I love Saab stories. I love happy endings. I love good things that are a long time coming.

This story’s got all the above. It comes to us from JT in Hawaii. When Saab likened the Turbo X’s to the black turbos of the past, they seem to have picked the spirit of the car very accurately. From the reviews it’s getting, the Turbo X seems to be every bit as revolutionary and it’s doing a great job of paving the way for the XWD models that will follow it.

JT’s story – one of black turbo wishes that were a long time in the making…..

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The first time I ever saw a Saab was on a used car lot. This was back in 1989 during my youth and my parents were looking for a good used car. There was an absolutely gorgeous black 1984 900 turbo calling my name. I knew nothing about the car but it was love at first sight. Unfortunately, my parents passed on the black beauty.

Several months later I came home from school to find a 1983 900 Turbo in the garage. It wasn’t the black beauty but it was my first Saab. Fast forwarding about 6 months later. I was returning home from school but strangely, my parents weren’t home which was unlike them. I received a call shortly thereafter stating that they were at the dealership. They had purchased a brand new 1990 Edwardian Gray 900 sedan. Needless to say I waited about 2 hours in the driveway for them to pull up.

As an “adult”, I lost touch with my love for Saab and joined the BMW cult. I must say that the driving dynamics are very hard to beat on BMW’s. On a chance encounter I ran into the owner of my local dealership and he stated that I should test drive the 2007 9-3 Aero. For kicks, I went down to do a test drive and ended up trading in my 2006 330i for a 2007 9-3 SportCombi Aero.

Some time went by and in Dec. 07 I received an interesting email from my Saab guy about the Turbo X. I ended up putting a deposit on a Turbo X sedan and I think I was number 12 in the nation. The only thing that made my almost 6 month wait bearable was the TS website. Reading stories, seeing pictures and watching videos made it clear that the Turbo X would be totally worth the wait.

I received a call from my dealership a few days ago stating that my car was ready for pick up. I am now the proud owner of the first Turbo X in the “Aloha” State. After driving the TX for a few days, I can honestly say that I have the black beauty from my childhood. The Turbo X is everything I expected in a car and more. BMW, Audi and Benz should worry if Saab continues to put out fine cars like the Turbo X.

Besides the much talked about awesome exhaust note, velcro grip and effortless power, I’ve noticed some nice touches not present in the 2007 Aeros.

1. The car’s auto headlights will only go on when the car is put in gear. Additionally, the interior lighting will be at the dimmest setting until the car is put in gear.

2. The turbo boost gauge will light up when the car is unlocked. This has a cool effect at night.

I leave for the Turbo X Academy at Road Atlanta on Saturday, May 30th and I really look forward to see when these awesome machines can do. Hopefully I will be able to share this experience with other TS members.

Thanks Again,

JT

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I’m looking forward to hearing a little about that Academy outing. It should be an absolute blast.

Congratulations, JT. Thanks for the kind words and enjoy the X!!!

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I brought you a brief article from the Boston Herald last week, where the writer Mike Mello had plenty of good things to say about the Saab Turbo X.

This week he’s published his full article, and it picks up right where the introductory article left off.

The 2008 Saab Turbo X is a rocket. It’s the kind of car that you’ll want to keep driving – on vacation, commuting, running around town, or just for the sake of driving – the Turbo X has that kind of allure. The moment you leave the driver’s seat, you’re thinking of the last shift you completed, while at the same time, anticipating the next launch.

It’s funny, but that kind of high praise is usually reserved for the Saab 900. Maybe this Turbo X is as much of a modern classic as Saab painted it to be when they posed with the 900 in Frankfurt last year.

Click through. That Boston Herald article is well worth your reading.

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Gunnar Heinrich at Automobiles Deluxe has also filled out his driving experience. He was a little more reserved in places, but quite enthusiastic nonetheless:

It’s hard to understate the new caliber of handling performance that the Turbo X presents for the Swedish marque. Such is the difference that I’d say that the Saab Party Faithful should brace itself for the eventual obsolescence of the front drive setups that the company pioneered all those years ago.

There’s some crits there of the brakes and the interior, but it’s a small-ish part of the whole. This car is about the going more than the stopping, though obviously the latter is still very important.

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And finally, one of the staffers at Herb Chambers Saab, who hosted the preliminaries for the event, caught the Turbo X-odus from the showroom on video.

There’s no big drama here, just a whole heap of Turbo X’s. You might also see Eggs n Grits there, though he might have to point himself out. I couldn’t pick him.

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As a follow up to my recent story on some production problems plaguing the Turbo X, I’ve received some info from SaabUSA about the number and nature of vehicles affected.

As a quick go-over: the production problem seems to stem from the ordering system and the way it communicates between the dealership and the factory. The effect of this has been a mixup in the specification of a small number of cars hitting the US market. The Canadian market has also been adversely effected.

