MotorTrend Drove All Three Saab Sonetts Back-to-Back – And Captured a Vanishing Saab Moment

MotorTrend has rarely treated Saab’s smallest and strangest sports car with this level of seriousness. By placing all three generations of the Saab Sonett on the same road, driven in sequence and framed as a single story, the magazine created something more valuable than a nostalgic feature: a coherent record of how Saab repeatedly tried – and repeatedly adjusted – its idea of a sports car.

The article, “We Drive Three Generations of Saab Sonett: From Secret Racer to Funky ’70s Icon,” is written by Todd Lassa, with photography by Wes Allison and illustrations by Alan Muir. Although published online in November 2025, MotorTrend clearly notes that the story originally appeared in the September/October 2006 issue of MotorTrend Classic, at a time when Saab’s future still felt unresolved rather than concluded.

That timing matters. What reads today as a retrospective was written when Saab’s identity was still under negotiation.

Sonett I: a competition car that never reached competition

MotorTrend opens where the Sonett story actually begins: Rolf Mellde’s Model 94, developed in early 1955 as a sports racer rather than a showroom product. According to Saab Heritage Museum curator Peter Bäckström, the project was deliberately hidden, developed in a rented barn outside Trollhättan.

The technical choices are described without embellishment: riveted aircraft-grade aluminum chassis, fiberglass body by Sixten Sason, and a heavily revised two-stroke three-cylinder engine producing 57.5 hp. The engine’s repositioning behind the front axle effectively made the car front-mid-engined and front-wheel drive, an unusual layout even by Saab standards.

MotorTrend does not romanticize the outcome. FIA rule changes in 1956 made the Sonett noncompetitive before it could fulfill its intended purpose. Only six cars were built, all surviving. The driving impressions underline how raw and specialized the car remains – more prototype than classic, more solution than sculpture.

Sonett II: adapting Saab logic for the U.S. market

The second act shifts from secrecy to export logic. After internal design competition between Sixten Sason’s Catherina proposal and Björn Karlström’s concept, Saab moved forward with what became the Sonett II (model 97) in 1966.

MotorTrend frames Sonett II as an explicitly American-focused car. Early examples retained Saab’s two-stroke engine, but the later switch to the Ford-sourced 1.5-liter V4 is presented not as betrayal, but as necessity. Roughly 1,800 cars were built, all for the U.S.

The driven example – a rare 1967 two-stroke Sonett II – reinforces that this was still very much a Saab: direct steering, compact proportions, unconventional ergonomics, and braking performance that reflects the era rather than the ambition. The article makes no attempt to soften those edges.

Sonett III: styling progress, mechanical continuity

Sonett III is often reduced to its pop-up headlights. MotorTrend treats it more carefully. Redesigned by Sergio Coggiola, the car gained a hatchback, improved interior comfort, and clearer visual separation from its predecessors.

What did not change is emphasized just as strongly. Beneath the revised bodywork, Sonett III remains mechanically close to Sonett II. The Ford V4, front-wheel drive layout, and basic chassis philosophy carry over intact.

The 1974 Sonett III driven for the story illustrates the trade-off clearly: more usability, more compliance, and less immediacy. Emissions equipment further dulls performance, and MotorTrend describes the car as easier to live with – but less engaging – than earlier versions.

Photography as documentation, not embellishment

Wes Allison’s 30+ photo set avoids visual exaggeration. The cars are shown in proportion, at rest and in motion, with their scale and stance intact. For a model as small and visually deceptive as the Sonett, this matters more than dramatic lighting or stylized angles.

The photography supports the editorial approach: present the cars as they are, not as they are remembered.

A story written before the ending was known

MotorTrend’s note that the piece first appeared in 2006 changes how the closing lines are read today. The original article still allowed room for speculation about Saab’s direction and identity. In retrospect, that openness reads as a snapshot of an industry moment that no longer exists.

What remains useful is the structure of the story itself. By driving all three Sonetts together, MotorTrend shows how Saab never stopped reinterpreting the same question: how to build a sports car without abandoning its engineering instincts.

The result is not a celebration, nor a lament, but a clear record of intent, compromise, and continuity.