The Four-Seasons Saab Convertible – Part 3

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Here’s another entry celebrating the year-round adaptability of the Saab Convertible – a car built for winter conditions and lots of summer fun!

Martin D is a big fan of the classic yellow Saab convertible. In fact, he’s got a few of them in the family and has sent through a few images of them. As you can see, they both get regular use, no matter how cold the season!

Click to enlarge.

Parked top-down in the snow….

Brrrr…..

Picking up the Christmas Tree…..

At a skiing holiday….

At the Saab Support Convoy in Russelsheim….

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My thanks to Martin for the images.

I’ve got a bunch more, too. It seems there are a LOT of people who love their winter convertibles 🙂

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13 thoughts on “The Four-Seasons Saab Convertible – Part 3”

  1. Love the yellow convertibles…. simply yummy. It makes a bold statement without, in my opinion, being obnoxious. Hauling the Christmas tree in one makes it a true SUC (Sport Utility Convertible).

  2. Hallo Martin!
    Freu mich über die praktischen Eigenschaften deines/eures Cabrios, – und dass ich dich hier wieder entdeckt habe…

    Gruß,
    Martin, Bad Ischl

    • http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/as-convertible-tops-drop-risk-of-hearing-loss-rises/?hpw

      Sent out this link yesterday already, but it got snowed under.

      But seriously, this seems like a pretty thorough study. What it comes down to is that you shouldn’t drive faster than 55mph with the top down. The Saab was the quietest with the top up, of course that is a useless statement in a study about top down driving.

      Any convertible drivers here that want to share their thoughts? OR SHOULD I SPEAK _L_O_U_D_E_R_?

        • Probably it will help a bit. A targa design would be even better. What it definitely doesn’t help with is the noise coming from passing traffic. For instance, in NY state the noise level laws are not enforced at all. The noise levels of motorcycles can easily be above 100dB, i.e. a level where extended exposure can lead to hearing loss. If you’re driving with the top down in heavy traffic for extended periods of time, the surrounding traffic will be a bit part of the noise ‘load’ that you’re experiencing. It’s probably a good idea to raise the windows in traffic.

          • Ah – good that you mentionned the raised windows. I was assuming that they tested it with raised windows, but you’re probably quite right that they did it with lowered windows. I would love to see some figures of raised windows and wind deflector combined. For what it’s worth, I recently tested the BMW 1 convertible, Volvo C70 and 9-3 convertible side by side, and it struck me that with the top down (but raised windows) the 9-3 appeared to be the quitest.

  5. Hi Swade,

    Thanks for posting. To be honest, I do not run more than one Saab in my family.
    The first car shown is the predecessor of the “skiing” convertible.

    In Germany only convertibles are/were available in yellow and when the new 9.3 appeared in 2004, I didn’t like the lime yellow too much, but I didn’t give up hope:
    First step was to run a small poll in two German forums (one about Saabs and one about convertibles) to ask people which color they like more.
    A guy did a photoshop job to virtually paint a new 9.3 monte-carlo-yellow, so people could see the difference clearly.
    And guess what, the poll had a very clear tendency towards monte!
    There was even another guy writing to Saab Germany whether a monte yellow would come available for the new 9.3.
    But Saab Germany let us down by saying “No plans for a monte yellow 9.3 body paint”

    In 2006 I was quite close to buying one of the electric blue Anniversary edition convertibles, but I didn’t do it in the end.

    Finally, at the end of 2007 I read the exciting news that Saab is gonna bring a new yellow for the convertible.
    It did not take too long to sign an order for this great car, and I did not regret that for a second ever since!
    🙂

  8. I am confused. Being new to the Saab world (bought a 2008 9-5 cpo ss) I am curious what the fuss is all about a 4 seasons saab converible? Couldn’t any convertible on the market with fwd and heated seats brave four seasons? No offense to Vauxhall/Opel 9–3 owners out there I just do not see what is exciting about having ice and sludge flying around one’s head at 50 mph. Especially in a Vauxhall convertible. The body quivering alone in that platform is enough to send shivers up my spine. I test drove a 2007 9-3 ‘ vertible at a Maryland dealer in February once and golly that is no joy machine, IMHO.

    However the 9-5 has body shudder but much less like the Parkinsonian 9-3.

  9. @9-5love:
    Of course, many other 4 seater convertibles could stand winter seasons.
    But this is a SAAB enthusiast’s forum, so why shouldn’t we share our pictures of SAAB convertibles used in winter time?

    And for the current 9.3 convertible: maybe it shares some parts with Vauxhall/Opel, but neverheless it is a great car with great looks, riding comfort, turbo fun and so on.
    And it does not quiver more than other convertibles (the old 9.3 made until 2003 really did quiver, I can tell you!).

    But as you said, in your humble opinion it is no joy machine.
    In my humble opinion it is the most driving fun I ever had in 30 years of motoring with 9 cars I owned (including 5 convertibles: Volkswagen Beetle, Ford Escort, Alfa Spider, Saab 9.3-I and now Saab 9.3-II)

    I hope you can enjoy your 9.5 (a great car IMHO although I never drove one)

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