Video: Saab HUD and Traffic Signal recognition
June 11, 2010 in Uncategorized
A short video of the Saab Head-Up Display starting up, then in operation, as well as the traffic signal recognition system.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVekffxj5QE
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You are browsing the archive for 2010 June.
by Swade
by Swade
Saab 9-5 SU review: part 1
June 10, 2010 in News
This is going to be a tough one (and a long one). The weight of expectation is pretty high and even more importantly, there’s a heck of a lot of information to get out there.
So how do you go about reviewing what is probably the most important vehicle launch in Saab’s history?
First, you have to look at it in perspective.
Yesterday we did a factory tour and much like the Saab Factory Tour that I did back in 2007, I saw cars going down the line and people working at putting them together. I saw hundreds of cars in the carpark and people/vehicles moving around constantly from place to place. The perpetual buzz of a big manufacturing company in action.
Whilst the 9-5 is the main story here at Saab right now, there is a second story for the press to see this week – Saab is alive!
Seeing all that movement around the factory yesterday, it would be easy to forget that just a matter of a few months ago, this place was under severe threat of extinction. In fact, it was effectively idle for 10 weeks (seven with no production and three whilst it ramped up to recommence). 2010 is only just over five months old as I write this, and for nearly half that time, the Saab plant was effectively idle.
So to see two ranges of vehicles on the production line, and one of them a brand new model, is a significant story in itself and a testimony to the work that was done to save this company at the executive level, and the work done to actually get the wheels turning again on the factory floor.
Having set the scene, we’re still talking about a car here and this car has to sell in various markets of the world. To do that, it has to appeal to customers and it must provide them with an experience that will make them happy to be back in a new Saab again.
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So what of the new 9-5?
I’ll talk more specifically about the variations that I drove in subsequent entries, but here’s my overview of the model itself.
by Swade
Rumourmill: Saab looking to BMW for engines, transmissions
June 10, 2010 in News
A few days ago, Jan-Erik Berggren from Gothenburg had a quote from Saab’s Powertrain guru, Kjell AC Bergstrom, pointing to some possibility of Saab partnering with companies ‘to the south’ in various ways.
A Dutch newspaper has indicated today that that company could be BMW. Googletrans:
Saab goes into the sea with BMW
They themselves still keep their lips tightly [closed]. But it now seems certain that Saab, approximately three months after the restart, has taken serious steps to get away from ……GM technology.
CEO Victor Muller will apparently soon change. A number of signs – such as visits by management to Munich – notes that the Dutch-Swedish car builder [plans to] partner with BMW. It is obvious that the focus after the first step in component could focus on engines, transmissions and Environment (technologies?) of the German premium brand. The idea of cooperation in the field of [a planned] small Saab imposes itself.
Bear in mind that this is some speculation on their part, but it’s what you might call well reasoned speculation.
Saab do want to move to other partners for engines and architectures and BMW would be a good one to move with. I believe that one of the Swedish motoring publications shone some light on similar rumours a few months ago, so it’s fair to say that evidence is gathering.
It’d be a great move for Saab, especially with a smaller Saab planned but not yet paid for. To partner with a company known for its engines almost as much as for it’s chassis would be quite a coup. It helps BMW move a little more volume in their powertrain and it allows Saab to cut development costs.
But until it’s official, it’s all speculation. The rumours are mounting but they’re still just rumours until there’s an announcement of some sort.
Thanks to Tim W for the link.
by Swade
Video: Saab 9-5 Infotainment System
June 10, 2010 in Uncategorized
I got one of the product specialists, Mikael Jakobsson, to walk me through all the electronic goodies available on the new Saab 9-5.
I drove a fully equipped V6 car on Tuesday and the integration of the electronics was a real feature, especially as I was driving by myself in a foreign country and was quite reliant on the information provided to me via the car. It all worked seamlessly, as advertised, and became one of the real unexpected highlights of the car for me.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF0UGsLcB_0
The menu systems are grouped in a smart way – can you call it ergonomics when it involves menu systems? I learned to use most of this stuff whilst driving, such is the intuitive nature of the systems.
Other items that we didn’t cover in the video are the Head-Up Display and some of the systems that run through the dashboard’s display.
For example, the speed sign recognition system, which reads speed-zone signs as you drive along and then displays the appropriate speed limit on the central dashboard display (it works brilliantly and is a bigger than expected help).
