Comments on: Saab Biopower Survey

By: TuuSaR

TuuSaR — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 13:18:18 +0000

If you would have read ALL comments coming from GM, you would know that it takes long time to get permission to sell vehicle type in the USA.

Thats why the 2008.
(or they might have new car ready that I doubt)

E85 is usually mixed with more “regular” fuel if temperature gets too cold to start the car, if I remember right, -15 centigrade is the level where extra benzin % is needed.

By: pedrot16

pedrot16 — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 12:34:05 +0000

ready by late 2008? WTF,isn´t suposed a brand new 9-5 by that time?

By: jehrler

jehrler — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 10:01:00 +0000

Interesting, here in Minnesota there are many, many E-85 stations and it is generally 25 cents cheaper per gallon.

I think the state reduced its taxes on E-85.

By: Dinger

Dinger — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 09:20:02 +0000

Ahh.. Well that’s good to hear. I’m afraid it’ll still scare people off.

And for what it’s worth I did say “Definitely Consider” on the survey.

By: Mats

Mats — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 08:37:35 +0000

From what I know we here in Sweden have no such restrictions on the E85 cars so I guess it’ll run just fine without using the heater. My guess it’s a legal thing where GM tries to protect theirselves from being sued should something happen. In Sweden normal gas price is about 11 kr/litre and the E85 is about 7 kr/litre. 8kr=1US$ So the extra consumption is ofset by the lower price. Since it’s classes as a “enviromental” car you also get free parking in larger cities and such.

By: Dinger

Dinger — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 07:47:10 +0000

Whoa! How the friggen presses. Did you see this line on the informational part of the survey?

“The 9-5 BioPower comes with an engine block heater, which must be used prior to starting the car when it is running on E85 fuel in outside temperatures below 30 degrees Fahrenheit.”

WTF? This is a problem for most of the US as very large portions are susceptible to being under -1° for long periods of time. Right here in Ohio, while we are currently having a mild winter, back in December we had 3 weeks where it never got above -4° during the day and as low as -18° at night.

Unfortunately unlike the northern reaches of Canada we don’t have outlets for engine block heaters everywhere, so while I can plug it in at home what happens while the car sits outside for hours at work and school?

And then there’s that part about E85 getting significantly worse mileage, all the while E85 cost the same or more than regular petrol. I would say with these restrictions my BioPower 9-5 would be run on 100% petrol for most of the year due to temperatures and fuel costs, going to E85 only a few times during the summer to feel the rush of 50 extra ponies.

Of course since I drive a ’86 900T with 277k miles (443k km) on the clock the term, “my BioPower 9-5” is purely theoretical.