The performance Subaru enthusiast niche is a hot place to be, especially when it comes to wagons. Normally, when folks search for some sort of rare sports wagon built by Subaru, they look for limited-production examples of the Impreza. However, as time goes on and more and more attention is given to those aging wagons, their prices begin to skyrocket. Once this occurs, buyers on the lower end of the spectrum are, effectively, priced out of the possibility of buying one.
However, there is one rare Subaru wagon that flew so far under the radar that it came with a different badge entirely. It’s called the 9-2X Aero, and while it sports a Saab badge, most of its bones are actually straight from the Impreza WRX wagon. It was only made for two years, from 2005 to 2006, and was the child of a marriage between General Motors and Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru’s parent company. Despite the 9-2X’s primary objective being to take the Impreza WRX wagon and improve upon it, neither Saab nor Subaru fans paid it any mind when it was new. Why?
The 9-2X Aero Was More Than Just A Rebadge
In a nutshell, the Saab 9-2X Aero was a Subaru Impreza WRX wagon with a more refined exterior and a subtler dose of character. It was meant to be more grown-up and palatable to those with more refined tastes, but who still wanted to set dirt tracks on fire and enjoy some turbocharged fun now and then. It first hit the market during the summer of 2004 with a sticker price of around $26,950 before any destination fees or taxes were factored in.
As for how it actually came to be, the Saab 9-2X’s parents, General Motors and Fuji Heavy Industries, had been involved with one another since 1999. Back then, General Motors bought a 20% stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, and the 9-2X Aero represented the most closely-collaborated project involving the two companies that the public ever saw in the light of day.
2005 Saab 9-2x Silver Rear AngleSaab
Upon its launch in 2005, Subaru supplied the Saab 9-2X Aero with a 2.0-liter turbocharged Boxer engine, along with the Japanese brand’s Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive (SAWD) system, which is partially rally-derived. Its suspension, brakes, and chassis are also virtually identical to those of the Impreza WRX wagon. Once 2006 rolled around, the 9-2X Aero received a more-powerful 2.5-liter turbocharged flat-four, also from Subaru. A five-speed manual transmission was standard, with a four-speed auto acting as the optional upgrade.
Here’s How It Differed From The Subie
2005 Saab 9-2x Silver Front Angle DrivingSaab
Despite sharing most of its DNA with the Impreza WRX wagon, the Saab did come with a couple of unique upgrades that set it apart from its brash sibling, making it a bit more refined and “Saab-ish.” For starters, it took advantage of lighter aluminum sway bars on its rear suspension and a set of revised bushings, which helped keep the ride a bit more manageable and softer than the Impreza WRX wagon. In addition, the 9-2X Aero borrowed its steering box from the Subaru Impreza WRX STi, which held a quicker ratio of 15.0:1, as opposed to the 16.5:1 iteration found in the standard Impreza WRX.
These subtle mechanical differences managed to transform the 9-2X Aero into something more than just a rebadged Impreza WRX wagon, something that GM felt the Saab brand was worthy of producing.
Things Are More Refined Inside, Too
The 9-2X Aero also received a significant number of Noise, Harshness, and Vibration (NHV) improvements over the Subaru Impreza WRX wagon. After all, the Subaru was just a diluted rally wagon for the road, with little regard for refinement or interior comfort. However, Saab-branded vehicles were seen as entry-level luxury models, and having a noisy, rattly interior in the 9-2X Aero would not go over well with its customer base by any stretch.
Throughout its entire cabin, Saab installed a plethora of sound-deadening material. The roof, floors, and firewall were all given the soundproofing treatment to help keep road and engine noise out, so passengers could speak at a comfortable volume at highway speeds. Both the 2.0-liter and 2.5-liter mills were given revised, cushier engine mounts to help keep vibration felt inside the cabin to a minimum, too. Interior panels were equipped with padded clips and mounting points to help keep miscellaneous rattle noises at bay.
2005 Saab 9-2x Black/White Interior Front CabinSaab
All of those small changes added up to a major reduction in overall decibel measurements found within the Saab’s cabin. Acting as the control, the 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX wagon carried a 50 to 51 dBA, or A-weighted-decibel measurement. The Saab, on the other hand, measured just about 43 to 44 dBA. For comparison, 43 decibels is roughly the noise level you’d hear in a quiet library or from a modern refrigerator running in your kitchen. Quite quiet, especially for a performance wagon. In addition to making it quieter, the Saab 9-2X Aero’s quicker steering and subtle chassis tweaks, such as its aluminum sway bars and revised bushings, made it feel more planted, more controllable, and more premium overall.
Despite Its Improvements, No One Cared
It came to market with a host of small improvements, a Subaru-backed powertrain, and Saab styling, and yet no one wanted one. Upon its initial debut, Saab buyers were skeptical of its Subaru bones. On top of that, the picky customers decided that the 9-2X Aero wasn’t Swedish enough, simply because it had so much Subaru injected into it. In the other camp, Subaru buyers simply weren’t interested in a refined version of the Impreza WRX wagon that carried a higher price tag because, at the time, a base WRX wagon cost roughly $24,545 in 2005. Its very real upgrades weren’t enough to sway folks over from Subaru, either.
A large nail in the Saab 9-2X Aero’s proverbial coffin was the dissolution of the GM-Fuji Heavy Industries’ partnership in 2005. The program’s cancellation was due to a two-pronged issue, in which the joint venture failed to produce any meaningful innovation from either party. At the same time, it didn’t provide the sort of cost-savings that both companies had been anticipating. GM pulled the plug by selling its 20% stake, worth roughly $725 million at the time, mostly to Toyota.
2005 Saab 9-2x Silver Front Angle Driving w/ Surfboard on RoofSaab
Because the venture ended, the 9-2X Aero and its advanced badge engineering were cut short before the model had time to mature in any meaningful way. By the time production ended in mid-2006, only about 3,628 examples were produced, most of which rolled off the assembly line in 2005. An armchair post-mortem analysis will bring most folks to the likely conclusion that the 9-2X Aero wasn’t necessarily a bad car, it was the market itself rejecting the model because it tried to blend two worlds that don’t mix very well.
The 9-2X Aero’s Time May Have Finally Come
2005 Saab 9-2x White Rear Angle Driving in the CitySaab
If you scour the market for a used example of the 9-2X Aero, you’ll find yourself running into a wide range of prices. On one hand, they can be quite cheap, with some dipping below $5k for running and driving examples with clean titles. However, the vast majority of these cheap ones are automatic. To step into a manual, you may need to spend considerably more money, roughly in the $10k–$13k range for a well-maintained example without a large number of previous owners or modifications.
2005 Saab 9-2x Red Front Angle DrivingSaab
That top end of the price range brings it close to the values of decent, used 2005 to 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX wagons. Saab’s orphan-brand appeal is beginning to gain traction, as well, leading some buyers to seek out examples of the now-defunct brand, and the 9-2X Aero is, arguably, one of the more exciting modern Saabs on the market. Not to mention, it’s rare, and there isn’t much else like it out there.
In the end, while it’s considered the “Saabaru”, it was a genuinely unique model built upon the Impreza WRX wagon, rather than simply affixing Saab badges over the Subaru ones.
Sources: Consumer Guide, Car and Driver, AutoWeek.com.
