1:18 DNA Collectibles Saab 9-3 Viggen Convertible Review

Welcome to my review of the 1:18 DNA Collectibles Saab 9-3 Viggen Convertible in 270 Blue Lightning metallic! If you don’t fancy reading the whole background of the real car, feel free to click here and skip straight to the model itself.

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Up for review this time we’ve got the first release from DNA Collectibles, a brand new model car company based in Switzerland. The model in question is the 1:18 Saab 9-3 Viggen Convertible.

Saab….remember them? The Urban Dictionary describes ‘Saab Drivers‘ as “quirky, successful, understated individuals who shy away from the stigma of driving a BMW or Mercedes. According to Top Gear, Saab Drivers are members of the ‘intelligentsia’, including but not limited to architects, graphic designers, civil rights lawyers, and specialist doctors.” Growing up in the 90s, for me at least, that description seemed pretty accurate.

What’s in a name? As some of you may know, from 1947 to 1990 the Saab Group (originally Svenska Aeroplan AB), was the parent company of automobile manufacturer Saab Automobile. The Saab 37 Viggen (Swedish for ‘Thunderbolt’) fighter jet was brought into service in June 1971 and retired in November 2005. It was the most advanced fighter jet Europe had to offer until the introduction of the famous Tornado in 1979. So Saab clearly had some decent reasons as to why they would draw on their aerospace lineage – it is one thing for the likes of Lamborghini to draw inspiration from fighter jets for their Murcielago-based Reventon supercar, but Saab actually had the heritage to back it up! They even included a cool little badge on the flanks by the indicators.

The base spec Saab 9-3 was launched in 1998, replacing the ageing 900 from 1994. The 900 was the first car fully developed by General Motors (GM) since they took 50% ownership of the brand in 1989. Under the skin, the 900 used the ageing Vauxhall (Opel to you Europeans!) Cavalier platform, but with the heavier Saab bodywork and narrower track, it offered very little for the enthusiastic driver. This upset the purists, because Saab was a company whose reputation had significantly grown through rallying, and through being one of the first manufacturers to offer a front wheel drive turbocharged car.

To combat this issue and to get the brand back on track, plans were hatched in October 1994 with the birth of Saab’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO – and you thought Jaguar Land Rover were being original with that name??) division headed by Peter Leonard – this was part Saab and part Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR), who incidentally had worked alongside rival Volvo to build the epic 850 T5. In late 1995 the team presented a heavily modified yellow 900 coupe and blue convertible. Leonard estimated these souped up versions could be on the market by late 1997, with the hope of 250bhp. Saab fans were extremely impressed with these concepts, but they would have to wait a further two years before they could drive a full production version.

In mid-1999 the Viggen was finally ready to hit the showrooms. Available in both a three or five-door hardtop or two-door convertible, the body styling was almost an identical copy of the SVO 900, however the chassis and handling work was all TWR’s input to the project. The brand new turbocharged 2.3-litre B235R engine specially developed for the model produced 230bhp (cars made in the first year of production had 225bhp) and 258 lb ft of torque – quite substantial for a front-wheel-drive car, especially one with a long wheelbase and a narrow track. Power was delivered through a five-speed manual gearbox. It went from 0-60mph in 6.4 seconds and on to a top speed of 155mph, making it the fastest Saab ever at that point in time. 16 or so years later and the Honda Civic Type R kicks out 316bhp to the front wheels with a lot more trick front suspension than the 9-3 Viggen ever had, a testament to Saab’s SVO team back then!

In terms of mechanical improvements over the standard 9-3 model, Saab fitted a larger turbocharger, to ensure the Viggen never ran out of boost. Even at altitudes of 10,000 ft the Viggen will still retain its performance. The chassis work was always going to be a challenge when trying to make a front wheel drive car deliver 230bhp and near 260 lb ft of torque to the road in a civilised manner. Stiffer springs and retuned dampers were developed along with changes to the front anti-roll bar to aid traction. To put the power onto the road, 215/45 ZR17 Dunlops were fitted to the Viggen’s exclusive 5-spoke alloys, while the brakes were redeveloped using larger calipers and grooved discs all round. All this work by TWR didn’t really do all that much and the car still torque-steered like an absolute dog! Companies like Abbott Racing Motorsport have produced a ‘Viggen Rescue Kit’ that all but eliminates the torque-steer to make it the car it should have been from the factory.

