I’d like to pass on some Inside Saab congratulations to “Gone with the Wynns” for winning the Best of the Road event that we’ve been covering over the last three weeks.
The Best of the Road was a trip across the USA. Five teams participated, driving their Saabs and looking for the best food, the most patriotic town, the most beautiful town, the friendliest town and the most fun town in America. The Wynns were covering the friendliest town and they did it with style, great videos, great photography and a wonderful sense of humour.
Here’s a little video they posted just prior to the announcement…..
All five teams had the trip of a lifetime, but only one could take the prize. The Wynns were judged to have provided the best content and gathered the biggest following and for that, they won $10,000 cash as well as a Saab 9-4x.
Congratulations, Wynns!
And well done to the other four teams. Thanks for entertaining us and showing us the United States through your eyes. It’s been a blast.
Last week we had a poll on Twitter, asking people which model from the Saab Museum they would like to have photographed – the Saab EV-1 concept or the Saab 9-6 prototype. Guess which car won?
Here we are, then, with a photo study of the Saab 9-6. The car is now on display at the Saab Museum after spending several years in hiding storage out the back.
The Saab 9-6 was a joint project with Subaru, based on their B9 Tribeca SUV. Saab, at the behest of General Motors (who owned 20% of Subaru’s parent company at the time), had already launched the Saab 9-2x based on the Subaru Impreza WRX. This vehicle was supposed to build on that relationship.
Even though the 9-2x was loved by those who owned it, the car was lampooned by the press for being a poorly executed mimic of a cult classic. The Saab was actually better equipped than the WRX of the time with several components from Subaru’s performance division (STi) added to the car, but it ended up selling for a lot less in an employee-pricing fire sale back in 2005.
Whilst it had nothing to do with the fire sale, GM ended up selling its 20% stake in Subaru later in 2005 and the Saab 9-6 project was cancelled. Prior to this cancellation, Saab had built two prototype vehicles – this five door model now on exhibition at the museum, as well as a three-door version.
Many will refer to the 9-6 as the 9-6x, which makes sense as it would have had a 4-wheel drive system on board, which is the usual trigger for the added ‘x’ (9-3x TTiD owners – your objection is noted). I used to call it the 9-6x as well in stories that I wrote about it back in 2005. The museum example, however, is referred to without the ‘x’ in the title so I’m going to stick to that protocol.
I showed you my own Saab PhoeniX images from the Top Gear Magazine photoshoot last month. Basically, I was just hanging around whilst the TG pro-snapper did his thing. And the reasons he’s a pro-snapper and I’m just another guy with a camera are plain to see.
The five groups touring the Best of the Road around the USA in their Saabs have been having a LOT of fun and it’s been great to watch them making their way west for the big finish in LA.
Jules and Joan (twitter) have made their way from a town called Santa Claus in Indiana to Glenwood Springs in Colorado. No need to explain too much about what happened in Santa Claus (a lot of ho-ho-ho-ing, methinks) but it looks like they had a great time.
Glenwood Springs has been all about the outdoors with whitewater rafting, paragliding, caves and ATV rides, mixed in with some vaudeville theatre and 4th July fireworks, too.
With a few long drives between cities, Jules and Joan have been calling in on some smaller towns along the way, such as this stop on the way to Park City, Utah.
And this pic taken at Red Rocks in Colorado….
——
The Fun Finders (Twitter) are eating their way across the country (that’s their job – looking for the best food) and are mixing in plenty of good times and sightseeing along the way.
They’ve recently travelled from Burnsville MN on a massive drive taking them through six states to end up in Gulfport, Florida. They were there for the 4th July celebrations and took part in the parade in a Saab 9-3 Convertible, in red to match their team colors (OK, they’re in white in this shot, but trust me). The Convertible was provided by Dimmitt Saab.
——
The McNavigators (twitter) spent some quality time in one of the towns I’d like most to visit in the US: Franklin, TN. I have a good friend who lives there and whenever I’ve seen images of Mike’s 900 convertible in the local surrounds it has really made me look forward to spending some time there.
The McNavigator’s entries have only reinforced my thoughts. They must have loved the place, too, as they’ve done six separate blog entries and five short videos from there.
