Overview

Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the large family car segment and utilize the same 2-door cabriolet body style and the front wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific petrol engine choice they offer. The first one has a Volkswagen-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 6-cylinder, 30-valves 220hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 250hp engine designed by Opel.

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 SAAB being a slightly better choice apparently. Moving further on, let's take a closer look at some additional safety-related facts. Both vehicles belong to the large family car segment, which is generally a good thing safety-wise, but that fact doesn't break the tie between the two cars. On the other hand, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, the Swedish car offers a marginal difference of 4% more metal.

Reliability

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that SAAB does have a slight advantage, all the models observed together. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of Audi, as well as SAAB, with the same average rating of 4.2 out of 5. Independent research findings rank A4 as average reliability-wise, and 9-3 is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as the German car rank it on average as 5.0 out of 5, exactly the same as the other one.

Performance & Fuel economy

SAAB is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.7 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 245 kilometers per hour, 2km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the German car, averaging around 9.7 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (29 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 9% 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 much better overall protection, which launches it ahead of the other contender. It all continues in the same direction, with SAAB being considerably quicker, thus putting more smile on driver's face. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... It's really tough to make a final decision here, but if I'd need to, I'd say 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. 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.