Our Cars Jonathan | 07 Feb 2009
What to buy?
It’s a funny business, searching for a new car. Especially if you’re not quite sure what it is you’re looking for. When my father’s 2001 Focus developed a suspension noise that signalled a possible… wait for it… garage bill, it was instantly clear that it had to go. As far as he’s concerned, once a car even hints that it might require any expenditure beyond the annual service, fuel, tax and insurance it becomes a major financial liability.
The dilemma was what to replace it with. It couldn’t be another Focus. Too boring. How about a Volvo C30 or Audi A3? Not impressed, not enough rear vision. The new Scirocco looked like a contender for a while, but not at that price. Then we went through the Golf ‘Blue Motion’ phase, but thankfully Volkswagen’s overpriced eco-car quickly fell out of favour because of its odd gearing. Nothing French would do either.
So in the end we bought a Saab 9-3. Obviously. It’s a 2008 facelift Vector Sport, so essentially Aero trim sans bodykit, wheels and brakes. First impressions (from the passenger seat, so far!) are good. The 150bhp 1.9TiD power unit packs quite a punch and with oodles of lower to mid-range torque available to assist in making respectable progress the car’s no slouch. The lowered sports chassis seemed to be playing its part on Hampshire’s B-roads this afternoon too, poise and stability easily a world apart from the old GM 900 I’m running at the moment. It’s actually quite comfortable too.
As we collected the car from Newbury another thing I was able to reflect on was how painless the whole experience of buying a nearly-new car seems to be these days, especially with the market in its present state. Once you know roughly what you want, it’s just a case of getting on the internet and playing the dealers off against each other until you find the best package – many will discount more heavily than you’d expect. All the Saab agents we dealt with were unfailingly helpful and professional, with none of the kind of arrogance I’ve experienced when dealing with certain MG Rover franchises in times past. In our case a £10k saving on a car under a year old wasn’t a bad result, all things considered. It seems you really can’t lose right now.