They’ve since been to Sandpoint, ID and are currently in Baker City, OR, but I haven’t seen much on the blog about those places yet, just a few entries on Facebook. It looks like Franklin had them totally consumed.
——
Gone with the Wynns (twitter) seem similarly transfixed with Nacogdoches, TX, having written a LOT about their time there. I’ve really been enjoying their videos and photos (check out the road photo from their stop in Woodward, OK – amazing shot…… actually, their 4th July pics from this link are just as amazing).
They are now on their way to Walla Walla in Washington and from the number of entries on their Facebook page from WW residents, I think the town is preparing to give them a very BIG reception.
One of these teams is going to win the Saab 9-4x from their work on this trip. The Wynns look like formidable competitors in that particular race, with quality work and a big following.
Oil change, tire rotation, & great service for our Saab 9-4x. Thanks Sid Dillon Saab!
C&C have what is probably the most serious of the five tasks at hand – visiting the most patriotic towns in America. They’ve recently spent a lot of time amongst veterans at Ft Leonard Wood and Clarksville and there are some very moving stories being told from these visits.
——
Be sure to follow each of the teams as they wind up their adventures. I’ve included their Facebook and Twitter links in the text above. You can also view the Best of the Road website and follow their latest updates there, too.
RE-POSTED – This effort from Saab Spain got drowned out by news earlier this week. It’s been re-posted to give people a fuller opportunity to read through what they achieved here.
In short, Saab Spain entered a voluntary test that would measure a vehicle’s fuel economy over a 350km course on real-world roads. They ended up achieving the largest fuel economy reduction in comparison to official figures amongst all vehicles tested.
The reason I’d like to cover it again is because I recently had a chance to meet and talk with Ramon Cano from Saab Spain. Ramon was the guy at the wheel during this test, with a Spanish journalist sitting in the car with him (to ensure no funny business happened during the test).
Ramon, left, was accompanied by a journalist from Autofacil during the test (click to enlarge)
When a vehicle is released, it always comes with an official fuel economy rating. in Europe, this rating is measured according to criteria set under Regulation 715/2007 (Euro 5/6). You can click here and see how it’s done, but in short, they put the vehicle on a chassis dynamometer and ‘drive’ it according to a set course for a number of cycles. The reason for doing this is so that all vehicles can be measured according to the same course and under the same conditions. You don’t get the variations in temperature, wind, traffic, etc, that could influence a real-world measurement.
As mentioned previously, one of the tests in the ALD fuel economy challenge was to see how far under this official result the vehicles could perform.
The number of entrants into this competition is pretty small, with only nine manufacturers making vehicles available. I guess if you’re not a chance of starring in the competition, it’s best to avoid the potential for negative publicity. Entries were fielded by Ford, Mazda, Nissan, Opel, Peugeot, Renault, Seat, Volvo and of course, Saab.
The entrants had to select a car from their range to participate in the test. All they knew was that they would have to drive it along a route that was 350km in length on public roads. The actual route was kept secret until just before the test in order to reduce the possibility of teams preparing specifically for that route.
Vehicle selection, of course, is quite important in a test like this. Driven carefully, a manual vehicle will generally achieve better fuel consumption results than an automatic. A petrol engine is generally more desireable than a diesel in a test like this because a diesel has very low official figures before the test even begins. There’s more room for improvement in the figures for a petrol engine.
With a desire for a petrol-engined manual car, Ramon probably thought his luck had completely run out when he was given a TiD automatic 🙂
When you hear about ‘hypermiling’ competitions, you’ll commonly hear about a small car cruising flat roads at around 40km/h in low gear. This ALD test actually included a timing component, like a regularity rally, meaning that entrants had to drive at a reasonable speed in order to make it to checkpoints along the route within a given timeframe. Taking too long between checkpoints attracted a time penalty that was applied to your final fuel consumption readings, thus negating any advantage you might have got from going slowly.
Driving the car as much as he could in manual mode, and with careful application of the throttle and equally careful use of coasting opportunities, Ramon managed to improve significantly on the official fuel economy figures for the Saab 9-5 TiD. The official figure for this model is 6.8l/100km and the final figure achieved on the test was 5.641l/100km, a reduction of some 17% over all.
