Monthly Archives: July 2007

The power of a strong brand – part 2

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The power of a strong brand part 1 was written on June 1. In that piece, it was noted that whilst the Saab 9-3 Convertible has been applauded for it’s top crash ratings, the fact that Audi and BMW convertibles were rated considerably poorer was well and truly overlooked.

And in true “strong brand” fashion, I haven’t heard their poor results mentioned anywhere since that time.

ctm emailed me from Sweden yesterday to let me know about another trick being pulled by Audi. It shows once again that there’s power in a strong brand.

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I don’t know about other markets in Europe, but in Sweden, Audi is now desperately trying to become environmentally friendly. I had seen some ads but took no notice.

This morning I happened to read a short review of the Audi A3 1.9 TDI e-power that goes on sale this summer (click here to read). The engine is the same turbo diesel with particulate filter that can be found in VW, Skoda and Seat. But, “e-power” is the name of the game here.

Sounds good, right? Must be some really new exciting stuff? I mean, this is Audi! Vorsprung durch Technik.

Well, according to the review and from looking at the Audi homepage, the “e-power” stuff in this car consists of the following:

1) different gear ratios in the gearbox and a indicator light that tells you when you should change gear, and

2) tires with low rolling resistance

This is it. This is Audi’s breakthrough idea of environmentally friendly.

Sidenote:

What really pissed me off this morning was the start of the review:

“…[the manufacturers] have worked hard to get a environmentally friendly profile for the future. Toyota took the lead with hybrid’s, Ford took on ethanol, BMW put resources into hydrogen and Honda have presented several fuel-cell vehicles.”

Ehum… Saab?

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That’s the power of a strong brand.

Saab are building their enviromental credentials with BioPower and turbocharging. Future models will see smaller engines introduced with greater power output and economy due to better E85 technology coming in the pipeline.

And the actual BioPower name was the subject of another sidenote from ctm:

Did Saab strike gold with the name BioPower? English is not my native language, but it does sound very good compared to others.

Ford/Volvo FlexiFuel – Sounds technical and not very sexy. Fuel? Ugly word. Have me thinking of me standing at the gas station filling the car and see the money go up in the air…

Volvo Bi-Fuel – Bi is “bee” in Swedish so it looks stupid here. And that word fuel again that reminds people that cars do consume fuel.

VW EcoFuel – Better, but still the word fuel.

Audi e-power – Email? Electronic power? And “power”? They changed the gear ratios, so now it’s even slower! (105 BHp, torque 250Nm @ 1900 rpm, 0-100 km/h @ 11.4 sec, top speed @ 194 km/h).

I tend to agree that Saab have nailed the name “BioPower” pretty well. There’s very little ambiguity there as to what it means. A newcomer may not know that it relates directly to an E85 fuel system, but they’ll likely draw the association straight away that it’s something environmentally freindly.

And it’s definitely better than using the word “fuel” in your catchphrase.

Wheely important decision

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UPDATE below!

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Thankyou for the headline, Mr Fudd.

This post assumes that the insurance company will approve the claim on the Viggen….

As all Viggen owners know, the standard 17″ wheels are notoriously soft. If mine’s going to be fixed, it’s going to need at least two new wheels, which means that all four would need to be repainted in order to get the same finish.

I’m thinking it might be worthwhile to ditch the soft standard Viggen wheels and slap on these 17″ rollers from the 9-3 Aero.

Saab Aero wheel

These have always been one of my favourite Saab wheels, so it’d be a pleasure to see them on the Viggen.

My other thought was to get some of those 18″ Hirsch six spokes, but I’m not sure I’ll have a budget that extends that far, nor am I aware at this point whether I can even order the Hirsch wheels as Saab Oz still doesn’t have a working relationship with Hirsch.

Maybe this’d be a good time for them to start?

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UPDATE!!

I knew these were in the archives somewhere, but didn’t have the time to look. Thankfully, it’s a case of SAB to the rescue.

SAB (a 9-3 Aero and C900 owner in Melbourne) recently tried on some of those Hirsch 18″ rims for a bit of fun. You can see a bunch of photos here, but below’s a good shot of the Hirsch wheels on his 9-3.

Looks fiiiiiine.

SAB 9-3 Hirsch

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UPDATE II

I can’t see them on the Hirsch site, but I’ve just noted that Elkparts sells a 17″ version of the Hirsch six spoke rim. The genuine Hirsch product, I take it.

It’s a tad cheaper than the 18″ and would also mean that the tyres would be cheaper, too. Weighs in at only 9.2 kilos per rim but they’re 50% stronger.

Brilliant!

Another call for the 9-5 – send it off with a bang!

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My thanks to Gregg for letting me know about this.

Apparently Motor Trend’s annual car guide is a must-get issue. It covers all the current and new releases for the coming year. A sort of one-stop brochure for the whole automotive industry.

Gregg’s just got his copy in the mail and written to me about the Saab entries. The 9-3 entry is a pretty nice read and they’re quite bullish on the new 2008 model.

