Reply to: R.I.P. Saab?

[DodgyAgent]

Might be to do with power to weight ratio.

[Sysman]

#

Fair enough; I may have..... ahem done things 25 years ago that were a bit crap. Sorry.

Apology accepted. For what it's worth I would drive like a loony in an underpowered car, but given something with a decent bit of oomph I really calmed down.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Bollux. It was usually the other party who would provoke a race by much a-revving etc.

It was also 25 years ago.

#

Fair enough; I may have..... ahem done things 25 years ago that were a bit crap. Sorry.

[Sysman]

Translation - I like to engage in childish (and illegal) races with other 10 year-olds. When I "win" I love to brag about it (even though the "opponent" may not actually have been aware he was in a race).

Bollux. It was usually the other party who would provoke a race by much a-revving etc.

It was also 25 years ago.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I used to regularly upset Quattro drivers in my Audi 80. The non-Quattro version was 150 kilos (or was is 200?) lighter and off the mark it definitely had an edge in spite of having a few less bhp.

Plus the fact that many drivers don't know how to use their gears - I beat an RS2000 driver off the lights once, but it was plain he was changing up too early

Translation - I like to engage in childish (and illegal) races with other 10 year-olds. When I "win" I love to brag about it (even though the "opponent" may not actually have been aware he was in a race).

[Sysman]

Might be to do with power to weight ratio.

I used to regularly upset Quattro drivers in my Audi 80. The non-Quattro version was 150 kilos (or was is 200?) lighter and off the mark it definitely had an edge in spite of having a few less bhp.

Plus the fact that many drivers don't know how to use their gears - I beat an RS2000 driver off the lights once, but it was plain he was changing up too early

[Mich the Tester]

Mine was a 1987 900 8 valve and I loved the turbo despite the lag - the wife once put diesel in it. Since the end of the 900 Saab were well beaten by German cars, and the 9.3 was a shocker. It was also quicker than whatever Churchill had at the time.

Might be to do with power to weight ratio.

[DodgyAgent]

But you could leave it ostentatiously parked where it could be seen from the bar.

This was in the 1970s anyway. Remember Allegros and Marinas?

Mine was a 1987 900 8 valve and I loved the turbo despite the lag - the wife once put diesel in it. Since the end of the 900 Saab were well beaten by German cars, and the 9.3 was a shocker. It was also quicker than whatever Churchill had at the time.

[Sysman]

How does that work, unless they're curb crawling?

Not like you can drive it into a bar, or would a key fob on the table be enough? In which case you don't really need the car.

But you could leave it ostentatiously parked where it could be seen from the bar.

This was in the 1970s anyway. Remember Allegros and Marinas?

[PAH]

Good bird puller.

How does that work, unless they're curb crawling?

Not like you can drive it into a bar, or would a key fob on the table be enough? In which case you don't really need the car.

[Sysman]

The best car I ever had was the old 900 turbo. The hiss of the turbo and the cockpit like feel in the cabin, straight windscreen. Rubbish once that was gone

Yep for the cockpit feel. A rich Yank I knew had one, and it had the comfiest seats I'd ever experienced back in the late 70s.

Good bird puller.

[Sysman]

Along with everyone else in a FWD car shirley? It stands to reason that the wheels should be pulling in the direction you want to go in snow.

Except my 900i could get to places a Cavalier/Vectra couldn't. They were quite heavy buggers, as witnessed by the 23 mpg I got.

I often hear of people who love Saabs but whenever I read a review they say something along the lines of "Wooden steering, turbo lag, not up German rivals".

I turned down one of these because according to motoring journalists it had "wooden steering". Well, yeah, it probably did in contrast to some of the stuff that motoring journalists get to drive, but I long ago realised that they have different expectations of motors from everyone else (and aren't footing the bill themselves).

[bobspud]

I often hear of people who love Saabs but whenever I read a review they say something along the lines of "Wooden steering, turbo lag, not up German rivals".

The turbo lag myth is yet another load of white noise that was passed around in the bars from people that never drove a Saab. Never had a problem with it myself in fact at 50mph my acceleration left most cars as a little dot in my rear view mirror
I am of the opinion that most motoring journo's are idiots at best...

The 9000 had Trionic 9 & 18 tuning packs that were just hilarious. I borrowed a 9000 from Saab City in London once. It was like strapping yourself to a missile.

[DodgyAgent]

The reality was they didn't steer or handle, were front wheel drive like any cheap runabout. They weren't quick (the fastest ever Saab couldn't hit sixty in under 6 seconds, BMW has diesel estates quicker than that), they weren't reliable and they weren't economical and they depreciated like a brick.

Which puts then on par with Rover in terms of desirability.


Saab.

Fillistine

[DimPrawn]

The reality was they didn't steer or handle, were front wheel drive like any cheap runabout. They weren't quick (the fastest ever Saab couldn't hit sixty in under 6 seconds, BMW has diesel estates quicker than that), they weren't reliable and they weren't economical and they depreciated like a brick.

Which puts then on par with Rover in terms of desirability.


Saab.