Junkyard Find: 2005 Saab 9-2X Linear
Published: April 27th, 2020
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Weird examples of badge engineering! Who doesn’t love them? Bad people, that’s who, and so I do my best to find such vehicles while I’m exploring car graveyards. The badge-engineering world includes Isuzus badged as Hondas, Hondas badged as Isuzus, Mitsubishis badged as Dodges, Dodges badged as Mitsubishis, Chevrolets badged as Saabs, and — of course — Subarus badged as Saabs. Here’s an example of the notorious Saabaru, found in the Subiest region of the United States: Denver, Colorado.
Even though Coloradans love Saabs nearly as much as they love Subarus, the 9-2X has been tough for me to find in my local junkyards. Prior to today’s Junkyard Find, I’d documented just this lone silver 9-2X Linear, and that was two years ago. I’ve seen a few others, but they were WRX-based Aero models and had been stripped clean (presumably by Subaru fanatics) before I got there.
While the 9-2X Aero was a Saabized (Saabified? Saab-o-lated?) Subaru WRX, complete with wild turbocharged engine, the 9-2X Linear was just an ordinary Impreza hatchback with a somewhat nicer interior and a different grille. Still, this 2.5-liter boxer four made 165 horses, so these cars aren’t punitively slow.
You could get this car with a manual transmission, but… nope.
The Impreza got more vet’s-waiting-room-style interior materials, while the 9-2X had a more Swedish-influenced look inside.
Why did it end up here? Maybe a head gasket, maybe just lots of miles and low resale value for Saabs (and “Saabs”) these days.
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ROAD-BLISTERING PERFORMANCE, Y’ALL!If you must have more junkyardization in your day, check out the Junkyard Home of the Murilee Martin Lifestyle Brand™, where you’ll get links to more than 2,000 additional Junkyard Finds, Junkyard Gems, and Junkyard Treasures.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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I own this car, it is my transportation. As I am looking to sell to buy a car higher for my back I'm finding out much more about it. Help me please. Do I sell it or hang onto it. So much excitement over ones at junkyard's. I bought 5 yrs ago for $3,100. Had new water pump & I have put in new Cat con, sensor. Just wondering if I should hang onto it. I live Reno Tahoe, good snow car. Help car guys please!
Yup!