Then there’s the Head-Up Display, which shows important information projected on to the windscreen. It’s a great way to monitor your speed, but the biggest benefit I received from the HUD was the ability to see SatNav instructions right there in front of me whilst I was driving. Outstanding!
Autoblog were a little critical of the HUD because you can see subtle reflections of the actual HUD projector around the HUD information you see on the windscreen. I can see where they’re coming from, but it wasn’t prominent and the benefits provided by the HUD system far outweigh the fact that you notice something on the periphery of your view. To their credit, Saab have said they’re taking notice and will work to refine the system as time progresses.
My thanks to Mikael, who I’ll hopefully meet again when it comes time to review the Saab 9-4x as he’s the product manager for that vehicle 
by Swade
Video: Saab 9-5 XWD and DriveSense (test track mayhem!)
June 10, 2010 in Uncategorized
Last time I attended an event like this, I did a video in the first Saab 9-3 with XWD, with Kenneth Backlund from the Saab Performance Team. Kenneth was there again today, but frankly, after this drive with Stefan Rundquist from Saab, I was too queasy/shaky/stunned to even think about a lap with Kenneth.
Don’t take that in a bad way. What Stefan did in this car was demonstrate something approaching the extraordinary capabilities of the Saab XWD system.
You’ll hear the rain and see the wipers. This track was incredibly wet today. We were in a 2.8T V6 Saab 9-5 and on some of these long sweeping corners were doing up to 150km/h and the car was totally rock solid – totally.
You’ll see in some sections that Stefan is actually steering quite sharply and trying to induce some forced oversteer (at over 100 km/h on a bend) and the tyres just dig in, shift the power around and keep the car stable.
It really was an incredible eye-opener as to what this car can do. I’ve mentioned already that to me, the V6 version of the 9-5 seems more like a smooth cruiser, that it doesn’t invite you to really test its limits. I think this video shows that despite its long touring credentials, this car is capable of handling whatever tests you might throw its way.
The video is from a handheld camera so it does move around a little with the frequent changes in momentum and motion, but hopefully you’ll still get a good sense of what’s going on.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiBb4DFmvWQ
My sincere thanks to Stefan for the ride – now I know how Saab felt back in 2009!
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by Swade
Video: Saab Factory Tour
June 10, 2010 in Uncategorized
To kick off day 2 of the Saab 9-5 launch program, they took us around for a quick tour of the factory. I had my still camera out for the first few minutes and then figured that was quite useless – and if we were allowed to bring in still cameras, then we could probably take video as well.
So I did.
We were driven around in a little cart with a bunch of seating buggies pulled behind, reasonably low to the ground, which is why things get blocked occasionally. The cart rarely (if ever) stopped, too, so it’s not the greatest video in the world, but hopefully it should give you some idea of what goes on there.
I believe the girl providing the commentary is the daughter of Saab’s marketing director, Knut Simonsson. That’s keeping it in the family for you!
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSsXftrMUy8
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httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYRfx5_dUos
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by Swade
Trollhattan Visit – Day 3 notes
June 10, 2010 in Saabology
I did several important things today.
First, I drove the 2.0T version of the new Saab 9-5.
Second, I drove the 9-3x.
Reasons why they’re important will come out in the road test reports (of which there will probably be a few). What I can tell you now is that the 2.0T version of this car is going to make a lot of people very, very happy.
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Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to drive the diesel. I had one car yesterday (the V6) and one car today (the 2.0T). The test track cars were all the same – six V6s all with the same spec level – so we couldn’t drive the road cars we were driving.
Whilst I’m disappointed to not be able to comment on it directly from my own drive, the common theme that I heard is that a base model diesels with the normal chassis that were driven by journalists lacked some prowess in terms of handling because they didn’t have the chassis improvements that were fitted to the petrol models.
There was talk of excessive body roll in the corners, etc.
I’ll talk more about this later.
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We were at the Volvo test track today. Saab have their own small track in Trollhattan, but Volvo’s is a full test track with all kinds of roads and conditions simulated there. Saab has an annual contract with Volvo for use of this track and they now even have their own facilities building there.
We did a handling course and I can tell you that if today didn’t prove the virtues of XWD to the German press corps, then nothing will. It was raining all day, so we had a very wet track. Combine that with the daring of the Saab Performance Team drivers and XWD and you can probably understand why I’m about 3kg lighter right now.
Video coming soon.
