2001 Saab Viggen: Regular Car Reviews 

The GM/ Saab relationship was like an arranged marriage doomed to fail because the bride’s wealth was tied up in an exotic fruit that tastes like a common one.

That “commercial” was amazing! The fine print was the cherry on top.

Even as a Volvo guy, I still love Saabs. It's sad they never got the funding they deserved.

my dad got a 9-5 wagon in the 90s years before he had kids and liked it so much he ended up owning THREE more after that until the final one chose to die one fateful day. at the time I was still in elementary school but I still remember how much he loved his Saabs.

OH MY GOD EASILY MY FAVORITE RCR VIDEO OF ALL TIME

OMG. That is Viggen right for you commercial was pure gold! Loved the warnings underneath. 5 years treatment if untreated previously and no ownership history of a dodge ram. Hahaha you guys killed it. Also still a kind of sad story. What a cool car. Last of a cool funky brand. Always wanted a Saab!

Slow clap. This is easily my favorite RCR of the last year. I can't put my finger on why, but this tickled me in places I did not know that I have.

I owned a 99 Saab Viggen - it was a fantastic vehicle....I kept it until I picked up a new 2014 Fiesta ST when they launched in North America.

The ad and the sabotage cutaway make this an instant classic.

Y'all even put the little "skip ad" button for extra authenticity. Nice detail. You then took it off the screen after the appropriate amount of time. It's those little touches that show that you care.

8:15 I was legit expecting a KUNKLEMAN CHEVROLET commercial to unexpectedly pop up here.

I'm not even a big car guy but tune in to every RCR video. The research, filming, honesty, comedy, everything...this is one of the best channels on RU-vid easily.

Roman provided a Ad better than a Superbowl ad, that was amazing!

"Lags more than counter strike on dial up" I remember that. Way to make me feel old, man.

Wasn't on board with the Viggen/pharma commercial till the warnings at the end. That was exceptionally well put together Roman👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿.

My love for saab is unexplainable, i would never recomend one but i have one 2 of them and i need to buy another. They have that something. I am looking for a 900ng talladega in wine red with white interior. Such a cool car. Glad you got to drive a proper saab unlike that new 9-3.

''Early studies also reflected a willingness to listen to Cardigans, Roxette and Bathory'' LOL

2001 Saab Viggen. For the man that likes mash potatoes & gravy. But wants the gravy in a separate bowl.

Jebediah Springfield: "A noble turbo embiggens the smallest Viggen!" Mrs Krabappel: "Viggen? Never heard of that car before I owned a Saab..." Ms Hoover: "I don't know why. It's a perfectly cromulent car."

Yep, I tried the skip ad button. However, I still have my Viggen!

I'm kinda surprised you all liked this one but not the SportCombi. Handling in the NG 9-3 is quite a bit better, and even the low power ones (like mine) pull like crazy from 30-70.

It's the opposite of what happened when Honda helped Rover, they kept rover afloat for a bit longer

3:47 should be a jeopardy category! I'll take "Things I never I want to hear another man say" for $400 😂

I think this camera has a similar feel to the original canon g1x. Its a small camera with a big sensor and good lens.

When I saw these I thought they looked weird. But I've learned to appreciate them.

That vigen logo on the valve cover looks like what you’d get if you bought a mugen cover off wish

This Saab commercial featured a Skip Ads link that no one wanted to click on because it's just too good.

Lol bruh, that ad Roman did in the middle sounds so legit. Fake ad at 7:32

OMG love this Just bought a 02 Viggen My 6th SAAB

When I drive or ride in a Saab, I only listen to last 4 albums of Opeth.

This doesn't look like a Saab Viggen.

That add was great!

Pretty good video for a couple of hew-mons.

7:33 goddamn it I actually tried to click skip ad, nice one

One of your best Sir!

Satisfaction reached!

Americans value profit above all else. Europeans understand that things need to be done right, even when there's no money.

OMG "It's saabotage" if anything deserves a longer Roman song it's that

Overheard in most Saab Viggens: "Skit! Vi kör i diket!"

Skip ad! Skip ad! Why won't it let me... oh wait. Lol

One time my Saab guru was trying to find an engine for a 9-3 and they accidentally gave him a viggen engine 🤣

that's crazy, i actually almost clicked on the skip ad button.

How many others just tried to hit "Skip Ad" at time stamp 7:36 like an idiot.

"Lags more than Counter Strike on dial up. 😂😁🤣

3:46 Whoa

That Saab Viggen medical commercial was pure gold! I’ve got to rewind and watch again

The Viggen, V6 Aero, and Turbo X were the last gasps of Saab turbo fun, and I'm glad they existed.

