I’ve known Ward for a number of years now, we’ve unfortunately never met in person yet, but we have a wonderful connection, we talk regularly and also have an enduring shared love for Saabs. A few months ago, he got in touch and told me about his new purchase, a 2010 Saab 9-5 Aero Exklusiv Turbo4 Hirsch. Needless to say, I think I was as excited as he was about it, and true to form, it turned out to be as beautiful as his other Saabs in the collection. One day I look forward to visiting the Netherlands to see his new addition, but for now, I asked him to share his thoughts on the last generation 9-5 and what he admires about it.
I’ve been admiring the new Saab 9-5 for many, many years. Actually, the wallpaper on my iMac is a picture by you, of the rear of a 9-5 NG when you had one as a courtesy car, with that proud SAAB wordmark standing between the stylish and subtle red lines of the LED-bar. The LED-bar that is another example of Saab always being way ahead, as this now seems to be almost a standard feature on cars of premium brands like Porsche, BMW, Audi and Polestar.
Every single time I saw one in real life, I felt a lot of very strong emotions. It always excites me, as I think it is a very impressive and gorgeous car that even now still looks absolutely timeless, a feature of Saab design we both appreciate so much. Next to the excitement, I also always felt a little sad, as it shows what could have been. I think Saab really made this new 9-5 very Saab again, that reassuring Saab feeling in a modern way. I’ve grown up in and around Saabs, but my deep love for the brand really took off around the time Spyker (as a small Dutch sports car manufacturer) under the leadership of entrepreneur Victor Muller took over Saab and made it an independent car company.
I further developed that deep connection with Saab around that period not so much because of nationalistic feelings (although of course it’s nice when, being Dutch yourself, a Dutch entrepreneur saves your favourite brand with a great tenacity and a lot of positivity), but because back then I had a course about branding and connection society has with brands. And as part of that course we had to delve into a brand we were fascinated by. I discussed it with my mother (from whom I have the Saab genes), and our clear conclusion was I had to choose Saab. I was already thinking about choosing Saab, but my mother helped me and made it very clear to me that Saab was the obvious choice for me, which immediately felt great. Since then, I got more and more intrigued by Saab and got involved with everything Saab.
I followed all the news about the brand, the exciting new developments coming up, the lovely branding, the always very clear press conferences and press releases, the company blog InsideSaab by Steven Wade, the social media channels of Saab, the international blog SaabsUnited for which I eventually also started writing posts, and of course the beautiful black 9-5 Aero from 2002 owned by my mother. That is the car in which I really learned to drive after getting my driver’s license, and I have driven many enjoyable kilometers in that amazing Saab, and sometimes still do. I’ve called it the idiosyncratic love affair, describing the deep connection between Saab and Saab enthusiasts. And I feel very privileged to be part of this special group of people worldwide, who all appreciate and love Saab so much.
That’s me getting carried away a bit when talking about Saab, but that’s the period the all new Saab 9-5 was launched. Like the advertising states, ‘Anything but ordinary’. And I think that’s very true, as it in my opinion really matches it’s premium counterparts from Germany, the UK and Sweden in being a premium modern large sedan, but then, like Saab does (and one of the reasons we love Saab so much), in a different way. So when seeing a 9-5 NG both happy and at the same time a little sad emotions, but the happy emotions always are far more present and the Saab just gives much more reasons to be positive than anything else. Thankful that more than 11.000 of them are made, giving us the opportunity to truly enjoy them and wave the Saab colors with pride. Every time I saw one I knew I would eventually really love to own one myself. In that case, it would ideally be a black Turbo4 Aero with beige interior, automatic and FWD.
When I saw a blue Aero earlier this year being parked in my hometown Maastricht, with its gorgeous beige Aero interior, I just knew I really wanted one. I started searching more seriously (as I had been looking at the market on and off throughout the years) and then I eventually found this lovely 9-5 which I can now call my own. Something that is, also when admiring this one from up close, sometimes still baffling to imagine. That amazing Saab I’ve been admiring for years is now my own Saab. When I found this one, I was immediately very happy with the specifications. It’s almost exactly how I would have ordered one myself if I had the chance back then. A Jet Black Aero with beige interior, the 2.0T Turbo4 with FWD (as the XWD was not recommended to me by multiple Saab specialists whose advice I value and it’s something which I also don’t need and is an extra (complex) system which needs extra service etc), no DriveSense (another more complex and costly system which I don’t really need) and Hirsch optimised, giving the Saab 260hp which I think really suits the car. It also has the great Head-Up Display, the colorized sat nav screen, the colorized Graphic Info Display which shows the speedometer as an altitude meter inspired by the aviation heritage and the swivelling headlights.
The Saab is originally delivered at the Saab dealership of Boy Heijnen in Roermond, the Province of Limburg where we live as well. After that, it has been maintained for many years by Saab dealer Van Dongen in the province of Brabant (the neighbouring province of Limburg) and after that it returned to Limburg again where it has been maintained in the same area as where it was originally sold. The previous owners must have taken good care of it, as it still is in very good shape. The interior almost feels like new (which I can really appreciate a lot), and also the exterior still is in very good shape.
From the beginning, the Saab already feels very familiar and good. Very Saab. It drives great and in my opinion looks absolutely gorgeous. I might eventually get the lovely 19 inch Turbine wheels back to original silver again, and maybe eventually fit the original boot spoiler to give the overall design that little original extra, but in general, I think it’s just perfect. To top it all off, I recently found out via Henrik Zaar who puts together the production reports of the 9-5 NG and 9-4X, that my 9-5 and I have the same birthday. The 9-5 is built on the 16-17th of July, and my birthday is on the 17th of July. I think that’s really special. I genuinely love this Saab and this certainly is one to keep.