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If you’ve ever doubted how seriously safety is taken at Volvo, then this should give you a good idea.
There is no smoking allowed at the Volvo test facility – indoors or outdoors. They did allow Saab to set up a small smoking area near the hospitality tent, however.
Two ashtrays, and three fire extinguishers!
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Saab factory tour on video?
Coming up!
The quality isn’t great as we were in a moving factory tour train, but hopefully it’ll still be worth seeing.
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Lots of writing and processing to do. Lots and lots still to come.
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by Swade
Saab 9-5 on handling track
June 10, 2010 in Uncategorized
I went for a ride with Stefan today, but it was not like this.
For a start, it was very very wet.
This video’s a great look at the car on the track and it gives a good overview of the new suspension system in the new Saab 9-5.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOqThNaCG_Y
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This is an official video made by the experts contracted by Saab (G’day Charlie, et al). My video will make you sick with the way the camera was thrown around the cabin. Geez, it was fun.
by Swade
Trollhattan Visit – Day 2 notes
June 9, 2010 in Saabology
The first day of our Saab 9-5 drive is done and dusted and it’s been a truly pleasurable day. I’m glad I got that initial drive impression up on the site because it’s been so hectic with this program, with so many people to meet, that it would have been a long time between posts otherwise.
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With all due respect to the many good reviews that have been written about the Saab 9-5 so far, this Saab 9-5 review from Autoblog is something to check out.
It came in via Mo in comments and as is mentioned by a few people there, this is definitely the most comprehensive and balanced piece I’ve read in the last 2 weeks.
Kudos to Chris Paukert for an excellent piece. His thoughts echo many of my own, but I’ll get to more on those later.
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The 9-5 that I drove today had a testament to the caution I tend to express over cars being over-laden with gadgets, thereby reducing the role that people feel they need to play in the management of a vehicle.
There’s a small dent on the car that I drove, on the rear of the car just to the left of the Aero badge. Apparently one of the journalists who drove the car in the last few days backed the car up, relying on the parking sensors to warn him of obstacles and neglecting to look in his mirrors.
My understanding is that behind the car was some sort of railing that was on top of a thin post. The post was too thin to be picked up by the relative position of the sensor and likewise, the railing along the top was too high up. Bang!
Having driving aids present doesn’t mean one is exempt from paying attention.
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I took the Saab 93 that Victor Muller drove in the Mille Miglia for a lap around the Saab plant today. What a car!
Funkier than a sack full ‘o grandpappies.
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I was also fortunate to sit at the VM table at dinner tonight. VM was holding court with members of the German press and there was a great deal of discussion going on, mostly in German. They all seemed to be quite engaged and interested in the Saab story, though. Good signs.
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I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of selecting a little gift for Jan-Ake Jonsson on my way here, as a gesture of appreciation on behalf of the SU community. I had hoped to give it to him earlier tonight, but the chance passed me by. I’ll get it to him tomorrow some time. Photos will hopefully follow.
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I believe that Jan-Erik Berggren is on to something when he speaks of south-bound airplanes. Similar news was mentioned in another Swedish motoring publication some time ago and I believe it’s correct.
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I asked one expert here today the much awaited question – will there eventually be a manual option for the Saab 9-5 V6?
His reply “I believe there could be”
Me: “Can I quote you on that?”
Him: “Maybe not….”
The jury is still out, but I’ll keep asking around.
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Saab did over 2,000 simulated crash tests on the Saab 9-5. When you consider that there’s adjustments to the parameters of the car or the conditions of the crash test, that’s a heck of a lot of testing.
And that’s before you get into the wanton destruction caused by physical testing.
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More Saab 9-5 HiPer Strut for those who are interested…..
Whilst the same system also features in the OPC version of the Insignia, the Saab version is tuned quite differently, with specially selected bushes, dampers and settings particular to Saab.
Interestingly, the designated expert for the suspension area on the 9-5 launch is none other than Peter Johansson, the guy who was also behind the development of Saab’s XWD system.
There are some people at Saab who’s blood should be bottled and preserved. Peter’s one of them.
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I’ve got some great video to process tomorrow, taking you on a walk-through of the whole infotainment system. It’s the one area of the car that made the biggest impression on me today.
I’m not a gadget guy at all, but even I was engaged with all this. They really hit the ball out of the park on the technology front. It’s not just the number of features you can select, it’s the way they work and how they’re integrated.
