best facelift evah

[SpecialTool]

Dame Edna backfires notwithstanding, Saab has been responsible for a couple of great facelifts.

Was this one the greatest of all?

The 80s Saab 9000 was a good looking car on debut ...




...but was looking a bit old-fashioned by the early 90s. The 5-door facelift of 1992 changed all that; it was hard to believe it was the same car. Even now they still have a great presence on the road.




Congratulations, Saab, on the greatest vehicle facelift ever.

[Hirsch]

Aside from classic 900's, the 9000 Aero has to be one of the best looking Saabs ever made.

Saabs were always ahead of their time, especially in the late 80s and early 90s.

[Shazam]

I'll agree with that, but Saab has made a few poor facelifts if you ask me.

The bullnose 96


To the longnose (either cheese grater front, or the more common front)


It just seems to flow better as a bullnose. Not that the other is bad, just not as good.

Or the current 9-3.


To the slightly weird looking 9-3


But here is are some other improvements done by Saab. I guess they could classify as facelifts... maybe face-transplants.


Over it's Subaru sister...


Or the 9-7x over the Trailblazer/other counterparts

[J-Rod]

Another really nicely done facelift:

Before:


After:

[drwatson32]

Yep, resurrecting an old thread. I just thought it was amusing that I found this on google, while looking to see if there's a way to retrograde a late 9000 to either the 1st or second revision because I absolutely despise what they did to make the 9000 look like it was squinting. I also prefer the early glass hatch and larger taillights. I guess, to me, the 80's 9000s still had Saabish quirks to them. : P

[rpiereck]

Although the flat nose C900 is considered more desirable, I think the later slant nose is prettier. Both look great however!

[drwatson32]

In the case of the c900, yes, I agree. I have one of each. Though a big difference is that the parts that make up the slope front (grille, lights, headlight buckets) are very chintzy. Mine's all jacked up lol

[rpiereck]

My C900 has the best headlights (Euro spec) of any old car I ever had. When I had a 1987 VS Scirocco the US headlights were miserable, I almost spent $300 (a small fortune in 1994) to upgrade to Euro spec headlights.