Comments on: AWD and Saab – from the 1980s!!!

By: riku1100s

riku1100s — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 06:11:35 +0000

Not even close to a production Subaru, me thinks. Rather a WRC transmission made by a specialist like Quaife or Xtrac or likes (don’t know which).

I assume those old 9000s still had the transverse engine while Per’s RC (as in Rallycross, not Radio Control…) or Pike’s Peak cars have longitudinally mounted engines.

By: turbin

turbin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:05:59 +0000

Ouch!

By: Swade

Swade — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:22:43 +0000

Well here’s a scoop for you, PT. When we were chatting with Peter Johansson about the AWD efforts in the 80′s, the conversation progressed to Per’s Viggen.

The AWD system in that one?

Subaru.

Straight from the horse’s mouth.

By: PT

PT — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:45:19 +0000

Perhaps some of this expertise ended up in Per Ecklands Pikes Peak car(s) ? They certainly had AWD and it seemed pretty well worked out.

Anyone here from Pers mechanical teams from that time who might comment?

By: Tompa

Tompa — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:01:53 +0000

Just think guys if some people within Saab (Not the board) had not insisted on that Saab could make a successful Convertible. You all should know that the decision was not unanimous.. A world without Saab Convertible? Dare I say that that would have lead to a world without Saab? I believe so… What Saab and GM must do is DARE!!! And dare to be square.. Because it´s hip.. And maybe just what the doctor ordered.. 9-5 Hatch and 9-1 Shooting break and Coupé please. Maybe even a Sonett version of the 9-1?

Cheers/Tom

By: Saaboy

Saaboy — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:28:50 +0000

i think we should hi jack that drivetrain, get it replicated, and put it bak in that car… we need to start producing some aftermarket kits!

By: Joe Lobo

Joe Lobo — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:08:43 +0000

Well Kroum, Tompa and others stole my thunder as this is quite a depressing type of news and one that shows that Sweden had more opportunities in hand to make it big long before GM came knocking on their doors. We have seen many instances where through sheer misjudgments the direction and future of Saab (and lets face it, Volvo too) has been limited long time ago. The Teutonic men have got the branding focus much better than the Swedes I am afraid. In all honesty, GM got a much sicker baby than what they originally thought !!!

By: Troll

Troll — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:20:09 +0000

Nice article,…, but I don’t care… I don’t care about 4wd,I never did…It’ s expensive to develop,too expensive to sell and to drive, and if one car did never need 4wd, it would have been the classic 900. I’ve loved it in the 90′ths and after having the ng 900conv, the 9-5 (that I’ll keep as a company car), i’m getting the 92′ 900 tomorrow, and I’ll be enjoying it every sec,…

By: Tompa

Tompa — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:57:58 +0000

Because the Quattro had the market?
Jes*s! Sounds alot like the old Saab…Well Saab had their moments of stupidity. Ex 2. Or 1.. Volvo makes Wagons and we make hatchbacks.. We don´t care if everybody else wants a Saab Combi.. Thankfully they listened in the end and came out with the 9-5SC. Yeah, well they had the 95… But I guess the 3 door layout wasn´t realy what people asked for.

When GM pushed Saab to produce the NG900 Saab/GM had the GOLDEN opportunity to produce a 4wd car.. The one used in the 204hp Opel Calibra 2,0 Turbo (Did they make it as a Vauxhall?) and I believe also in the Vectra A? So why the H*** did they not? The NG900/OG9-3 platform was after all taken from the Calibra/ Vectra A.

/Tom

By: riku1100s

riku1100s — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:44:39 +0000

I second Ronald, a 9000 awd was financially out of reach for Saab alone.

Looking back in history, Alfa Romeo came out 1993 with an awd version (164 Q4) of their Tipo 4-platformed car. So, speculating again, joining this project could have been something for Saab in different circumstances.