Achieved on a clear autobahn, by an experienced autobahn driver in his new Saab 9-5.
The display of this photo is not a challenge. It’s merely a statement of capability (and there was some left, too, but the car is still quite new). The car is a 9-5 Aero V6 with Hirsch tuning to 330hp.
The drive was a 500km drive to Berlin, during which the car averaged 11.3 litres per 100km.
Thanks to GerritV.
Swade, we won’t try this at home. Only on the Autobahn…
🙂
I feel very much at home on the Autobahn!
does that really say 267 kph? That’s like 165mph, right? My American brain is not believing what it is seeing.
267 kph = 166 mph, yes. About 21 mpg.
Impressive.
I Like!
Remember I was a tad disappointed when I was unable to engage the cruise control over 200 kmh in my 1996 900 SE Coupe…. Did you try that on the new 9-5?
It should work. When I drove from Berlin to Munich a few years ago in my 9-3 SC TiD I did most of the trip with cruise control set to 210 kph because of winter tires.
I would think so. I had a Sensonic years ago and had a nice ride from Hanau to Giessen (german Autobahn from Franfurt area to Hannover) with speed control. Locked in at around 205 km/h. It was funny to see the turbo gauge going up and down by taking the hills up and down.
Windshield glare sucks
Sick!
Almost enough for a take-off ey? 🙂
I bet it looked real slick on that highway.
I think Saab should go to Talledega again and see how fast these cars can run all day and night.
How fast could a tweeked 2.0 go with that really tall diesel 6 speed ?
As working alot with photos, my only reaction is: I hope the driver wasn’t the one taking the photo while driving at that speed. 😉 😉
Next time, let a person in the rear seat take the photo, and as Jörgen from SUHRT says, ad an extra GPS as aid to confirm the speed.
But darn.. that’s fast….
I am not too bothered by 267 km/h on an empty Autobahn, but how sensible is it actually to operate a camera at that speed?
Can’t believe that a Blackberry 8900 (had a look on the EXIF Metadata of the pic) takes so good shots at this speed…
Guess that the road between Leipzig and Berlin? I love that road, that’s one of the best roads in Germany to test your Saab… I did 241 km/h (GPS speed) once with our old ’98 Saab 9-5 on that highway.
Wouldn’t it be neat if Saab hid an easteregg in the Aero’s….making the making the naviscreen say take off speed achieved at 200km/h or so….but then again at those speeds you dont want distractions 😉
See this is what I have been saying! You need 300hp. It’s not a want!
But you only can need this power on some german autobahn tracks. for the normal use it´s still useless. and if it is so that s always mentioned. saab people are clever people. 90 or mor e % need no 300 HP (even 200 HP is too much) why should SAAB spent so much money for an minority.
Crazy talk SAAB_andee! rcase13 is right, we all need to drive a buck sixty all over the world! 🙂
Bummer, and here I thought my 145mph was pretty respectable!
So what is it actually capable of?
280 kph?
…I’ll let you know. Next time of course again with another person behind me taking the picture.
Gerrit
Tip: Stick a handheld GPS somewhere with a good signal reception. Switch it on.
After your drive, check the GPS’ statistics page. Garmin features a “dashboard” view where it will display your maximum speed. I’m sure other brands have similar views (except I could not find anything like this in the built-in satnav system).
Not too many Gerrit’s around here.
If your last name has a ‘van’ or ‘von’ in front of it were almost related.
Lucky Germans.
I watched a bit of the Xmas episode of Top Gear (BBC). They were testing a Mercedes, Porsche and Ferrari and had chosen some nice twisties in North Carolina (I think). It was of course scripted, but they ‘discovered’ that the speed limit was 45mph, dropping frequently to 35mph. The speed limits in the US are insane. Try to drive from the West to the East coast, will take you forever.
It took me 52 hours to drive from the East coast to the West coast non-stop. I have done it 5 times in a Penske box truck. In a car (Saab) I’m sure you could do it in less than 50 hours. The speed limit averages 65-75mph on the larger highways, but you can usually go 10mph over that without cops saying anything 🙂 For what it’s worth, the fastest I could get out of the Penske was 82, in neutral on a 12% grade.
I’m wondering how was this photo taken?…
BTW, can this HUD display configured to use proper notation, i.e. km/h and not kelvin*mega-nothing per henry?
Stupendous! Only 2 mph shy of the 168 limit of a W-Rated Tire. I would like to know which
brand, speed rating and tire pressures were used?
Jealous of the car, the tune and the road.
Holy ….! I woulnt have the cajones to drive that fast and 11.3L/100km to boot.
How accurate is the HUD speedo.
Would be nice to know what a standalone GPS would have said.
Has Hirsch programmed a cut off speed limit.
Think that my Hirsch TurboX has a 260 km/h limit.
To the speedo accuracy
Rune says his speedo is 10% off.
To the cut-off limit
I’ve read somewhere that the car has a limit at 260 kph.
Right, it’s electronically limited to 260 kph.
Isn’t it because the speedo is calibrated for the wrong size tyres/wheels?
