I can sort-of tick the Alfa thing off my list, though not completely yet. Clarkson’s Alfa claim relates to both the ecstacy and the agony of owning an Alfa. It’ll thrill you with great handling and an exhaust note that sounds like the car is God’s own musical instrument, and then it’ll gut you with parts failures. I’m still enjoying the orchestra with my Alfa 33 and am yet to be gutted, so whilst I own one, I haven’t yet had the full experience of which Clarkson speaks.

This post has been prompted by me attaining another one of my automotive rites yesterday - I drove a LHD manual Mazda Miata on the right side of the road. When you come from a country that has RHD cars and drives on the left, it’s a reasonably significant milestone (those of you in England might scoff, but seeing I’m from Australia where we don’t have ready access to wrong-siding, it’s a big thing).

So that got me thinking…..what are some of the other automotive rites of passage I’ve ticked off in the course of my lifetime, and what are the others I’m yet to attain:

- I’ve owned two Toyotas (you’ve got to walk a mile in those shoes to know how bland they are)

- I’ve owned a Saab 900 Turbo (more a Saabist’s rite of passage)

- I’ve crashed a beloved car (lesson learned the hard way)

- I’ve visited Trollhattan, and the Saab factory in particular (with the help of many of you here)

- I’ve done a little driver training (must do more)

- I’ve owned a ‘performance car’

- I’ve been to Detroit and I’ve slept for a few days at a hotel in the Renaissance Center, right in the belly of the beast.

- I’ve owned several Holdens, including a 1970s Torana (it’s an Aussie thing. Substitute your local car of legend)

- I’ve been in a car at 200 km/h (this is not a recommendation to do same)

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Automotive rites of passage I’m yet to experience and would like to:

- Owning a classic V8 American muscle car (yes, there was a time when American cars were desireable)

- I’ve not driven the Nurburgring

- I’ve not owned a British car

- I’ve not yet competed in a motorsport event

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Now that’s just a few, but there’s surely a whole bunch more. I’m a little pressed for time right now, but what would you list under either of those two columns - rites that you’ve achieved so far and the automotive markers in your life that are still oustanding?

Comments are open. I’m looking forward to adding a few more goals to my own list and you might just pick up a few more for your own.

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A number of great things in this package, including a tip of the hat to our friends at the meetup today, suggested Saab shopping for Swade while he’s in North America, and a new website that promises to choose your Saab for you. Oh, and I wouldn’t buy a Nissan anytime soon — more on that as well.

First, the promised shout out to all in Washington state with Swade this weekend, kudos! I’m sure that Ken has sniffed out the best locale for eats, and that route seems appropriately challenging. I suggest taking advantage of what the locale has to offer: salmon, mountains and mining-era charm. Travel safely!

Second: While Swade is in the state of Washington, I thought that I’d give him a few Saab shopping tips:

- 2000 Viggen five-door in Spokane, Washington. Thoose of you who are familiar with this part of the world will understand right off that Spokane, Washington is likely five hours from today’s meetup starting point of Issaquah, Washington. It’s also likely some of the dullest driving that one would ever do. However, for this little gem, it would certainly be worth it! From Craigslist.org comes this fantastic car in Monte Carlo yellow, no less! US$11,000, but it comes with some extras. Nice!

Spokane Viggen

- While you’re at the Ikea outlet, take a gander at the tools (the Fixa series, in Ikea speak) and no Saab owner should be without a FLÖRT (I am not making this up) for your tunes. Swedish-designed tools and storage, what could be more appropriate?

- Certainly, XXX Root Beer seems to have great potential for souvenir shopping. I’ll have the ‘59 Caddy or the Hubcap.

Third: GM has a website to choose your Saab for you! That’s right, folks, you can test your degree of Saabiness here. For me, the site selected the Saab 9-3 Turbo XWD based upon this profile. Fitting! (Note: I didn’t realize that Swade had posted this in his snippets piece about 10 hours ago. My bad!)

Finally: Car & Driver has posted results from a review that I find incredibly enlightening. They gathered up several sport sedans and SUVs and subjected them to emergency braking torture. All cars, including the Cadillac (sorry Swade) comported themselves well except for the two entries from Nissan, the Infiniti FX50S, and the Nissan 350ZX. The brakes on both vehicles simply failed about one third of the way through this admittedly extreme test. Not a good thing for Japanese auto buffs.

