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TTiD hits the road….
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TTiD hits the road….

February 1st, 2008 · 14 Comments



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As far as I know, this is our first recorded TS delivery of a 2008 Saab 9-3 with the twin-turbo TTiD engine.

It’s been a long time coming. Marko ordered the car several months ago and I don’t know who was more excited – him or me! Actually, I’m sure it was him by several orders of magnitude.

But I was excited, too, as the TTiD was the engine I drove at the unveiling of the 2008 Saab 9-3 in Sweden last June. I remember how great it performed, and especially how great it sounded and I was looking forward to hearing from a reader here what they thought of it.

It was too late at night for Marko to give a full report, but the car finally arrived yesterday. His brief comments and a few cameraphone pics follow. I’m sure we’ll get an update soon enough.

Yes we did [get it]!! And it´s simply awesome! I was working overnight and came home just few minutes ago, so I´d better go to sleep but I´ll write more comments later. Anyway, it´s freaking awesome engine.

There´s turbo gauge on the dash, and twin exhaust also, though it´s hidden beneath the rear bumper. It´s a Vector model, so it doesn´t have the Aero exhaust look, but there´s twin pipes! And sound is actually quite good. Otherwise car is smooth and quite being a diesel.

There´s no TTiD badge because we selected “no badge” option. so there´s only griffin logo at the back. Snow silver looks so good on a snowy weather we have now outside!

Congratulations, Marko!!

Saab TTiD

Saab TTiD

Tags: Saabology

14 responses so far ↓

  • 1 fridolinNo Gravatar // Feb 1, 2008 at 8:43 pm

    The only thing wich is missing on this TTiD is the XWD! But perhaps we can hope to the 2009-modelyear?!

  • 2 MarkoANo Gravatar // Feb 1, 2008 at 9:11 pm

    fridolin, you are so right! It would be a perfect combination – TTiD XWD, and automatic transmission for those who´d like to have it. I bet it ´d be a huge seller in europe at least.

  • 3 MarkoANo Gravatar // Feb 1, 2008 at 9:13 pm

    Here´s two short videos trying to describe how quiet TTiD actually is:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8YJi1EcUgs
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPTxRKAz4bA

    You can hear almost my breath, but no diesel clatter. Only when engine if cold, you can hear it at idle, but after it´s warmed up – impossible to tell if there´s 2.0T or 1.9TTiD

  • 4 CharlesNo Gravatar // Feb 2, 2008 at 12:23 am

    No Badge???? Now thats a nice little option for people that want to keep their cars nice and clean. I want that option!

    Congrats on the car, I wish it was offered in the US

  • 5 MJLNo Gravatar // Feb 2, 2008 at 2:18 am

    Gorgeous! It looks so at home in the snowy weather.

  • 6 1985 GripenNo Gravatar // Feb 2, 2008 at 2:44 am

    Marko: where do you live (country)? Is it Sweden? I don’t think any other country offers the “no badge” option.

    BMW offered the “no badge” option in the 1980s and charged extra for it! That is what gave Bob Sinclair (former President of Saab USA) to have the U.S.-bound SPGs “debadged”.

    I’m afraid with the introduction of XWD it’s going to make Saab buyers who didn’t opt for that option feel like they’re missing something when for over 60 years FWD was perfectly fine. This car looks great Marko, and I’m sure it’ll be more fun than any other car you’ve ever had. Congrats!

  • 7 TobiasNo Gravatar // Feb 2, 2008 at 3:05 am

    Lucky bastard…
    My cars delivery was due today. But hte salesperson reported that the have trouble getting the egines together (to many orders) and Im looking for a delay for 5 weeks…

    humpf

  • 8 RPGNo Gravatar // Feb 2, 2008 at 3:21 am

    I’d kill for that car in the US. The Snow silver looks great. Congrats Marko!

    PS There is a no badge option in the US – it consists of dental floss and elbow grease. Works quite nicely.

  • 9 99GLNo Gravatar // Feb 2, 2008 at 5:31 am

    Congratulations Marko. The TTiD will be top of my shopping list when I get back to the UK later this year – all that extra torque but less CO2 than my old ‘05 TiD… which means I’ll pay much less UK Company Car Tax than drivers of similarly powered cars from other manufacturers.

