Northern Tasmania was absolutely stunning, but geez it's good to be home.
I drive through one stretch of around 30km this morning that was totally covered in fog. You couldn't see more than about 80 meters ahead.
This poor weather might explain yesterday events. In 2008, there were 40 Tasmanians who died on the state's roads.
Yesterday, Thursday July 9, there were nine people killed in one day in car accidents.
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You can rest easy, your Saab is safe.
These sort of things, like celebrity deaths, tend to happen in threes. First there was Kaylan's 9000 on fire, then the Saab 900 convertible fire, and for those who haven't seen it yet, there's now been a 9-3 SportCombi lost to a fire.
The prime suspect in the cause of the fire is an iPod Nano, possibly planted by a recovering Steve Jobs to stop all this "Saab being the Apple of the car industry" talk.
As pointed out in comments to the article, and by Dave R in an email, it's a little surprising that the materials inside the car weren't a little more fire resistant to what may have been a slow starting fire.
Saab have a long history of accident investigation in order to make benefit glorious state of Saab safety, so here's hoping they take some material samples out of this car for the future.
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The Washington Times has a good review of the 2009 Saab 9-3 with XWD.
I want to be in a car that is capable of avoiding a crash, and that gives the edge to the 2009 9-3 sedan with the Cross-Wheel Drive, which also features ABS and ESP. Based on that system alone, the $41,885 is a worthwhile investment, as the 9-3 is offering today what's likely to be the wave of the future.
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I know the Jaguar XF has been lauded since it's release, but except for the rear view, I've got to say I'm not a big fan.
But today, images of the new Jaguar XJ have come out and finally, after years and years, we seem to have a Jaguar sedan that doesn't look like a Ford.
Is this proof positive that what used to be considered unconventional ownership of a car company, can work?
I'm an old Jag fan, ever since my Dad gave me a book on the back in the early 1980s. I used to sit in class and draw the classic XJ front. I even agreed to purchase an old XJ bac in late 1994, though I backed out of the deal (which was a good move).
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Tomorrow I'll be photographing car parts.
At last, I get a real chance to get enthused abou the Monte. Depending on my mechanic's schedule, I should hopefully have a very different Monte this time next week!
Basically it's futile to try to stop a burning cobalt based Lithium-ion battery, just throw it somewhere it can safely burn.
And this set the finger on the problem with electrical cars that uses cobalt based Lithium-ion batteries.
The new one looks great, too, but - a SAAB chauvinist as I am – I'm sure the new 9-5 will look better in the sense of more natural. Somehow I think, they have added too much drama to the XF to push the XJ to the pole position.
The interior seems phantastic, though. The steering wheel design is just gorgeous!
There'll be a press conference in Detroit at 9 a.m.
So I will only say one thing I like and one think I don't like.
Pro: B&W loudspeakers; Cons: Black C-pillars.
I would love to have a 9-5 with B&W loudspeakers, but black A and/or B pillars is all I wan't.
The black C-pillar looks like they forgot to take maskingtape of a testvehicle.
But the side profile is ok.
Cheers/Tom
Like the design overall though, I'd prefer the big side vent which the XF and XK have on them rather than the one which the XJ has, but hey, Ian Callum is still a design genius whichever way you swing it and in the UK this will walk out of the showrooms, the Jaguar renaissance is well loved in these parts.
Oh and Swade.... C'mon England!
"...The XJ’s design was set before Tata took over Jaguar, and Mr. Callum said the design process had become simpler under the new owners. After years of dealing with layers of Ford management, he said: “In many ways we are our own bosses. We don’t have so many levels of approval to go through. The hierarchy is simpler. It is more entrepreneurial, and so my life has become more straightforward.
“Mr. Ratan Tata likes design and has a good design sense and comes in every month or so,” he added. “We have an enjoyable discussion.” ..."
BTW, that concurs with everything else I have read about Tata's management style.
Swade: Engadget has a photo of the seats AFTER that tragic Saab fire, I put the URL in snippets comments.
Mailr +1 on those lithium batteries. I remember all those laptop fires...
Personally the rear of the new XJ reminds me of the Lancia Thesis!
Last night in the UK on TV was a program about air ambulances (helicopters) and the sort of accidents and emergencies they attend.
One poor little boy had been accidentally run over by his mother’s car because the hand brake had been accidentally released by one of his siblings. Fortunately he only suffered a little bruising.
I remember as a child being left in my mothers car at a caravan site and the car started to roll forward. My auntie who also was in the car couldn’t drive at the time. At the age of 4 I had learned what the hand brake lever was for and told my auntie to pull it. It worked.
Now the point of all this, is that in your traditional Saab such things can’t happen when the key is removed.
Not with the current 9-3 though, the key via a solenoid arrangement just locks the steering (too conventional – too GM).
This to me is a major step backwards in safety.
Can someone tell those nice people in Trollhatten to go back to the true Saab transmission locking arrangement, before someone gets seriously hurt.
I wonder why they did not publish a side line view.