In form and function, there never was an appliance that captured the imagination (and the wallet) of the American consumer quite like Apple Computer's original iMac. Within half a year of its debut, it seemed that all other products, from toasters to toothbrushes, were trying to mimic Cupertino's translucent masterpiece. That's also how it is in the premium-sport-sedan market, where the BMW 3-series is what's hot. Mixing top-shelf luxury, muscularity, Teutonic good looks, and (relative) affordability, BMW created a cocktail that has the rest of the auto industry drunk with desire. Everybody, it seems, wants a Three.
Saab became the latest automaker to belly up to the bar when, for 2003, it introduced a reinvented 9-3-mainstreamed, sported-up, and sedan-shaped. Nerdy hatchback loyalists around the world were despondent over their brand's apparent abandonment of them, but there was no denying the new car was eons more evolved than the one it replaced. So, after an enjoyable turn in a red 9-3 Vector during our annual All-Stars romp through Kentucky and Tennessee in the fall of 2002, we decided to spend a year with Trollhttan's newest ride. Was it worthy of its crowned griffin emblem, or was it just the industry's latest Three-peat? Read full article