SAAB BOY HOURS

The Viggen is one of those cars I am always keeping an eye out for, because it is rare and obscure enough for people not to know what it is.

"Considerate people don't buy BMW's" probably the most true quote i've ever heard!

“With a Turbo that lags more than counter strike on dial up”. This writing is top notch

"Like an incel whose only allergy is portion control" is an amazing, quality line.

This might be my most favorite episode of RCR in the past couple years. Something about the comedic gut punches and that mid-episode “commercial” make this truly special. Bravo team!!

Saab, visionaries without the means to fulfill their ideals. Since I happen to live in Sweden, Saabs of that generation are plentiful and reasonably priced. We've driven Saabs in my family since my dad bought his first 9-3 in the late 90's/early 2000's. In 2006, he bought the newest 9-3 estate, completely optioned out (except for the "Aero" package). His forum posts still exist out there of that car. You can really tell he loved that thing, and he must have been devastated when he was forced to sell it only a couple of years later. Saabs are not the best cars, they never had the means to push that far. What Saabs are however is something immensely special, whilst also being fun, practical and safe for their time. As a Swede, I am going to do my utmost to ensure that whatever Saab I get is taken care of, and is able to stay on the road as long as it possibly can.

GM did to SAAB what EA does with it's studios, force them to follow a certain mold , and then when they inevitably don't turn a profit, just kill them off and onto the next one.

The thing thats always struck me about the turn of the millenium 9-3s is how good the front seats are. No other car seat fits me as well as they do.

I will always have a soft spot for SAAB. I used to have a 2001 9-5 Aero wagon with a stick. Wonderful sleeper of a car when you put a tune on it. Those 2.3 engines will take a lot of power without complaining. It was still pulling strong and smooth at almost 300k miles when the body rusted out around it. I wish I had the money to have kept it pristine but the New England winters had taken their toll.

Saab really missed out on a golden opportunity here, the "Black Saabath" edition

SAAB’s accurately hit my G spot for some reason

The Finnish car plant which made cabriolet versions and these had interesting project brewing in the background. They made five prototypes of Saab 9000 with 4.0 v8 engine with 300 hp. The engine was made from two inline four blocks hitched together. Unfortunately GM buyout probably killed that project.

I remember going west on i70 at triple digit speeds so my brother could see how fast my lightly modded Talon was. A Viggen passed me like I was standing still 😂.

I didn't think I'd see another Saab on this channel so this was a pleasant surprise. I really miss my 9-3.

Man. No other channel puts the effort into the bits like RCR. Bravo boyos

GM took a lot of Saabs safety features though.

I bought a used 9000 Aero in college for $2500 - it just needed a new exhaust. I was obsessed with the 2nd gear rush, and had my friends drive it to experience it. Was a great college car and was also great in the snow. I had that from 2008 to 2013, and still miss it 10 years later!

Easily my favourite road legal car, can’t wait to see you review the other Viggen. Haven’t driven one myself but I heard they’re built to handle well on roads (it’s a Cold War thing). Turbo doesn’t lag as much as it’s little brother, although you get the best performance at about 15000 ft in the sky. Fuel economy is ok, 28 miles to the gallon which is better than most fuel guzzling trucks ford puts out, plus it comes with drop tanks. Would recommend as a first time car for any students out there, it’s affordable, handles well on country roads, and once intercepted an SR 71 Blackbird over the North Sea.

The Hank Hill impersonation was enough on it's own to deserve another "like" but your Saab Viggen pharma-Ad was just absolutely fkn brilliant hahahaha

Karma is an airstrike you call in on yourself. Pure gold.

Mr. Regular's videos are the best part of my Mondays.

Very interesting perspective on Saabs. they are well liked vehicles in Europe, as ive come to find out with recently coming into possesion of one.

When I saw the title was like: "Wait you're doing jet reviews now?!"

That drug commercial was the cherry on top. I feel like RCR is getting back to what made it great in the first place.

saab are like the kid who dont want to be ruled by the parent, GM GM forced saab to follow their strict opel regulations, instead why not flip that around and make the rest of the brands follow saab? and yes saab did make GM spend 1 million dollars to R&D a cupholder

I remember my dad's Viggen. I loved that thing so much. I remember when a good friend of mine died right when we got out of high school, my dad handed me the keys to his black convertible Viggen. In the CD player was Radiohead's The Bends album. I never cried so much while simultaneously smiling. I remember picking up my friends and quietly sitting by the lake in a park with the top down and heat blasting. One of those sad moments we always look back on fondly.