Cosmetic differences for the Viggen came in the interior, with unique two-tone seats in four colors; black with black inserts (charcoal), black with blue inserts (deep blue), black with orange inserts (flame ochre), or tan with tan inserts. An excellent steering wheel and a custom dashboard facia were also present. The seats were developed by Lear and provide superb support in all the right places, no matter hard you are cornering, plus they also had the Viggen emblem embossed in the seat backs. All Viggens wore redesigned and more aerodynamic front and rear bumpers and side skirts, a rear boot mounted spoiler (the new design meant the radio antenna had to be relocated on three and five-door models) and unique 17-inch 5-spoke wheels.

Perhaps the coolest feature of the car, isn’t even a feature of the car at all! The Saab 9-3 Viggen came with its own special training video for Sales and Service staff hosted by a genuine jet fighter pilot, in a hangar with a private jet in the background.

It is believed 4,600 Saab 9-3 Viggens were manufactured between 1999 and 2002. Around 3,000 were imported into the United States and Canada, with approximately 1,300 of them being convertibles. 500 were destined to reach the shores of the United Kingdom, but apparently sales figures fell well short and only roughly 350-400 were sold. Across all worldwide markets, there were 6 colours available, although not all colours were available in every market – Black, Laser Red, Lightning Blue, Monte Carlo Yellow, Silver and Steel Grey. It seems Black, Lightning Blue and Silver were the most popular colours overall. If you’re based in Canada and you must have the Laser Red, tough luck – just one was imported and it is sure to be worth a hefty premium!

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The review…

Now that you know all about the 1:1 Saab 9-3 Viggen, I bet you’re dying to know about the 1:18 model, right? Of course you are, but first let us get to know a little bit more about DNA Collectibles! A few months ago, towards the beginning of 2018 I started seeing paid for adverts in my Facebook feed for this brand new company I had never heard of before. They were advertising the Bond Bug, if I remember correctly. Looking through their Facebook page you’ll see they set it up in December 2017 and started actively posting in February 2018. Their stuff looked cool and they kept mentioning high quality and listening to the collectors about what they want, so I thought I’d get in touch with them and see if they fancied sending me something to review – they said yes!

As I did with my review on the MNTrailers transporter, I thought it would be a great idea to get to know a bit more about the company, the people behind it and what their long terms goals are. To that end, I’ve conducted a little interview to help break the ice….

1. Please tell me a little bit about your company – what is your background? What made you start making models?

DNA Collectibles has been created by 4 colleagues, all around 30 years old, with us all having the common denominator of being passionate about scale model cars and the car industry in general. We met in our previous company where we worked together for several years and gained valuable experience in developing and producing diecast model cars of different types and scales. So we can say that we already have a long history in the car replica industry.

After several years of working together, our collaboration turned into friendship. In 2017 we decided to take the leap – we wanted to be independent and to release our own model cars, our way! And that’s how DNA Collectibles was born!

Why the name DNA? Because like us, we strongly believe that our customers have the scale model passion in their genes. Moreover as everyone knows, it takes a lot of time to create a company and develop models, so we put our shop online in February 2018, and from that time we keep developing and releasing exciting models.

2. What are your long term plans and aspirations for releasing models and in what scales?

We are targeting the 1:43 and 1:18 scale markets. We are trying to do things a bit different. We would like to offer cars that are quite special, really rare or even never made before! In that vain, we looked for and signed contracts with big brands from Germany, UK and Japan and others which you will discover in the near future.

3. What is your Unique Selling Point (USP) that makes you stand out in a crowded marketplace, where it seems every few weeks we have a new model manufacturer appear?

First of all, our main USP: exclusivity and rare models, definitely. In our shop, you’ll find cars that haven’t been made before or are very rarely seen in the market – but that doesn’t mean any less desirable! Let’s take a concrete example to illustrate, as our second car to develop we choose the Bond Bug. This is such a nice small funny car that deserves to be reproduced for the very first time in 1:18 scale and we had a lot of fun in making the Bug. That’s the DNA spirit – we want to surprise our customers and to fill in a gap in the scale model market.

Secondly, we are extremely picky about the quality of our products. That’s our philosophy – our customers deserve the very best and only the best from DNA! We always look for tiny details that will make our cars highly valuable models for collectors.