It was great to talk with Swade this week in actual real time! He and I spoke for a couple of hours via the magic of the internet, and I think that he’s much more of a people person than he gives himself credit for. Good luck, my friend!

Consequently, I don’t have time to write a proper passage on the AutoSavant review of the Saab Turbo X.

I can highly recommend it, though. It’s a good, informative read and was written by Kevin Miller - a three-time Saab owner and someone I’ll be meeting tomorrow in the big TS meetup.

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Today was a red-letter day for our vacation. Not only did I pick up my Saab for use during the great TS Pacific Northwest Meetup, I also had my first experience driving a stick with the driver’s seat on the wrong side of the car.

Firstly, the car. A fuller post on how it happened and who assisted will be forthcoming later, but in brief, it’s a 2008 2.0T Saab 9-3 sedan in Titan Gray metallic, with black leather inside. I’ve taken photos of the car, but didn’t bring my card reader with me to Canada, so I can’t get pictures off my camera right now.

Fortunately, someone loaded a picture of a very similar car on Flickr today. This is a BioPower model, so it’s not the same, but it’s pretty similar.

I was following my brother-in-law back from the dealership and it was quite a hairy exercise. DJ was rather frustrated by the slow Vancouver traffic and I was panicking trying to keep him in sight. My southern hemisphere bearings are so mixed up and there’s no way I could have found my way home if I’d lost sight of him. Thankfully we both made it back.

Why does Vancouver’s road system have to be so complex? (I know, it’s the river)

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On to my first experience driving a manual left-hand-drive car…..

In case you don’t know, I’m from Australia where we drive on the right side of the car (literally and figuratively) and the left side of the road.

Today I was surprised by the news that my brother-in-law recently bought an old Mazda Miata (MX-5 to some of you), which he took me for a ride in this afternoon. Half-way through, he pulled over and offered me the wheel. What could I say? First drive of a Miata and first time shifting gears with my right hand.

It’s an interesting experience and one I’d recommend to all comers if you get the opportunity. It’s a challenge to keep your car in the right place and get your hand in the right place. Everything’s backwards but it all worked out in the end. I didn’t miss a gearchange and got back home without breaking the law.

The Miata’s a lot of fun, too. I’d like an extra 30hp in it, but it’s got great balance, a fun exhaust note and there’s very little to distract you from the joy of driving it. I can see why they’re so popular.

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On to Saab stuff, eh?

Saab have released a new microsite where you can take the Turbo Gene Test and see which Saab is the right one for you.

There’s six questions for you to answer and it’s a fun exercise, tastefully set out, as Saab microsites usually are.

I was not surprised to see the following was selected as the ideal car to match my profile. I’ve loved the SportCombi since the first day I saw it.

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I don’t normally do this, but for Richo I’ll make an exception.

If there’s any Aussies out there looking to upgrade their Saab, they will rarely find a better opportunity than this.

Richo’s Viggen is up for sale.

The big drawcard on this car is that it’s got a brand new engine that’s done just 3,000km since being installed a few months ago. The car’s got an Abbott steering rack clamp and brace, BSR tune, custom made anti-roll bar at the rear, air filter kit, Bluetooth, amongst other things. Richo hates squeaks and rattles so it’s whisper quiet as well.

I drove the car just over 2 weeks ago in Sydney and I can tell you it’s as solid as a rock.

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I’ve written a fair bit in the past about frustrating road tests, and this road test of the Saab Turbo X SportCombi is a classic example. The test comes from Edmunds in the US and you’d think with a “pros” list like this, that they’d really love the car:

Excellent handling, precise steering, all-wheel-drive security, comfortable seats, easy-to-use interior controls, loads of cargo space, funky Saab character.

Well, you’d think so, but Edmunds find themselves only able to recommend it to die-hard Saab nuts who want the latest, or as they put it:

we could only recommend it to a guy named Sven who has two kids and lives at the top of Latigo Canyon Road.

They point out that the Turbo X is a limited edition and therefore, that their review has a very limited shelf life. They should be aware, however, that the 2009 Saab 9-3 XWD Aero is going to be a very similar package, so Saab can have stupidity like this to look forward to for the next few years from Edmunds.

