This just appeared. It's in Swedish, and I haven't a clue what any of it means, but it comprises the first pictures I've seen on the new 9-3 undisguised, with both interior and exterior shots.... Someone hold me back....

http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/bil/story/0,2789,159558,00.html

First opinions are of rear lenses from a ovloV Convertible on a Lexus IS300

http://www.aftonbladet.se/bil/0204/27/NYHETER-27s16saab1B.jpg

http://www.aftonbladet.se/bil/0204/27/NYHETER-27s18saab3B.jpg

http://www.aftonbladet.se/bil/0204/27/NYHETER-27s18saab2B.jpg

Reading between the lines, and not reading Swedish, I'm guessing the following:

New engines based on Vauxhall/Opel Vectra

1.8t - 150HP - 224Nm
2.0t - 175HP - 265Nm
2.0T - 210HP - 300Nm (Aero)
2.2TID - 125HP - 280Nm (same as existing?)

All have 6-speed manual or 5-speed auto
All have ESP stability control

4WD Haldex coming later
Semi-automatic gearbox coming later.

Same range Linear, Arc, Vector.

For the rest look at the pictures - SatNav etc.

From what I've read previously, the Aero model isn't due until later, so the 2.0T engine will be the highest currently available until the Aero arrives sometime next year.

Supposedly the Aero is liable to have 4-wheel drive, and either the 250bhp 2.3 Turbo from the 9-5 Aero or the turbocharged 2.8 V6 that first appeared in the 9-3X show car.

We'll just have to wait and see! But I agree wholeheartedly with your view of the desgin - however if you block off the rest of the vehicle, the nose looks like a Seat Toledo, and the rear end like a Mercedes CL.... not a totally offensive combination!

We'll have to wait and see about the Aero.

I took the phrase : "Aeromodellen med 210-hästarsmotorn" to mean that they think the Aero will have a 210 HP engine.

Maybe the 2.3 will be a Viggen with 4WD and proper on the limit handling

Thank you!

Having driven the new Vectra, I can tell you how good that car is, eons ahead of the current one! It drives well and looks rather damned good.

Now add a bit of Swedish style (is it a Hareide or Cattigniani creation?) it looks gorgeous, add turbos - whooompphhhh, and if any more magic has been weaved over the suspension then I can't wait to drive it.

I was going to by a 9-5, I think I will wait.

Will Saab dealers accept GM points??

Looks nice if a little too "mini 9-5". To be honest I'm disappointed. To me Saab has always meant something a bit different and this model, although very tidy, hardly fits that category.
Also, does a Vectra motor mean no balance shafts?

MR

http://www.saabscene.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif
Vectra 2.0 and 2.2 have balancer shafts, maybe they will add balancer shafts to the 1.8 - mind you they are on about the sixth generation of ECOTEC since they were introduced about 10 years ago

It get's my vote. But I suppose that SAAB will be hopping mad that pictures from the caatalogue have leaked out. You can even see the creases on the paper!

I think it looks pretty good - the sort of looks that should sell.

Hopefully the prices are down a little, so my company lease will stretch to one in 2 years. (Give them time to iron out any teething problems too!)

Itching to see more pictures now!

Yeah, I think it looks like a scaled down 9-5. Worse than that, it looks like it's been inspired by the German designs (A4/Passat/C-Class).

It's not exactly the most original shape Saab have ever put forward. Defintely designed as a unit-shifter and not as an innovator, but then the richest fodder is always cultivated in the middle ground

On the plus side it's a more balanced "looking" layout. Hopefully it will be more of a drivers car than the current 9-3.

But overall, I'm not inspired by it. 9-X please Saab!

Looks nice. First time they got a 9-3 to look good as a 5 door! Sorry 5 dr ppl but I do prefer the coupe.

Anyway. I just been trying to translate the web page to English. Here's the first site I came to which included Swedish as an option.

http://www.tranexp.com:2000/InterTran

I havent got it to work yet but maybe someone else might have more luck. Or search for web for "page translator swedish english" and see what you can find.

I shall persevere!

Here are the very first pictures of the new 9-3. It grows a little bigger than the present 9-3 and it looks a lot like the 9-5 but it has got a brand new chassis and rumors says that this is the best Saab ever built.
All engines are also new starting with a:
1,8t with 150 bhp/224 Nm,
a 2,0t with 175bhp/265Nm
and a 2,0T with 210Bhp/300Nm.

