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

compare selected cars
2007. - 2012.
D - Large family car
sedan, 4 door
front
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2008. - 2012.
D - Large family car
sedan, 4 door
rear

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4647 mm
1802 mm
1450 mm
425 liters
425 liters
58 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4531 mm
1817 mm
1421 mm
460 liters
460 liters
63 liters
2007 SAAB 9-3
2008 BMW 3 Series

Engine

Opel / General Motors
2.0 Z20NET LP
Petrol
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1998 cc
150 hp
240 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Petrol
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1995 cc
143 hp
190 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 5 gears
1395 kg
9.5 s
210 km/h
l/100km
l/100km
7.5 l/100km
178 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 6 gears
1335 kg
9.1 s
210 km/h
8.1 l/100km
5.3 l/100km
6.3 l/100km
146 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

automatic - 5 gears
1430 kg
10.7 s
210 km/h
l/100km
l/100km
8.5 l/100km
205 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 6 gears
1365 kg
9.9 s
210 km/h
8.7 l/100km
5.4 l/100km
6.6 l/100km
155 g/km

Expenses

4300 EUR
Price from
6000 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by petrol engines and utilizing the 4-door sedan body style within the same 'Large family car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (front for the SAAB and rear in the case of the BMW). The first one has a Opel-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 150hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 143hp engine designed by BMW.

Safety

The first thing to look into here would be the results from European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) tests performed on the two cars. Good thing is that both vehicles got tested, with the same number of safety stars gained in the process. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. Both vehicles belong to the large family car segment, which is generally a good thing safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. Furthermore, when it comes to weight, a factor that most people underestimate, the Swedish car offers a marginal difference of 4% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that SAAB does have a slight advantage, when all the models are taken into account. These are the results of an independent reasearch, while our visitors describe reliability of SAAB with an average rating of 4.1, and models under the BMW badge with 4.2 out of 5. Some independent research have also placed 9-3 as average reliability-wise, and 3 Series is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as the Swedish car rank it on average as 5.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 3.1 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

BMW is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.4 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 210 kilometers per hour, exactly the same as the other car does. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the German car, averaging around 6.3 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (45 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 19% difference compared to the Swedish car.


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, the Swedish car offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. From there things take a different direction, with BMW offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! I believe that, when we take all into account, we have only one winner here - the BMW. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser, among more than 12.000 different ones in our database.

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