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I went to Saab's "Real Life Road Test" event here in Houston today. Awesome experience. Just thought I'd share. I wanted to test out a 9-3 SE coupe. When I arrived, I found they had no SE coupes, only a convertible. Since I had no intention of buying a convertible, they instead let me drive the Viggen coupe. No hassles, no dealers... showed them my license and they handed my friend and I the keys. Went for a 20min spin around some familiar streets and thoroughly enjoyed myself. The Viggen really pulls.... hard to launch in 1st though! Second gear was my favorite. Got it boosting all the way close to 60mph in 2nd. However, reverse was kinda noisy, and earlier in the day someone complained about a problem getting into 3rd. My friend smelled what seemed like a burning parking brake or clutch... that could have been part of the problem. The brakes felt much much spongier than I'm used to in my '89 900S, but they gripped like crazy when asked to.
Went from there to the recently opened new dealer here in Houston, Performance Saab. Cool guys there, seemed knowledgable and no pressure at all. I mentioned that I'd come from the test event and wanted to try an SE coupe. They handed me the keys to one, so I took that out for the spin. Liked it much better than the Viggen. Didn't pull quite as hard when boosting, but still plenty of balls. Brakes felt nice...overall car felt more solid, esp. tranny wise compared to the Viggen. My first inclination is that the Viggen's overpowered for the rest of the car's engineering, whereas the SE motor fits better. Had not nearly as much trouble launching in 1st, though I once did have trouble with a high rev 1-2 shift.
A few comments in general:
- What a difference between my '89 900S clutch and the new ones. My '89 feels like a leg press machine to operate in comparison. The new one is very light, which makes it less annoying in traffic. On the other hand, the old, heavy clutch does a better job communicating to me about how bad I'm abusing it.
- Feel the speed MUCH more in the old 900 vs. the new 9-3. Like I said, I got the Viggen to near 60mph in 2nd, and the SE to about 55, boosting hard, and obviously accelerating hard...but it didn't feel like it. Very smooth, and you'll be surprised to look down and see how fast you're going in such a short time. The new one is less communicative than the old. You don't hear the engine nearly as much. A bit discomforting in some ways. I was a bit disappointed not to feel the rush as much as in the C900 turbos, even though I was accelerating harder.
- Felt like my visibility of surroundings wasn't as good in the new Saab vs. the old...but maybe that's just a familiarity issue.
- New Saab has MUCH improved shifter vs. the old. Much smoother and the shorter throw helps a lot for quick shifts.
- New car felt every bit a Saab, even with GM's supposed influence.
So happy to see a new dealer in Houston. They say 3 locations are in the works eventually...a new one in the Woodlands, and another in the Clear Lake area eventually. Maintenance facility will be done at Performance Saab by end of May I'm told.
'Roo
posted by 128.42.17...
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