Now is the Time to Stake a Claim on the Used Saab SUV
By Christine Harrell
Saab was a latecomer to the SUV game with its first ever SUV, the 9-7X in 2005. If you're a Saab lover and prefer to buy pre-owned cars for the sake of better value, now is the time when you'll finally begin to see the used Saab SUV on the used car lots. Aside from price, one of the major benefits of buying a used vehicle, especially one in its first year of introduction, is that enough time has passed to accrue real-world road test data, consumer opinions have been cast, and recalls have been issued to alert any big potential problems.
Recalls for the 2005: So far it seems that instead of rushing into the SUV space, Designers spent the past several years perfecting the first ever Saab SUV. Now midway through 2006, there are no recalls for the 2005 Saab SUV. The fact that the first SUV from Saab is recall-free isn't merely a stroke of luck. As auto trivia buffs may know, the platform of the 2005 Saab SUV is actually the same as the tried and true Chevy Trailblazer.
Future year changes: Another way to identify any possible imperfections in a year's design or performance is to scrutinize the changes made to the following year model. Many times the changes are simply enhancements, but other times they represent fixes to previous problems.
Surprisingly for a newly released model, there weren't too many changes to the 2006 model; another mark in favor of the 2005 used Saab SUV. Among the changes were a 15 horsepower increase to the 6 cylinder engine and a new fuel saving technology for the 8 cylinder, yielding a more favorable gas mileage than the 2005 used Saab SUV.
Professional Reviews: The most noted point of caution among professional auto reviewers was the assumption that loyal Saab drivers wouldn't be able to accept the fact that the SUV was manufactured by GM in the United States. Saab realized that when it was time for their almost fanatically
...