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Tomorrow is the track day and another video with Kenneth Backlund from the Saab Performance Team beckons…….
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I have to be awake in 4 hours and 45 minutes. Time for bed.
Have a great one.
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by Swade
Saab 9-5 Test Drive – First Impressions
June 9, 2010 in Saabology
The first drive leg of the 2-day test drive is over, driving from Landvetter airport in Gothenburg to the Saab Launch Center in Trollhattan.
My allotted car was the big daddy – the 2.8T V6 Aero with XWD and every other three-letter-acronym you can ask for.
This is just a quick impression whilst I’m waiting for the presentation here at the Launch Center. And that quick impression is……. superb!
I’ve got heaps of photos and a little video, all of which I’ll get to later. But I can tell you this much right now:
by Swade
Trollhattan visit – This is Saab 9-5 Drive Day!
June 8, 2010 in Saabology
Today is Drive Day!
By the time you read this, I’ll be on my way (in a new 9-5) to Landvetter Airport in Gothenburg, which is where it all starts.
I’ll be joining members of the Irish and German automotive press, so it should be interesting, to say the least. The car is aimed at the Audi A6 and Saab make no bones about this in their presentation. The fun part will be listening to some of the German press’ follow-up questions.
We have a briefing at Landvetter, then a drive to Trollhattan for the presentation that I saw when I was at the launch center yesterday. All the really fun driving on the test track takes place tomorrow.
There will be a number of Saab key personnel at the Saab Launch Center to take questions from the press after the presentation. These will include the big guns in Jan-Ake Jonsson and Victor Muller, as well as key product guys from Design, Infotainment, Safety and Powertrain.
I’ve got most of your questions from the People’s Road Test all ready to go. There’s some I just can’t cover, but I think you should be pretty happy with the outcome.
Tonight there’s a dinner for the press corps, again with some of these big guns. it should be entertaining, especially with the Irish there in force
by Swade
Saab Launch Center
June 8, 2010 in Saabology
The main presentations for the new Saab 9-5 are taking place at the all-new, purpose-built Saab Launch Center at the Saab factory in Trollhattan.
It’s been built not far from the main factory gate, right at the end of the Saab vehicle production line.
There are two meeting areas in the Saab Launch Center. For this presentation, one is being used to seat guests and make the actual presentation, whilst the other (of a similar size) is being used as a refreshments area, as well as doubling as a space for people to talk to the various vehicle specialists that are present at the launch (Safety, Powertrain, Design and Infotainment).
This is the presentation area being used for the 9-5 launch (I didn’t photograph the other side as it’s basically just a big space for the purpose of this launch).
Of course, the big feature of this area is the proximity to the end of the production line. It’s a great illustration of the flexibility of the factory, as today there were 9-5s and 9-3 coming off the line one after the other and visitors to this launch center will be able to witness this first hand.
For the purposes of this launch, when the 9-5 is the main story but Saab’s survival and ongoing work is the second story, this makes for a very powerful illustration.
This launch will be over in a few months from now. They finish the media launch this week and there’s dealer activities, etc.
The Launch Center will remain, however, and it’s future uses will probably be quite interesting. I haven’t heard what they’ll be, but one could easily imagine it being part of the future factory tours at Saab, or a superb meeting venue, or if we dare to dream high enough…… it’d be a great place to take delivery of your new car.
by Swade
Toy Saab featured in Apple iPhone video
June 8, 2010 in Saabology
The new 4th generation iPhone is now public property and they’ve released a video, below, which at around 1:30 shows a kiddie riding around in something very Saab-like.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHngLJ0RlNg
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What she’s actually riding there is a Playsam Saab Roadster ride-on toy. Playsam are a Swedish toy company and they’ve been doing some Saab-inspired toys for many years now.
This ride-on Saab for kids is a particular favourite.
Nice to see it in the Apple video. Hopefully they might graduate to using a big Saab soft-top for the big people some time soon.
Thanks to numerous people for the tip, and sorry for taking so long to get it on-site.
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by Swade
Saab Academy: where mechanics go to learn about servicing new Saabs
June 8, 2010 in Saabology
If I recall correctly, the signs on the wall used to say ‘GM Academy’. That seems like so long ago now.
Today it’s the Saab Academy and it’s where your head service guy (if you’re in Europe) will go to learn how to care for your new Saab 9-5. Other markets will probably have training at a center in their own country, but for the next 7 week or so, European techs will be coming to Trollhattan to learn how to better service these vehicles and take care of their customers.
