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Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

compare selected cars
2002. - 2007.
D - Large family car
cabriolet, 2 door
front
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2006. - 2009.
S - Sports car
cabriolet, 2 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4635 mm
1762 mm
1434 mm
235 liters
352 liters
63 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4581 mm
1836 mm
1400 mm
200 liters
404 liters
52 liters
2002 SAAB 9-3 Cabriolet
2006 Volvo C70

Engine

Opel / General Motors
2.8 Z28NET
Petrol
6 - V config, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
2792 cc
250 hp
350 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Petrol
5 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
2521 cc
220 hp
320 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 6 gears
1650 kg
7.1 s
245 km/h
l/100km
l/100km
10.6 l/100km
254 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 6 gears
1611 kg
7.6 s
240 km/h
13.0 l/100km
6.8 l/100km
9.1 l/100km
217 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

automatic - 6 gears
1675 kg
8.1 s
240 km/h
l/100km
l/100km
11.1 l/100km
266 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 5 gears
1625 kg
8.0 s
235 km/h
14.3 l/100km
7.2 l/100km
9.8 l/100km
234 g/km

Expenses

1500 EUR
Price from
5600 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

We are here considering two somewhat similar cars, but we can't deny some of the obvious differences. For a start, they are not even classified under the same segment, with the SAAB being a large family car and the Volvo representing sports car vehicle class. The first one has a Opel-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 250hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 5-cylinder, 20-valves 220hp engine designed by Volvo.

Safety

The fact that the SAAB got tested by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), while the other contender didn't, puts it sky-high safety-wise, in my eyes at least. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. The first vehicle is a large family car and that gives it a marginal advantage over the sports car competitor, at least that's what statistics show. Furthermore, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, 9-3 offers a marginal difference of 2% more metal.

Reliability

Manufacturers have been building their reliability reputation for decades now and, generally speaking, it appears that both brands display similar results in faults and breakdowns, all the models observed together. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of SAAB with an average rating of 4.1, and models under the Volvo badge with 4.6 out of 5. Independent research findings rank 9-3 as average reliability-wise, and C70 is more or less at the same level.We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as 9-3 rank it on average as 5.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 3.5 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

SAAB is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.5 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 245 kilometers per hour, 5km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be C70, averaging around 9.1 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (31 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 16% difference compared to 9-3.


Verdict

SAAB appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, 9-3 beats the other contender by far, making it the best choice without even considering other things. It all continues in the same direction, with SAAB offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but SAAB. Anyway, that's the most objective conclusion I could've came up with and it's based solely on the information found on this website. Aspects such as design, practicality, brand value and driving experience are there for you to measure them out. I suggest you spend two more minutes in order to find out which car, based on your needs and budget, would be picked by the virtual adviser, among more than 12.000 different ones in our database.

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