Updated: It’s been a few months, but this info is finally going to come in handy for a new series we’ll be starting next week. If you haven’t already answered, feel free to chime in the poll. Also I’ve added one new poll at the beginning related to how many cars are in your household and where you park your car at night and during the day.
It’s taken a while for us to get here, but finally there’s light at the end of the tunnel and I think it’s time to start exploring the possibilities of what a future at Saab could be. As part of my research for a lengthier piece, I need to conduct a quick poll to see how far the average SU reader commutes to and from work and how far they drive on their days off (or if they don’t drive to a typical stationary job). And who doesn’t love a good poll every now and then? 🙂 Feel free to sound off in comments and explain how far you drive and where you are. This isn’t the time to read into the question yet, that’s for the next post I do shortly after we have results. Thanks!
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Just over 50km but NOT in a Saab. No fun at all. 🙁
Swindon to Reading… so it’d better be a good electric car!
Almost exactly 30 kms.
And I drive either our Saab 9000CSE2.3T -93 or our Opel Omega Caravan 2.0 -99.
I’m sad to say that now that the summer heat is finally here, the ACC in our Saab has gone sauna on us. It only delivers very hot air. Thankfully, the car is equipped with sunroof. 😉
Regarding the amount of cars; we live on a farm and have a lot of space for our cars. So, apart from the Opel (and some other vehicles), we own six Saabs; 93b -58, 96 -61, 96V4 -69, 95V4 -69, 9000CD2.3 -90 and 9000CDE2.3T -94. And we have a Fiat campervan (mobile home) for the longer trips.
I’m like Mike – I travel to Sunny Berkshire everyday, but from Richmond – 29 miles each way.
Split the journey between a Dame Edna Aero and an 11 year old Golf SE 1.6 Auto (SWMBO’s)
Economy is the same on both….9-5 more luxurious, Golf more nimble, and has sunroof.
Because of bad traffic, even if you drive short distance, you can spend more time in your car, that’s why the quality and friendliness of your car is as important, as car’s behaviour at distance.
I don’t drive to work by car, I’m using a train. For long distance drives I take my 9-3 from 2003. In the summer days (as today in Germany) I always drive with my 900 Convertible.
I tend to be on the road all day for business, so my work driving varies considerably. It is not unusual for me to put on 100 miles a day or more on either of my old Saabs which each already have near 300,000 miles on the clock. (Right now I’m favoring my ’86 900S since the weather is getting warm and the A/C is not working on my 9000.)
i am in the (fortunate) circumstance that i live close to my work: a 5-7 minute walk should do. despite this, i have 3 Saabs:
the Good Old 1986 Saab 9000i (149k km)
the 1993 Saab 9000CD Griffin (214k km)
and the 1999 OG9-3 2.0i with Aero interior and LPG-i.(340k km)
🙂
keep on Saabing!
My office is 15 miles (25 kilometres) from my home, but as i frequently work at client sites varying from 25 to 300 miles distant, my commute varies wildly.
My furthest commute is from my home to Kleve, Germany via the Harwich to hook of Holland ferry, 455 miles, in a 9-5 Aero I had as a loan vehicle while I waited for my 9-3.
i’m on a bike 75 % in the week. Driving my Saab is 100 % having fun or travelling in holidays (more fun) or just cruise on the weekend and Saabine like’s to get topless. 🙂
Anyway work is circa 4 km, sometimes when i have things to do after work i take the car… or in the winter.
cycle into Shrewsbury……8 miles, at all hours of the day, then 8 mile sback knackered. Drive a variety of police vehicles thro the course of my shift…love the vivaro van !!!! clock up around 35 mile a shift depending whats going on
I do 70miles/113km each way in my ’06 93 SC, but only one day a week, as I telecomute the other 4 days.
Hope I don’t skew the results. I’m retired so it’s 0-10km for me but it was 50km+ for a good part of my working career, being that I live in a rural area.
If I had a shorter commute and did not drive as much each year, I would not need a Saab for the very comfortable seats. 🙂
@Jeff
Do not assume that it is always possible to commute by car. In fact, in Central London it is becoming unthinkable to commute by car. Where I live they’re building flats, whose new occupants do not even have the right to ask the local council for a permit to park on the road. Parking spaces, if you can get one, underneath the blocks cost as much as the car. And there would be no chance of a parking space the other end unless you’re the CEO. Then there’s the Congestion Charge. Forget it! Absolutely!
Thanks jond. I definitely didn’t mean to imply that people could only commute by car, I just wanted to get an idea of the daily drive of commuters from our website. For the casual Saab driver who rides the train or subway but takes their car out on the weekend or for side trips around town, only the second poll applies :).
I`m retired, but my shortest journey (shopping) is a 2 mile round trip. But my driving also includes long motorway journeys, medium distance urban/semi-urban journeys and some rural trips.
