We’ve been following Beren’s purchase story for a while now.

His Saab Turbo X was one of the first photographed having arrived at a US dealership and it was also the subject of all those fantastic undercarraige photos that showed you the XWD system, the big exhaust, etc. Beren purchased his Turbo X from site sponsor, Saab of Hunterdon, in New Jersey, and they supplied those early shots.

Beren now has his Saab Turbo X at home and has written his initial thoughts for everyone’s perusal on his personal blog.

Here’s a brief snippet:

Handling in the car is really amazing. While I haven’t pushed it too hard yet, I can move through corners and turns easily where my previous ride [not a Saab - SW] would be straining and dipping just getting through…..

….Overall this is a great car. I haven’t found anything about it that I don’t like - its got personality and funk and it has guts and performance. If Saab keeps producing cars of this quality then there will certainly be a bright future for the company and its enthusiasts.

It’s a great read and highly recommended. Click here to read the writeup in full.

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If you mention Philadelphia and stand something in front of a grand old building and I immediately hear Rocky music, even if it’s not the right building. Maybe this is the vehicle that’ll lead them to an improbable place atop the European heap - it’s the fighter vs the thoroughbred and all that stuff

Ken B has just added himself to the list of Turbo X owners and whilst he hasn’t had a chance to take it for a proper drive yet (Mother’s Day will do that to you) he was kind enough to snap a few photos and send them in:

These are all shot in the main part of Fairmount Park, the city park in Philadelphia (2,300 contiguous acres in this part; 8,800 acres for the entire park). Memorial Hall was constructed for the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The Japanese Tea House is behind the hall and in the Horticultural Gardens of the park. The skyline picture is shot from Belmont Plateau, a high point in the park and the site of a mid-1700’s building now housing the Underground Railroad Museum at Belmont Mansion.

Congratulations, Ken!! Enjoy it, and keep on punching!

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Saabforum.nl are all a-buzz with a thread about an article in the latest issue of the Dutch version of AutoWeek. There’s a scan from the latest issue there, claiming some spyshots of the next Saab 9-5.

This one, for me, is the money shot, though it looks much more like a rendering than a photo and apparently has very little to do with a Saab 9-5 as I’ve learned in comments (the hazards of posting late at night from websites in a language you don’t understand!):

If you can read Dutch then click on through and fill your head with knowledge. The rest of us will have to make do with looking at the pictures.

Thanks Jeroen

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Meanwhile, Australian Car Advice have some revealing shots of that Opel Insignia hatchback that was mentioned the other day.

It looks quite raw and, to be honest, pretty unattractive, but I’m sure it’d improve with a mild makeover in the trim department.

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Nothing special here. Just a bunch of driving sequences and yes, one was sped up (just for something different)

Some nice shot setups by Stu the Lens Genius and our young bloke, Geoff. Driving by yours truly and Matt the Fudgepacker. Music by Eddie, Alex, Michael and Sammy, chosen specifically for the start.

Cheers.

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It takes a big story to interrupt a wedding anniversary, ja?

First, the news:

I’ve received notice from a member of the Djup Strupe collective inside Sweden - and this comes straight from the horse’s mouth - that the next generation of the Saab 9-3 will be built on GM’s global premium compact architecture, presumptively called Delta II.

This architecture will be used for a number of GM vehicles, the highest volume-seller most likely to be the Opel Astra, and the Trollhattan plant in Sweden is one of four European plants recently chosen to build vehicles on this architecture. The other plants are in the UK, Germany and Poland and the production of vehicles on this new architecture is scheduled to commence no earlier than 2010.

There’s been no word on the timing of this new 9-3, but given that this decision could only have been taken quite recently it’d be safe to assume 2011 at the very earliest, more likely 2012.

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Second, the opinion:

The biggest concept vehicle reportedly based on the Delta II architecture so far is the Opel Flextreme which measured 4550mm. The current Saab 9-3 is 4647mm in length. With the current Saab 9-3 already having compact rear seat legroom, it’s going to pose a challenge for designers to preserve cabin space in the smaller package.

The one thing this will definitely do, however, is separate the 9-3 and the 9-5. With a new Saab 9-5 coming on board late in 2009, it will be positioned as the definite flagship model with this more compact Saab 9-3 beside it in the model range. Importantly, the new smaller 9-3 will also be easier to “rightsize” - Saab’s terminology for getting a smaller engine into the car with more power but reduced emissions.

I think this is a great decision. I feel quite confident that the Saab 9-3’s designers can pull off a great interior layout, which is going to be the only major concern with this architecture. It means the car can be smaller and lighter, more sporty, and leaves the new 9-5 plenty of space to play to the larger-car crowd with a bigger range of models than what we might have previously thought.

The other truly fantastic news in this is that there’s a very good chance that the cars will be built in the Trollhattan plant in Sweden. I can’t stress enough how important it is for Saab to retain a significant manufacturing presence in their home market. It’s not definite, with three other European plants capable of working with Delta II, but it’s quite possible.

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And a chronology of the reporting, just for the record….

May 6, 2008 - More talk on the next Saab 9-3 was posted here at Trollhattan Saab. It was the first report in English on the subject of the new 9-3 being built on Delta and possibly at Trollhattan.

May 7, 2008 - Next-gen Saab 9-3 to be produced in Sweden was published at Motor Authority and contains basically the same info as I had in mine.

May 8, 2008 - Saab 9-3 Shrinking was reported at Autocar and contained essentially the same central piece of news with some extra fodder for filling.

These reports all cover the story out of Germany in the last week that the production of the Saab 9-3 had NOT been confirmed for Russelsheim as was previously assumed. That added fuel to the growing story that the 9-3 was being considered for something other than the Epsilon II platform.

