Yesterday at our club meet, when we went to visit Greater Vancouver's first (and so far only) post-GM Saab dealership, Springman's SAAB.

Their staff greeted us with tremendous hospitality. Some of us luckier ones got to sit in, and test drive, the 9-5. They only have the turbo 4 (6-spd) at the moment, but will be getting the Aero Turbo6 XWD in the next month or so. New inventory for Canada is still trickling in.

I will post some pics soon. But here is a very limited footage of my drive (only out of the dealer lot since all the parts where I was cruising supersonic we're not allowed to post cuz a certain important somebody is sitting shotgun ). Oh the DI 2.0T (220hp) turbo 4 was sweeeeet and if anyone thinks it's inadequate for the 4,400lb 9-5, you HAVE to drive it first to see how sweet it is, or else shut the heck up. This with 3 adult passengers in the car. I think in the clip I shifted up to 2nd at 4000rpm but it likes to rev. The shifter was still a bit too Saabish (read: notchy) for my taste, but at least the throws were short and the shift knob shaped perfectly. Torque steer ..... nada. Turbo lag ..... nada.

Here goes: YouTube - Saabken's 2011 Saab 9-5 Test Drive
(two other Saabers in backseat, salesman riding shotgun)

I've not driven the Aero obviously, but I can easily imagine years of me happily driving with the turbo 4 without any urge to step up in horsepower nor the fancy-pants driver-adjustable suspension setup. But I'm quite curious how different the FWD and XWD feel in spirited driving.