Monthly Archives: September 2008

6000km to Trollhattan

Posted on by
7

I’m not sure if there any New Zealanders present at the Saab Festival in Trollhattan last year, but if there were, then they’d be the people who travelled farthest to be there. If there weren’t any sheep shaggers there, then it would have been me who travelled furthest, just out-distancing my fellow Saab nuts from Melbourne.

Regardless of how far we had to travel from Australia to be there, I’m still full of admiration for Amer’s recent effort: he drove his Saab 9-3 Aero 6,000km from his home in Saudi Arabia to spend two weeks in Sweden, including four days in Trollhattan, staying at the beautiful Scandic Swania hotel.

Here’s Amer’s car outside the Saab Museum:

Note the plates with the Arabic script. He got a few funny looks driving his Saab with such unfamiliar tags, but had a great time after traversing 1,000km a day for six days to get there.

Unfortunately, Amer went there whilst the Saab Owner’s Convention was on in the US, so he missed a few key people such as Peter Backstrom from the Saab Museum and some of the guys from Trollspeed.

It wasn’t all bad news, though, as Amer got to catch up with Bo Lindstrom from Swede Team Motor and Retrospective Motorsport, recent winners of the Le Mans classic race.

Amer’s hoping to drive to Sweden again next year, with a few friends in tow, to attend the 2009 Saab Festival. I’m not sure if I’ll be there as well, but I’d love to. If you get the chance, you should go too, as it’s a magnificent week.

Last year’s Saab Festival saw the launch of the 2008 Saab 9-3. Who knows what they might debut in Trollhattan next year?

——

If you’ve driven your Saab further than Amer’s 6,000+ kilometers to get to Trollhattan, please feel free to let me know. Bring pictures.

-

Saab UK gets Saab in Motion

Posted on by
Reply

I like the positive messages coming out of Saab in the United Kingdom in recent times.

They’ve just launched a new site emphasising the active Saab lifestyle – Saab in Motion. As the northern hemisphere approaches it’s colder months, Saab In Motion is promoting a number of winter events being hosted by Saab’s partners in the site….

Salomon, who have been a partner with Saab for some time now, make skiing and and other lifestyle equipment and sponsor a bunch of outdoor events. Through Saab in Motion, you can enter a competition to win a private ski session with Pat Sharples, who is apparently someone you’d want to ski with :-)

You can also win an Ice Climbing session at Ellis Brigham’s Vertical Chill climbing centers in either London or Manchester.

There’s also a chance to win a Saab just by test driving it, though it looks like that might close at the end of September, so it might be a little late.

Finally, Saab are advertising some events for the runners out there. In conjunction with Salomon, they’re sponsoring the Turbo X trails, a series of cross country running events running from May to November 2008. There’s still two of these events left on the calendar, so if you’re into punishing yourself by running around Mother Nature whilst she cracks a whip on your butt, then these might be just for you. At the very least you’ll get a Salomon T-shirt for your troubles.

There’s other stuff at Saab In Motion, and if you’re into Saabs and winter sports then it looks like it’d be worth checking out (esp if you’re in the UK, the competitions are a little pointless if you’re outside the UK).

It’s good to see Saab making some efforts at engaging their clientele like this.

-

Grand Final Day 2008 – the biggest day on the Aussie sporting calendar

Posted on by
2

Forget Saab stuff from me today – it’s Grand Final day. This is the final contest for 2008, our championship, our Superbowl – the final time we’ll get to see the greatest game on earth at the highest level for this year.

Australian Rules Football started in Melbourne back in the mid 1800s as a way for cricket players to stay fit during the winter months. If you grow up in Melbourne, as I did, then the game is in your blood. Some push the game out of their life, but for the majority who live there, they live, breathe, sleep and eat football.

Today will see the Geelong Football Club (the Cats) go for their second premiership in succession. They’ve been the dominant team of the last two years, winning 42 out of 44 games in the last two seasons. Their heart and soul is a young guy by the name of Gary Ablett Jr, a dominant utility player whose strength, elusiveness and pure athletic prowess are a joy to watch. The Cats aren’t about individuals, however. They are the epitome of team play.

Their opponents are the Hawthorn Football Club (the Hawks), who are quote possibly the future powerhouse of te AFL. They pride themselves on playing ‘unsociable football’, a brand of play that sees them hard at the ball regardless of the toll it might take on others. Their key player is a freak of nature named Lance “Buddy” Franklin, who became the first forward in around 10 years to kick 100 goals in a season (the holy grail for forwards in the AFL). It’s scary to think this guy’s got another 10 or 12 years left in his career.

One of the most famous grand finals in recent history was played between these two teams back in 1989. It was a brutal affair. In that game, Gary Ablett’s father (also named Gary Ablett) kicked nine goals in a losing team and was named best player on the ground – the closest he ever came to winning a premiership.

I’d love to see “junior’ get one back for his Dad, one of my favourite players of all time, and for the Cats to win today.