I strongly believe GM had the chance to make Saab their european Audi/Bmw contender. They should've let Opel/Vauxhall build a base platform, then let Saab spend more money on tweaking and perfecting them and selling them as a true premium product. If they had started doing this in the early 2000's, and let the Saab engineers do more of what they wanted, I do think we would still have new Saabs rolling of the production line today. //A sad Swede living 100kms from the old Saab plant in Trollhättan.

The timing of that Challenger pulling out at 14:14. Dont know if it was intentional, but... priceless. It signified that America wanted buffet wings, strippers, and MOPAWAH, not refinement, quality, and vehicles that had culture.

Love this one as always but please try the 9-5 aero whenever you can... There's one waiting for you if you ever come back to the U.K! Any pre 2006 ones still were wasting GMs money being brilliant, after that they really shut off the money tap and what it loses in weight it makes up for in having overboost in 2nd and 3rd instead of nuking power in second (probably because its that much heavier but worth a drive if you get the chance)

Deadset thought you were reviewing a swedish jet when I saw this notification

i miss saabs. such good cars pre GM

The loss of Saab is a real shame. Between Saab, Holden, Pontiac and the sale of Vauxhall-Opel to Stellantis, GM management has a lot to answer for.

With that Rollercoaster Tycoon reference, you are really speaking to a specific age of people out there and I finally feel seen.

Dr Roman with the brilliant infomercial 😂😂😂

I miss Saab. The first car I bought myself was a 9-3 Aero, and it was a good car. It felt like a rocket compared to the 90hp teenage economy cars that preceded it. Hugely practical too, the 5dr hatch was almost wagon-like in its carrying capacity, and the seats were great for long distances.

That real quick Ferengi comparison was great, always makes me happy to see a random Star Trek reference in the wild

The detail of the "skip ad" countdown on the Viggen commercial was absolute perfection!

I've owned about 14 SAABs in my lifetime, among them was a Viggen - a wonderful expression of individuality and passion! Thanks Mr R!

Night Panel! Every car should have that option.

That was very well done. It made me smile.

This one was near poetry. Roman's Viggen drug advert was spot on and hilarious. A new high bar gentlemen!

This. This is the kind of content I come here for. This was spectacular. Over the years I have occasionally found myself wondering how much different things could have been had GM just given SAAB money and didn't put any restrictions on them. How much better SAAB would have been, how much better GM could have been.

I spent $700 on a 07 Saab 9-5 manual. It was misdiagnosed to need spark plugs and a coil. The previous owner wanted it gone when all it needed was a crankshaft position sensor which cost me $50. Now, it's my 2nd daily 😅 . It needs a clutch (pretty badly) but I love the car and I'm gonna have one put in. I never knew I'd love a Saab but here I am. Lusting for a second one.

Saab and Saturn were both ruined by GM.

OMG this whole Saab Viggen drug advert is awesome. Great writing, delivery, the music and stock footage are spot on. This is awesome

The skip ad button isn't working😂

The idea that GM hamstrung Saab isn't quite the entire story. Saab was already in dire financial straits and uncompetitive by 1989 and the GM restructuring. The 900 was on a 20 year old platform and nearly 30 year old engine. It just finished production of the failed 9000, which was a costly four way venture with the Italians. They were quickly finding out the way of bricklin that low production, safety themed semi sports cars don't sell, especially when the Germans are making better cars across the board for the same price. GM gave Saab a much needed injection of cash and a bunch of modern tech. What did Saab do? Reengineered a brand new platform to make an adequately-testing vehicle safer. Three times. The price of the viggen ballooned to over $30000 at the time, or $55k today. For that price, Saab was trying to make a front drive, 4 cylinder compete with rear drive, straight 6 and V8 bmws with much nicer interiors and much better build quality. Throughout the 80's and 90's, they were building festivas for BMW money. At least after the GM buyout, they started selling Malibus for BMW money

Nice touch with the "skip ads" button in the Viggen ad. I actually tried to click it out of habit lol. Tried at least 3 times before I realized it's not a ad lol.

There's a funny thing about when they made the 9-3 in 2005. They took a Vauxhall Vectra and it was meant to be just a badge swap. It was so different that the wheel base was changed, which meant some of the parts from a Vauxhall couldn't fit properly.

The 2006-2009 Saab 9-5 with the 260 horsepower 2.3 Turbo are very fun to drive also

I remember when these came out when I was 15 and reading every car magazine’s review of the Viggen I could get my hands on and completely lusting after these. I remember going to Auto Shows and sitting in them and thinking wow these seats are comfortable and thinking I’d pick one up used in a few years but it was not be. I really miss SAAB.

I'm so conditioned, I tried to click "Skip Ad". Well played Mr. Regular and The Roman. Well played.