We have talked about everything on the Saab booth, not everything, because I can’t remember having seen a picture of her. She could be described as most beautiful.
Swade calls her, a car full of coke, or do you thought I was talking about the girl. 😉
Red J
Some of you are asking if the 9-4x will get the same dashboard materials update as the 9-5 MY ’12. The answer is, the 9-4x doesn’t need it, as the dash materials are different than the ones of the current 9-5.
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And talking about the 9-4x. It will have an exclusive metallic red colour. It’s called Crystal Red and it really looks very nice.(Much better in real life)
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And now the boot/trunk comparison contest:
9-4x
9-5SC
I think Till72 has already said in a comment who the winner is.
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Many people, mostly so called auto experts, where moaning about the finish quality of the 9-5 interior, because of the big matte black dash surface and because of the gaps between the different parts. Looking at this picture, I can’t see no gaps at all, it looks like on every car, OK maybe on a Rolls Royce it may look better.
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I know Swade has already made a insight review of the 9-3 Griffin, but I still do like to share some views.
This is the standard Griffin Aero rim.
Why can’t I choose those rims without the Aero front chrome ????
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And talking about the fog lamp chrome, or the lack of it, this is how the non-Aero fog lamp looks like.
I thought in the non-Aero version, it would be 1 piece, and the Aero would have some chrome add-ons, but it looks like the pieces that are chromed in the Aero are here also but in black.
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On the booth there was no Griffin Aero to compare both trim levels, but the Independence Edition is based on the Griffin Aero, so We can at least compare the two different fascias.
Griffin
Griffin Aero
Besides the chrome on the fog lights, we can see here the different lower grills.
BTW, the non-Aero is a under 120g diesel. As you can see it has a fully opened upper and lower grill !!!
Normally those “green cars” have a fully closed upper grill and a partially closed lower grill, this is impressive.
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I thought the silver SAAB letters on the silver bar in the back of the car would look bad. But this is not the case. as long as they don’t try to repeat the mistake Volvo made and extend the word over the whole width of the back of the car, it will be OK for me.
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Bringing back the forward opening hood back to the Saab cars is a good idea as this kind of hood can handle better such things like pedestrian protection. But I think it would be more expensive than a normal one. On the other side, I can’t imagine it being more expensive than a active hood, while being as secure for the pedestrians.
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Looking at the open hatch of the PhoeniX makes me think about how effective this body shape is (in terms of cargo).
This is a 2+2 car, which means the rear seats would normally be unoccupied. This seats can be be folded in a way that you get a completely even surface. Which means that even for a sporty 4.4 m long car the cargo capacity is incredible.
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And now my background at work. I call it the Alien that ate the car industry for dinner, as it really looks from this perspective like H.R. Giger’s Alien. My background is a little bit darker to enhance the effect. 🙂
And who is in the background ?? 😉
Such awesome level of details — love these kind of posts! Thanks Red 😀
Hm, is it only me who thinks the Griffin-front looks more aggressive and sporty than the Aero Griffin (which looks bling and posh)?
WHUT??! Saab has auto show girls?? Well.. at least she is *almost* decently clothed and i guess the reason she is there is that her hair hair matches the paintjob 😉
Actually these girls is very Saab oriented. In fact all of them have taken and passed courses in Saab history and future prospective and also in Saab 9-5 MY2010,sales and tech. I highly doubt that was the case with many other brands…so any Saab nut out there,try to get a chat with one of them next time it might just.. work..
What you are saying is there are high-schools with this this special profiles? Lots have happened in this country lately. I guess its not state owned schools offering this education? I’m a tad to to old to go back to university but in so tempted to earn a masters in science of education.
No,not at all. We, Saab ,educate them ourselfs through Saab Academy,same department that educate Saab Master Tech mechanics for instance. They (the hostess) are not taken from the “street” but have a decent school background.We got much help from Saab Austria for this event.
..and as for the M.Sc degree,i have one in mechanical engineering,but working at saab none of these laws applies…you really need a different approach on just about everything i would say =)
You mean that teenager is there for her skills?
Where do i sign up for the Saab academy as a tutor? I will gladly catch up with whatever is needed. I’m glad Saab don’t hire street girls they would be bad for the image.
