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I received some notice via email overnight that prospective purchasers in Sweden can now order a 9-3 with a 1.8t outfitted with BioPower. The regular gasoline setup yields 150hp and 240Nm of torque. Using E85 it will turn out 175hp and 265Nm.
There’s nothing about this yet on the Saab Sweden website and there’s been no press release, but the advice to me overnight was that dealers were open for orders as of February 16th. The price premium is said to be 9,000SEK.
As is standard practice, I’ve written to Saab Sweden for some confirmation.
Sales figures for the 9-5 BioPower over the next few months will be very, very interesting.
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For those of you that are in to collecting 1:43 scale model Saabs, there are now some BioPower 9-5s for you to collect.
They’re available in either Jet Black or Silver. The Elkparts model cars page is located here. Check ‘em out.
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MSN cars have a video test of the 9-5 BioPower. My thanks to Viking for posting the link in comments overnight…..Good viewing.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Saaboy
// Feb 21, 2007 at 1:06 pm
I really, REALLY hope that 9-5 sales don’t plummet, too badly…
Is E85 mileage really that bad? Never heard of that before…
2 1985 Gripen
// Feb 21, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Do you think the introduction of a BioPower version of the 9-3 in the Swedish market is going to deal a devestating blow to 9-5 sales, Swade?
At first it didn’t seem so to me, as I thought the BioPower 9-5 offered a lot more power than a BioPower 1.8-liter 9-3 would. However, learning that the BioPower 9-5 2.0-liter only puts out 5 bhp more than the BioPower 9-3 1.8 liter, I can see where there might be quite a sales hit.
Also, the 9-5 is almost 200 lbs heavier.
It’s odd that SAAB would make this decision, given how it seems like the only 9-5 models selling in any numbers worldwide are in Sweden (where a whole 80% of all 9-5 sales are of the BioPower variety). I guess SAAB figures more sales is good sales, no matter what SAAB product people are buying.
3 1985 Gripen
// Feb 21, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Saaboy: I don’t know if E85 mileage is really that bad. It’s hard to tell “real world” numbers as there are not enough flex-fuel cars out there running E85 full-time.
The estimation is that ethanol can cause up to a 34% decrease in fuel economy as compared to gasoline. But that’s if one was running E100. E85 is still 15% gasoline. So the worst-case estimation for E85 mileage “hit” would be 27%.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioethanol#Fuel_Economy
But short of getting these in the real world and running them solely off of E85, we just won’t know.
This is one of many reasons why I’m a proponent of (ethanol’s sister biofuel) biobutanol. The mileage “hit” of pure biobutanol is only about 10% as compared to gasoline.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biobutanol#Properties_of_common_fuels
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2006/12/30/biobutanol-the-other-white-meat/
4 turbin
// Feb 21, 2007 at 2:16 pm
1985 Gripen,
The 9-3 1.8t is in fact a 2.0litre. It’s all in the tuning. The 9-3 2.0t is a 175hp/265Nm engine. The 1.8t is the exact same hardware, detuned.
Therefore using ethanol basically takes the 1.8t off it’s leash.
5 Ted Y
// Feb 22, 2007 at 12:12 am
Too bad GM pulled the plug on Saab’s SVC. Variable compression could offset the mileage loss significantly because of the much higher octane rating of ethanol. If I remember correctly, Saab’s experimental SVC engine could operate at up to a 14:1 compression ratio.