Geneva 2011: Saab 9-5 SportCombi debuts

Saab is trying it's hardest to rise from the ashes of the "GM period." They brought a whole lot of new stuff to Geneva, including a really neat concept car (the PhoeniX) as well as an updated version of the aging 9-3 sedan with a new engine lineup.  Most significant for Saab's success in the market, though, is the new estate (wagon) version of the larger 9-5 executive Saloon.

Mechanically, it's like a 9-5 sedan, only with more sheetmetal extending behind the rear seats.  The engine choices are the same - some diesels, a 1.6L and some 2.0L gas-turbo I4's, and a 2.8L gas-turbo V6 with either front or all wheel drive.  But that's to be expected.

What's new is that... Saab is making a good-looking station wagon again!  The wagon variant of the 9-3 never really seemed well-proportioned, sort of like an add-on to the body, but the 9-5 wagon was designed alongside the sedan from the beginning, and you can tell.  This is one seriously sleek looking cargo hauler, and it makes up for how darn weird-looking the later last-generation 9-5 wagons were.

Being a modern luxury wagon, there are all sorts of neat tricks in the cargo bay - a sliding tray floor, under-floor storage, a powered liftgate, and sliding cargo-loading tracks, as you'd expect.  The wagon will be available with all the techno trickery that first impressed in the sedan - adaptive chassis settings, the world's smartest headlights, Haldex "XWD" with a torque-biasing rear differential, the neat twin-sequential turbodiesel 1.9 TTiD motor, etc.

Saab says they'll begin taking orders for the 9-5 wagon this month, with deliveries to start in September.  That seems like a pretty long lead-time for a mass production model, but I'm sure they're working on ramping up production in their plant.  If you wanted a 5-series sized station wagon but aren't fond of blending in with the crowd, the 9-5 wagon may be something to check out.