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Hi all. My wife and I just bought a 1994 Saab 9000 CSE. I have owned it for about 12 hours. It has the 5 speed manual and a turbo. It has 130,000 miles on it and seems to be 100% stock. Local Saab mechanic claimed it was in perfect shape mechanically. I'll soon find out how true that is.
I have a bunch of questions about maintenance, sources for leather conditioner, floor mats, a wood dash kit, a dashboard cover, and the like.
But my main question is a little embarrassing. How do you drive this thing? I have been driving a stick shoft for almost twenty years. Some of the cars seemed easy to drive stick, almost as if the car did not really care what speed you were going or how you handled the shift lever, while other cars have seemed extremely picky about how I moved the leather and what speeds I was going when I shifted, how quickly I let up on the clutch, etc.
I am moving from a 1991 Honda Civic with probably about 100 horse power to the Saab 9000 Turbo. I only drove a tiny bit today, but my experience was a little daunting. I'll admit that it not only dampened a bit of my new car excitement, but I felt like a very amateur driver.
First off, I had to try about 10 times to get in reverse. I just could not get the shift lever in the right place.
Secondly, it took me about 4 minutes before I realized that I kept forgetting to upshift out of second gear. The car is so quiet and smooth that I was not hearing the shift "cues" that I was accustomed to from my crappy, noisy Honda. Later on I realized that a little light comes on on the Dash to tell me when to upshift. I half wondered if the car detects when a moron is behind the wheel and starts showing that.
As I said before, I only drove a little bit today, mostly because the DMV is closed in Utah on Fridays and I had not added it to my insurance yet. So I wanted to get my new baby safe in teh driveway as soon as possible.
But, even with a limited amount of driving, I was surprised about how I never seeemed to get my shifts timed properly. My shifting felt a little thumpy. I did not do a good job of mainatining a smooth and seamless transition through the gears as I accelerated. Instead, each shift was punctuated with a bump of deceleration as I let off the clutch.
I have never thought I was an excellent driver with a manual transmission. I would give myself a C+. I have always thought I was falling short of some standard of shifting perfection in which all the shifts are undetectable and the clutch comes off swiftly and crisply without any hesitation. I always feel tentative about lifting off the clutch and feel I probably hang out for too long waiting to be ompletely sure it is safe to come out of the gray zone and let the clutch out completely.
So, any advice for a Saab newbie? Obviously this car needs something a little different from me that what I am used to. And to some extent, it may be nothing more that that, that I am simply not used to the subtle blend of revs, sound, speed, and gear ratios that all becomes intuitive after a while.
However, for those who drive skillfully, perhaps my early experience with my new car rings some bells of common mistakes people make when they are not used to a Saab.
Thank you all.
Andy
posted by 67.177.1...
, Sat, 28 Feb 2009 05:31:12
, Sat, 28 Feb 2009 15:04:24
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