Recently in Saabology Category

Hi all,

The website's upgrade preparation is pretty much complete now. Am just waiting for Andrew the IT guy to get a moment so he can flick the switch. The site might be offline for a little bit when it happens and it won't look like a million dollars when it comes back online as there'll be a few things I have to do.

But, given a few hours to work on things after the switch, all should be OK. You won't see huge changes but there will be some tweaks and hopefully more enhancements should roll out over time.

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Please feel free to go and vote on the Saab 900 featured in today's installment of Nice Price or Crack Pipe, over at Jalopnik.

With nearly 3,000 votes lodged, it's a clear lead to the 'Nice Price' option. It's quite possibly a little overpriced, actually, but it's a nice car and doesn't deserve the Crack Pipe moniker.

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CNET has a nice re-hash of a story that came up on Automotive News late last week.

Good reading.

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This Viggen on auction at Ebay Australia has some damage to the gearbox and a blown headgasket, hence the current price of just $2,000.

I think the gearbox and headgasket problems are just a diversion, though. What they don't tell you in the description is that you'll also need new corneas after looking at that interior!!!!!

How the hell did that happen???

And it looks so sweet and innocent from the outside.

Thanks to AussieLars for the link.

I first heard from Lars S a few weeks ago. He was about to buy a black Saab 9-3 from his local dealer and was quite excited about it.

He's got it now and has sent through one of my favourite ever owners reviews:

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Now I've had the car for a couple of weeks so I think it might be time for a little review or report. Let's start with a list of things I don't like with the car:

1. I have discovered that every time I drive it, sooner or later I reach my destination and have to stop and step out.
2. Well, I guess that's it.

To get a bit serious, this car is absolutely stunning, and being a Saab fan I can't find any disturbing weaknesses at this point. Just like the 99, this is absolutely a car for people enjoying to drive.

One funny thing about the 9-3 is that some people seem to think that it might be a civilian police-car. The Swedish police often use black Saabs for that purpose, as you might know, so it isn't totally unlogical that some drivers seem to be watching out a bit when I end up behind them. Even some bikers with Japanese sport bikes held a speed slightly below the limit, and that rarely happens.

Speaking of the 99, I make sure to drive it at least once every week. That car still knows how to put a smile on my face despite the arrival of its younger relative.

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Congratulations to Lars on the purchase and I'm pleased to hear it's going so well!

It sounds like that II Antique Saab Convention in Poland over the weekend was a big success. There were around 160 Saabs in attendance with 60 or so of those being of the vintage kind.

The show was held in Mosina, a town of just 12,000 people, so it's no surprise that the near-200 cars in attendance (whilst a Saab event, there were several other brands there, too) filled the town square to overflowing.

The guest of honour, of course, was none other than Mr Saab, Erik Carlsson, who made himself available to all comers. I'm told that whilst Erik was ferried around in a new Saab 9-3x courtesy of the local Saab dealer, his first instinct upon leaving the airport was to head for a red Saab 96 in the carpark!

And it looks like there were some very nice Red Saabs there for him to choose from:

The Polish Saab Community can be justifiably proud for hosting such an event, especially on the back of them having one of the highest attendances of all the Saab Support Convoys. The primary organisers were Krzysztof R and his daughter, Paulina, both Saab nuts and members of the rather informal Vintage Saab Club in Poland.

Bravada tells me that there a number of other countries represented there, too, most notably the Finns. Congratulations to all who attended and made this event a success.

There are some great photos here at Justyn's blog, here at Picasa, as well a collection of seven videos here.

Attendees voted for the most elegant Saab present, with this Sonett and Saab 95 taking home the chocolates.

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Thanks very much to Justyn, Bravada for the details and Robert W for pics.

UPDATE below

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Hi all,

Work on the update is progressing well.

I thought I'd bring this question from comments on to the front page so that any of you can provide your experience to help out:

.....could someone who owns a current generation 9-3 tell me is a Bluetooth phone option worth its money? I'd like to order a 9-3 this year, and [am] thinking about adding Bluetooth to the configuration, but it costs almost 650 Euros. Several people I asked say it doesn't work well - is that true?

A few have already chimed in via comments with their opinion on how it works (seems to go quite well, according to them).

If you've got any experience, please let us know.

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As noted in comments, a large part of any operational problems appears to be concerned with phones rather than the Bluetooth system in the Saab 9-3.

Thanks to Saab99 in comments, you can access a PDF showing the various phones tested by Saab and their compatibility with the system.

We've got a little bit of news from everywhere today.....