Aside from all that, it is important to note that we are able to deliver all across the globe, which means no customer is left behind! Several customers from Russia, the Nordics, Europe and USA have already put their confidence in us.

4. Besides Saab, what other car brands do you plan on replicating in scale form?

We are currently working on cars from Germany, Japan, UK, Sweden and USA. I bet some will surprise you! We will have a huge variety, refreshing and exciting models! We invite you to stay tuned on our Facebook page and directly thanks to our website newsletter.

5. What is one piece of information that isn’t on your website, that you’d like to let collectors know about you?

We haven’t mentioned much about this, but our models are numbered on the chassis and production are around 300 pieces per model. So that makes them extremely exclusive and rare!

6. Feel free to offer any other information you think collectors will find useful!

We would like to deeply thank the people who believed in us! Their support is heart warming, and motivates us to keep going hard on releasing great, interesting and surprising models. Customers’ satisfaction is the best reward we can get, so once again, thank you very much for your support and trust. This is our fuel to provide only the best!

At this present moment, you can only buy DNA Collectibles’ models online via their website at www.dnacollectibles.com. Maybe once the brand has gained some traction in the marketplace we can see them in the mainstream model shops?

The DNA team were very kind in sending me this model in exchange for my usual unbiased and honest review.

The Saab 9-3 Viggen Convertible retails for 179CHF (Swiss Franc) excluding shipping. That works out around £135/€155/$180USD/$238CAD based on exchange rates at the time of writing (mid-June 2018). Note that these prices are excluding shipping and because the models are actually shipped from Hong Kong, the buyer runs the risk of having to pay any taxes and duties on the models. DNA have been thoughtful and included a shipping cost estimate in the cart before you even checkout, so buyers have almost full visibility of costs. They also offer both Standard (7-14 days) and Express (2-5 days) shipping options. Under the “Delivery and Pre-Orders” page they give a full run down of shipping costs and it seems to be a flat rate shipping option if you buy a single model (excluding Switzerland, where they also pay your taxes as I assume they have some in stock locally) 29/39CHF (Standard/Express) for 1:18 and 9CHF/29CHF for 1:43 models. If you buy more than one, the parcels go on weight, so your costs will vary. So if you were to just order this 1:18 Saab 9-3 Viggen Convertible it’ll cost you between 208CHF (£158/€180/$209USD/$276CAD) and (£166/€189/$219USD/$290CAD) depending on the shipping option you choose. And don’t forget you’ll have to pay any country specific taxes and duties on top of these costs! I feel this is very important to point out. Originally it wasn’t 100% clear on their website that the collector would be responsible for these additional charges, because they are being shipped from Hong Kong. I did raise this as a potential issue with them and the team very quickly added some additional information to their website to ensure buyers are fully aware of this fact. Only time will tell if this approach will harm the company’s sales, as customs duties are so hit and miss between each country with some being crazy high which will probably put potential customers off ordering! I hope in time, DNA will look to have at the very least a European base to ship from to avoid such issues. Although depending how Brexit goes, that may not make a difference for us Brits!

So we now know the (rough) cost of the model – is it worth it? Can this fresh upstart justify these prices over something like a GT Spirit model? Let’s read on to find out!

As this is a completely new brand to The Model Car Critic and indeed the marketplace, we need to start by reviewing the packaging. As mentioned, the models are shipped from Hong Kong – mine took 10 days in transit to arrive to the UK – in this nondescript cardboard box with some DNA branded tape on. There didn’t seem to be any troubling damage to this outer box…..so far, so good!

Opening the box and you’re greeted with something I don’t think anybody has ever done before – a pull-cord microfibre bag encasing the model box! A really random addition, I must admit, but once you read the card attached to the drawstring you see that you can actually use the bag to clean the model of any dust or fingerprints! A nice and rather different touch (in this crowded market, key differentiators are welcome – no matter how small), but I can’t help thinking the overall size of the bag is a bit unwieldy when trying to clean your model and perhaps including a pair of gloves or square piece of cloth like you get with a pair of glasses would be more practical? Not a deal breaker by any stretch of the imagination and it is a nice little afterthought by the team!