The new 9-3 will also be available with 2,2 TID (Diesel) 125Bhp (the same engine as in the present 9-3). A Hirsch version with 260bhp are also expected as well as a V6 version. As for the gearbox there will be 5 and 6 speed manual gearbox and 5 speed automatic gearbox. AWD (All Wheel Drive) will be introduced to the 9-3 in about 1 year.

Official photos will be released on 13th May

Thanks for that update John - I'm afraid my Swedish isn't quite up to scratch... well... non-existant really!

Well it's helped me make a decision - bye bye 9-3 Aero, bye bye 9-5 Vector... hello new 9-3!

Just had a right laugh with my dealer. Went in, marched up to the sales manager, who I've known for several years, and asked to put down a deposit on a new 9-3 for delivery on September 1st. He giggled rather embarresed and said I must be nuts as I didn't even know what it looked like or what spec.... so I whipped out the pictures and he nearly had a heart attack - even HE hadn't seen anything yet! http://www.saabscene.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif

Anyway, suffice to say he wouldn't let me put down a deposit, but had promised a huuuge discount for letting him see the pictures before his boss! http://www.saabscene.com/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif Like that'll ever happen!

Anyway, if you see a fool with a ridiculous grin on his face driving away from Birmingham in a new 9-3 on September the 1st, that'll be me.

Oh, except I shall probably drive it long beofre that - I know a couple of people who review cars for a living, and one of them has the 9-3 on his list for May/June - I'll let you know how we get on!

I was going to have a 9-5 Vector as well Red!!

I will see what the 9-3 2.0t is like to drive before committing myself.

There is also the matter of getting Nena the 99 back on the road in the meantime

No thank you. Sure, it's reasonably pretty (apart from it's Passat back end), but so are all BM's (except the coupe) and most Peugeots and Mercs.

This is just another family saloon - I buy a Saab because I want a Saab. The worst news in the article is the confirmation at the bottom that there will be no hatchback (med ingen Halbkombi - but no hatchback), and so dies the only worthwhile large hatchback that has made Saabs so invaluable for people like me.

If I want a pretty saloon, I'll buy ....erm....hmmm.....trickier than I thought.....erm - a new Saab 9-3? But I don't, so if the 9-x doesn't come, I'll be off.

Why are some of us not reading the SAAB marketing words correctly? It says that there will be no 9-3 hatchback. Fine.

Now let's analyse this sentence with a bit of political correctness. They do not discount a hatchback. They discount a 9-3 hatchback. So there is nothing to stop SAAB bringing out a.... 9-X!

Now, where did I see one of those before ?

In any case, the 9-2 is going to be a hatchback. Mark my words.

Obviously I meant "no 9-3 hatchback", as the article is about the 9-3. dur. You may know more about Saab's future plans than I, Stanley - I hope you do and are right. If so, please look at your crystal ball and tell me when this 9-x (or even more mythically, the 9-2) is coming out. Because I'm changing my car at the latest Nov 2003, preferably sooner because the 9-3 Aero is not even the best car in my back drive, and the article says the 9-x MAY become a production reality in something like 2 years.

So my disappointment is in the 9-3's successor. I mentioned the words big and hatchback, which might be a clue as to why the 9-x and 9-2, if they ever appear, may not be the full Moose. If I want a sport combi I can buy that funny Audi thing right now, or an A3 if I want what the 9-2 is rumoured to be.

But apart from my own needs - after all there can't be many people who need a large hatchback - I am disappointed with the car in the article because it is a keeping up with the Joneses car. A fashion victim. You tell me what is new, unique to Saab, innovative - all the things we love(d) about our Saabs. It's a pretty saloon - I've discussed that, suffice to say that I like quirky looking cars like the 96 and the 9-x. It has a really wacky satellite navigation system - just like every other £20k+ new car for the past 3 years, to take your eyes off the road. Why can we not read roadmaps any more ? The dash design is less organic, less ergonomic, less integral - it has something (clock?) on top of the dash, as a concession to the bit-part dash design we hate in inferior cars. It's got the irritating shark's fin aerial - presumptious that we use mobile phones while driving to take our minds off the road - and, er, like my Aero, so nothing new there. It has what appears to be a new spin on a cupholder which takes up a whole page in the French brochure depicted - we've done cupholders . It has, by repute, a good new chassis, but that is just playing catch-up with the Krauts.