About a 19mi drive to work, one way in a 1999 Saab 9-3. very comfortable ride with plenty of pep!
the first question is tricky for me – a mixture of home office / clients / office … a mixture 0 – 400 km. So an average is there.
While my drive to the office is barely five miles, I’m on the road in my region for business. Some days, I might drive 10 miles for work, and other days I’ve been in the car 200+ miles in a day. I typically drive 30k-40k miles/year. Nearly all of it’s done in my 9-5 Aero, now well past 300k miles.
I work all over the place, so I don’t have a regular commute. I do around 25,000 miles a year in my 9-3. If I am in town, I walk.
35km each way in my ’91 900S (145hp low pressure turbo T16)
From a town on the northern east coast of Sweden in land to a small village with a big Bosch Rexroth plant.
I like the 900 but it is showing it’s age especially on winter surface compared to newer Saabs/cars, so I’m planning a swap. It has never let me down though. 🙂
220 km five days a week. My Saab (9.3 Tdi Vector) is my “home”.
Would need a new 9.5 but with a bigger diesel (BMW?) engine.
Don`t understand Q2 – “not including driving on a trip”
@TonymacUK I took this to mean “holiday” or “vacation”.
Had to smile at…
That’s long? We often do 300+ mi on a Saturday, trip to the in-laws is c. 1000mi round trip.
Saab 93 SW Vector Sport 120 TiD ’06 113k mi, between 46-54 mpg imp (best = 64mpg)
Three times a week I trek down the M1 from J9 to London to visit clients. No way would I want to do that in an electric. Hybrid, maybe….
you would need one hell of an extension lead !!!!!!!!!
I’ve been driving Saabs since buying a new 900 in 1985. In all that time I’ve only been stranded twice, both fuel pump failures which had I done proactive replacements would not have happened. (I do keep a toolbox in the trunk just in case…)
🙂 about 10 km to work, but I drive all the time at work to customers. I´d say about 200 km a day per avarege. This is with my 9-5 2,3t BP which I´m hanging on to although my company´s been wanting me to change car fo a year now or so. In the weekends, I can´t avoid taking my wifes car, a 2001 9-3 Aero, although the 9-5 is pratically free of charge to drive.
Love to cruise the Hirsch on German highway 😉
Use the 95 1-2 times a week and normally take the train to work. As we’ve family members/ friends in germany and austria trips from Switzerland have at least a 400 km up to 800 km distance one way. Had 24.000 km in the first year having the 95 and enjoyed the time.
Our two 9-3s cover nearly 100 miles between them every day, whilst the classic 900 convertible only does around 100 miles a week. Whichever we choose to drive, they’re all hugely comfortable and a pleasure to spend time in, 1 year old or 20, it really doesn’t matter.
So what most respondents to the poll have indicated is that an electric and/or hybrid SAAB could be a solution.
Keep an open mind folks, you never know what might fall into it.
I travel 28 k one way to work I live in Brisbane Australia I have 4 Saabs 1988 9000 turbo hatch 2004 93 arc 2004 93 Aero conv 2008 93 vector lux diesel all garaged
This poll is indeed somewhat flawed. For example, it seems to assume that on working days, you will only commute from home to work. That is a pretty short distance for me. However, I also drive to the riding stable after work (and then back home), so that my daily stretch is about 50 km.
I thought of putting that option down, but I was mainly looking to address commuters and people who use their car on a daily basis. Can I ask why a pit stop for 20-30 minutes isn’t an option for you for a trip you make maybe a dozen or so visits to a year (sorry if it’s more trips than that, I’m just making a guess)? Just curious why you couldn’t budget that time for a break on a trip, especially if the cost for plugging in vs. refueling with biofuel is a fraction.
Maybe I was unclear (I’m not a native English speaker) but what I was trying to write was that a halfway charge of MORE than 30 minutes isn’t viable. Up to 30 minutes would be OK, as long as there are charging poles/stations in relative proximity to a restaurant since one needs lunch breaks on such trips anyway. 🙂
🙂 got it.
I wouldn’t mind a 30 minute stop as long as it isn’t every 3 hours. When I drive long distances for holidays (typically 1,500 km to my destination) I stop when I need to fill up, usually after 6 or 7 hours of driving. Stopping every three hours for 30 minutes isn’t economical time wise.
Further to the note above; the trip is always done in one day.
I work for myself based at home but travel to give presentations and training sessions, mainly across the UK but occasionally over in mainland Europe. My mileage varies enormously from month to month. I’m still using my 2001 9-3SE TiD which has 166,000 miles so far and hasn’t missed a beat yet …except when I drowned it in a flood last year!
I replaced the air filter and MAF sensor and it is still alive and performing!
I drive 25k to 35k kms /year exclusively in Saabs for the last 20 years 🙂
Good news. Nevs will start the 9-3 production next year.
http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/fordon_motor/bilar/article3587472.ece