Airshow
5 July 2006, 62,187
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T |
his weekend just gone we went to RAF Waddington’s airshow and it was
hot. When we arrived back at the car the
temperature was initially showing 36°C. This
did settle back to 32°C but regardless of the precise temperature, it was
hot. Fortunately, within just a few
minutes of using the automatic air conditioning system the Saab’s interior was
at 21°C and a comfortable place to be for the two hour drive back up to
Writing of the airshow, Saab cars are reckoned to take ideas from their
aircraft designs. I don’t know how much
of this is true but many sources cite the “Night Panel” as one such idea lifted
from aviation. The night panel provided
the driver with only the necessary instrumentation to drive the car, otherwise
the instruments are dark. This makes
perfect sense. It goes one stage further
to what Ford did with the Ka’s dashboard in that you only see the speedometer
unless you need to see something else, the Ka always showed the speedometer and
fuel gauge. The 9-3’s tachometer, fuel
and coolant gauges remain hidden.
Saab’s seats were once the stuff of legends. It was possible to spend hours at the wheel
in the Saab. When mated with cruise
control, the 9-3 becomes an excellent motorway machine. It’s the most comfortable machine I’ve owned
and pretty close to the most comfortable machine I’ve ever driven for motorway
miles. I’ve driven a lot of cars, the
majority being “normal” rather than “special.”
The 9-3 is that good.
This isn’t to say that the TiD is flawless on a long drive, though. It isn’t the quietest place to sit on the
motorway by a long shot. Off the
motorway the TiD isn’t the most flexible in top gear either, which ruins the
car’s diesel lope. It isn’t bad but once the speedometer needle
creeps below fifty you’re usually grabbing fourth gear at the hint of a
gradient or if you need to expedite.
Older generation indirect turbodiesels (such as my Mondeo TD) or notably the VAG TDI
either offer better low down flexibility or lower gearing (in some cases, both). Lucy
by way of an example could be driven as slow as forty in top gear with adequate
hill ascent abilities. Once in top, you
could leave her in this ratio for a large variety of road conditions. Even after the tuning box the 9-3 isn’t
anywhere near as flexible in top as the Mondeo was.
Mind you, shift down to fourth gear at around forty five or so and
you’re right back at the bottom of the power band with the engine spinning at
2,000 rpm.
So far the TiD’s fuel consumption has been what I’ve been expecting,
more or less fifty to the gallon. I’ve
been using the automatic air conditioning and it’ll have been working hard
thanks to the high temperatures, but so far the high point has been over fifty
two and the low point just under forty eight.
This is only over four tanks and it’s early days yet.