2006 SAAB 9-3 2.0t review from North America

Very little has gone wrong with the car. The Saab label fell off the hood at 10,000 miles, and was replaced for free under warranty. Nothing else has failed or gone wrong with the car.

The car is able to get very good gas mileage as the turbo does a lot of work letting the engine loaf along. I average between 21 and 25 mpg in the city, and 31 and 36 on the highway. The EPA gives it 19 and 29 so I always do better than that.

The car handles very well. It is not as tight at a BMW which has rear wheel drive, but if you drive the Saab hard the BMW will outperform it only if it is driven hard as well. Most of the time owners do not know how to drive so the Saab can keep up with the 3 series BMW.

Acceleration is good as the turbo lag has been minimized using Saab's engine controls, a Mitsubishi turbocharger, and a GM 2.0 Ecotec engine. This is a strength of the car with the Bosch sourced five speed automatic transmission.

The cabin is comfortable for spirited driving as well as highway cruising. Although the platform is shared with other GM cars, it is more tightly tuned for handling so potholes are felt particularly hard in this car.

I can see myself buying another car in a few years if the brand survives as up to now, it has been the best car I have owned (this includes a Toyota with a blown engine due to sludge at 65,000 miles and the Acura with a blown transmission at 69,000 miles).