If you’ve been following along on my What On Earth Is A Sonett blog, you know how crazy a complete tear down and rebuild of a Vintage Saab can be. The last thing I need is another crazy car that needs special attention and has limited parts availability. But, here we go again (on my own?)…
With the lease coming up on Mrs. Sonett’s 2015 Volvo XC60 T6 AWD, we decided that although the Volvo was nice, it just didn’t feel the same way the Saab did, and that we definitely missed our last 9-5. Our last one was a 2011 Turbo4 Premium in Java Metallic, and I later found out it was 1 of 3 ever made. That’s like trading in a Michael Jordan rookie trading card…only the trading card is probably worth more money… The Turbo4 Premium had the 2.0L turbo four cylinder and FWD. By getting the Premium package, you got a double panoramic moonroof, power/memory/heated leather seats, upsized 18″ “Carve” wheels, a standard 6-speed auto transmission, headlight washers, power folding and auto-dimming mirrors, keyless passive entry with remote start, and front/rear park assist. It’s quite a bit of stuff over the standard Turbo4 9-5. Our car also had the Harmon/Kardon stereo upgrade.
So, great car right? If so, why did we trade it in? Well, we thought we were going to need the room of the SUV and we knew we needed all wheel drive (given how our town does not plow the roads…). So we traded it in towards the Volvo but we knew it was time to go back to Saab. And since my work gives me an SUV anyway, the room issue was no longer a problem. So the search began! But this time, we wanted to get the top of the line model: the Aero. Given how much equipment the Turbo4 Premium had, what was the big deal? Well, going to the Aero gets you a bunch of stuff above and beyond the Turbo4 Premium:
- 300 HP Turbo6 engine
- XWD system with eLSD technology (can move torque between the left and right rear wheels automatically, in addition to front/back)
- Adaptive and self leveling Bi-Xenon headlights with signature LED lighting
- Active damping suspension with 3 modes (Comfort/Intelligent/Sport)
- Bolstered sport leather seats with Aero-specific steering wheel
- Larger 13.3″ front and 12.4″ rear brakes
- Paddle shift
We found one on Long Island (we live in Central Mass) and so we took a 3 hour trip to check it out. Owner was nice but the car needed more TLC than we were looking for so we left empty handed. My brother warned me about cars from Long Island… and he was right. But as fate would have it, I had watched the car we ended up buying on Autotrader for some time. Boston Volvo wanted more for this car than any other NG 9-5 online, but I didn’t know why. The online pictures looked awful! The rims were curb rashed, stereo buttons worn away, there were finger prints all over the center console, etc. I was floored that they put pictures up without even detailing the car?!?
About a week later, I ended up at a jobsite not far from Boston Volvo, so I decided to venture over and see what the deal was. It was so much nicer in person! It was my luck that the online pictures were so bad, otherwise this car would have sold for sure. It drove nice, and the salesman made the mistake of telling me they had it in stock for a while, and that cars that sit on the lot for 90 days go to auction…!?! That was all the ammo I needed. I showed their sales manager the curb rashed rims, the non-functioning rear LED light bar, the mismatched tires, etc and I proceeded to lowball the hell out of him. He was shocked, I guess he’s not used to buyers offering a third off their cars prices… but this car wasn’t moving. He knew it, and I knew it. I ended up coming up a few bucks to finalize the deal, paid my astronomical $400 documentation fee, and Mrs. Sonett drove it home. And this is where our story begins…
What On Earth Is An NG 9-5? 