As I live in Sweden and work in Oslo, the road trip became a two stage affair. My dad lives not far away from me, but logistically it was easier for us to simply join up in Oslo. On Friday we pooled together in my car, four people in total.
What was different this time around is that I was mostly a passenger. My dad wished to take the helm as we approached the stomping ground of his youth. I was fine with that as the rear seat is comfy and the ample leg space makes it easy to relax and just enjoy the trip.
A side-note: It was not until I had pulled a 180 in my old 9000 (doing 90 kph) that my dad told me that he had done the same thing years ago in that 96 — while passing a truck. Unlike me, he did not wait until after passing the truck, but came sailing up on the side of the truck facing the wrong way. Saabs are difficult in the sense that they rarely take a wrong step. In my case snow and ice had packed up solidly in the rear wheel wells, causing the rear wheels to stop occasionally. That shot the rear end out of control and my careful correction of the over-steer ended up with a violent skid in the other direction. In any case, I have concluded that a driver’s DNA is often passed along to the next generation.
Thus, as I breached the topic of engaging the “sports mode”, a mild stream of annoyance shot back from the driver’s seat. Why had I not mentioned this feature before? With a slightly stiffer suspension engaged, we continued our descent down the mountain.
Thanks to frequent stops on the way we did not make it to our destination until quite late in the evening. Next day was spent hanging out with our family, celebrating my granny’s 85th birthday. Almost all my cousins were gathered and I could not help but notice that one of my younger cousins had grown to become a 2 meter tall giant. It was time to put the 9-5’s rear seat to the test. -“Auntie, may I borrow your son for a few minutes?”. She agreed, commenting that she had no use for him at that particular moment.
“People usually let me ride up front…” he quietly explained.
I am not sure what I expected from that test, but great fun was had by all involved.
My dad offered some additional thoughts on the 9-5. He felt betrayed by the front parking sensor, not realizing that it would only activate when putting the car in reverse (or after pressing the right button) he had nearly parked a bit too close to someone. I also noticed that finding reverse was not intuitive. On the five speed Saabs the gear lever points down, on the six speed 9-5 the gear lever ends up pointing forward. If you are not careful, you could end up in first gear. As Saab customers we are accustomed to a certain level of careful attention to such details, but on the other hand it would not be a Saab unless there was one or two nibbles somewhere. I can live with such nibbles. There is no perfect Saab (the 900 lacks a nightpanel, the 9000 has the ignition key in the wrong place, the OG 9-5 isn’t a combi coupe and neither is the NG 9-3) which is why you have to own at least two.
For our return home the next day we chose a different route that would require a short ride with a ferry, as well as take us past Vøringsfossen. Unfortunately they have constructed a dam to control this particular waterfall and they usually reserve most of the water for the tourist season.
We spent 65 liters E85 getting back to Oslo, which is good as E85 is not available anywhere between Bergen and Oslo (well, a few miles west of Oslo there are a couple of pumps, but you might as well power through).
Great Pics Rune….
I’ll say one thing about you Rune, you certainly like getting around a bit.
HAPPY SAABING.
Yes, wonderful photos and story, Rune.
It has been over 25 years since I visited Norway with my parents, but those pictures (especially of Bergen) bring back a lot of memories.
I want to get over to norway so badly! That road trip looks amazing. Where did you get that rear window stick? It looks great
Jörgen Trued gave it to me. I kinda like it, but it has already rewarded me one ticket for speeding. (who gets caught averaging 128 kph on a class-A highway where the speed limit is 100? Yes, the guy with the cool sticker!)
Well thats unfortunate! Its a great looking decal…too bad they are not for sale somewhere! Love the pictures….you live in a spectacular area.
Awsome pictures. What a great road trip.
Envy the whole thing big time….
including the 9-5.
daaaaaaaaaaamn!
w.
Great pictures Rune. What a great car for this sort of road trip!
nice picture 🙂 speaking of rally team, is that a flag/checkpoint in the first pictures background snow?
I have added one more picture. It is a picture of a guy kiting. Could it be his kite that you spotted in the background of the first picture?
Nice reading!
I am just wondering – did we met at the “Haukeliroad” up in the mountain? We passed a 9-5 sedan like yours when we travelled to Bergen in our 9-3X on last Friday.
Isn’t Haukelivegen further south? Last Friday we drove Rv 52 from Hemsedal and E16 through Lærdalstunnelen before ending up in Voss early that evening.
When we returned Monday, we drove Rv7 instead.
There aren’t many NG 9-5s around, and of course very few blue ones. Flash your hi-beams next time. That’s what a fellow 9-5’er did last time I drove towards THN. 🙂
We spent 2 weeks in exactly the same area 2 years ago.
In June we are in a different area for 3 weeks, from Oslo to Trondheim.
Sadly we travel by Motorhome and my 9-5 has to stay at home.
They might have added more toll roads on that stretch since the last time I drove up there. You should consider going through Sweden rather than Norway to get to Trondheim. The roads will certainly be wider.
Of course, if the goal is three weeks on the road (vs two days on the road and the rest of the time spent in Oslo or Trondheim) then my point is moot. 🙂 I just hate toll roads, that is all.
Nice story; great pictures.