Elsewhere on the little card/tag you’ve got the really clever DNA company logo. I think whoever thought up this logo is a bit of a marketing genius. It is obviously supposed to represent a strand of DNA and that links back to what the guys said in my interview, that they “have the scale model passion in their genes”. Little things like this matter and when you stop and think about it, draw you into the brand that little bit more! You’ve also got the model name and product code (number 1 in the line-up in this case), plus that little tidbit of information about using the bag to clean the model. There is the standard ‘not for children under 14 years’ spiel on the reverse – perhaps DNA could include some key specs of the real car here instead and relegate that info to the box?

Open up the bag and you’ll find a plain and simple white box. As you’ll notice, mine isn’t actually so white. I double checked with the team to see if this was supposed to be some sort of design, but it turns out some of the dye from the bag must have stained the white box. They said they had already noticed it and changed it for future releases – these guys are really quick to implement changes and a breath of fresh air in this industry for sure. Let’s hope they can keep it up! Something to note, however, is that one end of my particular white box was very slightly bashed from being in transit. This is one of the reasons why I stopped buying directly from Otto/GT Spirit – there was never a protective barrier between the model box and the shipping box to prevent any damage. I hope this is something the DNA team will look at and change somehow.

We open up one of the side flaps of the white box, remove the side piece of protective foam (which has a hole in so you can get your finger in there and remove it – another thoughtful touch) and the model is packed quite differently to other models. Instead of the pretty bog standard polystyrene clamshell or plastic base with cage around it, you’re greeted with a model that almost looks suspended in mid-air! There are two thick foam pieces stuck to each length of the inside of the box to provide impact protection from knocks. There is also a third piece running along the bottom – you pull on that and the whole base comes sliding out.

The acrylic base, which is wrapped in a protective plastic film, sits in a thick polystyrene base that’s is held down in transit with two sleeves of card – one at either end. Again, this provides impact protection in transit, both for the model and the acrylic base. This is a very different unboxing experience, but one that makes complete sense. Considering the model wasn’t damaged in transit, it seems to be one that actually works – and it means they’re actually using less materials for the packaging, so can pump that money into the model itself (ahem, TopSpeed….real mesh, ahem).

The only issue I did have (and I know I’m not the only reviewer to have experienced this) was that the removable plastic hard top became dislodged in transit and must have been rattling freely around the model. How nothing got damaged is probably a miracle in itself, but the DNA team definitely have to look into securing any removable parts much better to avoid any major issues for buyers. Looks quite nice, don’t you think?

Remove the roof and the protective foam around the acrylic base and admire the model in all its glory. I know there are some collectors who are very particular about removing their models from the bases, but I couldn’t see any way of taking off every last bit of the cling film-like protection off the base without unscrewing the model first. It doesn’t bother me and I had to unscrew the model anyway to take the pictures for this review. I tried to remove some bits of dust using a makeup brush and even that caused some light scratching on the acrylic base, unfortunately. The name of the model is printed along one of the long edges. One of my annoyances with resin models is that manufacturers often screw their models on so tightly or use low spacers so that the tyres end up getting flat spots, or even worse the wheels shatter under all the pressure! I don’t think we’ll have that issue here as you can literally just slide a piece of paper underneath the wheels. An intentional piece of packaging design? Who knows, but it works and I hope they continue this trend for future models, intentional or not.

Removing the base from the picture altogether now, let’s get a 360 degree tour of the model with the roof up and down. I’m not a massive lover of the design of the car itself, but overall I think it is fairly faithful to the real car at first glance. Saab purists who know every in and out of the 1:1 will no doubt be able to tell me if I’m wrong here!

One feature I would love to have seen the DNA team reproduce on this Saab 9-3 Viggen model is the rear three-quarter windows. If they could have included them and only had them raise maybe two-thirds of the way up, I reckon that it would have looked even better on display, whether collectors chose to have it roof up or down. What do you think?

One slight issue I did notice when looking at the model side on is the fact that the very bottom of the front bumper sits lower than the front edge of the side skirts just after the front wheels. Based on equivalent pictures (like the side on view of the 1:1 at the beginning of the review), it seems the bottom edge of the front bumper should sit slightly higher and even though we’re talking mere millimetres here, I think it makes a difference. I reckon this is something the purist rather than average collector would notice, however. I don’t know if it is just me, but the wheels and tyres look very slightly off too, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe I’m imagining things?! One other issue I noticed was that the model seems to be lacking the little black plastic pieces behind the front wheels – they look a bit like really slim mudflaps, but I’ve got a feeling it is some sort of aero feature.

