Monday Snippets
February 21, 2011 in Saabology
For those Swedes who like their cars to be green, Preem are launching a new diesel variant that’s either 16% or 20% more environmentally friendly (depending on how you read the literature).
Describing the development of the product, which hits the market in April, as “unique”, the firm claims that Preem Evolution diesel reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 16 percent due to the fact that a fifth of the raw material is tall oil.
“New thinking on green solutions lies behind the development of the Evolution diesel. The tall oil has hitherto been regarded as waste by the forest industry. Through innovative thinking and co-operation it has been developed into a renewable resource,” the firm said in a statement.
The product is developed from processing a residue extracted from black liquor in pulp mills and is the result of six years of research and costing the firm more than 300 million kronor ($47 million).
The diesel is identical to fossil diesel molecularly, but is made up of 20 percent renewables, thus qualifying it for tax free status in Sweden and thus comparable in price to regular diesel.
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Don’t blink as you’ll miss it, but here’s our mate Etienne and his Saab 99 in the Boucles de Spa over the weekend.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k4AJqABr-w
From what I can tell of the updates on the Saablog-in website, Etienne completed the course and finished 20th of 140 vehicle in the class.
An excellent effort by the world’s happiest Saab fan (anyone who’s met Etienne will know what I mean)
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If you’re in North America (I think it may be cost-prohibitive otherwise and I’d recommend Maptun anyway) and you have a Saab 9-3 V6 and you haven’t already got a solution to your need for a fatter downpipe and midpipe on your exhaust, then some people at SaabCentral would like to hear from you. They’re looking for 25 people to get a job lot made up.
The thread starts here and ‘kanundrum’ from SC got in touch asking if I’d pass the word around. Consider it passed.
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A little while ago I invited you to participate in some Saaby Student Research. A series of questions were posed and I’d like to thank the many people who completed the questionnaire and sent it to me via email.
I can pass on that I did indeed pass them along to Robin M, who in turn passed them over to the young student concerned.
More than that, though, Jette (the young lady conducting the research) went up to Robin’s neck of the woods over the weekend and a group of Southwest Saab Club members got together to provide more answers, and a few photos as well.
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BMW ownership can come at a price some aren’t willing/able to pay here in Australia.
So much so that it actually made the news over the weekend.
BMW is pursuing hundreds of Australians in bankruptcy proceedings over luxury vehicles collectively worth up to $18 million, as dreams of enjoying opulent lifestyles crash.
The social aspirants now face losing their luxury vehicles and possibly their homes to repay massive debts to car financing giant BMW Finance…..
…..The Sunday Herald Sun inspected 32 BMW actions in the Federal Magistrates’ Court, where the debts ranged from $8000 to $190,000, with most in the $30,000-plus range.
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