When Tyler Hoover finally found a 2008 Saab 9-7X Aero, the purchase had all the ingredients of a strong Hoovies Garage episode: an exceptionally rare performance SUV, an auction price low enough to invite suspicion, 147,000 miles, an Ohio history and enough corrosion underneath to keep the Car Wizard occupied.
Hoover won the Saab at a Florida collector-car auction with a $9,000 bid. Once the auction fee and transport to Kansas were included, approximately $11,000 had actually been invested before the first repair. An exhaust-manifold leak was audible, one tire would not hold pressure and a workshop inspection later exposed rusted lines, an oil leak and a leaking front differential.
That part of the story works. The problem begins when the video leaves the individual vehicle and attempts to explain what the Saab 9-7X was, why it existed and how it fitted into Saab’s history. A subsequent Supercar Blondie article compressed those claims even further, describing the 9-7X as Sweden’s failed attempt to break into America and little more than a TrailBlazer with a European grille.
The real history is less convenient for a thumbnail, but considerably more interesting.
Hoover Does Not Actually Hate the Saab
The first inconsistency is created by the video title itself. Hoover does not spend the episode regretting the purchase. He calls the Saab a “fantastic deal,” says he is “super, super happy” with it and later concludes, “I think I did okay.”
Even after the workshop inspection, he authorizes the repairs. The Car Wizard estimates that addressing the front differential leak, oil-pan gasket and exhaust could cost $3,000 to $4,000. Hoover briefly considers deleting the front-wheel-drive hardware, largely to make rear-wheel-drive burnouts possible, but eventually decides to retain the all-wheel-drive system and use the Saab during winter.
This is therefore not the story of a man who hates every dollar he spent. It is the story of an experienced used-car buyer who acquired a running, largely functional 390-hp SUV for an $11,000 landed cost, discovered several age- and corrosion-related problems and still considered it worth repairing.
Whether it remains a bargain once the workshop bill is added is a separate question. With approximately $14,000 to $15,000 invested after repairs, the cost would move much closer to the TrailBlazer SS examples Hoover uses for comparison.
The 554-Aero Figure Does Not Describe the Entire 9-7X Program
Hoover says the 9-7X was an “abysmal failure” because Saab sold approximately 500 Aeros in 2008 and another 100 in 2009. The numbers are close, but the conclusion drawn from them is misleading.
The detailed eSaabParts production database records:
- 442 Carbon Flash Metallic 9-7X Aeros for 2008
- 91 Carbon Flash Metallic Aeros for 2009
- 21 Diamond Silver Metallic Aeros for 2009
That gives a total of 554 Aeros, but the Aero was explicitly announced as a limited-production performance derivative, not the sole version of the 9-7X. Using its intended low production volume to represent the commercial performance of the entire model is a fundamental category error.
Across all engines and specifications, 19,286 Saab 9-7Xs were produced between the 2005 and 2009 model years. The 2008 total was 4,247 vehicles, while 2,494 were built for 2009. When Saab announced the Aero in August 2007, the company reported that more than 12,000 regular 9-7Xs had already been sold in the United States and Canada.
Those figures do not turn the 9-7X into a high-volume success. Its sales remained modest, its platform was already aging and its pricing restricted the available audience. But 554 is the production total for the limited Aero, not evidence that the entire 9-7X program found only 554 buyers.
The Carbon Flash vehicle purchased by Hoover is consequently one of 442 Aeros produced for the 2008 model year. That is a more meaningful description of its rarity than saying that nobody wanted it.
A TrailBlazer SS in a Saab Tuxedo Is an Incomplete Description
The video repeatedly presents the 9-7X Aero as a Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS wearing Saab exterior and interior decoration. Its American foundation is not in dispute. The 9-7X was assembled at GM’s Moraine, Ohio, plant on the body-on-frame GMT360 architecture, and its doors, glass, basic body structure and numerous controls reveal that ancestry immediately.
The Aero also shares its central performance ingredients with the TrailBlazer SS: a 6.0-liter LS2 V8, a four-speed automatic transmission and closely related all-wheel-drive hardware. Nobody needs to invent a clean-sheet Swedish development story to make the 9-7X legitimate.
However, shared architecture does not mean that only the grille, ignition-switch position and dashboard vents were changed.