They’ve got one of each engine variant in the Saab Academy so that the techs can come in and see what they’ll be working with.
There’s a dozen people in each class. The first three days of the week see a three-day comprehensive class take place. The last two days of the week are for groups that have quite a bit of experience with the diagnostic gear used in a wider range of GM brands, so the course is suitably condensed into the shorter time frame.
The cars were complete when I first went in for a look, but they take the cars apart as the course goes on so that they can get a good look – in situ – at all the parts they’ll be dealing with.
There’s a number of shelves on the various benches around the room with individual parts laid out. When they’re looking at the car as a complete unit, it’s handy to have a part you can put your hands on so that you can see it in isolation, as well as attached to the car.
This bench shows a number of black boxes. These are the various computers inside a new 9-5. Not all of these will be in base model cars. The higher the spec of the car, the more computers that are needed for the various electronic systems.
This bench shows everything, i.e. all the computers that would be in a top-spec XWD Aero V6 with eLSD.
This is one HiPerStrut. You can now consider yourself informed.
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My thanks to Bengt at the Saab Academy for taking me on a tour around and explaining things that once again, a layman like me has no right to understand.
by Swade
Trollhattan visit – Day 1 notes
June 8, 2010 in Saabology
I’ll have some more specific subject-related content for you after dinner, but here are some notes from a rather hectic Day 1 (when I wasn’t even officially here!)
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The started with a rather long walk around 9am. It was meant to be a short walk to an electronics store so that I could buy a tripod and a phone. It turned into a long walk because the shops don’t open around here until 10am!
If Sweden’s economy should falter, I have a quick and easy solution – longer opening hours.
At least I could use the exercise and eventually I managed to purchase both items.
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After that little expedition, I walked up to the Saab Museum, where I managed to do a few cool things, both of which will get more air time here in due course.
The first of those was a look around at the Saab Academy:
Training of service personnel has already begun here in Trollhattan and today there were a group of mechanics from around Scandinavia. The class size is around 12 per class and they’re here for three days per group (a more experience technical group get a 2-day class at the end of the week).
That car was photographed directly after lunch and by around 3pm, the front end would be missing from it
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The second cool thing was to have a closer look at more detailed plans for the Saab Festival, which is on next month.
We covered the outline of the Festival a few weeks ago and full plans won’t be revealed for a little while yet, but Peter and the Festival team are doing some extraordinary work getting this together and the program really does look to be fantastic.
If you haven’t booked yet, you really ought to. It’s going to be one heck of a celebration.
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My official participation in the Saab 9-5 drive event isn’t until tomorrow, but that stop me from going up there today and listening in.
Today was for press members from Italy.
I arrived before them and had some quality time with Mikael Jacobsson, who’s the infotainment specialist for the 9-5 presentation (one of the many hats he wears) and he gave me a good run-through the whole system in a 9-5 display car with the top spec equipment in it.
All I can say is that Saab can well and truly back up their claims that they’ve got the technology covered. It’s an absolutely first class system the looks, sounds and works brilliantly.
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The launch center looks fantastic and is a great way to show off to the world press that Saab is here, working and building cars.
This is the actual presentation area…..
Again, more to come later.
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There was one significant disappointment today.
I’ve long been a big fan of the dash panel that was shown in the display cars at Frankfurt, as well as featuring in the initial press photography of this car.
As recently as a few days ago, I talked about this dash as a counterpoint to the description of the interior as ‘gloomy’ by some members of the British press.
I can’t find where I wrote about it, but there was some talk over a month ago that there was a supplier issue with these dash panels. It seems that supplier issue has led to them not being available at this point, which means the 9-5 is going to market without the panel.
It has a flat black surface instead and whilst that doesn’t make it ‘gloomy’, it’s not as nice as the cars I saw with the panel installed, in Frankfurt last year.
The Saab people I spoke to today are working hard with their suppliers to get a solution to this and they hope to offer both this panel and the ice-block panel – sooner rather than later.
The issue is getting large-scale manufacturing of the panel that can produce consistent quality and quantity for the company. They’re not going to do it if it can’t be done right and on the right scale.
Customers who are seeking information about pre-order are made aware of this, so it’s mainly just a surprise for me (and I guess you as well, if SU’s a prime source of info for you).
The interior still looks very good, just not quite as good as what I’ve seen it before.
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Dinner!
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