Flipping the model carefully onto its side to avoid damaging the wing mirrors and the underside is so-so. The DNA logo with the model name is there, plus a uniquely numbered plaque. The spare wheel well is a nice addition and the chromed exhaust box and tip present. I guess it would have been nice to see the rest of the exhaust painted to match all the way to the front, but I’m not convinced that many people will every check the underside after doing it for the first time, so it doesn’t particularly bother me.

As we know from earlier, DNA models are limited to around 300 pieces per model. Looking at their website listing for this Saab 9-3 Viggen Convertible, they state 350 pieces were produced. Quite rare indeed! I know some collectors swear the number you get makes absolutely zero difference to the model itself, but I always like to receive a very low or very high number. I don’t know why, but I just enjoy knowing it’s either one of the first or last off the production line. Weird, I know!

Looking at the model up close and personal now, let’s see how DNA Collectibles’ first ever model stacks up in terms of the nitty gritty details! Starting with the chrome grille – the finish is very nice, but the overall shape is definitely not. It is supposed to follow the curvature of the bonnet edge at the top and then be dead straight along the bottom above the intake cutout in the bumper. A real shame to get this wrong guys. When looking from afar the grille itself has enough depth, even if up close you may feel it is lacking. I don’t think you’d notice it when it’s sitting on display.

The headlights and wipers are definitely the saving grace here. I couldn’t tell you if the pattern in the lenses was 100% accurate or not, but it really doesn’t matter. They look fabulous in my opinion! The white and orange bulbs are really nicely replicated and look very convincing if you look at them dead on. I’m not sure why some cars had a much larger area of orange for the side indicators than others (maybe market legislation?), but they look great regardless. The little wipers are a great touch as well. Take a look at the black area of the bumper below the lights and radiator grille- the texture looks a lot like plastic don’t you think?

We have real mesh!!!! It looks stunning ahead of the photoetched lower radiator. It’s details like this that maketh the model, no doubt. Congratulations to the DNA team for this.

Moving onto the badges now and DNA have really excelled here too. The round Saab badge on the bonnet is just 4mm in diameter, yet look at the incredible detail on it. Yes, there is some slight bleeding of the white SAAB lettering, but we’re looking on the macro level. In person you will definitely find no complaints. The silver Saab badge on the grille below may show a tiny amount of excess glue in this shot, but again you won’t see it. Some of the best badge work I’ve seen.

The side indicators look fine – the small amount of excess glue is impossible to discern with the naked eye. The VIGGEN badge could definitely be better, with the black lettering fully printed. This is somewhat noticeable with the human eye, although I don’t know if this is a one-off issue or a manufacturing defect as I haven’t seen any other reviews showing the details at this sort of macro level.

The rear badge is much like the one on the bonnet – another excellent job. The brake light integrated into the bootlid and just below the spoiler is very well done, with the individual bulbs nicely defined. I haven’t mentioned the paint yet…..it has a lovely metallic fleck to it and really shines under bright light. Is it faithful to the original car? DNA says it is based on the 270 lightning blue metallic car and I see no reason to doubt it is accurate. As it is an old(ish) car, it is not so easy to find high resolution pictures of the real car online and I have never seen one in the flesh, so I wouldn’t like to give a definitive opinion. All I can say is the paint looks superb to my eye.

The remaining badges on the bootlid are also great – see for yourself.

The only detail missing on the right hand cluster of rear lights is a proper photoetched keyhole to open the bootlid. There is a circular groove to denote the keyhole, but it is very difficult to see with the naked eye. It would have been a most welcome detail!

You will notice some paint artefacts in the rear light clusters – this is also not really visible with the human eye, so don’t worry. What you should worry about is the colouring of the rear lenses. Where the DNA team nailed the headlights, the rear not so much, unfortunately. For a start, the red is simply too dark. Secondly, the lower clear sections should actually be smoked, with the inner reversing lights being slightly darker than the outer indicators. I would also have liked to have seen a more noticeable delineation between the indicators and reversing lights, but I think if they had got the colouring correct, that would have come naturally anyway.

A few more exterior details before we take a look at the interior shortly. The windscreen wiper arms look good, with a nice amount of detail. I am a huge fan of details full stop, but especially on less noticeable areas that subconsciously raise your appreciation of the model. In this case it’s the black lines tracing around the windscreen. So much better to see this than a plain slab of clear plastic!