Saab stuff will return either later tonight, or tomorrow. If your cable TV channel broadcasts the AFL grand final (and it will, we watched it live in Canada back in 2004), then I strongly suggest you get some chips and drinks, sit back and enjoy the greatest game in the world.

-

2009 Saab 9-5 Griffin Edition – details for Sweden

Posted on by
19

I covered this in snippets last night, but have just received some more information about the 2009 Saab 9-5. Bottom Line: If you live in Sweden and want a 260hp Saab 9-5 – get in quick.

Please bear in mind that this is just for the Swedish market at the moment and may not be the case for other markets, but one of the headlines for 2009 is that the 260hp engine variant, and the Aero badge, are not options in Sweden for 2009. If you want a Saab 9-5 Aero with a 260hp engine, it looks like you’ll have to sift through 2008 model stocks

The Saab 9-5 will only be available in a special “Griffin Edition” and will come in two levels of trim only – Linear and Vector (with a sports variant available). The details I’ve received so far are as follows:

–

First week of November (week 45) Saab will start to manufacture an “enhanced” version of the Saab 9-5. It will be named Griffin.

The Griffin model has gone through a few careful design updates and it will have additional standard
equipment.

The Saab 9-5 will be available in two different versions, Linear Griffin and Vector Griffin. The Griffin models will be open for order 1st of October. And will replace all existing 9-5 models.

Exterior changes:
* Aero rear bumper including spoiler.
* The finish on the metallic frames on the headlight grill will be more like the 9-3 (not so shiny)
* New contrasting seams on handbrake and gear stick
* SPA (parking sensors standard)
* Front foglights standard
* Linear Griffin will have tinted metallic inserts on doors etc.
* On Griffin Vector Bi-xenon is standard, rain sensor, ALU63 rim (Aero MY08).

You canʼt order anymore Aeros, no 2.3t biopower as an Aero model, and there’s no 260hp engine. The following engine options are available for both the Linear and Vector trim levels.

2.0t (150hp)
2.0t BioPower (180hp)
2.3t BioPOwer (210hp)
1.9 TiD (150hp)
1.9 TiD HP (175hp)

Prices will range from 239,900 skr for the 2.0t Linear Griffin sedan and top out at 296,900 skr for the 1.9 TiD HP SportCombi. The full range and prices are as follows. Click to enlarge:

-

The seat you see is the new standard seat for vector griffin, itʼs available in black with beige accent, black with grey accent and beige with black accent.

——

Friday Night Snippets

Posted on by
31

Strange things are afoot at Saab dealers in various parts of the world:

- From Sweden, I’ve received one email telling me that you can’t custom order a Saab 9-5 anymore. The writer wanted to order a 2.3t BioPower next week, but has been told by his dealer that they will only be able to sell him a “Griffin Edition” vehicle, which I assume must be available in a BioPower variant, but possibly without the equipment or options that he’d like. Can anyone expand on this?

UPDATE – It’s been confirmed. From October 1, prospective Saab owners in Sweden can only choose from a Linear Griffin 9-5 and a Vector Griffin 9-5.

Here’s one of the wheels, this one being available on the Vector Griffin with sports pack:

- And here in Australia, Saab are about to launch a revamped owner loyalty campaigh, which will apparently blow the previous scheme out of the water ($2000 loyalty cash when purchasing 9-3 and $4000 when purchasing a 9-5). The strange thing is that they’ve all been sworn to silence. Saab will be calling owners privately to inform them of the scheme in the next few weeks. If you get a call, let me know.

- News on the grapevine is that a GM dealer in Sydney has ditched Saab rather than be forced to take on Cadillac next year. Any dealer with Saab and Hummer must also take on Cadillac.

——

After the recent Saab Australia greenwashing fiasco, which just about everybody got wrong in their reportage, you can imagine the mood I was in when I read Robert Farago’s exercise in pedantic tomfoolery at TTAC this morning.

In the October issue of Vanity Fair, a Saab 9.3 Turbo ad proclaims, “We believe every person should recycle. And so should every engine.” So far so good. But according to the body copy, “By taking exhaust that typically escapes out the tailpipe and redirecting it back into the engine, the Saab Turbo maximizes performance…” Now wait a minute. Saab engines can run on exhaust gases?

YEAH! Exhaust gases, fairy farts, scary looks – just about anything will get your Saab going.

It’s worrying about trees like this that allows for entire forests to disappear. It was obviously a slow day at the TTAC office today.

——

GM have realised that Saab have been right since the late 1970s and are going to invest $370m in a four cylinder engine plant in Flint, Michigan. Around half the engines produced will be turbocharged, however I don’t think Saab will get any extra kudos for having been so sensible all these years, let alone for the expertise they’re sure to lend to the engine development.

——

Back to Australia, where 10 manufacturers have declined invitations to display vehicles at this year’s Australian International Motor Show, in Sydney from next week. It’s a big 10, too, with Audi, Alfa Romeo, Bentley, BMW, Citroen, Fiat, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche all deciding there’s better ways to spend their money.