The 9-7X had already existed before the Aero adopted LS2 power. Its exterior and interior treatment came from Michael Mauer and Saab’s Swedish-based design team, while Saab’s engineers specified a lower stance and a substantially different dynamic setup. Saab’s original 9-7X launch information detailed:
- a uniquely tuned double-A-arm front suspension;
- five-link electronically controlled rear air suspension;
- firmer springs and model-specific damper valving;
- stiff rear upper-control-arm bushings;
- a thicker front stabilizer bar;
- a quicker 18.5:1 steering ratio;
- stiffer steering-rack mounts;
- additional front-frame bracing;
- specially developed P255/55R18 Dunlop tires;
- four-wheel ventilated disc brakes with dual-piston front calipers;
- standard automatic all-wheel drive and a limited-slip rear differential.
These were not decorative changes. In a contemporary instrumented test, Car and Driver recorded 0.82 g of lateral grip and a 172-foot stop from 70 mph in a 5.3-liter 9-7X. The publication cited improvements of 0.14 g and 38 feet compared with the Chevrolet TrailBlazer it used as a reference.
The magazine still criticized the Saab for chassis flex, its four-speed transmission, high price and inability to match newer unibody competitors. Those are defensible criticisms supported by the test. At the same time, the measurements prove that the Saab engineering work produced a materially different vehicle.
Hoover’s description also reverses part of the chronology. The Saab 9-7X arrived before the Aero and before Saab applied the LS2 package. The 2008 Aero was effectively created by combining the already modified 9-7X with the most powerful GMT360 hardware. It was not conceived from the outset simply by placing Saab badges on a completed TrailBlazer SS.
The Aero Was Specifically Built for Performance
Supercar Blondie’s claim that the 9-7X was “not made for power and speed” is particularly difficult to reconcile with the model being discussed. The ordinary 9-7X could be criticized for many things, but the Aero was explicitly its performance version.
Hoover repeatedly rounds its output to 400 hp. Saab’s official figure was 390 hp at 6,000 rpm and 395 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 rpm. The engine was not copied into the Saab without adaptation either. Saab’s Aero specification included a cold-air induction system and a composite intake manifold adapted to balance its torque and power delivery.
The original Aero announcement also specified:
- a Torsen center differential in a permanently engaged AWD system;
- a front stabilizer bar approximately ten percent larger in diameter;
- a heavy-duty rear axle with limited-slip differential;
- 12.8-inch front rotors with iron twin-piston calipers;
- high-performance brake linings;
- 20-inch polished-aluminum wheels;
- P255/50R20 V-rated performance tires;
- a 6,600-pound towing capacity;
- factory-estimated 0-60 mph acceleration in under six seconds.
Calling this an SUV that happened to be unexpectedly fast overlooks the entire purpose of the Aero package. Saab deliberately developed and marketed it as the performance flagship of the range.
The LS2 and GMT360 aftermarket also explain why Hoover wanted the vehicle in the first place. He discusses tuning, bolt-on power additions and a freer-flowing exhaust throughout the episode. The 9-7X Aero’s appeal today comes partly from that GM parts ecosystem and partly from its rarity as the only production Saab with a naturally aspirated 6.0-liter V8.
The 9-7X Was Not Saab’s Attempt to Break Into America
Supercar Blondie describes the SUV as Sweden’s attempt to crack the American market. Saab had already been selling cars in the United States for nearly half a century when the 9-7X appeared.
Saab Motors Inc. began importing cars into the United States in 1956, initially operating from Hingham, Massachusetts. The US subsequently became one of Saab’s most important export markets. By the early 2000s, the problem was not gaining entry to America but keeping American Saab households inside the brand as buyers increasingly added or switched to SUVs.
Saab’s research before the 9-7X launch found that 39 percent of its US customers already had an SUV in their household. More significantly, almost 30 percent of customers who left Saab bought a four-door SUV. The 9-7X was conceived as a rapid way to close that range gap without financing a dedicated low-volume platform.
It is possible to question the solution. Saab enthusiasts had good reason to object to a body-on-frame SUV with no turbocharged engine, limited brand-specific technology and a starting price far above its GM relatives. Yet the commercial rationale was specific: give Saab dealers an SUV before another generation of existing customers defected to BMW, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus or Volkswagen.
Comparing its sales volume directly with the Chevrolet TrailBlazer therefore proves very little. Chevrolet served the mass market through a vastly larger dealer network. Saab priced the 9-7X as a premium niche product and never planned to sell it in TrailBlazer numbers.
The GM and Saab Timeline Is Compressed Beyond Recognition
At the beginning of the video, Hoover correctly notes that GM acquired 50 percent of Saab Automobile around 1989-1990 and took full ownership in 2000. Later, while showing the car to the Car Wizard, the story changes to GM owning Saab for only “a few years.”