The door handles are nicely sculpted and a photoetched keyhole is present. This is exactly what they should have embedded in the rear lights to open the bootlid. Although here, you’ll see the typical snipping point of the part from the mold that many manufacturers have been guilty of before. Just look at the shine and depth of that paintjob though!!!

The chrome exhaust tip looks good and as we saw from the underside picture earlier, they have also manufactured the back box in chrome so that when you look at it from a low angle it appears that the entire exhaust is chrome. A very nice detail there and one I don’t think many people would have appreciated otherwise. The black plastic sections of the rear bumper match the front and are perfectly textured.

The wheels are both hit and miss. On the one hand the paint finish of the rims and the detail of the calipers are really excellent. The wheel nuts and the brake discs are great, plus they have the grooves facing the correct direction. I was saddened to see the application of the Saab sticker not done properly and for a model that has so many details elsewhere, they’ve fallen foul of one of my major bugbears – no proper lettering on the tyres! As I mentioned earlier, there is still something slightly off about the wheels and tyres. I still can’t put my finger on it. Another area to dock points from is the air valve. It just looks rubbish with that painted dot on the raised section.

Diving through the open top and straight into the interior, I don’t want to spoil anything, but aside from a couple of oversights this model is up there with the very best. I showed the picture below to a couple of colleagues in my office and they thought it was a real car! You can’t get better praise than that!! If you looked closer at the air vents you will probably suss it out, but at first, or even second glance I think you will be fooled. The silver pedals contrast nicely with the black footwells and the pockets on the seat backs give off that appearance of being elasticated with all the ruffling going on. They have even included fitted floormats, but one area they have really let themselves down on is the flooring itself – it is an open top model and therefore they definitely should have added some flocking/carpeting. With the roof off and the entire interior on glorious display, I fimrly believe a model MUST have carpeting.

The dashboard details on this debut model from DNA Collectibles are simply to die for. If all of their models are like this (or even better), they will definitely be seen as an industry disrupter from the get-go! Look at the orange needles, the speedometer and rev counter, the oil and fuel guages. Heck, they’ve even printed the odometer so sharply you can easily make out this bad boy has already got 77,518 miles on the clock. I wonder how many laps of the factory in China this thing has done! The one funny detail I noticed was the red open driver’s door warning light – ironic for a sealed resin model, but if no door was open it wouldn’t be illuminated. The tiny Saab badge on the steering wheel and the fog light buttons look good, too. I’m not sure why they omitted the headlight controls from the knob above the fog light buttons.

The centre console continues along much the same lines. The digital screen showing date, time, temperature and radio information looks spot on. The teeny tiny buttons below have some of the best definition I’ve seen on a model. I get that it would have been impossible to add any of the white text around the volume knob. It would have been cool to see the red “FASTEN BELTS” light above the digital display illuminated – another nod to Saab’s aviation links.

Moving further down at the various air conditioning controls and these are also well defined. It would have been beneficial for the DNA team to include the display with the orange bars that show the fan settings on, considering how they’ve nailed the other stickers on the dashboard. There also seems to be some cars that have the cigarette lighter with and without the typical smoking cigarette logo on – I personally would have included it to add that little extra detail at the lowest and blandest part of the central dash.

Dropping your eyes even further down and you can see the rather odd placement of the ignition switch – usually they’re somewhere around the steering column and is another quirky Saab feature. Little fact for you: to remove the key, you first have to put the manual transmission in reverse which is some sort of safety feature to prevent the car from rolling. The handbrake is nicely shaped and the crumpled leather cover around the gearlever does a convincing enough job. The window switches next to the central armrest (which is an aftermarket add-on as the 9-3 Viggen never came with one from the factory) have clear graphics applied, but the two switches in front of them (something to do with the roof folding mechanism?) plus the text around the igntion switch is not on par with the rest of the cabin. The little ignition key slot is decent, however! Take note of the seat belt clips with red painted buttons too.