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Australia - work is underway on the next evolution of SU. There will be some big changes under the hood but for you, the reader, it should be mostly business as usual. Hopefully a few extra functions along the way.

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Sweden (but for everyone) - If you're after a bit more poke from your Saab, then get ready for another excellent Maptun offer. Coming later today.

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Netherlands - new Saab 9-5 spotted on the A12 on the way back from Schipol (Youtube). Remco says it looks fantastic on the road.

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Switzerland - Saab meets tram. Not a good ending for this Turbo X, but the driver was reportedly OK. Just a little shaken.

I don't know what Kroum's on about in comments, talking about France ;-)

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Italy - There's another car rally happening at the moment, a mini-Mille-Miglia, if you will. It's called the Coppa dei tre Laghi (Cup of the Three Lakes) and it's going on in northern Italy.

Whilst you can't see them in this pic, there are two Saab 96s in the event, one being driven by the head of the Italian Saab Club, Mr Franco Stupia. www.saabnews.it has the full run down (in Italian).

That's some nice company they're keeping.

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France - Etienne has some links to a nice Saab/Spyker display in France. Looks like a very good crowd there.

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Sweden - spotted recently by a young bloke named Jonas on his way to school in Karlstad.......

I hope it didn't run out of electricity.

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China - Beijing Automotive are preparing to do an IPO for their passenger vehicle division, a division that's now been bolstered with the addition of Saab vehicles to its range.

With the integration of Saab's technology proceeding as planned, BAIC now expects its sales to climb 21 percent to 1.5 million vehicles this year. To solve its production constraint, BAIC is currently building six plants with annual capacity of 1.3 million vehicles that will be made with Saab's technology, Wang said.

They are numbers that Saab could only dream about. They have to get the new 9-5 there soon.

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Everywhere - For those of you who have a soft spot for the other Swedish brand (the big one, not Koenigsegg), Jalopnik have a nice poster featuring the evolution of the Volvo wagon.

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And a final link for the Dragon Tattoo fans..... could this be the real world Lisbeth Salander? Much more serious, though, and without the girly parts, of course.

The people at Auto Motor and Sport have the absolute best jobs in the world. I've been to their offices and whilst they're not quite...... glamorous (hi guys), they're full of happy people who get to play with cars and write about it for a living. OK, the fifth Toyota test drive trip might become tedious, but still.....

One of those great jobs would have been heading down to Italy and photographing the Mille Miglia.

Naturally there are plenty of photos of Victor Muller and Jan-Ake Jonsson's respective vehicles, including one that maybe JAJ would prefer they hadn't taken..... which is precisely while I'll feature it here :-)

Make sure you check out the gallery.

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My apologies to all interested parties for not getting on to this sooner. I didn't realise it was coming up so close.

Saabs @ Carlisle is one of the premier events on the US Saab Owner's calendar and it's on this weekend - from the 21st to the 23rd May. Saabs @ Carlisle is hosted by the Central Penn Saab Club and is part of the larger Carlisle Import and Kit Nationals show at the Carlisle Fairgrounds.

Some info on the event passed on to me by Allan H:

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Every year the Central Penn SAAB Club hosts North America's largest regional Saab event as part of Carlisle Events' Import & Kit Nationals.

It's called SAABs@Carlisle and for eight years running, owners of new and vintage Saabs have brought home the event Participation Award for the greatest number of any single make of automobile in attendance. Last year, 183 Saabs were present -- more than 2nd place Volvo and 3rd place Audi combined. This is quite an achievement when you see just how many cars of all makes are present at this show every year.

2010 marks SAABs@Carlisle's 10th anniversary, and with Saab now virtually assured of a bright future, the Central Penn SAAB Club is optimistic that even more Saabs will show up than ever before. It looks like the club has set up a great event for this year, with the standard People's Choice awards, the classic SAABarbecue dinner on Saturday night, and an all-new Drive In Movie Night. Popcorn is even included!

As an added incentive, Carlisle Events is giving away a car on Sunday. Upon entry to the event, you'll be given a "Giveaway Car" ticket and you must be present on Sunday at 3pm to win. SAABs@Carlisle is also a great place to find parts or even a deal on a whole car.

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Related links:

• Central Penn Saab Club
- good for maps and programs for the event
• Cars @ Carlisle
• Saabs @ Carlisle on Facebook

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I posted earlier today about concerns with leasing prices in the United States. Some of those lease figures in the post are indeed worrisome for some prospective purchaers, but there's also some other things to consider.

First, the fact that that story looked only at one model without taking a look at other offers (it was the one that I had brought to my attention).