But it’s the 9-5 entry that’s the reason for this post:

*SAAB 9-5*
WHAT’S NEW: Compared with the restyled 9-3, the 9-5 sedan and wagon are as exciting as old cheese. The aging model has a few new features, such as OnStar safety and security system, rain-sensing windshied wipers and leather-appointed sport seats. However, the question remains: Does anyone care? We hope next year will be a desperately needed revamp.

AVOID: Cool when first introduced, the 9-5 is too long in the tooth to elicit any desire.

SUM UP: HOW CAN WE MISS IT IF IT WON’T GO AWAY?
(2 Star rating of a possible 5)

Once again, the press don’t care that it’s still a great drive. They don’t care that age means the bugs are all ironed out. They don’t car that it’s still one of the safest cars on the road. What they care about is that it ain’t new or outstanding in their sight.

I wrote a memo to Saab a short while ago. In that memo I implored Saab to consider emptying the parts bin on the 9-5 in its twilight years like they’ve done with other outgoing models. They make such a huge margin per vehicle that it’s got to be financially viable. What’s more, it’ll create some interest and collectability.

Perhaps it’ll even get some old Saabers back in the fold. You know, the ones who had a 9-5 in the past and replaced it with one of those new-fangled Japanese whizzboxes.

What on earth have they got to lose from making the 9-5 notable and more desirable in it’s final years? You probably won’t make much of an impression on the guys from Motor Trend, but I’ll bet you make an impression on your customers.

Saab 9-3 gets Royal approval

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C’mon. Tell me that headline wasn’t just begging to be written.

Royal Ford is the motoring writer for the Boston Globe. And given that the north east United States is such an important market for Saab (I’m looking forward to seeing how the 9-3 SportCombi Crossover sells there), I’d take this to be a reasonably important review.

Click here to read it.

It’s good to see that the 2008 Saab 9-3 has impressed Mr Ford as much as it seems to have impressed the rest of the world’s press so far:

The Saab, long a favorite in New England, has been in need of rejuvenation, and if the 9-3 is an example of where the company is finally heading under General Motors Corp. ownership, it’s a great direction.

I’ve said for a long time now that Saab offers the best combination of power, economy, safety, comfort and utility on the market. Royal Ford doesn’t come out and say the same so explicitly, but you get the impression that he’s not too far away from a similar analysis.

His impression is one a great new and more aggressive look and a solid drive, with just enough of a sporting element to satisfy the average Saabisti. Which is pretty-much dead on.

Swedish drivers do not disobey traffic rules the way Massachusetts motorists do, so flogging the 9-3 required some caution, especially given prominent speed-monitoring cameras along highways in Sweden.

I think Royal needed to test this car with a local on board. My co-driver gave me plenty of tips as to where it was safe to stick the boots in. And the TTiD I drove responded accordingly.

Par Brandt summed up the 9-3 pretty well during our test drive. “This is the car the 9-3 should have been right from the start”. Again, Royal doesn’t say as much in such frank terms, but it’s clear he likes it.

Let’s hope the rest of New England does, too.

Sonett III in purgatory

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If I was going to design a current (or future) version of the Saab Sonett III it’d be dead easy. I’d just do a Sonett-sized Aero-X. If I had to base it more on the original Sonett III design, it might be a bit more difficult. But I sure wouldn’t do what the winner of this website competition has done.

You can see the first place getter in this short video. Can I pay respect to the effort that’s gone into it and still dislike the final product? Hopefully. Diff’rent strokes for diff’rent folks, I guess.

I found this video via a post at Saab History, and I have to agree with Ryan on the preferred version, though even that one looks too much like a 30 year old Ferrari for me to be comfortable.

Watch and squirm learn:

Another happy customer…

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I’m posting this one as a follow-up as Ted S had been contemplating this one for a little while and eventually took the plunge after obtaining some pricing information from another visitor here. Nevitz had recently purchased a 9-3 SportCombi and done a fair bit of research, which he passed on to Ted prior to the final purchase decision.

Ted’s SportCombi finally arrived this week and if you’ve been reading all the comments, he’s currently biding his time until the run-in period is finished.

The owner’s manual also says no wide open throttle or running the engine over 5000rpm for the first 1800 miles of driving – that is killing me for the record.

Ted’s an automotive prof at Cuyahoga Community College and a GM World Class Technician, so it’s fair to say he knows his stuff. I read his purchase of the SportCombi has a pretty darn good endorsement, myself, and the fact that he seems to be over the moon about getting hold of it puts a smile on my dial.

Congratulations on the new arrival, Ted!

Here’s a pic. As you can see, Ted’s wasting little time in finding out what makes the Combi tick.

2007 Saab 9-3 SportCombi

Sunday Morning Snippets

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This is Abs, in comments:

I am pulling my hair out trying to decide [whether] to get a discounted 2007 or a 2008! I do want the new styling (eye brow light effects, grill, etc), but do not know if the the$4-7K (w/ respective options) difference between the two years is justifiable. This will be my first NEW car, and hopefully a start of a long Saab partnership.

