Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 09:35:51 GMT From: Paul Halliday <pjghnopsamyonder.co.uk> Subject: Re: Best built recent Saab?
in article ut8q1rctv5i2denopsam.supernews.com, pablo at pabloATsimplyhombreDOTnet wrote on 15/11/2002 03:22: > > <davehinznopsamcop.net> wrote in message > news:ar0gi3$dhd7c$1nopsam34476.news.dfncis.de... >> >> I think that your understanding of Saab history is severely lacking. > > Maybe you can tell us which Saab model, exactly, was challenging BMW's 2002 > or 3 series when it came to curve carving capabilities? > > If you claim utmost sporting capability ranked tops on Saab's agenda when it > came to developing street cars, then either you're the one that doesn't know > Saab history, or you're looking at it through very rose-tinted lenses. Okay Pablo, I'll have to cut in here. It may not have been Saab's "official intention", but I doubt it was BMW's official intention either, to produce fast cars. I've owned two classic 900 turbos; one of which I still own. 1. I demolished a mid/late-90s M3 on an uphill race. The driver of the M3 was visibly rocking back and forth in his seat to try to make the car go faster while I cruised on by. 2. I tail-gated a 730 on the motorway for a few miles in my old classic 900 turbo. I had no problem keeping up with him and arguably overtook him when he panicked about the race and quite suddenly pulled off the motorway. 3. Subaru Impreza 2000 Turbo - No contest. They're not the monsters that they're made out to be. Even my wife driving our 1985 900i caught up with us after half a mile or so. 4. TVR Chimera - Yup, left one of these standing on a very windy road over the Pennines, our UK equivalent of the Rockies :) Older Saabs are good at this kind of driving - the 92/96 being prime examples. Think Carlsson, or Blomqvist's 99s. I was a passenger in a friend's 1.0L classic VW Polo and we had similar fun racing a TVR over the moors once. 5. Mitsubishi Evo - Now that is a contest. I've never beaten one of these. 6. Volvo S70 T5 - I got annihilated by one of these in the same way that I took out the M3. Just think how one of these would have treated the M3 :) If you do get the chance to actually drive one of these "older Saabs" you'll end up with a very different opinion. They are "point and squirt" racers and they are very strong and safe handling cars on lesser roads. Top speeds? Oh, 130+ MPH in my first 900 turbo, over 140 MPH in my current turbo, 125 MPH in my 900i. 0-60? Don't give a sh*t - they're still faster than BMWs :) As for current Saabs, both the 9-3 and the 9-5 will comfortably cruise at speeds far in excess of most national speed limits. <snip>Comments about driveability</snip> > Once you lay off the LSD, you'll see my point was Saab was not trying to > compete with the very sportiest brands on pushing the corner carving > envelope - saabs were designed with more criteria in mind, and longevity, > sturdiness, practicality and safety were blended with a satidfying element > of performance. But boy racers took their business elsewhere. Oh, we're talking "boy" racers? I've now grown out of hot-hatches ... and LSD for that matter. Now I'm a man, I race a Saab :) Left-foot braking, still topping the revs on the corners and red-lining the turbo on the straight is all part of the fun with a Saab. The centre of gravity and rigidity on the road is just right. > I had been wanting to buy a Saab for 15 years. I always thought the Saab > value proposition very appealing. My point here is that many people in this > forum claim Saab's gone to the dogs since GM acquired it - and that I do not > agree with. Every acquisition comes with moments of disorientation, but I do > not think Saab lost its identity badly - I think it became more what it once > was over the 90s. It is without doubt that the GM 900 was poor. Poor, not only in comparison with it's forebears, but with it's competition. The current Saab line-up is substantially better built. The "disorientation period" is over and I think that the 9-3 and the 9-5 are both very appealing and desirable cars (even to a Classic owner) and with GM, along with all their cloak and dagger affiliations with Lotus, the current Saab line-up is likely to have some serious racers produced in the future. > Say what you like about the new 9-3 -and personally I am > not a huge fan yet- but Saabs have never been this close to challenging BMW > and Mercedes and the whole bunch since they came out with the original > Turbos - and that was a while ago. So you do concede that the "original turbos" were a challenge? Keep on Saabing Pablo... There is a book called 'Saab 99 and 900 - The Complete Story' by Lance Cole. Get it and read it. Paul 1985 900i 16V 1989 900 Turbo S http://pjgh.go.dyndns.org/saab/index.html
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