Their “Cons” list is as follows:

Hilariously overpriced, disappointing gas mileage, droning exhaust note, inadequate cupholders, some chintzy interior bits, tight backseat.

They’ve gone overboard with the superlatives when it comes to pricing (if they were in Australia, I’d agree), are subjective when it comes to the exhaust note (I’ve heard from many actual owners who love it) and no car should ever be measured by its cupholders.

The point here: That “pros” list vastly outweighs the “cons” list and it’s just blatantly unfair that they’d give it an unfavourable opinion when there’s so much going for the car. If they were objective about it, they’d see that.

The do have some valid points, however.

Criticisms about cupholders are OK as addendums that don’t form opinions, but Edmunds are right to critique the interior materials as they have.

Although its materials aren’t bad, the 9-3’s cabin quality is far from worthy of its inflated sticker. Perhaps at $36,000 we wouldn’t be complaining, given the Turbo X’s performance capabilities and utility.

There’s actually a lot of great high points in this review. When it comes to what cars are actually made for - driving - the Turbo X excels and provides the exact impression that Saab were looking for.

It does fall short in some areas, but not to the extent that Edmunds claims. It’s OK to find some shortcomings in a car, but they should have been more objective about writing them up.

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Autoblog were giving the Turbonines forum a kickstart (in a very unusual entry, I must say) and mentioned that TS is under a cloud and the future is uncertain here! Well, it is, sort of…..But only I’m allowed to say that!

The comments are a classic both in general, and in Emgification, which is a new word I’ve made up just now.

As for TurboNines….well….one reason I’ve never started a forum from TS is that I didn’t want to tread on the ground occupied by others in the Saab community. Saab Central were always good to me and I’ve always appreciated that support in the early days. I wish T9’s well, but I know where I’ll be visiting in my limited forum time. Loyalty counts.

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Another 13 Saabs were spotted today as we headed into Gastown for some corny souvenir shopping. The Saabs included two C900 four-door sedans, which was quite a surprise.

The running total now stands at 30, IIRC.

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I’ll writer a fuller thankyou in a coming post, but Saab Canada have come to the party in conjunction with Saturn-Saab of Richmond here in Vancouver - I know have a Saab to drive to the great TS Pacific Northwest meetup!

If you’re in the area and are still undecided as to whether you’ll come, please do. The weather’s looking great and we’re going to have a great time hooking up with other Saab owners from the region.

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Saab sales data for the US in August 2008:

In a month where GM’s total sales rose 30%-plus, it kinda stands out like a mutt’s appendage that Saab sales fell by 50% on the previous year.

Saab USA moved 1,503 vehicles in August, compared to 3,011 in the same month last year - and that’s despite an Employee Pricing sale that lowered prices to some degree. All three Saab models were down by around 50%, so there’s no one particular model letting the side down.

That employee pricing sale has been extended, by the way, to September 30.

The full sales press release is here. Reading further, it seems Saab are selling well in the CPO market rather than the new vehicles market, which might be why we haven’t seen any pictures of Steve Shannon’s head on a pike just yet (which I sincerely hope doesn’t happen, by the way. I like the guy)

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In other GM news, they’ve entered into a joint buyout with GAZ, a Russian outfit, and now co-own engine company VM Motori.

That might make getting diesel engines into Saabs a little easier.

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Today I figured out why Saab (and Volvo) are so important to the North American market. Why GM can’t let Saab fall into a generic design haze. Why they HAVE to retain their Swedish identity if they’re going to remain viable as a brand.

I spent a lot of time on the road today and the subconsciously obvious took front and center in my conscious mind - around 98% of the vehicles on Canadian roads are either from the domestic North American market, Japan/Korea (which I deliberately lump together) or Germany.

Around 85 of the 98% is North American or Asian, and almost all of it is either totally uninspiring or derivative, with a small proportion of the vehicles warranting a second glance.

I knew with my head that this would be the case before I got here, but there’s something about actually seeing the situation for yourself that brings it home. In my home market, in Australia, we also have a large proportion of domestic and Asian cars, but we also have a faithful and pretty interesting French and Italian presence as well. They may not sell a LOT of cars, but they certainly add color and interest to the automotive landscape.

