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Dean Slavnich test
drives the all-new Saab SportCombi
It’s been a long time coming but Saab finally has an offering in
the mid-size wagon segment. Messer’s BMW, Audi and Mercedes have
long since been gorging themselves on this segment, with the 3 Series
Touring and A4 Avant being widely seen as leaders in this class. Even
Jaguar jumped on the bandwagon last year in the form of the X-Type estate.
Now it’s Saab’s turn.
German estates watch out,
Saab’s SportCombi has arrived |
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Saab’s been part of the GM family for 15 years and the 9-3 SportCombi
(known as the SportWagon in the UK) is a by-product of such a relationship:
the car is total GM. It rolls off the same platform that gave the world
the Opel Signum and is powered by an array of GM engines.
Yet despite its GM roots, the 9-3 SportCombi is a package that works.
On the surface the car has been specifically styled to be different to
the German estates. The frosted tail lights in particular are a neat touch.
Inside, the load-lugger is full of space and there are plenty of handy
pockets to stow various items.
In true Saab fashion, the SportCombi is agile for its length and offers
the driver excellent road feedback.
Part of the reason behind the SportCombi’s fine road handling manners
is its four-link rear suspension layout, which makes use of ball joints
instead of rubber bashings on the outboard side of the toe link and upper
link. As a result of such a set-up, Saab engineers have been able to ‘dial’
in the unique passive rear wheel steer characteristic known as ReAxs.
When cornering, the elasto-kinematics at the rear axle induce a very slight
steering deflection of both rear wheels in the opposite direction to the
angle of the front wheels, so, for example, toe-out for the outer wheel
and toe-in for the inner wheel.
Depending on the radius of the bend, the speed of the vehicle and the
loading of the rear axle, one degree of steering input at the front wheels
would typically produce a small but significant response of about one
hundredth of a degree at the rear.
Such a system helps prevent excessive understeer and also overcomes ‘crabbing’
effect, helping the tail of the car to follow the direction of the front
wheels instead of the nose.
The front suspension is by MacPherson struts with de-coupled top mountings
while the independent rear suspension is also mounted on an isolated sub-frame
and incorporates three transverse and one longitudinal link with an anti-roll
bar.
In the SportCombi, Saab has rediscovered its mojo: for petrolheads there’s
an awesome 2.8 litre V6 engine available. It’s a lightweight all-aluminium
construction that features variable vale timing, a twin-scroll turbocharger,
unique cylinder heads, pistons and con-rods and hydroformed exhaust manifolds
with stainless steel liners and air injection for improved cold start
emissions.
Saab says it’s the most sophisticated turbocharged engine ever to
be installed in a Saab model. The V6 is available in two power specs:
a top-of-the-line Aero model producing 253 ps (186 kW) and 350 Nm (258
lb ft) of torque and a lesser (but still impressive) unit generating 233
ps (171 kW) and 320 Nm (236 lb ft) of torque.
The other petrol powertrains include three power derivatives of the 2.0
litre four-cylinder turbo engine and a normally-aspirated 1.8 litre engine.
The diesel line-up is twofold: a 1.9 TiD 122 ps (90 kW) and a 1.9 TiD
152 ps (112 kW).
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June 2005
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