I always considered Saab (prior to 1993) to be comparable to Volvo as well. As for Saab in the GM era, well, it's a shame. If GM let Saab have as much freedom as Ford has with Volvo, Saab may still be appealing to me. My favorite Saab was the pre 93 900. Was a neat car. Never owned one though.

An interesting argument for your friend is this - Ford has been taking Volvo platforms and adapting them for other uses (with the exception of the focus/mazda3/s40/c30/v50), while GM made Saab use existing GM platforms. Though, GM is a company chock full of incompetence. My wife's 04 Chevy Malibu (cough Opel Vectra cough) has been nothing short of a nightmare. Electrical gremlins, a drive by wire system that has issues with the throttle sticking, electrical power steering that feels it has a better idea of where the car should go than the driver, cooling system errors.

I've had better luck with Fords than GM, so based on the company who owns the brand, I would continue to lean towards Volvo, but with a suspicion that isn't there. (it's also part of why I own a rear wheel drive Volvo).

- Ian R. Campbell
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