What you see here are two of the best, new midsizers in its class and guess what, they're both from Sweden. It was such a shame to see them go away from their American adopters, but they found new homes, quicker than expected, and nothing but positive things have happened for them. Sure, they may not have the best lineups (for now), but for those who are tired of the typical BMW and Mercedes (even the typical Lexus or Infiniti or Audi), these Swedes are extra rare and pretty damn class competitive.What you knew about the SAAB's and Volvo's of the past should be as dead of a perception as Toyota being better than Ford and Chevy. The 9-5 (or now 95) is one of the most critically acclaimed new cars to come, ever. GM worked extremely hard to retool its Epsilon II platform specifically for this car. It could easily have the best chassis/suspension setup in its class. Not bad on the eyes either, only car that looks better (in my opinion) are the Jaguar XF and the car listed above it.
Now the S60 is in its class of its own in its styling. Maybe its just me, but when I first set eyes on this car, a little sparkle flew by. "Can't even start to believe this is a Volvo", I said to myself. Being used to the dowdy, uninspired Volvo's of the past (hey, they just left the box era in the 2000's!), the S60 was an unexpected surprise. Claimed as the "Naughty Volvo", this is the car those "Desperate Housewives" would love to be seen in. While the 95 strikes me as the car I would love blasting through mountains with, the S60 is the car I would definitely try to impress with. Every single curve symbolizes a different meaning, almost as if Volvo took a page from the Jaguar book and copied some kind of wild cat. If the S60 is any symbolization of where Volvo is headed, I love it.
What with the new product from SAAB (9-4X slated for early next year, new 93 and 92) and Volvo (the new XC60, upcoming S40 and V40, current [or soon to be refreshed] S80, upcoming XC90, C30 and C70), these Swedes could possibly become the new Germans. And once they free themselves from the companies of which they're tied down to, it would be quite interesting to see just how far these two can go. Stay tuned.
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ReplyDeleteIf the XF didn't exist, and if I was buying in this segment, I would definitely look at these two.
ReplyDeleteThese two cars, along with the XF, are for people who LIKE cars.
The BMW 5, Mercedes E, and Audi A6, from what I've observed, are more for people who like the badge, and like the impression their cars give off, but ultimately know zilch about what makes a car good.
However, I doubt Volvo and SAAB will ever reach the success of their German brethren, for the simple reason that the majority of people aren't car enthusiasts.
Hopefully they know what they're doing better then GM and Ford!
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely good to see them making such nice cars. Just a couple of years ago pretty much all SAAB's looked dated to me, but now they have a lot of nice cars to offer.
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