Author Archives: eggsngrits

Saab and the ubiquitous V-8: An alternative view.

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As a companion piece to Swade’s excellent summary of the prevailing though on V-8 development for Saabs, I offer an alternative view.

Despite my comments providing an answer to Ivan’s comments, I’m not totally in favor of a Saab V-8. I’m quite undecided, actually. My point was simply this: if Saab truly wants to challenge BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Audi or even Volkswagen on a technological level, a V-8 is a must. Why? Because even because it shouldn’t make a difference for most drivers, it does make a difference. Obviously, it does or these companies wouldn’t make the cars that they make. Three or four of them even exceed eight cylinders and go for ten- and twelve-cylinder models.

Why do they go to these lengths, even though these cars make up a small portion of their total unit sales (perhaps excluding Jaguar, where their heritage is built on such powerplants)?

The answer: it works. At some level, it works.

Including more cylinders brings with it smoother operation, a broader, wider power band and more low-end torque. Especially when accompanied by larger displacement.

However, Ivan (MusX) is right: these differences really shouldn’tmatter to most drivers. Even in the US (or Canada or Australia?), where our distances are much greater and our cities are new enough to be largely built for cars. However, they are better or they wouldn’t be built and they wouldn’t even be under consideration by the accomplished engineers at BMW, Mercedes, Audi, VW and Jaguar.

I liken it to this: certainly, for most consumers, a great sirloin steak should suffice. But people still pay a premium for filet mignon. Likewise, Budweiser (US) or Maes beer is good enough, but Pilsner Urquel is a great deal better. That is, it’s a luxury that people are willing to pay for because it isbetter,

Call it marketing fluff if you like, but it sells vehicles.

Additionally, with larger, smoother engines, there are several more opportunities for motor sport participation, which is a proven marketing boon.

So, I’m hopefull that Saab considers the improvements that a V-8 brings to the table with care, but I hope that they give it a good look. When you start ignoring technologies simply because of some long-worn dogma, you start to lose your technological edge in important ways. Consider the famous story of the Swiss watchmaking industry. We don’t want Saab to go down that path, do we?

Saab Aero X still making the media rounds

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On the road again tonight, and I caught the last half of an episode of Future Car. Apparently, according to the website, I saw the third of four parts of this series of documentary-style automotive entertainment programs — the one on ‘future fuel’. The Saab Aero X, being a high-output E85 hybrid (wink) was featured as “Europe’s most advanced supercar”. Both Anthony Lo and Brian Nesbitt were featured with appropriate soundbites.

Perhaps Saab should create a high-output bio-diesel plug-in hybrid for the 9-5 send off? That should create a few of the same waves, hmmm???

Hatch Lovin’: Vintage Trash Talkin’ from Saab

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Ahhh…. the good old days. The days when “image” advertising was something that only cigarette manufacturers, perfume purveyors and cruise lines did. When automobile ads actually said something. Something meaningful, anyway.

Take a look at this U.S. magazine advertisment from 1974. As you may recall, Saab got started with the hatchback concept in that model year with the Saab 99 Combi Coupe, or, as it was known here in the United States, the Saab 99 Wagonback.

As this advertisment points out, the 1974 Saab Combi Coupe was built like a Volvo, was as well-appointed as an Audi, and had the cargo capacity of both cars combined.

Take a look.

1974 99 Wagonback vs Audi and Volvo Ad

Hatch Lovin’: All that Junk in that Trunk

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In the month of hatch lovin’ we can focus on a number of great things about the hatchback design: the pleasing aesthetics, the simplicity of design and, of course, the utility. As you may have gathered from today’s title, we’re focusing on utility, Fergie notwithstanding.

Some of these pictures have been passed around a lot over the course of the past few years, like this one, which is well-known to most Saabisti:

900 Mower

This Saab 900 5-door has obviously seen better days — the rust and faded red paint should tell you why the owner of this Saab had no qualms about chucking a commerical mower in the back of his car. But the simple fact is that with even the Saab 900 4-door sedan he wouldn’t have even been able to cart the components individually, when with the hatch, the whole thing fits!

Lesson: Not all cargo space is equal.
Car manufacturers and reviewers can play with cubic inches and cubic meters all they like, but if the opening to the cargo space will not accomodate the load, what good are they? With the hatch (especially on the flat-floored 99 and C900) you have the greatest flexibility.

On to another popular Saab hatchback use, let’s turn to furniture moving, shall we? As you may recall, Saab ran ads in the 1980′s depicting a 900 3-door with a leather love seat (small sofa) sitting in the hatch. This is a real-life variation of that theme, with a queen-sized sleeper sofa inside a 9000 hatchback. According to the caption, this photo was taken in 2002 on a street in Chicago.

Saab 9000 with Sofa

The caption

And in the “I’m glad I didn’t bet money on this” department, on the Fridge Door this week is a picture (unaltered) proving that you really can move a queen size sleeper sofa by wedging it into the back of an ’89 Saab 9000 (my yuppiemobile anti-Christ). My parents couldn’t even get a 19-inch TV (yes, they still make those and even the Sonys sell for as litte as $250 now) into the back of their Acura this summer so they had to leave the box at Best Buy. Why again are Americans so enamored with sedans & trunks over hatchbacks?

Indeed.

Finally, the ‘hatchback camper’ motif is well represented amoung Saab owners, with varying degrees of involvement by the hatch….

9000 Slept in

In this case, it’s obvious that the camper slept in the back of the 9000, which may easily be done if you have a hatch.

More pics of laden Saab hatchbacks after the break. Submit your own if you have them. Stories are appreciated!!

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2008 9-3 Turbo X Sales Officially Open in the UK

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Per the Auto Channel, the Saab 9-3 Turbo X Saloon (that’s Sedan to us Yanks) and SportWagon (also known as the SportCombi) is officially on offer at your local Saab dealer. That is, if you live in the U.K. Saab made the announcement on the first day of MPH 2007, the primary auto show in Great Britain this year.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that it’ll set you back £32,495, which at today’s exchange rate is north of US$65,000. Ouch. Even at the pre-drop exchange rates, that’s still a chunk of change. I guess that in comparison to the equivalent BMW or Audi that’s about what one should expect, but it certainly won’t be for everyone at that price.

The MPH 2007 website is quite entertaining, if for no other reason that Jeremy Clarkson stares back at you on each page complete with horns and red skin. He wears it well, no?

MPH 2007

My T-Shirt Idea — for better or worse, let me know!

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While Swade’s a little under the weather, I’ll throw in this little somewhat meaningless post.

I was going to attempt a design like this myself, post it on CafePress and see how things went. However, now I know that it will likely never happen, so I’m giving the idea to our resident T-shirt design guru, Ivan (MusX).

Here in the United States, everywhere that I go (and I’ve been a LOT of places lately), I see people wearing, carrying and sticking a little cartoon feel-good from a small company called Life Is Good, Inc. Have a look at their website to see what I’m talking about if you don’t aleady know.

LIG

It’s a very simple message, really. They have many variations of the theme, as shown here:

LIG Bike

LIG Surf

Half of the people in the country seem to own one of these T-shirts, and the other half have the stickers on their minivans. With good reason: the shirts and hats are top-quality goods, and the theme never goes out of style.

So, here’s the idea: 1) Translate the message into Swedish, 2) Substitute a smiling griffin for the smiling face, and 3) reference Saabs either by logo or by car.

LAG

Ivan, if you are reading, you may come up with something better.

So, my question: do you think that this idea is a good one? Would you buy something along these conceptual lines? What do you like or dislike about it? Should Ivan look into making this design?

Comments are open!!