Saab Turbo is bjorn again

It’s thirty years since Saab shed its customary Scandinavian restraint and unleashed its first turbocharged vehicle onto an unsuspecting public…

Now the Swedes are celebrating the milestone with a car which not only pays homage to the original souped-up 900 but showcases the latest in four-wheel drive technology.

The new car is the Saab Turbo X, a special version of the 9-3 which is available only in black. Just 2,000 models are being produced and the UK will be receiving 500 of these at £32,495 each.

I drove the car at a General Motors multi-model launch in France and found it fascinating, even if it’s not quite the ultimate sporting Saab I’d hoped it to be.

With its gleaming black paintwork and fashionable dark grey alloys (designed, like the original Inca wheels to resemble turbines) the Turbo X certainly looks the business - though perhaps it needs blacked out windows to complete the effect.

Inside, the cabin is quite austere in typical Scandinavian fashion, with black again the prevailing colour. The seats are every bit as comfortable as you would expect from a Saab.

The dash flashes up a ‘Ready For Take Off’ message which may amuse those familiar with Saab’s aircraft heritage.

While the original Saab Turbo was a lairy beast of a car which suffered from the twin vices of turbo lag and torque steer, the Turbo X delivers its power in a far more civilised fashion.

This is due to its outstanding new ‘cross wheel drive’ system (XWD) which features the latest generation Haldex technology.

While other four-wheel drive units do not begin to work until they detect wheel slippage, this new ‘intelligent’ active system is permanently on and distributes torque without having to wait for the tyres to start scrabbling for grip.

XWD is being rolled out across the Saab range but the Turbo X has an extra feature which will not be arriving on other cars until 2009 - and that’s an electronic limited slip differential (eLSD).

This works in tandem with XWD to split torque not only between the front and rear axles, but between the rear wheels too.

Here’s how it works. In normal driving conditions the system directs 90 per cent of torque to the front wheels but when the car is starting off, particularly on a loose surface like gravel, the bulk of the power is sent to the rear.

When the car’s weight shifts from one side to the other - during an overtaking manouevre for example - the eLSD kicks in to distribute torque laterally as and where it is required.

Saab reckons this is the most advanced four-wheel drive system in the world - and it would have been interesting to have tested the system more fully on wet/icy surfaces.

But we were restricted to dry track manouevres on a section of the Paul Ricard Circuit.

The handling exercises were relatively limited in their scope but more than sufficient to showcase the phenomenal levels of grip this car possesses. It’s quite an intrusive system, though, and there will be some who will want to switch it off altogether.

The steering could be more communicative and a shorter throw on the gearbox would be desirable if not strictly necessary.

Saab has boosted the engine output from 255 to 280hp compared with the current flagship Aero turbo - but the Turbo X needs this extra power as the new XWD system weighs the same as an adult person.

It’s probably capable of coping with a lot more than 280 horses anyway.

The suspension is ’sports tuned’ and lowered by 10mm - but Saab apparently had to raise it by around 2cms to accommodate all the XWD/eLSD gubbins in the first place.

XWD will, however, be fully integrated into the forthcoming 9-5 and the next version of the 9-3 rather than being a ‘bolt-on’ accessory.

And bearing in mind the safety benefits of cross wheel drive I can see it proving a popular option.

For now this system in its most advanced form is only available on the Turbo X. So the question is, while the top flight Turbo is certainly going to appeal to die-hard Saab enthusiasts, does it have enough X factor to pull in converts from other brands?

This sort of money will secure a sports-focused BMW 3 Series or an Audi with plenty of grunt, while the Alfa 159 Q4 and Mazda6 MPS both offer turbo-charged, four-wheel drive thrills for less money.

Those after a more hardcore sports saloon will presumably wish to stick to the latest versions of the lmpreza WRX STI and Mitsubishi Evo anyway.

But it’s good to see the Turbo back in black - and Saab back on track, seemingly enjoying a better relationship with its parent firm General Motors too.

The Swedes have a new 9-5 in the pipeline (at last) and an SUV, the 9-4X, that will be on a shared Cadillac platform.

And if the 9-X concept recently unveiled at Geneva gets the go-ahead for production then the Swedes will finally have the ‘baby Saab’ they have craved for so many years.

The Turbo X is fine as far at goes but it’s a niche model. A small, stylish hatch capable of taking on the BMW 1 Series or the forthcoming Audi A1 - now that would really give Saab the shot in the arm that it needs on the product front.

By Peter Carroll