I’ve heard many, many stories over the years of Saab owners getting actual fuel consumption readings that were better than the official figures. It’s a reasonably common occurrence. But 17% is quite incredible, especially when you consider that the Saab 9-5 TTiD is a 5-meter long, two-ton-plus vehicle fitted with already officially low-consumption diesel engine, as well as an automatic transmission.
Ramon’s driving tips for better fuel economy:
The key factors is to always drive in advance of real events.
Remove pressure from the throttle when a traffic light ahead is red, despite how far away it is.
Increasing the ‘security distance’ between you and the vehicle in front of you, so that your speed is more constant.
Avoid using your brake as much as possible (using the brakes destroys energy you create when you’re on the throtte).
Keep the engine within the optimum turbo range as much as possible.
Saabs have a habit of looking quite comparable to others on paper and then performing extraordinarily well in actual real-world conditions. This phenomenon is well noted in respect to vehicle safety, where Saab have often emphasised their “real world” philosophy and have earned great respect from insurers and other groups because of this.
Anecdotal evidence is accumulating more and more with tests like this one in Spain, suggesting that Saab vehicles seem to be more economical than some official test results claim. Of course, we’re happy with those official results, too, but it’s nice to know that Spanish customers will have some local, monitored tests to look at to show what they might look forward to.
Congratulations to Ramon and the team at Saab Spain for their achievements in this exercise.
Last night I tweeted a special message to a good friend of mine in Tennessee. Mike used to write with me on my old website, Saabs United, and one of the Best of the Road teams was calling into his town – Franklin, TN.
The McNavigators had mentioned the following on Twitter:
We are all checked into our new home for 2 nights @countryinns and we’re minutes away from hitting the town. Get ready Franklin TN
Knowing that that’s Mike’s hometown now, I re-tweeted and marked it to his attention. Sure enough, Mike spotted the McNavigators’ Saab 9-5 in downtown Franklin and snapped a quick cellphone picture to prove it:
@Inside_saab #Saab 9-5 driven by the @McNavigators spotted in downtown #FranklinTN!! W00t!
The McNavigators also mentioned that they were running a little late for their day’s program as they had to stop and take a few Saab enthusiasts for a tour around their 9-5:
Running late to town hall, had to give two @Saab enthusiasts a tour of the 9 5! They are sold!
The lesson here……
The Best of the Road crews are out and about, touring the US. If you see them, go up and say “Hi”, maybe even get a photo with them. I’m sure they’d love to meet up with you and we’d love to share your meeting here on site so if you get a photo, make sure you send it in.
Here are the towns they’re visiting. Keep up with them on either the Best of the Road website or their Twitter accounts and you’ll get a good real-time feed of where they’re heading (that “Best of the Road” link features a real-time map).
Note: the locations below are not in the order in which they’ll be visited.
Captain and Clark Category: Most patriotic Locations: Clarksville TN, Emporia KS, Fort Leonard Wood MO, Peachtree City GA, Rapid City SD, Williamsburg VA
The Fun Finders Category: Best for food. Locations: Addison WV, Burnsville MN, Costa Mesa CA, Gulfport FL, Lafayette LA, Visalia CA
TravelingJules and TravelingJoan Category: Most Fun. Locations: Glenwood Springs CO, Myrtle Beach SC, Santa Claus IN, Sioux City IA, Vacaville CA, Yellow Springs OH
Gone with the Wynns Category: Friendliest town. Locations: Lake Havasu AZ, Mount Airy NC, Nacogdoches TX, Valdosta GA, Walla Walla WA, Woodward OK
The McNavigators Category: Most beautiful Locations: Baker City OR, Coral Gables FL, Franklin TN, Marco Island FL, Pacifica CA, Sandpoint ID
Trollhättan, Sweden: Saab Automobile will support the Nils Liedholm Cup this year through a personal donation by recently retired CEO Jan Åke Jonsson. The Nils Liedholm Cup is an annual Swedish youth football tournament for boys and girls between 13 and 16 years of age, with this year’s edition starting on June 30. The tournament, named after Swedish football legend Nils Liedholm, is held in Valdemarsvik, a town around 200 km south of Stockholm on the Swedish east coast.
In 2010, Jan Åke Jonsson received an annual award for business leadership from the Svensk Chefsförening, an association for Swedish business leaders, which included a 20,000 SEK prize. This prize was offered as a personal donation to the 2011 Nils Liedholm Cup by Jonsson. Just like Liedholm, Jonsson is a native of Valdemarsvik and this common heritage has much to do with Saab Automobile’s involvement as a sponsor of this year’s edition of the tournament.