GM have to make Saab more distinctive if they’re going to have a presence in the North American market. “Distinctive” is what brought a great number of us to Saab in the first place. There was nothing else like a 99, or a 900 or a 9000. Saab needs a presence in the sports sedan market, but the fact is that they aren’t doing 3-box sedans well enough to survive here, and I don’t think I’d really want them to. If all I wanted was a basic sedan as adequate transport then I’d buy a Honda.

But that’s not what I want, and I don’t think it’s what many Saab buyers want, either.

I’ve seen a lot of new Mustangs on the road since I’ve been here, and I’ve got to congratulate Ford on the design job they did with that car. It looks exactly as a modern interpretation of the old Mustang should. I’m yet to drive one, but hopefully the opportunity might arise.

I’m not suggesting that Saab should do a modern take on the 900, though I’d love it if they did. But like Ford did with the Mustang, Saab need to do something that captures the essence, the spirit of what made them great.

Unfortunately, North America is too important a market to let go of. Saab have to stand out if they’re to make an impression here and the best way to do that is outstanding value and superb Saab design.

Right now, and contrary to what we might think and what we know is historical fact, Saab are rated lowest in terms of customer retention by JD Power. The all-sedan lineup hasn’t worked and the addition of the SportCombi was too little, too late.

Saab needs it’s mojo back, and quick. Seeing GM have committed themselves to Saab for the long haul, it’s in their best interests to let the designers off the leash a little and let Saabs be Saabs. They’ll drown in a true sea of mediocrity if they don’t.

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Today, our unofficial Saab Ambassador for the UK, Robin M, will be jetting off on a quick trip for some Turbo X time and some activities around the ski town of Åre, in Sweden.

The trip is courtesy of Saab, and a reward for his efforts in recruiting test drives in the new 9-3 TTiD. You may remember that earlier this year, Robin and several others were given a TTiD for six weeks with the task of getting it driven by as many people as possible. Being the diligent fellow that he is, Robin hosted the highest number of test drives, and is now off to Sweden for his efforts.

Robin and his good wife (he’s leaving the bad one at home) will fly to Stockholm, where they’ll have a look around and take in some dinner before staying the night.

The next morning they’ll board another plane for Östersund, where they will meet and take a drive with the Saab Performance Team. After that, they’ll be handed the keys to a Saab Turbo X, which they’ll have use of for the duration of the trip. They’ll drive a pre-determined route to Åre, which will take around three hours or so, a good chance to put the Turbo X through it’s paces.

Staying at Åre for the next few days, they’ll have a good time mountain biking, white water rafting, and in the evening will take in a cooking lesson with famous Swedish chef, Jonas Dahlbom.

The final morning they will have a visit to the Åre chocolate factory (got to put back the weight you lose on the bikes and the river) before making their way back to Stockholm, and then home to England.

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It’s not bad, the life of an unofficial Saab Ambassador. Not only do you get the pleasure of driving the TTiD for six weeks, you also get a trip to Sweden out of it, too!!

Robin, Kerry - enjoy!!

And send plenty of pictures, please.

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Taennforsen, near Åre

Yesterday brought an OG9-3 convertible and a C900 parked in a driveway. Today bought a 9-5 sedan and a Saab 9000 CSE belonging to SaabKen himself!!

Ken and I caught up today just after lunch for a good chat. On Saturday we’ll be hooking up with a bunch of people for the great TS Pacific Northwest meetup.

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The Pontiac Aztek was recently voted the ugliest car of all time by readers of the Daily Telegraph in the UK. When looking at the front of the vehicle, one can certainly see why. It’s not a pretty thing……BUT….

I saw three of them in succession on Highway 1 here in Canada a few days ago and in motion, in profile, it didn’t look so bad. In fact, given Ted Y’s own testimonials about this car and its practical qualities, I’m inclined to give it a pass - as long as I don’t have to look at the front too often.

I’ve known people who think the Saab 900 is ugly, yet its lines appeal to many and it’s practical capabilities made it a cult car with those who got to know it.

Taste certainly isn’t universal. So whilst I can empathise with those who want to hurl their Cheerios when an Aztek passes by, remember that as with the 900, beauty is more than skin deep, and a car has more than one angle.