    And many thanks to Swade for keeping the love affair with Saab going in the Saabless country where I’m living at the moment.

  • 10 DennisNo Gravatar // Feb 2, 2008 at 7:17 am

    Great car aint it!!!! I will order my TTID next week…also in a vector trim but with full options. I’m only looking for Aero exhaust which will be mounted afterwards. BTW the no badge is also available in the Netherlands. I like to have nice clean rear also :P

  • 11 ScuggaNo Gravatar // Feb 2, 2008 at 2:39 pm

    Congrats on the car, it looks fantastic! I have recently taken delivery of the singleturbo TiD. For interests sake, it also has the twin (concealed) exhaust so I suspect this is common across the diesel range? I’m interested to see (hear) the TTiD. The TiD also sounds quite good when it’s revving and is very silent & refined from within the cabin. At idle however, its till sounds like a milk truck! The TiD is quick and fun, provided that it’s revs are kept sufficiently high. If the revs are allowed to drop off, the car struggles. It’s no rocket ship off the mark, but great between say 40-120km/h. Enjoy the car! I also have the SS colour & it does look great. Not sure about the ’snow-on-snow’ look from a safety perspective though!

  • 12 MarkoANo Gravatar // Feb 3, 2008 at 10:59 am

    thanks for the nice comments everyone! TTiD really is a blast to drive. For now I simply love every detail of this car! The sound of engine/ehaust is very good, though it (the exhaust) could be a bit louder. It´s nice low growl, which can be heard during acceleration. Very quiet, sharp and quick ticking-like sound tells me that there´s twinturbo-DIESEL making some of it´s magic ;)

    So they´ve changed TID´s exhaust also, because before M08 it didn´t have dual outlet.
    Here´s a pic of it, is it similar? http://img153.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ttid007rr4.jpg

    Gripen, I live in Finland. We had “No Badge” option checked on out previus 9-3 also. I really like to keep it clean, though there´s nothing wrong to have badges.

    “I’m sure it’ll be more fun than any other car you’ve ever had.”

    That´s very much correct. It´s more fun than ANY of the cars I´ve ever driven. At least that how I feel about it now.. ;)

    We´re going for a skiing trip next week and I´m hoping to get some nice pics of the landscape and new SC as well. I´ll put some words down with the pics and send them to Swade.

    But for now what I can say about it? Hmmm.. Well, mileage is impressive. It´s got now 550km on the clock and there´s still more than half of tank diesel left. SID shows average of 5.8l/100km. That´s winterdriving with parkheater on most of the time, though mainly driven on a highway. I´d say it´s not bad for a powerful car with automatic transmission and weighting 1645kg itself.

    Tranny/engine setup works fine. Feels like there´s always maximum in use if needed. Turbo needle shoots to the red zone in a blink of an eye if you press the pedal just a bit more. And “Sport” option makes shifting quicker, and it´ll hold shorter gear longer to achieve quicker response should you want to accelerate quickly.
    Manual shifting works also fine. If you use it like you´d use your manual tranny, it´s perfect. You can hold the gear for cornering (and playing on a snow – to put the rear on a slide).

    Go and drive one if you have possibility! And Saab, please make the XWD available with TTiD. That would turn this beast into the next level…

    http://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ttid014ab3rb9.jpg

  • 13 fredNo Gravatar // Feb 4, 2008 at 1:16 am

    Wow! Gotta say Im a tiny jealous, Marko. A diesel with a boost gage? I wonder if its connected to the second turbo as I tried hooking one up to my diesel and it was pretty boring…it was always boosting right off idle.

    Saab/GM…get these engines certified and youd(heck even me)sell 5K/year here easy.

  • 14 MarkoANo Gravatar // Feb 4, 2008 at 3:57 am

    “I wonder if its connected to the second turbo ”

    It shows amount of air mass burned during combustion. In other words it shows the torque of the engine. I guess it´s electrical and not really a boost gauge like in older petrol turbos. Just like trionic 7/8 does. At least that´s what owner´s manual says about the gauge.

    I really start liking the sound of engine more and more, though from the outside it sounds, like someone said here, a milk truck!

    And by the way Snow silver is so good colour! Gotta love that new look of 9-3.. :D
    I´m still impressed by this car!