As CEO of Saab Automobile during the turbulent process through which the company was sold to Spyker Cars early in 2010, Jonsson was praised by the Svensk Chefsförening as a leader for his determination, patience and commitment. Jonsson readily acknowledges the contributions that team sport and the disciplines learned through this in his early life made to his professional life as a business leader. “That is why Saab Automobile and I decided last year to make a donation to this event, in the hope that participants in the 2011 Nils Liedholm Cup will learn and apply the same lessons in their lives,” says Jonsson.
For those who are unfamiliar with Liedholm: he is generally regarded as one of the all-time greats of Swedish and, arguably, international football. He played 23 times for the Swedish national team, winning an Olympic gold medal in 1948 and leading the Swedish team that finished second in the 1958 World Cup. On club level, Liedholm celebrated his biggest successes with Italian giants AC Milan, where he signed in 1949 and formed an all-Swedish attacking line-up with two other prominent Swedish footballers of that period – Gunnar Gren and Gunnar Nordahl. After his playing career, Liedholm coached Italian football teams successfully for several years, winning Italian championships with both AC Milan and AS Roma.
As said, the Nils Liedholm Cup is a special event for Saab Automobile and more in particular for Jonsson, who retired on May 19 of this year after 40 years with the company. Jonsson is a football enthusiast to this very day and grew up in the 1950s and 1960s in Valdemarsvik, idolising his local hero. And in the early 1960s, Jonsson got the chance to meet Liedholm.
A young Jan-Åke Jonsson (center) meets his footballing idol.
“It was in 1962 or 1963, I don’t remember exactly anymore. I was around 12 years old,” Jonsson recalls. “Word spread in the local newspaper that Nils Liedholm was briefly back in town, and naturally we all knew where the Liedholm family home was located. So I and two friends headed for Liedholm’s house in order to meet our idol.”
Jonsson and his friends managed to get an audience with Liedholm, and a photographer of the local newspaper who was also present shot a few images of the gathering. “A few weeks later, I received a photo from the meeting in the mail, sent to me by the photographer.” Jonsson decided to forward the photo to Liedholm’s address in Italy, asking him to sign it. Liedholm obliged, and also sent Jonsson the autographs of all his team members at AC Milan.
“I’ve kept the photo ever since,” says Jonsson. “It’s a wonderful memory to a special moment. Liedholm was not only my idol because of his football skills, but also because of what he embodied: his was a mentality of hard work, determination, leadership and full commitment to his profession. He taught me the importance of these values and showed that you can reach the highest heights if you stay focused on your goals.”
Five lucky groups are driving around the United States checking out the best the country has to offer – food, fun, friendliness, beauty and patriotism. It’s called Best Of The Road and the reason we’re interested about it here on Inside Saab is because the groups are covering all these miles in some comfy ventilated seats provided by Saab Cars North America.
Two Saab 9-3s, two Saab 9-5s and one Saab 9-4x are the vehicles in use for the trip.
Here’s an update from each of the teams……
Captain and Clark (most patriotic route) are in the Saab 9-4x and have spent the last few days in and around Williamsburg. Check out their entries and you’ll see they’ve enjoyed their time there. Check out this video and you’ll see they’re enjoying the Saab 9-4x as well 🙂
——
The Fun Finders are eating their way across the USA (Best Food route) and whilst there hasn’t been a lot of Saaby content, they sure look like they’re digging into their mission (it seems Burnsville MN has a lot of eateries.)
——
Gone With The Wynns (the Friendly route) have been to Valdosta GA for their first stop and it seems they’re getting a well-honed sense of occasion with regard to this event:
It is all so overwhelming yet on the flip side we have an immense sense of privilege. We have felt so welcomed everywhere and people just keep saying “wow, you have the best job in the world, wish I could do that!”
I mean, who wouldn’t want to do a three-week expenses paid road trip across the US in a new Saab 9-5? Fortunate indeed. And they’re doing a great job of reporting their travels, too.
They’re travelling the friendly route, and it seems like they’re getting good value from it….
Nikki just kissed a lama, maybe this town is too friendly.