Zooming back out for a second and let’s admire the rest of the interior. The seats are sculpted well with the Viggen badge embossed in the seats backs. Even though the roof mechanism doesn’t actually work, the DNA team have gone to the extra effort of making the rear deck that goes up and down for the roof to fold in/out of a separate piece, so instead of there being lines added to the mold itself there are actual genuine panel lines here. I think it greatly adds to the realism of the model. The blue inserts on the seats look nice and even have a metallic finish to them – I’m guessing they used the same paint as the body? While this looks nice, based on the picture of the real car earlier in the review, you’ll notice that the deep blue leather part is actually a darker shade than the exterior and of course doesn’t have any metallic finish as it is leather, although it is supposed to replicate a textured finish. It still looks fine on display in my eyes, but the jury is still out as to whether it is factually correct or not.

One fantastic touch the DNA team have added to the seat bases is the creased leather effect, supposed to replicate the years of wear expected in a car of this age (and mileage!) and is just another stellar example of how they take attention to detail to the next level.

The door inserts and those next to the rear seat passengers are finished in the same paint as the seats. Based on my limited research, it seems these insert panels are actually a flat finish plastic to mirror the rest of the interior on the 1:1 car, so again, I’m not sure if the metallic finish is accurate or not. The little black hole above the insert is where you would attach the wind deflector for draught-free top down driving. Above that is a painted white circle in the seatbelt mound, which is supposed to mimic a reading light, but doesn’t look great at all to be honest. I assumed it was some sort of button at first.

There’s not much to say about the interior door handles, except the chrome finish looks excellent and they got the tilted angle correct alongside the curved mold lines in the door card.

The seatbelts plus the buckles are also brilliant. I’ve seen other model manufacturers simply use a single silver photoetched piece for the whole buckle assembly, whereas DNA have gone for a black plastic effect piece and then the silver part for the actual buckle. I feel a lot of these details would be taken for granted by collectors, but the DNA team deserve to be commended for them.

Finally, we come to the sun visors. Displayed in their default position, they are molded well and round off a pretty stellar interior.

So, is this 1:18 Saab 9-3 Viggen Convertible worth the money? At a minimum of £158/€180/$209USD/$276CAD plus any potential duties, I would definitely say yes! This model is priced somewhere in between a GT Spirit and Looksmart model, yet offers quality, details and fit and finish better than both these brands combined. For those who may get stung by extortionate import costs, this may very well put you off the model and the brand. However, if you are going to buy one anyway, you’re more likely to be a Saab enthusiast who will order this for the model itself, with the cost being completely secondary. I just hope this logistics approach doesn’t harm their spread into the marketplace. The average collector wants their models as cheap as possible and as quickly as possible (we are an impatient bunch!) and I fear this may be a barrier to growth. Time will tell and I’ll be happy to be proven wrong, of course!

It is clear to see that the love of model cars and details flows through the veins of the DNA Collectibles team, of that there can be no doubt! This debut model from the brand is packed with fantastic details; from the excellent execution of the instrument panels, to the creasing in the leather of the seats – this model is definitely a treat for the eyes. Yes, some collectors will say “what is the point in this model? why go through all that time and effort just for a Saab!?” These are the kind of people who only see the market based on what they themselves collect. I’m sure there are countless Saab enthusiasts out there who have been waiting for this model to appear in large(ish) scale form, but probably thought no one would bother to ever make it. Well now they’re in luck, because DNA have come to the rescue and done an overall stellar job. There are certainly points to improve on, as has been noted throughout this review, but let’s not forget this is the brand’s first model to market. I, for one, am very excited to see what their portfolio will look like in 12-18 months time. If you follow them on social media or even their website, you will see they have announced the Bond Bug and Saab Aero-X concept car in 1:18, plus the Audi 200 Avant Quattro and Subaru Leone 1800 Turbo in 1:43 scale. It will definitely be interesting to see how they scale down from 1:18 to 1:43 in terms of details!

I hope you enjoyed reading this review – you should definitely check out the DNA Collectibles Facebook page here to keep up to date on what they’re up to. They’re also super polite and pretty quick to respond when chatting via Facebook Messenger as well. I have high hopes for this brand and have no doubt they will take on board all the constructive criticism sent their way and further improve their future models. If this review has convinced you to go ahead and buy one, you can do so via the DNA Collectibles online store here.

Thanks for reading this detailed review of the 1:18 DNA Collectibles Saab 9-3 Viggen Convertible in 270 Lightning Blue metallic.

Other reviews by DNA Collectibles:

• 1:18 DNA Collectibles Audi R8 LMX Review
• 1:18 DNA Collectibles Rezvani Tank Review

(All images of the real car were retrieved from Google Images.)