As some of you may know, our very own Graeme Lambert took delivery of a Saab 9-5 TTiD Aero as a long term test back in April of this year. Graeme is a journalist for the British Car Weekly Auto Express. He has just sent us his latest artical about life with the stunning 9-5 Aero which can also be seen in full online.
When I was touring around Trollhattan last month, one of my first stops was at ANA Specialbilar. There are two main facilities here, the recycling center (formerly SDCC) where they take cars to bits and then there's the custom shop where they do a lot of special builds for various companies and agencies.
Alf and Martin were kind enough to give me a look through a SwedishPoliscar. I'm such an exemplary citizen that my chances to see inside one the way some people to do are pretty limited :-)
The cars come to ANA like this - plain white Saab 9-5 wagons.
The all-new 9-5 series strengthened Saab's position in the mid-size premium segment by replacing the long-running 9000 with two distinct bodystyles, a sedan and a wagon. The sedan was launched in 1997 and the wagon - Saab's first since the 95 model in 1959 – came a year later. Both were penned by Saab’s Norwegian designer, Einar Hareide.
Bold styling adopted design cues from the second-generation 900 model. The rising, wedge-shaped waistline, the 'hockey stick' line into the 'C'-pillars, the shape of the front lights and the oval door handles were all key Saab identifiers. The 9-5 also included a 'clamshell' hood, last seen in the 99/900 series. The sedan's coupé-like roof line and integrated boot-lid spoiler contributed to an excellent drag co-efficient of just 0.29, the lowest figure achieved at that time by Saab for a production car.