The end of days for Saab

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Richard
Richard
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Re: The end of days for Saab

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I should have phrased my post better. It was a good feature in principle, and it worked on my father in law's 9-5, but on our 9-3 the aircon and radio panels stayed illuminated, and couldn't be dimmed to zero either. We tested this with a couple of other cars of the same model at the dealer and they were the same.

I find the VW blue to be easy on the eye.

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Pandamasque
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Re: The end of days for Saab

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xpensive
xpensive
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Re: The end of days for Saab

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That was never confirmed, an electric consortium is there, but have no money, everything is dependent of subsidies as usual.
"I spent most of my money on wine and women...I wasted the rest"

Pup
Pup
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Joined: 08 May 2008, 17:45

Re: The end of days for Saab

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Well, it would be interesting...
The 9-3 saloon uses an electric rear axle and small petrol engine to drive the front wheels to create a full four-wheel-drive system. Coupled with the trick eLSD the 9-3 ePower actually promises to be the best-driving Saab of recent times. It's also thought NEVS has bought the rights to the Phoenix platform (the all-new vehicle architecture that was to underpin future Saabs), which it will re-engineer to make suitable for hybrid and electric powertrains and produce a range of new Saab-branded vehicles.
Quirky to the end, I suppose.

Pup
Pup
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Re: The end of days for Saab

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richard_leeds wrote:I should have phrased my post better. It was a good feature in principle, and it worked on my father in law's 9-5, but on our 9-3 the aircon and radio panels stayed illuminated, and couldn't be dimmed to zero either. We tested this with a couple of other cars of the same model at the dealer and they were the same.

I find the VW blue to be easy on the eye.
Funny - I had the same complaint with my C900, but didn't have that problem with the 9-3. Maybe a different year, or different US spec?

It's also funny how personal tastes differ with things like the interior lights. Can't stand blue myself - seems harsh and hard to focus on. To be honest, I can't even find definitive info on what should be the best light. Some say the BMW red preserves night vision. (It's actually orange for color blind folks, or so I'm told.) But I've also read that the night vision argument is bogus, and that even the military is switching from it. Those people argue that the best light is one that mimics daylight, but at a very low level. I've read on the one hand that blue prevents drowsiness by blocking melatonin in the brain, and on the other that blue light is easily scattered, which makes it distracting, especially when the eyes are dilated, and would be why to me it appears blurry. Finally, I've read that green, or slightly blue-green is the easiest to focus on and the least distracting.

My own experience is that green is my favorite. Actually, one of the things I liked about the Saabs was that the displays weren't uniform - mostly green, but with some info in contrasting colors. It made it very easy to quickly glance at what you needed to see, rather than hunting around like I find myself doing in the bimmer on occasion.

xpensive
xpensive
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Re: The end of days for Saab

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If for some reason, of which my humble engineering mind find hard to fathom, electric cars finds its way into the garages of ordinary customers, I seriously doubt if the original Saab technology would have anything to contribute?

So far, the way I understand things anyway, an electric car is basically a giant battery with four wheels.
"I spent most of my money on wine and women...I wasted the rest"

Pup
Pup
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Joined: 08 May 2008, 17:45

Re: The end of days for Saab

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If there's a way to affix a turbo, they'll find it.

Richard
Richard
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Re: The end of days for Saab

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There's more ...

Spyker are suing GM for being a bully by threatening to withhold SAAB technology if SAAB was sold to a Chinese company.
Even though SAAB is dead and buried someone somewhere things they can still squeeze a few dollars for the sorry tale.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19153200
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/busin ... ss&emc=rss

Richard
Richard
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Joined: 15 Apr 2009, 14:41
Location: UK

Re: The end of days for Saab

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Three former top executives from carmaker Saab Automobile have been arrested in Sweden on suspicion of accounting fraud.

It seems the Swedish authorities are having a rummage to find out if anyone took advantage of the chaos.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22608343

Pup
Pup
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Re: The end of days for Saab

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Sounds like tax evasion stuff. Small potatoes when compared to the embarrassment of seeing Nicolas Cage driving Chinese made Saab knockoffs in incomprehensible adverts...

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/13/nico ... jing-auto/

Richard
Richard
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Joined: 15 Apr 2009, 14:41
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Re: The end of days for Saab

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They're starting up again .... This time it's low scale production of the 9-3 as a warm up for making electric vehicles. I was surprised they're resurrecting the ancient 9-3 when they have the new 9-5. Who'd want to buy such an old car?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25180698
http://www.saabcars.com/

As it happens I saw a 9-5 last week, it looks lovely but it is stupidly big. Such a shame to see all that design work go into the bin.

...

Forgive me, I'm viewing this with a rational mind thinking their objective is to make cars. It is most likely someone making a quick buck via some financial wheeling and dealing, the cars are probably incidental?

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SectorOne
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Joined: 26 May 2013, 09:51

Re: The end of days for Saab

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richard_leeds wrote:Who'd want to buy such an old car?
It´s the SAAB way. Build a car, milk it for 12 years with 2 facelifts inbetween and then build a new one.
9-3 came out in 2002. During that period BMW has spit out not one, not two but three generations of the 3-series.

SAAB in a nutshell.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LODkVkpaVQA[/youtube]
"If the only thing keeping a person decent is the expectation of divine reward, then brother that person is a piece of sh*t"