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Today was the day. After much anticipation I traveled to Gothenburg yesterday to pick up my 9-5 SportCombi for European Delivery. Saab had arranged a pick-up from the airport, but when we arrived nobody was there with my name on a plaque. A little later the driver arrived, apologizing for being late because of the weather conditions. A 1,5 hour drive to Trollhattan later, we checked in to the Ronnum Manor, where Saab had gotten us a nice suite, and we could enjoy the gluhwein and a buffet dinner.
This morning another taxi driver took us to the dealership where my new 9-5 was waiting. It's a great car, but indeed, apart from the new face, the interior and the controls remind me more of my 2000 9-3 than of my new 06 9-3 SportCombi which I picked up last week. Power is great, and I haven't noticed any torque steer yet on the few times I was able to pull away full power from a traffic light. I'll post a detailed comparison between this 06 9-5, the 06 9-3 and the 00 9-3 later.
After picking up my new Saab, we visited the Saab museum, got the Saab factory tour, and drove to Gothenburg, where Saab paid us another night in a hotel, before driving back to Belgium tomorrow. The factory was really interesting. All different models, and even some Caddie BLSs are made on the same production line. Everything is JIT, amazing. For instance: when they star a car on the production line, they order the seats from a local manufacturer. Exact 3,5 hours later the seats are delilvered, and 10 minutes later the car passes the station on the production line where the seats are fitted. Really impressing.
Amazing how many Saabs you see here. During the tour they gave '04 sales numbers: 35,000 for the US (on ~250MM people), and 24,000 for Sweden (on 3MM people). That explains...
I'm on dial-up in a hotel now, so I'll keep it short.
More later...
Leo
posted by 212.37.2...
, Tue, 20 Dec 2005 10:54:42
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