I |
’ve found a replacement
for the Accord and it’s a bit quirky, a bit oddball, something different to the
establishment - but it’s also known to be different so perhaps this makes it
conventional? It’s a first generation
Saab 9-3 with the early 2·2 TiD engine.
Saabs may be considered
to be an armchair with wheels, except with slightly
more handling prowess. The non-sporting models place comfort above
many other considerations, with excellent seats, accomplished heating and
ventilation systems and decent refinement.
The 2·2 TiD, borrowing a derivative of the Isuzu-designed, General
Motors four cylinder diesel engine (which
has now been pensioned off in favour of a Fiat unit), isn’t as refined as
its petrol cousins but it is materially more economical and you get the same
basic suspension set up and interior ergonomics and great seats.
I pick the car up in a
couple of days time but this gives me the opportunity to discuss what I know of
the Saab. As I alluded to above, it’s
powered by the 2·2 litre direct injection turbodiesel engine. This particular 9-3 uses the earliest direct
injection 2·2 TiD that saw service in the Saab.
Raw output is 115 brake horsepower and 192 foot pounds of torque, later
variants produce more power and torque.
It’s mated to sensibly relatively tall gearing, top gear is around 28
mph / 1,000 rpm. According to the book
it hits sixty two miles per hour in ten and a half seconds, the same as the
Accord. When I drove it, it felt much slower than the Honda.
It has air conditioning, automatic air conditioning, ABS and EBD.
Modern Saabs are not
quite as quirky as older models and although based on the last generation
Vauxhall Cavalier platform, the 9-3 should still manage to feel Saabesque. It still has the centre mounted ignition tied
in to an gear lock (you cannot remove the
key unless the car is in reverse gear), it has the traditional slab sided
dashboard and the relatively upright windscreen complete with small
wipers. The seats will be very
comfortable (but I am concerned they
won’t hold me in place during hard cornering). It’ll have the traditional understeery Saab
handling. The dashboard and driver
controls are mostly simple with the exception of the climate control, which is
mounted low down with lots of similar looking buttons. Then again… the advantage of climate control
is that you set it up in automatic mode and leave it be…
This entry marks the
conclusion of CruiseControl. With a new
machine and a new car, I’m wanting a new name for my Saab thoughts. That would be 1451.