Spied: Saab 9-3x Crossover

Saab's 9-3 SportCombi wagon is a largely overlooked, sporting European estate car. In a bid to drum up some more consumer interest in the aging 9-3 line, Saab will be debuting the 9-3x next year.

The 9-3x is basically to the 9-3 what the Cross Country (XC70) is to the Volvo V70.  Basically - "tough" looking body cladding, raised ride height for those crazy off-road adventures (mmhmm!) and four wheel drive for bad weather.

The 9-3x will utilizes Saab's adaptation of Gen. IV Haldex all wheel drive, with a range of gas and diesel engines under the hood.  Look for Saab's 2.0L Ecotec port-injection turbo engine (210bhp) as well as their 1.9TTiD motor.

For those of you that haven't heard about this motor, or forgot that Saab existed in the first place, it's quite a cracker.  It's a 1.9L 16v inline-four diesel, all-aluminum construction, with common rail direct injection.  Standard diesel fare.  Where it gets interesting is aft of the exhaust manifold - the "TT" in "TTiD" stands for "Twin Turbo."

Yup.  The TTiD uses sequential turbocharging and a relatively low (for a diesel) 16.5:1 compression ratio, to make 178 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque (400nM).  This motor in the 9-3 saloon returns north of 40mpg on the highway, while providing massive mid-range overtaking power.

It's not known when the 9-3x will debut, but considering it's been spied without camouflage in production form, a Geneva debut seems likely, or maybe Frankfurt in October.

Trollhattan Saab.net via Motor Authority