What Not

If you live anywhere near the greater Cleveland metro area, your car is going to get dirty.  There’s nothing you can do about it!  Cuyahoga and Lake County both use the same salt to melt the snow and ice.  So, get used to driving a dirty car.

2005 Volvo XC90 in Walhalla Ravine (Columbus, Ohio)

The bigger concern is whether your car will make it through the winter.  How are the tires, brakes, battery, and antifreeze?  Imagine what would happen to your family if the car broke down in sub-freezing weather.  It’s not a pleasant thought.  So, think about your family today and have your car checked before something happens.  You’ll never regret it!

Q: What exotic car uses a Volvo engine?

A: The Noble M600

The new Noble M600 uses the Volvo 4.4 liter V8 fitted with twin turbo chargers.  Thus equipped it jumps the power from 311 hp in a peppy Volvo S80 V8 to an incredible 650 hp in the Noble!  Yowzers!  Hmm… think they’ll ever put that in a future Volvo S60R?

For more information about the M600, visit the Noble website or read this review by Car magazine.

2007 SAAB 9-7x

On December 21, I wrote a letter to one of our state senators. At the time, I was unhappy with the way government owned General Motors was handling the sale/dismantling of the SAAB brand. And, frankly, I’m still not real happy with the way things are going. But then I’m not privy to everything that’s going on. Even so, I thought my senator needed to hear my perspective and so took the time to write him.

However, I’ve had some time over Christmas to do some thinking about what I wrote. My initial problem with “the General” was their handling of SAAB’s closure. But after taking a 9-7x home for the holidays, my attitude has shifted a little. Here’s what I’m thinking. From an Ohioan’s viewpoint, GM’s SAAB division has brought jobs to our fair state. As you may well know, the SAAB 9-7x was assembled in Moraine, Ohio. According to Wikipedia,

“The 9-7X was the first American built Saab. It was assembled in the same United States Moraine, Ohio production plant as the other GMT360 SUVs and shared many components with its platform mates. The Saab 9-7X succeeded the Oldsmobile Bravada as GM’s flagship mid-size SUV, and was GM’s highest priced mid-size SUV, as well as the most expensive Saab ever produced.

As much as SAAB lovers have hated the idea of badge engineering, the 9-7x actually is a great vehicle. It has most everything that a SAAB owner would expect: agile handling, responsive steering, a powerful engine, a sleek front facia with the distinctive SAAB grille, leather seats, power glass moonroof, and lot’s more. Although it’s not powered by a turbo-charged engine, note that even the Volvo XC90 doesn’t currently have a turbo option.

With all that in mind, I’m thinking that if I had the opportunity to write the letter to my senator again, that it would be a little different. GM did something good when they made the 9-7x and it benefited the people of Ohio when they did it. Sure, it’s not technically a Swedish SUV, but it sure is a nice one. And my wife and I are agreed that we wouldn’t be disappointed to own one some day.

Would you buy a Chinese built Volvo C30? Here’s what one SAAB owner said:

Personally I’d have no desire to buy a Volvo made in China, but with the right levels of QC, things made in there are as good as anywhere else. Just think if the Chinese were to make the C30 (currently built in Belgium), just as good but costing 20% less! Yes, the C30 is a flawed car (BTW a mkII is meant to address some of those flaws), but I still wish we had a Saab like that.

Markac in comments

Like Rolex, Apple or Harley-Davidson, there is something mysterious – albeit modest and Scandinavian – about Saab that, over the years, has transcended its marketing and publicity materials and been appropriated by the people who drive the cars.

The phenomenon has even attracted academic attention. Albert Muniz, an associate professor of marketing at DePaul University in Chicago, has written repeatedly about Saab in his work on “brand communities”. Examining the behaviour of Saab drivers, he has ­discovered hierarchy, also known as “Snaabery”: often defined by owning an original, pre-GM Saab; rituals and moral responsibilities: flashing your lights at other Saab drivers and helping them out of trouble; oppositional loyalties: despising BMWs; and myth-making: notably “How Saab saved my life” stories about crashes in which the cars lay down their lives for their owners.

The fixation is apparently international. After studying 1.2 million postings on “Motor Talk”, ­Germany’s ­largest motoring web forum, Rüdiger Hossiep, a psychologist at the ­University of Ruhr in Bochum, concluded this summer that Saab drivers have the highest levels of “psychological involvement” with their cars: more than 10 times the passion of the average Volkswagen driver.

Sam Knight in Why the Saab inspires intense feelings

This was a nice read in Winding Road’s online magazine.

A unique performance car such as the Saab 900 Turbo wouldn’t be such a cult favorite without a strong enthusiast community, and these folks have all the answers when it comes to keeping Saabs on the road. We’ll look at this community in the next Keepers … .