I’d suggest that at a $4K difference, it’d be worth holding out for the 2008. At $7K it might be a bit harder to justify.

The 2007 is apparently an improvement over the 2006 in terms of rattles that may develop. The 2008 is definitely a quieter ride than the 2007 (it’s that killer quiet package, see) and personally, I think the new look, combined with the enhanced drive is worth a buck or two.

But at $7K that’s a somewhat harder case to make.

Your thoughts?

Whatever you do, Abs, please let us know.

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Saab owners behaving badly – part 1

A CRAZED driver grabbed a cricket bat from his boot and launched a violent assault on another motorist in a terrifying road rage attack.

The culprit chased his petrified victim around his car and, when he couldn’t catch him, smashed a window…..

….An eyewitness told how the thug’s dark-coloured Saab had been in front of a black Mercedes when the row started at a mini-roundabout outside the store.

And what’s worse, the victim had his wife and kids in the car and they were showered with glass when the window was smashed.

Saab owners behaving badly – part 2

Police today identified Jaime Gutierrez as the man who allegedly shot another person and dropped him off with fatal wounds at the Ingleside police station on Wednesady afternoon, San Francisco police Sgt. Steve Mannina.

Gutierrez, 31, of San Francisco was arrested and is facing one count of homicide and one count of felony possession of a firearm.

Around 1:47 p.m. Thursday officers were alerted to a report of gunfire and a man with a gun at 23rd and Shotwell streets, near South Van Ness Avenue, police Sgt. Neville Gittens said.

A red Saab was reported at the scene, Gittens said. Officers responded and found evidence of a shooting, but no victims.

Later, at 3:12 p.m., officers at the San Francisco Police Department’s Ingleside area station noted a red Saab entering the police vehicle lot. Responding outside they saw a driver and a passenger with a fatal gunshot wound, Gittens said.

I thought we were a more respectable lot than this.

Please leave your anger at the door when getting into your Saab.

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What kind of fuel are you using in your Saab?

Mark Phelan from the Detroit Freep has written a piece on the surprising number of non-exclusive cars that require or recommend the use of premium unleaded fuel, which typically costs around 20 cents per gallon more according to Phelan.

This can jack your tank price up around 2 dollars or so a shot, or a while $240 a year – apparently that’s around half a car payment for an average vehicle.

So…..half a car payment or the better performance, economy and engine wear of premium fuel?

For the record, I use premium (98 octane) in the Viggen and 95 octane in the 9000. The 98 stuff was definitely a noticeable improvement when I first started using it in the Viggen. I didn’t notice much of a dent in the fuel economy, but there was an initial feeling of slightly improved response.

So what do you use and why?

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What’s cooler about this road test story?

This?

What would you do if a friend handed you the keys to his Ford GT for a no-holds-barred, six-hour period?

Or this?

Finally, he hands me the key, issues a best of luck and then disappears in his other car, a 1973 Saab Sonnett, the off-kilter sound of the V4 echoing off the Edmunds.com parking garage walls.

Sure, driving the GT would be pretty amazing, but there’s something megacool about picturing a smiling motoring editor leaving that supercar behind to take off in his Sonett III.

Thanks Raj

Telegraph test of the Saab 9-3

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I’m not sure what I trust less, a surname that starts with a non-capital letter, a double ‘f’ at the start of ‘ffrench’ or a review that uses the word ‘somnambulant’.

I’ll go with the latter as I don’t know what it means (yet) and I shouldn’t judge a guy by the spelling of his name.

Saab 9-3 2008 And I shouldn’t be making too many smart remarks anyway, as this is a good, informative read – not only about the new 9-3 but also about Saab and the current UK BioPower situation. It’s all there.

But of course the main part is the car. Have a look at that back end. It really is looking pretty smart, isn’t it? The misgivings I had when I first saw those black-edged rear lights are gone completely when I see a photo like that. Brilliant.

There’s some good info on the car in there. Stuff you know but don’t necessarily think about in such simplified terms. For example, when you consider the three different vehicles that the wear the 9-3 badge, the four trim levels available in the UK and the 11 different engines available, there’s a somewhat huge 49 different Saab 9-3 combinations available in total.

Another interesting insight is the quick cameo by Carl-Peter Forster, who talks a little about the recent period of partial GM ownership – a time where it’s considered that Saab failed to build on the momentum it generated in the 1980′s.

More importantly, he talks a little more about what the future will hold in terms of investment and model development:

“My suggestion now is that you should spend all your resources on what makes a Saab different and distinct,” added Forster. “You should not spend any money on that which doesn’t make any distinction or matter that much to customers. That continued for one or two years after we took ownership, but it has stopped now.”

Finally, our ffrenchman talks a little about BioPower and he’s not the first I’ve read/heard to really question why the UK policy on alternative fuels is so far behind that of Sweden.

It’s a very interesting read and highly recommended, and it won’t make you feel somnambulant at all.

Click here to read the Saab 9-3 road test from the UK Telegraph.