Manufacturers are trying to pressure the orgainsers of both the Sydney and Melbourne Motor shows into agreeing to a bi-annual show: Sydney one year and Melbourne the next (a-la the Paris and Frankfurt arrangements).

I guess this is a time to be thankful for GM, as Saab will continue to maintain a presence in the corner of the Holden display.

——

A photo I took of the Saab 9-3 we had on loan from Dueck Saab in Vancouver. Nice shot, that, if I do say so myself.

Click.

——

I came back from Canada to find I’d won $100 in music downloads from Telstra Big Pond here in Australia. At $1.70 a song, that means I’ve got 58 songs to consider from what will probably be a fairly generic catalog.

Suggestions welcome.

-

Welcome Sally the future fudgepacker

Posted on by
15

I just wanted to note the recent birth of young Sally the fudgepacker, which took place while we were overseas.

Sally is the brand-spanking new daughter of Danielle and Matt the fudgepacker, aka the Saabologist, a great friend of Trollhattan Saab and the former Saab Master tech at our local Saab dealership. Matt’s assisted on numerous stories here over the years, most recently helping me drive and film the Subaru WRX.

Here’s the young lass, looking very concerned about the fact that you have to pay to get heated seats on a Saab in the US.

Welcome to the word, young Sally, and hearty congratulations to Matt and The Pants.

-

Saab 9-3 to enter Swedish Touring Car Championship

Posted on by
12

A Saab 9-3 is to be entered into the S2000 class of the Swedish Touring Car Championship in 2009.

I don’t know much about this class of racing, but I do know that a premium presence in a tarmac series like the STCC is a great thing, and Saab need more of it.

The car is still under construction, but was taken out for a practice session this week and was particularly solid, according to Jens Edman, the proposed driver for team Dealer Saab.

Saab are obviously helping out with the development of the car. The lap sessions was held at Saab’s own test track. The extent of the help is as-yet unknown, however, with Saab staying mum on whether it’ll be what we’d normally consider a factory team.

The car features a two litre Saab BioPower engine, and was chosen for Saab’s expertise in this area.

The full story is over at Touring Car Times.

-

Thanks to Snotfjold for the link!

-

Back home snippets

Posted on by
16

Air travel is almost too high a toll to pay in order to experience newlands and the warmth of extended family. It took us 28 hours door-to-door to get back from Vancouver.

We had an awesome time there and hopefully it won’t take us another 4 years to get back there, but it’s nice to be home. The dog was pleased as punch to see us (though probably not half as pleased as I was to see her), and tonight I’ve got the final edition of The Footy Show to look forward to prior to going to to bed and sleeping for a long, long time.

My own bed…..Mmmmmmm

——

Lots of Saaby news going on. Here are the links and some brief comments.

——

Saab USA has been operating on a shoestring advertising budget for a few years now and this week comes the great news that GM are going to cut back on all advertising across the board.

To be expected, I suppose.

General Motors plans to cut its digital-media budget after dramatically increasing it in the past few years, the automaker’s North American marketing chief told Advertising Age.

In his first interview detailing wide-ranging cuts expected at the automaker, which lost $15 billion in the last quarter, Mark LaNeve, vice president of sales, service and marketing, said GM “is going to pull back slightly in all media types” in 2009, noting that the company’s U.S. media partners are helping it become more effective.

That’s from Automotive News, for subscribers only.

——

Channel Four in the UK report that Saab are hell bent on making a convertible based on the mechanism not-yet-shown on the Saab 9-X Air to replace the 9-3 convertible…….in 4 or 5 years time.

The mechanism hasn’t been shown yet due to Saab chasing a patent on the way it works. Hopefully they’ll sort that out prior to the Paris Motor Show as it’d be a shame to have the car there and not be able to show its party trick.

——

Here’s the patent application. Make of it what you will.

——

Arrgh!

——

After expeditions into the worlds of Jaguar and BMW (the BMW 6er was downed by hurricane Ike), it gives me great pleasure to welcome Andy Rupert back into the worldwide family of Saab owners.

Your wife is a wise woman, Andy.

——

Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald take an interesting first look at the Saab 9-3 TTiD Aero.

——

And in other news from Sydey…..

You all know my mate Richo, right? Owner of a celebrated and much discussed 9-3 Viggen with a brand new motor and partner in crime for motor show videos.

He’s just bought a BMW.

I’m still distraught, but am coming to accept it. It all happened while I was away, so I’m not totally familiar with what he’s picked up, but apparently the Viggen is still in his hands and he’s still enjoying a burst of turbo power a few times a week, though the car is on the market.

——

And in other news from Sydney, I’m hoping to post an owner’s review from TS commenter and prolific email target, Joe Lobo.

Keep an eye out, and Jose, I need pictures!!

——

There’s nothing new in this review of the Turbo X, but it’s worth linking just bacause of the first line:

The secret to a great Saab is to let the Swedes do their own thing.

——

It’s not Saab related, but Pete De Lorenzo’s look at BMW on Auto Extremist this week is not to be missed.

——

Go well, people.

See you tomorrow, when hopefully there’ll be more to talk about, and some photos to show.

-