….and they’re getting decent mileage from the V6 Turbo Aero as well (combined avg on sticker is 20):
The McNavigators are driving the beautiful route in their Saab 9-5, which they seem pretty happy with:
….and they must have a lighter foot than the Wynns……
from Jersey City to Coral Gabels we averaged 29 mpg, very impressed!
That’s Coral Gabels, FL, where they’ve been living it up pretty nicely:
Had dinner and watched fire dancing on the beach after getting the key to the city of Marco Island.
If you were considering an entry into Best of the Road but decided against it, I’d suggest you start making your videos for 2012 right now 🙂
——
TravelingJules and TravelingJoan are driving the Fun route and made a quick stop at the offices of BOTR media partner, USA today. A tour of the facility ensued, but I know you’re more interested in the motoring glamour shots…
The ladies then headed down to Myrtle Beach, SC, with 60 miles of beach, lots to eat, lots to do (shag dancing!) and a couple more photo opportunities, too…..
——
Keep up with all the teams at the Rand McNally website.
You can also see contact points for all teams here.
I’ve not written about Hirsch Performance much here. They are Saab’s official tuning house, the only way to have your Saab performance tuned and retain your full factory warranty.
Hirsch have just released the full details of the new performance package for the Saab 9-5 and it looks like a cracker.
——
THE CONCEPT BECOMES REALITY – The Saab 9-5 Hirsch Performance
Last year’s Auto Zurich motor show saw the unveiling of the vision for a Saab 9-5 Hirsch Performance. Months of intense development now lead to a Performance Package that does justice to the charactaristic Swiss quest for perfection.
The breathtaking power of the 2,8T V6 engine goes along with an exquisitely detailed aerodynamics package, a quad exhaust and a lower, wider stance using 20″ forged wheels and a lowering kit.
Through this package the 9-5 Hirsch Performance is the ultimate expression of powerful exclusivity.
During the process of development all components had to pass a strict and rigorous test program on the test stand, wind tunnel and sound laboratory as well as on real roads. No matter if you are cruising through the city or going top speed at the autobahn – rest assured that your car is prepared for all situations you may have to face.
Powerful performance
Using the Hirsch performance upgrade, the 2,8T V6 delivers 330 hp which is an increase of 10 percent on the standard engine. The low end torque is already impressive with 400 Nm at 1500 rpm. From 2700 rpm on through the rest of the rpm band torque stays at a massive 430 Nm. The top speed is electronically limited to 260 km/h.
As Hirsch Performance follows the idea of “responsible performance”, the upgrade was certified to the strict emissions regulations of Euro5 and CARB LEV II LEV.
Breathtaking driving dynamics
The already exhilarating driving dynamics of the 9-5 were improved further by a spring setting which lowers the car by 20 mm on the front and 10 mm on the rear axle, tuned to perfectly match the active suspension (DriveSense). The lower centre of gravity leads among other things to greater cornering stability and shorter braking distance. The forged 9×20″ aluminium wheels in exclusive Liquid Titanium finish are extremely light at only 11 kgs, further enchancing handling. Along with the lowering kit they give a strong road presence to the 9-5 Hirsch Performance.
Sporty sound
To meet the expectations in a sporty executive car our sound designers put lots of efforts in the development of a sports exhaust in stainless steel which perfectly matches the character of the car. While cruising, the sound is moderate and refined, and at full throttle it becomes powerful and sporty.
All exhaust components are flow optimized to minimize pressure loss, improving the throttle response of the engine. The brushed stainless steel quad exhaust bezels are both sporty and elegant.
Effective aerodynamics
The new aerodynamics package consists of a front spoiler featuring an optimized air intake for improved cooling, side sills, a rear diffusor and a slender bootlid spoiler. It adds a sporty look to the 9-5 while preserving the original design.
Careful wind tunnel optimizing lead to impressive results: combined with the lowering kit, the cd value is reduced by almost 5 percent. In addition to that, the lift is reduced by 70% on the front axle and 40% on the rear axle, which leads to a significant enhancement of high speed stability.
Saab factory warranty
Hirsch Performance gurantees that the increase in performance is made with no compromises in durability or reliability. The Saab Original factory warranty and all Saab safety systems (ABS, ESP etc.) also remain unaffected.
