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9-3 Snow clearance

I'm considering buying a 9-3 hatchback and was wondering how these cars handle in snow?

Yes, Saabs are made in Sweden, but what kind of snow do they get there? Do they get the fluffy light stuff or the heavy wet stuff?

I live in the northern east coast of North America and we get heavy wet snow due to our proximity to the ocean. There doesn't seem to be much clearance underneath this model car ( 3 to 4 inches ) and I want to know how well it handles in high wet snow ( 6 inches and up), particularly after some big 4 x 4 has just created some monster rutts in the road.

Any experiences?

Reply to
Interested in Saab
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"Interested in Saab" skrev i en meddelelse news:2004101908471848276%particularistElevenIDONTLIKESPAM@gmailcom...

Very well.

They get both in Sweden.

No problems. It's probably the the FWD car you can drive in wet/snowy conditions.

Cheers!

Reply to
Henrik B.

Fantastic.

Yes.

I enjoy passing 4x4's with my Saab. They have always sold well in the New England area in part because of their spectacular winter handling. Personally, I found the 1960's vintage Saabs more fun to drive in the snow, but that might be because I can be more aggressive with something that's very paid off.

The biggest factor is snow tires. All-season tires are a compromise that work fairly well in summer, and fairly well in winter. Better to have a set of (4) winter tires so you can get the full benefit of the car's handling in adverse conditions. Nokian makes good tires (in Finland) that can be found here pretty easily.

Hope this helps, Dave Hinz

Reply to
Dave Hinz

Absolutely. If you put snow tires on, you can pull out stuck SUV's. If you have all seasons, you will still be at the top of the pack but towing them out might be a problem.

Yep. I live in NE. Saabs are great in the Winter. I don't usually put on snow tires - but it still does fine. With reasonable new all season tires, I was able to handle a 7" unplowed storm with no difficulties (including drifts and trucks ruts/banks).

BTW - I think if you measure that clearance on the 9-3, you'll find that it's more like 5". It might be a little less if you have a center muffler (no sport exhaust installed) but the rest of the car clears the ground by quite a lot.

Reply to
Retro Bob

In the '62 Saab 96 I used to have, I could make car-shaped troughs in the snow which was several to many inches deeper than the ground clearance of the car. The ridges in the floorpan, the exhaust system, and the wheel tracks behind the car were impressive.

Got pulled over by a local cop one evening; I was practicing winter driving, kind of during a blizzard before the plow trucks came out and ruined my fun. He was, er, less than sympathetic to my technique of using a snow emergency to play, and suggested that I "practice my winter driving techniques" in some other township.

Dave Hinz

Reply to
Dave Hinz

Saabs are very deceptive; what you see isn't always what you get. They're bigger than they look on the outside and higher than they look. Saabs are wonderful in winter. It feels like the tires dig through the snow and ice, find bare road surface and dig in, like those old Tiger Paw commercials.

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Reply to
LauraK

I can speak from almost 20 years of fun in the snow with a Classic 900. The lowest point is over 6 inches off the ground. These cars are great in the snow, but driving them on the salted roads tends to lead to a rust problem eventually. If you have an SPG or lowered Saab, you may have issues with the snow.

Reply to
ma_twain

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