Monday Afternoon snippets - taking stock edition

Agreed. Apologies if I wasn't clear there, but I think the implication has been all along that the 9-X Air wouldn't come as a discrete model line of its own, but that the concept behind it would shape Saab's next convertible model.

Yes, but mine is less from this site as it is from my work travel schedule. It is what it is.

If the 9-X Air's overall design does feature in the NG9-3 vert, it's very possible Renault might beat Saab to the punch!

But if Saab has some kind of trickery up their sleeves with the way the convertible works, they'll have the upper hand. I remember that post Swade made about the 9-X Air's supposedly secret convertible feature.

Swade, I think you'll certainly have plenty of things to write about for a good year or two. I say this because the new business has to develop and grow and new models are coming out and what have you. While you won't be waking up at 3:30 for any announcements like last weeks, I think you'll have a good amount of news to provide each month. Hopefully first hand account news since you have been so close to folks at Saab and VM!

No kidding! I'm bored now. Hehe.

Yep, coming down from that high is difficult...and boring!

Having watched quite a few Spyker videos now, I'm also keen on some Spyker-inspired interior styling on at least one, limited edition Saab! Also, someone mentioned in another thread that the glove box and some of the fittings in the Spykers weren't right, I've noticed that in a lot of the cars that have been filmed now. Hopefully just a result of the overuse of demo models.

Swade and EnG, hope youu guys have asome great family time away from this site!

i disagree with you Jeff, in a way i think the renault looks better than the saab concept, im not a big fan of renault, but i like this one. I think the Aero x concept is much nicer and saab should make that first.

I think its so fantastic that spyker has bought saab, and that saab has a future again, can't wait to see what saab and spyker will come up with in the near future!!!.

Trust me, if that happened, I wouldn't speak about it in riddles.

No such offer has been made.

Changes in the garage area?

The only thing I could imagine is; you've seen a yellow 3dr Viggen and you are going to replace your Monte.

Whatever you do with YOUR blog will be OK for me/us?

Reagrding the Renault; We are speakeing here abaout a Renault Twingo CC, which means a car the size of the Chevy Aveo with a hard top, Although it may look like the 9-X Air it is not a competitor to the SAAB Conv.

SAAB should go aginst the current and build a soft top conv; everybody is building nowadays those fat-assed hard-top convertibles.

And a last but not least; If Volvo is offering incentives for people switching from their Toyotas; I think this is an inteligent move that SAAB should follow at least in the States, but I don't know if the TOYOTA drama will last that long.

Not a copy of Saab but something deeply influenced by.
I am pretty sure the Renault designer wasn't watching 9X air pictures when he drew this car. What can you expect when you show such influential concepts to the public (and hide the real models at the testing stage)?
I think I have already seen a 9X roofline in some cars (Skoda Yeti?). Saab designers had a few bright styling ideas in last 10 years, very original. I think if I were a car designer, after seeing 9X (all 3 of them) I would start thinking in a different way of my work.
I am not a big Renault enthusiast either, but being made to drive Renault five years ago as my company vehicle I started looking at Renaults and discovered they must have a great design team. Their cars are always different from the mainstream, have own "DNA"

me too!!! i miss it a lot!!!

Well whatever the change is, I hope its mutually benefits you and the Saab community.

I don't think Toyota tried to mislead someone with the floor mats. They are a bit too serious for that. I rather think that Toyota themselves were mislead by the fact that the floor mat issue actually exists and that it kept the engineers on the wrong track. I think they really thought they had a solution.
Perhaps every car they at first investigated had the (invitingly easy fixed) floor mat problem.
Imagine the horror when they discovered that something else was the problem and that they had been barking up the wrong tree losing much precious time.

There is a reason why you should be careful with new technologies. Mercedes had electronic brakes which gave them headaches. It worked fine on the expensive SL-class, but was only trouble on the mass produced E-class.
Safety is too important to play gambles with.

I saw that film of the Spykers and thought I saw some similarities with Aston Martin. Not in design and sales, but in style, attitude and racing interest.
Perhaps Aston Martin can be persuaded to buy Volvo? :-)

You if anyone surely deserves a holiday. You´ve been an epitome of "Power to the people". Look what we all achieved!!

Let´s enjoy this now. BTW, an internet-friend of mine was quietly whispered about 9-5 TTiD XWD coming next fall. We´ve seen pics with that "magic" emblem - it looks as if I might be able to create my dream-come-true, 9-5 SC TTiD XWD.