SaabUSA have written to me as follows:

….as far as we know, the Saab Turbo X ordering issue in the U.S. only affects the SportCombi (about 20 percent of total orders) in combination with the optional Navigation system. For some reason, the code for Nav was in a few cases not correctly read during the U.S. Turbo X SportCombi manufacturing process.

As a matter of course, Saab Automobile USA is working with the individual customers and dealers to settle the issue to mutual satisfaction.

It’s good that the number of cars will be limited and that they’re dealing with the adversely affected customers. I’ve heard from one dealer whose customer initially walked away from a pre-ordered car, but is now coming back at the idea of a Saab-provided Garmin unit for his car.

I think that’s a great outcome from a bad situation. This is a great, great car and those who get one are going to absolutely love it. It’d be a shame to see some miss out over this.

Hopefully the lesson’s being learned and the bugs in the system are being ironed out.

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I’d just like to post a quick invitation for you all to head on over to Beren’s blog and check out his first 1,000 miles in his Saab Turbo X.

Beren’s car was the first US delivery we covered here at TS.

What’s great about this is that Beren’s story is one we’d love to hear a lot more of. He’s new to Saab having owned other makes previously. He’s shopped a few different vehicles and ended up with a Saab Turbo X, which he thinks is absolutely brilliant:

I’m not Motor Trend or Road & Track or whatever; I’m a “regular” driver: this car is amazing. It is definitely is the best car I’ve ever driven, much less owned.

How many times have you heard, or said yourself, that the only thing that’s stopped more people from buying Saabs is that they don’t know about them, or haven’t driven one?

There’s a few minor down-sides as well, so it’s not all beer n skittles. Many of those can be fixed with just a few tweeks of the controls though, and the experience has been overwhelmingly positive for Beren, who seems like a very satisfied customer.

There’s still around 300 or so X’s left in the US market. Go get yours

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UPDATED for Autoblog

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Eggs n Grits has done a masterful job of packing us all up in his overnight bag and bringing us to Boston with him to drive the Saab Turbo X. Check out his reports if you haven’t already:

Famous Saab driven by Yours Truly today
Driving The Turbo X
Haldex XWD in pictures
That famous Saab, pt II
The Turbo X fleet at Herb Chambers Saab
Celebrating 30 years of turbocharging
More pix from the Turbo X media drive

A gargantuan effort so far and in the true Trollhattan Saab tradition of bringing you everything from the trip. Great stuff, Eggs!

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But there were other people there too, and if you’d like a wider perspective on the event and the car, then check these out:

Dan Roth from Autoblog:

The TurboX is an all-weather performance sedan that’s able to run with the segment’s big dogs, and even pull them out of the ditch on the way to the ski resort. Saab’s calling it a future classic in the vein of the SPG and “Black Turbo” before it; time will tell, but we think the potential is there.

Over at Jalopnik:

drop either transmission down a cog or two and that gorgeous exhaust note fills the cabin, encouraging and calling out to you to engage in random acts of silliness…..we have to admit, our world has been gently rocked.

Mike Mello at the Boston Herald:

Today I got the chance to do something I’ve never, ever done. At a media event for the 2008 Saab Turbo X – of which only 600 will be built for 2008 – I felt the turbo-charged power of a 2.8L V6 harnessed by an all-wheel-drive system that made me want more. In fact, I still want more.

Carl Levine, the AudioTroll (iPod) guy, writing on behalf of Saab History:

The Turbo-X is nothing short of amazing in terms of handling, acceleration, material quality and pure sex.

Gradon at Design Boston:

On the roads and highways from Herb Chambers Saab in Allston to the test track in North Andover, it was powerful yet comfortable. The sport suspension and big wheels gave no hint of a jarring right like other performance setups can. Those leather seats are sooo comfortable, you feel like you could ride in that seat for hours without getting that we’ve-been-driving-for-hours-and-my-butt-is-sore feeling.

What’s it like on the track?

Wow.

And our good mate Gunnar Heinrich at Automobiles Deluxe has written a bevy of posts about the event and he’s only just arrived at the track!

The Turbo X did sport a better ride than any previous generation 9-3, even when riding on 18’s with Pirelli performance wear. Gone are the signature old 900 unpleasantries of gripping on tight to a shaking steering wheel when riding over rough tarmac…..

….Symbolizing just what GM is pitting Saab’s halo car against, Automobile plenipotentiary Ezra Dyer made a showy arrival in BMW’s latest M3 sedan.

I’ll be looking for Ezra’s work shortly. It’s always entertaining.

Here’s a chart. An interesting chart.

Buy the Audi for badge value only. No other reason stacks up, if you ask me (with the possible exception where the car’s interior is the only thing in the world that matters to you – and even that’s subjective)

Click.

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