Faults:

When the car hit 80,000 miles, problems started to pop up.

The entire AC unit had to be replaced, the windshield wiper rack had to be replaced, the CD player no longer works properly, the car bangs into gear when backing up and going into drive, it bangs or hesitates occasionally when shifting from second into third gear, and when shifting from third into fourth gear.

I have had it to two Cadillac/Saab dealers for repair, and neither has fixed the problem.

General Comments:

I am a Saab fanatic and love my car. The 2006 9-3 is my third Saab, and I love driving the car. The handling is excellent and it's a fun car to drive. Up to now it has been very reliable. I take excellent care of my Saab's and make sure that it is serviced at the required intervals. However I am finding it difficult to get good servicing when something goes wrong with the car.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with the car, and the maintenance has been free up to now. Have a bumper to bumper warranty until 5 years or 100,000 miles, whatever comes first.

General Comments:

The car has great handling, almost as good as a BMW 3 series (and the best for a front wheel drive car). The car is fun to drive and gives you a good feel for the road, with a little under steer at the limits. If I drive aggressively, only BMWs can keep up, and that is only if the driver is willing to push their car to keep up as the Saab 9-3 is no slouch in the corners.

The turbo lag is nearly non-existent, and is only there for a brief 0.5 seconds from a standing stop, as it picks up speed rapidly after you push the accelerator down. It is nice that this car gets much better gas mileage than the Acura TL I used to own, but has the same acceleration with its turbo 4. In addition, it has been far more reliable as the 2001 Acura TL blew out its transmission at 61,000 miles due to a chronic unit failure that Acura recalled and reimbursed me for (but the car was out for two weeks while the transmission was on back order - I was behind 6 other Acura's waiting for the part).

The Saab is comfortable with good seats and support. The handling comes at a price however as the ride is a little more rough than one would expect, but the trade-off is acceptable in my mind.

Faults:

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.

General Comments:

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).