Saab up!!

I couldn't agree with you more...but what bothers me with the 9-4X is that it seems it was made more for the American market than globally...which is why I foresee a big flop and an unfortunate burden Spyker have to bare...no offence to the US but most of the cars designed in the US seem not have the entire world into consideration...which is why even people in America complain about the quality and built of their Ford Focus against the Global Focus designed in Europe... Jeeps are great cars and very practical...but interior is not too good...the ONLY cars to have ever come out of the US to meet global standards is the new Cadillac CTS/SRX and seemingly the new Chevy Cruze...it's quiet apparent that not only interior wise but design-wise GM had to adopt a whole new paradigm shift...I personally feel that GM put more money and effort in the SRX than th 9-4X...it just looks to american (sorry...I mean't something like Afro-centric/euro-centric)...

@ SaaBoy... Ahh... I was not sure if "down under" goose was used in another....eerrr... descriptive way...

I am Happy all the Save Saab stuff is over... It was exciting to be a party of but nerve-reacking too!

Now we must SUSTAIN SAAB....

I'm not an SUV guy, but from what I've seen the 9-4x is as SAAB as the 9-5.
You are right, it is not the right car for some markets, if you want to sell lots of cars, but even in Europe SUVs/CUVs have a market.
GM will build the 9-4X in Mexico, but I can't imagine Mr. Muller accepting a lower quality from the 9-4X than from the THN-build 9-5.
And when the TTiD Engine is available it will also have an OK engine for europe.

BTW the chevy cruze has been developed in Europe/Korea not in the US.

I think since GM is supplying the 9-4x, if it is a flop it will hurt GM more than Saab. GM probably needs to build a reasonable number of 9-4x's to make the Cadillac SRX cost efficient. Whilst the 9-4x is undoubtedly a better effort than the 9-7x, I still don't think it is the kind of car Saab would build if it really wanted to tackle the SUV market. But then Saab won't be building it, GM will and I think it is responsible for all the development costs too. As I said, I expect it to have a short lifespan. Perhaps 3-4 years at best.

From what I heard it actually IS a pretty simple (and therefore not easy to track) intermittent mechanical problem. Apparently, at a certain point excessive wear causes resistance in the travel of the pedal, on the way down (which is less easy to spot as you exert force with your foot and just push it through the pokint of resistance) but also on the way up, which causes the pedal to stay where it is as you don't exert any force then.

Probably just another $ 0,50 little spring or some other part that should have cost $ 1 but the contract probably went to the lowest bidder with matching material and quality. Another bit of the inheritance perhaps of that Spanish gentleman who almost bankrupted VW by squeezing the part and component suppliers too hard?

Ivo

That's pretty much what Toyota says is the problem. They have come up with what they say is a permanent fix for the problem which amounts to attaching a "shim" to the pedal assembly to substitute for the worn away material. It sounds pretty makeshift to me and I can't imagine Toyota owners feeling totally comfortable with it. They will probably want to get rid of their cars sooner than they normally would which will have the affect of decreasing the value of used Toyotas.

The advice given to those who find themselves in the predicament of a stuck open throttle says something about decisions made by Saab designers years ago. That advice is to turn off the ignition (or press the start/stop button if the car has one), shift into neutral, and stand on the brake with both feet (assuming the car has an automatic transmission and therefor a wide brake pedal). The reason that extreme force is required on the brake pedal is that with a stuck open throttle engine intake manifold vacuum drops so that the vacuum brake booster becomes ineffective.

Some advise against turning off the ignition out of concern that in a panic the driver might turn the key too far and cause the steering to lock. This is why, when given the choice between the requirement of locking the steering or locking the gearshift lever, Saab designers chose to lock the gearshift lever. This design feature is to some "quirky" (Is anyone else as tired as I am of hearing "quirky"?), but to me is just smart thinking.

I can never get into a runaway situation with my MY 1991 900 or my MY 1993 900s; not only because I have an old fashion cable (pretty much obsolete) operated throttle but because these cars have real power brakes like diesel cars have, with a pump and accumulator and therefor no requirement for engine vacuum to stop the car.

Here is a tip for designers of "drive by wire cars": Ground the throttle actuator through the brake lights. That way when the brake pedal is depressed and the brake light switch is closed a blocking voltage will stop current through the actuator and cause the throttle to close. Remember, you heard it first from me right here on saabsunited.com.