The following is a clipping of an ad that's been appearing in some New York newspapers in the last few days. Click to enlarge.

Those numbers look a little closer to what people expect. The 9-3 2.0T is a pretty well equipped car. It's the volume seller and that looks more like a volume seller price for this market.

Other things:

The zero-down prices offered by some of the premium Euro marques are tempting to many (which is what they're supposed to be) and they result in a reasonable market share for them. BUT they also result in high default rates when conditions tighten up and the lessee who aspired to something really nice (but risky) can no longer afford what looked like a reasonable risk at the time.

There is a 'want' factor with Saabs for many Saab customers. I'm not suggesting that Saab are trying to cash in on that. I don't think they would dare, nor even dare think they have that luxury. But personally speaking, if I was choosing between a Saab and something else at $100/mo the difference, I'd buy the Saab. If I couldn't afford it, I'd hold on for another deal if my circumstances allowed.

Like I said in the first post on this issue, there's a lot of structures in this new life for Saab that have to settle. Leasing, pricing and the market is examples of these. There's no need to shout.

Thanks to Hugh for the clipping.

This might be the first bad news post of the new Saab age.

Concerns with Saab leasing first popped up on my radar a few weeks ago when one of our regular readers here, Jose N, sent me a scan of a lease ad from a newspaper in Florida.

We don't do a lot of leasing here in Australia so I'm not totally up to speed on the structure or value, so here are Jose's thoughts about this in an email to me.....

I wanted to bring your attention towards the 9-3 Convertible lease offer. $599/month plus tax. This is on a $45k sticker vehicle, so its pretty well equipped. The fine print reads 48 months, 12k miles a year, with $4880 total out of pocket at signing.

As sweet as this vehicle is, its NOT competitively priced.

The Collection Audi is offering a A5 convertible for $499/month, 12k/year, 36 months with ZERO down. South Motors BMW is offering a 328 convertible for $459/month, 12k year, 36 months with $3400 out of pocket and free maintenance. Lexus is the least competitive with their IS250 convertible lease, which is offered at $499/month, 12k year, 48 months and $5k down.

Jose's a potential customer, but he's not the only one writing to me about this. There are a number of Saab dealers very concerned about leasing as well.

One of them wrote to me, stating in no uncertain terms that dealers were really concerned about the lease deals they had to offer to customers. We've had a few chime in through comments as well:

The next topic to be addressed is leasing... the numbers on a car like the 9-3 convertible are absurdly high, principally due to miniscule residual values set by GMAC.The inference I draw from this is they don't believe the Spyker/Saab experiment will succeed. Hence they cover their butts with residual values lower by 20 to 30 pct.pts. than ever seen on any Saab product. $750/$800 lease payments will be the basis of a self-fulfilling prediction of failure. We have to be market competitive especially in Saabs most important U.S.sales regions: the New England Northeast and Middle Atlantic corridor.

The option to lese is not enough. It has to be a payment that is realistic. Not giveaway fire-sale style, but an honest straight-up lease payment.

Saab's leasing deal has just come through and is offered by GMAC. It's good that there is a lease facility as that's an important sales tool in the dealers' arsenal.

It's not good, however, that the prices have been jacked up so much. This is basically a reflection of lower residual values being factored in by the lease company and it would seem that Saab (either corporate or in North America) has not tried, or been unable to offer that lease company any assurances as to the residual.

A lease cost is based upon the cost of the car being sold, the residual value (i.e. the value at lease end) and the cost of the money used to finance it (i.e. the interest rate). The big factor here is the difference between the cost of the car and the residual value.

It's understandable to a degree that Saab residuals would have fallen in the minds of a third party financier given that Saab's reputation was slaughtered by sale process GM put them through last year.

But it's been suggested to me that Saab could have an effect on those residuals.

Saab can influence the price by giving more margin to the dealer who then discounts the sale, or giving lease support to reduce the sale price to either the dealer or the consumer. Saab can influence the residual by supporting the residual. This would involve a Saab guarantee to the leasing company on the value at lease end. Saab can also influence the money rate by paying the lessor the difference between the market rate and the new reduced selling rate.

The big problem is that if leases are not competitive enough to woo customers, then the dealers will be left with vehicles on their lots, the order banks will be at zero and Saab will be forced to do something drastic. Some sort of incentive laden "Fire Sale" has been the pattern in the past, but I think all concerned are hoping to get out of that GM mentality.

Hopefully the decision makers have taken off their GM hats. Saab have been sold and all concerned have struggled to get this far. It would be a terrible shame if all that effort couldn't result in actual sales.