Orlando Sentinel's view

There is a crown jewel in almost every automaker’s lineup, a vehicle that is the soul of the company.

For Sweden’s Saab, the special edition of its flagship 9000 CD is that car.

It’s called the Griffin Edition, only 400 will be made this year, and – wait just one minute. Stop right there.

The Griffin is not named in honor of Merv.

Griffin is a loose English translation of Gripen, the name for the company’s logo of the dragon wearing a crown, explained Saab spokesman Steven Rossi.

Anyway, you might already have noticed the admission price puts the Griffin within a few dollars of such luxury sports sedans as the Lexus LS 400 and BMW 535i. Though those cars sport bigger engines, they can’t touch the Griffin in interior room and standard equipment.

PERFORMANCE

Saab’s four-cylinder engines are something to marvel at. Last year I test drove a five-door Saab 9000 turbo and discovered a four-cylinder that could perform in a manner that would embarrass many V-8s.

TheGriffin also has a turbocharged four-cylinder, but this engine – though still a workhorse – is a bit more tame and refined. The emphasis here is not on tire-smoking, neck-snapping muscle, but cool, calculated power applied with controlled finesse.

The Griffin’s engine is a 2.3-liter, 200-horsepower in-line four cylinder capable of propelling the 3,288-pound sedan to 60 mph in 8.8 seconds.

That means you can move about town smartly.

No manual transmission is available on the Griffin; it comes only with a computer-controlled four-speed automatic.

This gearbox could stand a little fine tuning. When it downshifts from fourth to third gear, such as when passing slower traffic, it does so with a shudder that reverberates throughout the drivetrain.

Another standard drivetrain feature is an electronic traction control system designed to prevent the front tires from losing grip over slippery surfaces when accelerating.

The test car turned in a respectable 18 miles per gallon in city driving and 25 mpg on the highway.

HANDLING

The Griffin’s most endearing trait might be its Rock-of-Gibralter like stability and predictable road manners. There is never any guesswork with this car. No matter how aggressively you drive, the Griffin retains its poise and composure.

Under the skin there is a high-performance four-wheel independent suspension system, power-assisted rack and pinion steering, and power four-wheel anti-lock disc brakes.

The wheels stay straight when accelerating briskly, showing that Saab engineers did their homework to ensure the high-powered car would not be bothered by torque steer, a pulling to the left or right under hard acceleration that is a common problem with front-wheel drive cars.

The brakes are powerful, and there are no loud clicking noises or traces of pulsing in the pedal when the anti-lock system engages – another sign of superb engineering.

FI T AND FINISH

The test car had a few minor faults.

Three times during the 300-mile test drive the Griffin started but failed to run properly. It stuttered, it sputtered and it had little power. However, after turning off the key and restarting the engine, the problem corrected itself each time.

The Griffin comes only in Eucalyptus Green – the Swedish interpretation of British Racing Green – and features tan leather with suede inserts on the door panels and on the seats.

The suede was improperly fitted on the driver’s door panel. But that was the only flaw I could find in the way the car was assembled.

It’s the amount of equipment you get in the Griffin that justifies its price. The car comes standard with a built-in hands-free cellular phone housed neatly out of view in the center console; a powerful 150-watt stereo/ cassette/CD player with a trunk-mounted changer.

There’s also an automatic air conditioning system, built-in alarm system and powe accessories galore, including cruise control, sunroof and memory seats.

The dash features highly polished burled walnut inlays.

Rear passengers will be astonished at the amount of foot-,head-and leg room the Griffin offers.

The cavernous trunk houses a full-size spare that is neatly hidden under the carpet-covered floor.

The Griffin appears to be the perfect car for a company CEO or high-powered traveling salesman who carries a lot of cargo.

It offers a high degree of comfort, room and utility, and it dispenses with long stretches of highway nearly effortlessly.

Truett’s tip: Quick, refined and loaded with every high-tech gizmo you could want, the 9000CD Griffin Edition elevates Saab into the elite ranks of the best luxury cars made by the Germans and Japanese.