Two beauties in the same picture 🙂
Nice, but I always get the feeling that the message is:
Our cars aint good enough too look at, but the “oldest trick on the book” might make you look at us anyway
:-/
JC commented in a few interviews that Saab would be returning to the clamshell hood/bonnet in the next 9-3. My assumption was that this only referred to the shaping of the hood. But after seeing Jason’s gesture here at 20s referring to a forward opening hood, I see that clamshell not only refers to the contour of the hood, but the functionality. Can’t wait to have that back in a Saab. It made working around the engine bay SO much easier. Love it.
See what you mean Peter, the chrome foglights take a little emphasis off the aggressive grill perhaps. Love both.
I think the new look of the SAAB MY 2011.5/2012 9.3 looks very nice. I like the new fog lights. I did NOT like the silver fog light surrounds on the 2008-2011 Aero. My 2009 SAAB 9.3 XWD has fog lights with black matte finish surrounds which is totally fine. Also, like the new twin-scroll Direct Injection Spark Ignition. I assume that there will be little or no turbo-lag.
Forward opening hood handles snow much, much better. I think that was the original reason. I would pay extra just for that.
How do most mechanics feel about forward opening hoods, just curious? I know in the older ones you could just take two bolts off and be able to work on the car without the hood at all, I’m wondering if they could engineer an easy solution to take it off if you needed. Not sure that’s at all necessary, just curious.
It does make a lot of sense regarding pedestrian safety. It’s also really cool looking in a showroom 🙂 Yet another way to differentiate from the German masses, buyers need to walk into a showroom and feel an instant sense of otherness, while still feeling equally premium.
The original reason was security. If the hood, by accident/failure should open while the car is driving , the wind-pressure will tend to close it while a back-hinged hood will tend to open and rather fast brake loose and maybe damage the actual car or some other behind.
That last picture of the PhoeniX is completely awesome. If one had a car like that standing outside, one can easily imagine going out at night just to look at it from angles like that in your picture. Because it looks like that.
Oh my god.
Those three pictures: the nose, the hood and the cargo space on the Phoenix just gave me chills.
This car was the most important car that SAAB ever put out there. One concept can save a company.
Thank you!
So where can we get high-res versions? Especially that 9-5:)
Any more explanation of the size- the Phoenix seems to be almost spot on (4400 vs ~4200) for where you’d think the “9-2” would be, yet the word on the street was that Phoenix architecture couldn’t conveniently go sub 9-3 size?
In past interviews, Saab has stated that the Phoenix platform scales up well, but not down. This is why they are looking for a partner for a small platform to underpin a 9-2 (BMW, cough).
Exactly- but then the Phoenix is out, at 4400, which is getting very close to the 9-2 (9-3 is ~4650, old 9-5 4800, new 9-5 5000). So… they said it doesn’t scale down well then brought out a concept in which they’ve scaled it down :).
Suee, I guess the 9-2 should be more like 4200-4300 but 4400 is close.
In today’s Dagens Industri printed edition (well, yesterday’s actually – it’s well past midnight here in Swe) there was an ad for the 9-3 SC TTiD. The ad didn’t mention that it was a “green” car, and the small print stated the CO2 combined as 122 g/km! What’s up with that?
Here’s a (poor quality) picture of the ad.
Simply not a Griffin but a stock SportCombi,the sportCombi never got under 120g only the sedan made it. It was only a couple of weeks ago the test result confirmed the Griffin numbers. Here are all the updates for Griffin:
TTiD 180 hk ger exceptionella 119g CO2/km för både SportSedan and SportCombi
Ny bensinmotor med direktinsprutning i två varianter ger högre prestanda och 4% lägre bränsleförbrukning och CO2-utsläpp.
Båda varianterna finns som BioPower och kunden kan välja mellan FWD och XWD
Sexväxlade lådor blir standard i alla modeller.
Uppdaterad interiör och exteriör design.
Do they still sell those, then? The ad refers to saabsverige.com for more info, but that page only shows the Griffin nowadays. It seems a shame to waste good ad money promoting a lesser product than what they’re actually offering.
