of great Saab techs in this area. My current daily driver is a 2002 9-3 convertible I picked up in 2022 with only 37K miles on the clock! 16″ rims with snows in the winter, and 17″ double three spokes in summer. This one will die in harness!
That generation of convertible is definitely on my long term list. It’s my favourite generation of 9-3, actually.
Hello, great to receive these recent posts in my inbox. Good to have you back blogging.
I think in the intervening years, I have drifted away from cars a bit. After the Giullietta, I had a Golf Alltrack which was superb fun and very practical, but got written off when somebody turned in front of me at an intersection. Thereafter my wife insisted on an SUV (Tiguan) which is largely soulless. I then made the step I had been hoping to make for years (and hopefully doesn’t get me blacklisted on this site) and went electric. I will freely admit, I love electric propulsion. The acceleration is superb, the balance of the car is wonderful but I am quite frustrated by many aspects of the software and the feeling, at times, of being more of a computer operator than a driver. I don’t envisage returning to internal combustion, but am hoping for some more exciting electric options in due course.
I did tick off an ambition to work on a car and try to learn. My youngest son’s 2006 Forester was stolen two years ago during the start of Victoria’s car theft crime wave. We recovered the vehicle, but the engine was stuffed. We all loved that car, it seemed to have real character, so I financed my eldest son’s efforts to re-engine it. (He is the engineering brains in our house). Over the next 18 months, he converted it to manual. I helped with bits but realised my heart isn’t actually in the mechanics of a vehicle, more in the bodywork and driving. I have a bit to do on the body, but it is roadworthy and operational as a general run about in the family.
I did consider whether to get another Saab, but there are so few around these days and I cannot imagine parts are easy to come by. I remember how fussy the previous one was, so I decided to leave mostly fun memories in the past. Do love seeing the occasional one go by on the roads.
I’ve replaced obsessing about cars with sailing and playing music, as well as continuing to dabble in photography.
Once again, great to have you back online.
EV’s: My objections aren’t about the propulsion at all. They feel nice. But the driver experience is way off optimal IMO. Too many screens, too little emotion. Hopefully that will change but I think I’ll be hooked on older stuff for some time yet (for my side of the garage. My wife may differ).
I second Gunnar’s request above! Would love to hear your thoughts on this please Swade: “What was the essence of that third-way manufacturer and its unique, often special, and idiosyncratic offerings that so spoke to you?”
I’ve never had a Saab, though in my distant youth I had a Triumph TR7 for a little while, whose slant four I believe was the basis of the contemporary Saab engine – so in that sense I feel like I have some connection to them…
These days though, well one thing that informs my approach to cars is that I hate losing money on depreciation, so this means that I’ll either buy cheap and somewhat under-appreciated cars of around 10 years old (hence the DS3), or classics.
My parents had Alfas growing up, and as a result I guess my first automotive love became the Alfasud they had. I learnt to drive in it, and then my first job was delivering pizzas in it, which I still count as the most fun job I’ve ever had and which helped me to appreciate what a piece of design genius it is.
And after almost 30 years I finally managed to buy myself a 1976 1.2 ti around six months ago. Admittedly it still has a few issues which are preventing me from using it very much, but it’s getting there… and even in its current state it definitely meets expectations. It has positively the most charismatic engine I’ve ever experienced, and the handling and steering are incredibly communicative. Definitely a keeper!
Its garage-mate is a Porsche 912, which I bought sight-unseen during the Covid period when those of us with stable jobs were stuck at home with money burning holes in our pockets… I tell myself that conceptually the Sud and 912 are quite similar, both having boxer four engines and an emphasis on clever engineering, simplicity and useability. And this also makes sense from the point of view that the Sud was engineered by Rudolph Hruska, who was involved in designing the VW Beetle while working at Porsche in the 1930s. Actually my second-favourite car that I’ve ever had is the Beetle 1300, and I wanted a 912 from the point of view that I’d always considered it the ultimate development on the Beetle.
Driving-wise they are very different cars, though are both primarily great commuters (rather than sportscars) in their own way. While the Sud is playful and charismatic, I would describe the Porsche as “workmanlike”. It just dispatches any challenge you thrown at it with a minimum of fuss, and ultimately its dynamic limits are much higher than the ‘Sud’s. It’s also much more solidly (ie expensively)-built, and better on the highway given that at 100kph the Sud is already at close to 4000rpm in top gear whereas the Porsche is more like 3000. But it lacks the delicacy and precision, as well as the personality of the Sud (and the Beetle).
So I’m not sure I’ll keep the Porsche for much longer… and if I sell it then I might even finally have the funds to restore the Lancia Fulvia coupe that’s languishing at the back of my garage, and then the Sud might have a fight on its hands;-)
You’re living in my alternate reality garage 🙂
I understand what you say about the 912. Exceptional, but ….. workmanlike. My 968 felt the same. It felt like such a massive achievement to have bought one and yet felt so flat when I finally had it. My Alfa 33 16V from a few years earlier fizzed and popped all over the place. The 968 just got their faster but with no fanfare. I wasn’t disappointed to sell it.
Now a Fulvia…… there’s a beautiful thing!
I might have mentioned this before.
After my last Saab, a 2002 Viggen, I played the field with Volkswagens, Jeeps, Volvos, MINIs, Chevys, and, perhaps inexplicably, a lot of Nissans. I briefly sold Saabs and was doing so at the time Spyker bought them. I’d moved on by the time of Spyker-Saab’s bankruptcy, but briefly considered an orphaned second gen 9-5 around 2013.
Had a series of big pickup trucks before dipping back into the land of turbos with a 2020 Explorer with the big 3.0l twin turbo. Concurrent with that, I picked up my first EV, a Nissan Leaf with the big battery. For a car not widely praised for its performance, that little car was a rocket and led me to my next car, a Mustang Mach-E. Oddly though, despite being faster than the Leaf on paper, it never felt as fast. When the lease on the Mach-E ran out, I replaced it with my current ride, a Hummer EV. It’s a vehicle that’s stupid in every way…too large, too heavy, too capable, too comfortable, and way too fast. Our other car, my wife’s Bronco Sport, will be replaced, if all goes to plan, by a Scout Traveler, when those debut in 2027. But I’ve got an eye out for something stupid and cheap for fun. I’d love a classic 900 convertible or something Italian.
I’ve found Nissans quite compelling over the last 6 months. The Z cars, particularly. I don’t think it’ll be a long term thing, but I’d love a 370Z one day.