In reality, GM was involved with Saab Automobile for approximately two decades and owned it outright for ten years. The company completed its sale of Saab to Spyker on February 23, 2010, as documented in GM’s own regulatory filing.
The claim that GM simply began rebadging existing vehicles after taking full ownership is also too broad. The 9-2X and 9-7X were conspicuous North American exercises in rapid range expansion, but they do not describe the engineering histories of the 9-3 Sport Sedan, 9-5, Turbo X or later 9-5NG. Platform sharing increased, but Saab engineering teams continued developing their own chassis calibrations, safety systems, turbocharged powertrains, body structures and interiors.
Nor can the 9-7X be casually inserted into a sentence explaining why General Motors entered Chapter 11. GM accumulated enormous structural losses, debt and excess capacity before the 2008 financial and automotive crisis. When it filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2009, it reported $172.8 billion in liabilities. The 9-7X represented a debatable product decision within that much larger organization, not an explanation for its collapse.
Saab’s later bankruptcy is similarly reduced to another company buying it and failing. Spyker completed the purchase in 2010, restarted production and launched the 9-5NG under independent ownership. Saab’s liquidity crisis stopped production in the spring of 2011, and the company filed for bankruptcy that December after GM rejected a proposed rescue involving Chinese investors and the transfer of GM-licensed technology. Reuters’ contemporary timeline documents a sequence considerably more complicated than the version given in the video.
For a deeper account of that period, SaabPlanet has separately examined the competing explanations in Who Killed Saab Automobile?.
Volvo Is Not Owned by Tata Motors
The clearest unrelated factual error arrives when Hoover says that Volvo is owned by India’s Tata Motors. Volvo Cars is owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding, which acquired it from Ford in 2010 and remains its controlling shareholder following Volvo Cars’ Stockholm listing. Tata Motors owns Jaguar Land Rover, not Volvo.
This does not affect the Saab being inspected, but it illustrates the danger of treating an improvised historical monologue as an authoritative account and then reproducing it in a news article without verification.
Ohio Road Salt, Not “Rough Terrain”
The workshop portion of the video is more useful because it deals with the actual vehicle rather than a compressed brand history.
The Car Wizard finds widespread surface corrosion and scale underneath. The exhaust hardware, power-steering line, transmission-cooler lines, fuel lines and several supporting brackets all show the effects of the car’s years in Ohio. The right-side exhaust-manifold leak is already audible, the front differential is leaking and oil appears to be escaping from the oil-pan gasket area.
However, the inspection does not find the frame structurally compromised. The brake lines retain a protective coating and appear serviceable, while the rusted areas still withstand physical probing. The mechanic’s conclusion is that corrosion has reduced the vehicle’s remaining lifespan, not that the Saab is immediately unsafe or beyond repair.
Supercar Blondie transforms this into a story about the car enduring Ohio’s “rough terrain.” The relevant factor is the state’s winter climate and road-salt exposure. It has nothing to do with off-road use or severe terrain.
The proposed $3,000-$4,000 repair budget also covers more than rust. It includes retaining and resealing the AWD hardware, addressing the oil leak and installing the exhaust Hoover already wanted as a performance modification.
Criticizing the 9-7X Does Not Require Inventing a Simpler Car
There is no reason to disguise the 9-7X’s origins. It was a late addition to an aging GM truck architecture, it carried numerous visible corporate components, its four-speed automatic was dated even when new and the absence of a turbocharger challenged Saab’s established product identity. The price premium over a TrailBlazer SS was substantial, while the Saab-specific interior treatment could not hide every piece of GM switchgear.
Those facts explain why the model remains one of the most disputed products from the GM era. They are also covered in SaabPlanet’s broader history of the rise and fall of the Saab 9-7X.
But a shared frame does not erase the work of Saab’s Swedish design team, and shared powertrain hardware does not erase the steering, suspension, braking and structural changes that produced measurable results. A limited run of 554 Aeros does not mean only 554 people bought a 9-7X. Saab’s bankruptcy did not follow immediately from this SUV, Volvo is not owned by Tata and Hoover did not finish the inspection hating his purchase.
He found a one-of-442 Carbon Flash 2008 Aero, landed it in Kansas for approximately $11,000, discovered a repairable but advancing corrosion problem and chose to invest additional money in keeping its Torsen all-wheel-drive system operational.
That story did not need a mythical Swedish TrailBlazer, an invented commercial rivalry or a distorted corporate history. A 390-hp Saab SUV built in Ohio, modified by a Swedish engineering and design organization, rejected by some Saab purists and now scarce enough to attract collectors was already complicated enough.
Hoovie genrally gets everything wrong , its his trademark