Does anyone know top speed of a 2.0T 210hp 9-3, 5 speed manual? The US limiter is 130 mph (210 kph). But in Europe…
I once managed 245 kph (logged by GPS) in a 1.8t 9-3 SC that had been Hirsched to about 200 bhp. (on the autobahn, slightly downhill and I’m sure I had the wind in my back — never managed more than 235 kph on subsequent tries during the trip back)
As others have noted… My 9-3 did indeed feel light at that point. 😛
It is a pure matter of suspension.
With a stiff sporty suspension (shocks & coils) the 9-3 feels very stable and safe at very high speeds.
It is a pure matter of suspension.
With a stiff sporty suspension (shocks & coils) the 9-3 feels very stable and safe at very high speeds.
http://inlinethumb58.webshots.com/46649/2960133120101126508S200x200Q85.jpg
My summer gem the 280 BHP 9-3 NG Convertible is equipped with yellow adjustable KONI damper and lower set Eibach coils. On top that it has a MapTun Front strut brace and a Talliaferro Shortshifter. That car is quite a slalom/track handler as well as a freighttrain top down at speeds close to 240 km/h. Then You can feel the wind in Your hair!
— Now I want Swedish winter to end and summer to come
Specifications and pictures of the cars talked about above:
The 9-3 280 bhp Convertible http://www.garaget.org/?car=50440
The 300+ bhp 9-5 SC http://www.garaget.org/?car=1771
The 300 bhp 9-3 Turbo X http://www.garaget.org/?car=110968
Jim, officially its 147mph.
Off topic but I thought this just too cute to keep to myself:
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/the-video-view-from-a-hot-wheels-car/
lol my son loves his hotwheels tracks. You can bet we will be getting this.
I guess you are liviing in Munich or near this Bavarian city and in this report you mention your intention to test another V6 engine later on. Therefore I additionally assume you could have gotten some experiences with the 6-cylinder engines of BMW and Audi in the past. So I would like to ask you if you could give us some comparing impressions not only of the 6-cylinder engines of Saab 9-5, Audi A 6 and BMW 525 but also of the cars´s general behaviour.
How strange must be this discussion to speed limited countries?
To make one thin very clear: A lot of parts of german Autobahns are speed limited to 120/130 km/h or traffic doesn’t allow a 200+ km/h ride. But if we can drive it’s so nice 😉
Here in Sweden, the highest speed allowed is 120 km/h and those roads are quite uncommon. Most highways has either 100 km/h or 110 km/h as the highest allowed speed. 😉
As i was last time in sweden i had no intention to drive faster. It’s such a beautiful country. No time to drive fast. So i didn’t get a ticket at all and showed my old Saab where he comes from 😉
But there were some 95 SCs must have around 160 km/h while overtaking me.
If i remember right there was a part of the highway which is allowed for 120 or 130 km/h on the west coast.
Even if the 9-5 SC was red, it wasn’t me 😉
And yes, a part of the motorway on the west coast on Scania the limit is 130 kph.
My average consume in Sweden 8.5 l/100km, in Germany 10 -10.5l 🙁
so only in easter europe we broke speed limits?
I drove my OG 9-3 at 220 on autobanh after I bough it and then one time at 210 in one Romanian highway with 130 km limit and quite often > 160 km/h in normal roads.
I guess this is because of the average speed wicht can reach 85 km/h (for a road of 120 KM between my current town and my parents one) if I drive quite agresively.
Thats Warp-speed!:)
I maxed the 9-5 V6 Aero (stock, non-Hirsch) at 259 km/h on the HUD. I can confirm from experience that he Opel Insignia OPC with manual is a lot faster above the 240 km/h. I topped the Opel at 267… The extra horses probably help at topspeed for the Hirsch version.
Saabs get just more stable on the road the faster they go.
My 300+ bhp 2002 9-5 with Hirsch bits plus suspension is like an iron at top speed 258 km/h
The Hirsch TurboX is not as stable in those speeds. Not bad but the 9-5 feels better.
—-
Would be nice if GM would allow Saab to make a 480 bhp that maybe could reach 300 km/h….. Dreams!!!
“Saabs get just more stable on the road the faster they go.”
That’s one of the things that surprised me when I first got the Saab. I figured that a car that was so pointy and manoeuvrable at city speeds would be a handful at higher speeds, but the opposite happens.
This is one of my favorite things about my 9-5. Every time I get it on the interstate and open her up i am reminded why I love Saab so much. Mid range power has always been a Saab trademark. It’s nice to see reviews that still praise the new 9-5’s mid range punch.
What can we say? Saabs are cars well designed to be strong in many situations.
I would be careful with the post 2003 9-3 though. The 9-5 (old and new) is mostly kept on the road by its weight. The 9-3 has to rely on down force at high speeds, of which there is just not enough, see Jorgen’s remark about the Turbo-X.
Hi Jörgen,
I owned an 300 HP Hirsch OG 9.5 before and you can’t compare this cars. The feel of the NG 9.5 is much better, it is 100 % more stable and less noisy than the OG one; I always thougt to ride a bullet. The car is even more stable and smoothy than an MB 500 4-matic Coupe which I drove several times on the same route to Berlin.
Gerrit (without van or von)
I love how we are having an open discussion about how fast these cars can really go. I also love how few people have responded with the typical “it is unnecessary” comments 🙂 This summer I went on a cruise up Mt. Washington in New Hampshire (it was documented on here) and in the 55mph zones, we were still averaging 80mph. Saab people just love to drive!