I bet the order for the ad was handed in to the paper before the Genéva show. When we have to order an ad in a paper, we have to do it about one week before, or even more depending on paper, while the local paper only have 3 days in advance deadline.
I saw one in our local paper as well, and the day after they had a new one with the 9-3 Griffin (probably because it was a local paper they were able to manage get it into the press quicker).
Speaking of a car full of coke, aren’t we overdue for a Charlie Sheen reference? All the other car blogs are doing it… 😉
Isnt he dead yet?!
The PhoeniX doesn’t fuel with normal gas, it uses mythical Phoenixblood. That’s because winners are only allowed to use it, and my friends, the PhoeniX is a winner. Winning.
Nailed it. 🙂
Yes they do. That ad has been around for a while now so it’s just bad timing and/or panic-inventory sale =)
The same goes for the petrol engine, 93 Griffin now has the same LHU 2.0 engine (same as the 9-5 which is great) but there are of course some 9-3 MY11 still available.
Even Fast Lane Daily LOVESSSSS the Saab Phoenix Concept
WOOOT!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7vYQaUd-PU&feature=feedu
It’s fun when you get nothing but respect. I have yet to see a negative comment from the media (reputable at least). Positive all around.
Crystal Red is antoher colour for the GM Cadilac red
Id like to thank Swade, Red J and Golfhunter fo sharing the Geneva Auto Show with us. Its been quite a show with the release of the 9-5SC, the Griffin models of the 9-3 and the PhoeniX concept with its innovative eXWD technology that will be, in my opinion, a total game changer when it appears in the 2013 model Saab 9-3.
Thanks to Victor, JAJ, JC and all of Saab’s employees around the world for your passion.
Saab has the best factory wheels. There’re are a few I don’t care for, but overall I find them very stylish. These are of the stylish variety.
Anyone notice the trunk floor lift handle (airplane handle) is pointed opposite of each other between the 9-4X and the 9-5SC ? Just sayin’.
That beauty at top is gorgeous !!!
The girl is pretty too 😉
Yes, I noticed that as well (the handles, not the girl..)
I was not sure if any of you would spot that. 🙂
The airplane handle makes more sense this way on the 9-5SC, but I had to test it to figure it out.
That last photo, RedJ – yes, that’s me on the right. More important than that, though…… The guy second from the right is Jonas Froberg (I hope I got his name right), the journalist from Sweden who wrote the very well regarded book about the sale of Saab last year. I spent some time with him, trying to convince him to publish an English translation and he seemed disappointed, too, that the publisher didn’t do so.
DN, the biggest daily newspaper here i Sweden, also had a picture of the PhoeniX in their wendsday print edition. Who do you think was standing next to the car taking a picture on that photo if not yourself? Just thought you may like to know. 🙂
The brown 9-5 is perhaps the most beautiful color I have ever seen on a 9-5.Oh my G-d I wanted one yesterday. Is the brown 9-5 a color currently in dealer stock inventories (in the U.S.?)
If the color is not available I guess I will settle for our matching 2006 9-5’s in our garage.
I love you Swade.
Yours,
Bootsy
I believe that is java metallic which is available in the US currently. I think my local dealer, General Sales SAAB in West Chester PA, had one on the lot the last time I looked.
We do, it’s very pretty. I like the Oak Metallic as well, it’s underrated in a lot of the reviews- they did a good job picking the color palatte for the 9-5. Too often the colors available are determined by a focus group or survey… people with nothing better to do on a Tuesday morning than give their opinion on car colors aren’t likely to be the ones buying a new car anytime soon… 😉
Red J, love your posts. Your eye for detail and facts and figures is impressive. While Swade knows how to share his love for Saabs, you know how to back this up with facts and figures.
You make quite a couple.
@Red J, great write up. The last pic is so true, funny insight. Hopefully, it will not scare the public away.. haha..
But it also shows the new Saab attitude. Aggressive and kind of “we will survive and prosper”.. directed to those ¨%$# that doubted us. 🙂
The future looks bright: aggressive, pratical, safe, pioneer tech, great handling.. ehm.. well everything really.
Red J thanks for all of your posts! The time you take to show us the details is much appreciated!