It has no balls.

Disappointed, particularly as my dealer is adamant that this great chassis is capable of plenty of adaptations, including a hatch. But not so disappointed that I am ready to give up hope just yet

Regardless of what anyone says about how it looks.. if it is better than the New Vectra and equal to/better than 9-5 then I will buy one.

I wouldn't dismiss it just by these pictures alone, I can recall the reaction by many people towards the NG900 rear end (i.e. its' [expletive deleted]) when it was first introduced. The actual product was better looking, but Saab got it right in the end with the 9-3.

When you read the amazing book about the development of the 9-5, it says that it was intended to have a rear end like the CS and NG900, customer clinics went yuk!
I think Saab have got it right with this car

Basil old chap, I think you've raised some pertinent points. As muh as I'm eager to chose a car as my finance is running down this Autumn, I would also be looking at the new 9-3 as a stopgap car until the arrival of he 9-3X.

From everything I've read, about the only thing all the articles can agree on is.... 2004. I'm afraid that may be just a little too late for you

There is of course a big "IF" still attached to it, but we can but hope - I agree with you, Saab need to stay radical to stay competitive. Too many cars the same shape and general design are frankly boring. Though I'd like to see a dull old Beemer try and keep up with a 260bhp 9-3

Oh, and from looking closely at the picture, I would venture to say the display perched on top of he dash is the next generation SID screen. Looking at the dash, it's not tooo radical a departure from the 900/9-3 dash (and no bad thing) but the inclusion of the Sat-Nav screen has shifted the central vents from the end of the dash panel to the centre at the top, thus taking up the space normally used by the SID screen - thus it's been blu-tacked onto the top of the dash..... and they call it design.... http://www.saabscene.com/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

Here's to hoping.......

Precisely, my friend (worked out how to fit that coldbox in yet?). Design it is not. It is sheepish following of fashion. If it gets them their beloved market %age, then maybe, just maybe, Saab will use that success to build something Saablike again, and to Bayern.

Pedr y Cymro, despite being a compatriot, I beg to differ on arses . I liked the 900 back end a lot - the only real difference for the 9-3 was the numberplate shift, which I consider retrograde.

Each to his gout, as the Froggies say.

the only real difference for the 9-3 was the numberplate shift[/b]...and the third brakelight was repositioned at the top of the rear screen!

Basil old bean, I have worked out how to fit the coolbox in - judicious use of a blowtorch and a 72-pound lump hammer and now it fist in the glovebox

fist in the glovebox - that's taking it a tad literally, wouldntcha say?

Arf Arf how we larfed

Aaah well you see my pedantic friend, the glovebox is so small, that my fist doesn't fit in, but after a litter erm... ahem... alteration work, the Coolbox fit's in quite nicely.

Of course the fact that the interior of the coolbox is now only fit or chilling 2nd class stamps has nothing to do with anything!

Excuse me for butting in here..., but I must .

Where can I find these gloves in the car? I didn't know that one needed gloves to drive a SAAB car. In the case of their aeroplanes: that's a different matter .

But I assume you are refering to that hole in the wall contraption that ocassionally refuses to open up, and when it does, it spits all of its contents into the cabin?

To be a complete pedant, there are actually some goles in your car - in the spare wheel well along with the jack and so on - so your poor little mitts dont get covered in brake dust when you throw a tyre at an unsuspecting pedestrian!

But yes, that letter box that masquerades as storage space in the passenger side of the dashboard is traditionally known as the "Glove Box"

AAAAARRRRGGGGHGHGHGHGH! I hate my typing!

Yes there are some G L O V E S in your car....

That's better. Got that out of my system now.

Supercalafragilisticexpialadocious.

Got the hang of it now.

Tend to call the AA guy http://www.saabscene.com/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif for the tire changes. They sold me their service, so .

But if the glovebox is at the front, what are those gloves doing in the boot ?

Strange people, those Swedes.. .

Stamley, it's TYRES.

My sincere apologies .

WIth all that surfing, you never know what country you are in sometimes. http://www.saabscene.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif

So I hope I won't be sent to gaol for this .