What we have here in this story is the first confirmation from inside Saab that this is indeed going to happen - that the next generation 9-3 is going to be built on the compact architecture.

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Around five years and four days ago, my wife and I were teaching a computer class together and we were presented with a bottle of wine. The couple that gave it to us bottled it themselves and it’s from grapes grown on their own property. We were told that it would be best kept in a cellar for around five years and then opened and consumed on our 5th wedding anniversary, which is today.

Consequently, posting will be light for the next 24 hours as my blog-widow of a wife claims some rightful attention.

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I don’t want to blow my own trumpet too much here, but dognabbit you Saab folks have got a darn good site to visit here. I was just reviewing the work here over the last month or so and I don’t mind saying I’m pretty pleased with it.

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There’s a bunch of sites now reporting on the possibility of a re-sized Saab 9-3 built on the Delta platform in the future. They’re just doing that now. Trollhattan Saab was the first site to run that story in English, thanks to some generous people who translated the original article from German. Have any of those sites now running the English version of the story given a link to this site? Not one. A pox on all of them!!!

But like many stories, you saw it here first. That’s something that you as tipsters and I as a publisher can be happy with.

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The one site that does consistently link here is Auto Motor and Sport in Sweden, for which I am eternally grateful. My mate there Par Brandt is a genuinely decent bloke who knows he has the best job in the world and enjoys waking up every day because of it.

Cheers, cobber.

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What automotive sites do you rate highly, and why?

Saab or non-Saab.

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I wonder how those students from Boston did in regard to their advertsising proposal to Saab USA. I saw a draft a few days before they presented it and let’s just say I was less than encouraged.

Even less encouraging was the fact that in talking with them, with about two weeks to go before their deadline, none of them had driven a Saab 9-3 (the car they were pitching). It was going to be advertising via the Good Will Hunting method of reading about something rather than experiencing it.

I wonder if Saab’s ad people at McCann Erickson in the US have driven the cars they’ll be advertising in the near future. Same with the Europeans at Lowe, though they seem to do a pretty good job.

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I know I rant a bit on this site, especially with regards to Cadillac, but it’s not without good reason. I see TS as a reasonable-sized cog in getting the importance of the Saab brand out there, not just to the general public who land here via search engines, but more importantly to those who have legal guardianship over the brand - the execs at GM.

But if I ever rant as much as Robert Farago at The Truth About Cars then please let me know. He has come to represent everything that’s good and bad about the internet as far as I’m concerned.

The good: great quality writing, for free. The bad: an inability to about face and correct his work if it’s wrong. He’d rather erase evidence that those inconsistencies ever existed.

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How am I going with this here website? As you read above, I’m actually pretty happy with it though I know it could be laid out better if I had the time and the knowledge. But how do you think I’m going?

I’d actually like to write stuff like this for a living but am not sure how to get started with a freelance type situation. I might shop around the Subaru suite when it’s finished, at least to get some constructive criticism.

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There’s a possibility of some very, very big things happening with regards to people in the Saab family in the next few months. Some I can talk about, and some I can’t.

One is the pending retirement of one of the best servants Saab has ever had. He’s finishing up at the end of this month and I hope they throw him one of the biggest parties that Trollhattan has ever seen. My gift will be posted on Monday so it may be a little late, but the postal system is pretty good here so hopefully it’ll make it on time.

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I’ve had the 900 back for around 36 hours now, though we still have the WRX in the driveway. I walk past the WRX to get to the 900 and I’ve only just realised now, as I write this, that not once have I glanced at it when walking past.

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How many people here have dogs and how many of you dog owners allow your dogs to ride in the car?

A question for those with centrally operated windows etc - how often has your dog either operated the windows or switched off your ignition?

If Saab are looking for a Saaby trait to build into the next generation of cars, put the window switches in the center console. They’re so easy to operate there and it makes no difference whether it’s a LHD or RHD car.

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I’ve had a couple of enquiries into advertising since two of my sponsors dropped off the sidebar after 18 months with us.

That’s all it’s been so far, though. Enquiries.

It sure makes me appreciate the loyalty and support that I’ve received from Saab of Hunterdon in the US, and Niddvale Saab in the UK. Both believe in and support the raison d’être of the site and lend concrete support to it, which is much appreciated. I wish I could buy a car from both of them.

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Posting will be just a tad lighter in the next little while, but new material will still be around so keep checking in.

You people who visit here regularly are the absolute best. The internet’s a wonderful thing, eh? Who’d have thought you’d be reading stuff about a car from a small company in Western Sweden via a blogger literally on the other side of the world in Tasmania, Australia?

Five years ago you’d have asked “what’s a blogger?” and look at us now!!

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Below is a copy of an invite being sent out to potential customers by Herb Chambers Saab in Boston. The event comprises two feature nights for the Saab Turbo X on May 20th and 21st. I assume they’ll have a fair chunk of their Turbo X fleet on the ground by then.

Click to enlarge.

If you’re in the area and interested in going to the event, you can email an RSVP to saabsales@herbchambers.com. Tell them Trollhattan Saab tipped you off in your email. And when you’re there you can tell the people at HCS how much you’d appreciate them sposoring Trollhattan Saab on an ongoing basis.

Congratulations once again to our good mate in France, Golfhunter, who picked up this little baby recently. When I first reported on this car, the decision to purchase had been made, but the car was still with it’s previous ower. It seems that Jeff has finally picked it up and brought it home.

I know I’ve been spounting off about it a fair bit in the last few weeks, but it’s just so unique and so well executed that I can’t help myself.

And here it is, very briefly, in motion.

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