Last weekend I wrote about an Australian review of the Ice Experience, specifically to do with their drive in the 9-3 Aero XWD and the Turbo X.

At the time I wrote about it, the article wasn’t available online, so I posted a scanned version of it. Thanks to Turbin (again), we now have a link to the online version - Swedish Rhapsody on Ice.

That means you can go read it, and I can post quotes from it, like these:

Sliding sideways on a sheet of ice at 120km/h isn’t something you do every day in Australia.

Neither is sitting beside a 60- something crazy man; as he flings a Saab 9-3 Turbo X along a snow-covered forest track at close to 200km/h with nothing but a wall of snow between us and a disastrous trip into the trees. Yet this is all everyday stuff for one-time rally champion Per Eklund and the team from Saab Ice Experience…..

….“If it works here, it works anywhere,” Saab engineering chief Anders Tysk says. “We do it the Saab way, with the latest Haldex drive system. It’s always on, always all-wheel drive. We want to eventually have it on all our models, because of the safety.”

….When we head to the twisty forest track for some fun, and to see what cross-wheel drive can really do, things hot up. A lot.

It seems impossible that any car can go so quickly with so much control, although it’s easy to slide over the limit and into the powdery snow banks. The tractor gets some work, including one tow for us. We learn about the need to be gentle, smooth and elegant to drive well in these conditions — lessons that should flow back to everyday driving without the white, icy edge…..

….Then Eklund and another rally champion, Kenneth Backlund, show us how it’s really done…. Whereas we struggled to get through the icy corners at 60km/h, Eklund and Backlund are sliding sideways at well over 100km/h on the ice lake, before uncorking the Saabs on a mock-up rally stage through deep snow in the forest.

They are silly fast, with the speedo needle twisting around past 190km/h, yet the cars feel safe, secure, comfortable and toasty warm.

So, what is different? Apart from the drivers and the studs, absolutely nothing. These are showroom-stock Saabs, exactly the same as the cars that are coming to Australia. And that is massively impressive.

It’s a great read (despite the jumbled up Turbo X and Aero X references) and if you missed it on the weekend, or couldn’t be bothered with the scanned version, then I suggest you click through and check it out.