Note: There was one Saab in the Top 100 Ugliest Cars list. The Saab 95 wagon from the 1960s and 70s came in at #60.

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I’m not sure that there’s anything in it that effects Saab (yet) but apparently Automotive News carried a story today announcing some rationalisation in GM’s global design studios.

As far as I could tell from a brief story via TTAC, it was mainly going to effect other GM brands. But the future could be a different thing….

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Here’s what building a legend can do:

Over 1,100 Subaru Impreza WRX’s turned up to a tribute to the life of rally legend, Colin McRae. They used just under 1,100 of them to write his name on a track. They raised $80,000 for charity. The broke a world record. They had a 30-mile convoy of WRX’s.

……and they got Subaru a whole bunch of free kudos as well. All because Suuby built one heck of a driver’s car.

And it happened in England, so I don’t think there’d be any 9-2x’s amongst the party. It was my first thought, too.

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GM have released their Saab Owners Convention videos. The GM Next team were there a few weeks ago and recorded the following:

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Some quick links:

- The Saab 9-3 (I assume it’s the TiD and TTiD) is likely to get a tax break from the Australian Government due to its miserly fuel consumption. This is a big, BIG win, though it’s not written in stone just yet.

- The Examiner has a great article on the resurgence of Turbocharging, with quite a focus on Saab.

- Motor Trend blog on testing the Turbo X. Good stuff!

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Part of the massiveness of this massive post is focused on Saab, of course, and it’s interesting reading.

I need to go through the entire article and thereby see the Saab part in proper context, but my initial impression is that the writer has summed things up pretty well. I think he may have glossed over a few things, too, especially the situation with Cadillac, but I guess that might be covered elsewhere in the massive missive.

An example of the good:

Saab is a premium brand - which means that GM could arguably end up makes more money back on their investment in Saab per unit than many of its corporate cousins.

And of the not-so-good (IMHO):

…as a “natural fit” for Cadillac, Saab offers a different kind of luxury experience to compliment Cadillac’s traditional role (larger, RWD products).

That sounds nice in theory, but the reality is quite a bit different. Again, it’s just my opinion and I know it’s not shared by all here.

Head on over the GM Inside News and spend a week reading the whole thing - or - just jump to the Saab part.

Then, let us know what you think.

Thanks to SaabKen for pointing this one out.

The first round saw a technical DQ on day 1 whilst JL were in second place. The car’s ride height was slightly outside the parameters allowed by the competition regulations. Day 2 saw a power steering pump failure kill off the chances of a successful meet.

The second round, in mid-August, saw the car pushed into the wall due to another accident on the track on day 1. Unfortunately the damage was extensive enough to call a halt to the entire weekend’s proceedings for JL Racing.

Despite these setbacks, JL were pretty confident they had a fast car and the third round at Mosport last weekend (Aug 30-31) gave proof to their confidence.

How much proof?

How about taking first place in three of the four races and finishing second in the other race?

John Lockhart set the standard early Saturday by qualifying second on the pole. At the start of the race, John quickly took the lead but Chris Raymond in his Mazda was hot on his heels. With three laps to go, Chris took the lead while John kept nipping away looking for a way through. As they came through Corner 5 on the last lap, they both went wide and John managed to snatch back the lead. They roared through the last corner side by side and in a thrilling photo finish, the Saab 9-3 won by half a car length.

In the second race of the series on Sunday, John Lockhart once again demonstrated the superiority of the Saab by comfortably leading the entire race and took the chequered flag by a significant margin. This is the first double win by Saab in the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship and so the champagne celebrations were lengthy.

Jordan Marrison drove the Saab 9-3 in the Ontario Regional Sprints and similarly threw down the gauntlet in a field of over 30 cars by qualifying second on the grid. He drove a flawless race to take second place. On Sunday morning Jordan again demonstrated his driving abilities and the strength of the Saab by dominating the race and took the chequered flag in first place.

A big congratulations to the cast and crew at JL Racing. That’s an extraordinary result and if they can keep the car on the track and out of trouble then they’re going to put a strong case together for a championship this year.

Check out the JL Racing website, including their shop. There’s photos, video and a whole event diary there as well.

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