Where drivers fail at summer holiday

An interesting study from Goodyear Dunlop was recently published about drivers behavior before and through summer holiday. Some things are shocking, some less but it gives a nice overview what people really (dont) do with and within their cars.

This is a survey from 5600 drivers in 15 european countries. 74% of them go to summer holidays and 73% of them by car. A half of them will drive more than 1000km. That's a lot, drivers and kilometers.

A half of the drivers rank themselves as average drivers. Again a half drives 3-4 hours before taking a break, but 11% drive more than 5 hours without a stop. Do they see stereo than ?  40% dont even check air pressure in their cars.

There is much more and interesting. You can look and download the 36 slides long document here. It is also a good guide for preparation of the car for summer holiday.

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Animated Saab 900 commercial

A nice retro animated Saab commercial for 900 turbo, 1996. Completely different from the current. Enjoy.

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Waze screenshot from Sao Paulo

You may remember the mobile social application for drivers called Waze. It basically shows other drivers in the network, shows and reports traffic jams, police traps and other things to all members logged in and around. You can read more about it here.

A friend, currently for a short business trip in Sao Paulo, Brasil, sent me a screenshot today. To see a Sao Paulo Waze screenshot isn't a thing you see every day, so here is one :

Thanks Ea for the shot :)

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Autoweek Netherlands : used car review Saab 9-3 Convertible at 200.000km

Interesting short review was today issued at autoweek.nl - a review of a Saab 9-3 convertible with 200.000 km on the road and 11 years old. It was done by a TUV technician. The video is in dutch, but still worth viewing :



I dont speak dutch, but there is a english text on saabworld.net saying about the condition of the car.

The steering wheel is not completely centered and there is a little bit of shake. But it drives straight and it hardly shows it has much wear at this mileage...The car is inspected by a mechanic and they only find a few minor issues. One small hose on the engie has to be replaced and the glass of one fog lamp is broken. That's it!

For an 11 years old car a very nice result. It gives me confidence, that with proper maintenance my Saab 9-3 convertible will be in simmilar condition. Very good.

sources : autoweek.nl and saabworld.net

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For sale : a blue Saab 9-3 Aero Convertible 2006 anniversary Hirsch

A member of our saabclub.sk is selling his beautiful 9-3 Aero Convertible 2006 Anniversary edition.

This is a quite rare car with 2.8 V6 engine upgraded by Hirsch to 275HP / 400Nm, the Hirsch leather dashboard and sports exhaust. It has 50.000 km and is in excellent condition. Serviced by authorised Saab service, well maintained as it has to be by a Saab fan and with everything documented.

 

The equipment contains radio / cd, climate control, power windows, ABS, ESP,  power steering, cruise control, fog lights, on-board computer, 6 airbags, leather seats and much more. It has a blue soft-top roof.

 

It was imported from Germany by the current owner. The car is located in Bratislava, Slovakia. You can find more information here (slovak language) or translated via google translator here.

The reason for this unique sale is buying a larger car with more luggage space.

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Is war texting a threat to Saab ?

Recently several news servers reports that IT security engineers have been able to open and start a car through an SMS. The name of this technique, War texting, references to a popular thing called War driving. War drivers were driving around cities with laptops, searching for vulnerable Wifi networks and cracking them.

The only one named car brand which has been opened and started via SMS is Subaru Outback. Does it mean, Outback drivers have now a worse sleep ? No, because war texting appears to be a very complex technique usable mostly by very skilled IT security guys. If thieves would be that skilled, they wouldn't be thieves.

The authors of war texting didn't disclosed any other car brand, but reports say, that this could be a widespread problem, because car makers are using simillar or identical communication technologies in their cars. One of the most visible is OnStar RemoteLink (not used in Europe as far as I know), used by newser GM models and simillar software is used by BMW or Mercedes.

What about Saab ? Since Saab is a former daughter of GM, it could be a threat. But looking at the most stolen car brands report in 2010 completely different brands needs to respond to this threat. This is one of the big competitive advantages of Saab - it's very low on radar of thieves. In Europe not many Saabs, if any, are communicating through telecom networks.

A different story is the planned Android-based iQon system being developed by Saab for future vehicles. Not in production these days, it is not a threat. But Saab should look closer at this, to make it as secure as possible against war texting when (if) it comes into real cars.

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Music for cabriolets : Marcus Belgrave : Space Odyssey

This is an old jazz song, that works fantastic through a convertible ride ! I've heard about it first time some years ago in the Gilles Petersons WorldWide Show on BBC Radio 1 (recorded) while introducing The Detroit Experiment record where this track is re-recorded in a bit more modern version. Both works very fine, in my taste the original, released in 1974, is a bit better.

Enjoy. And if you use it while driving ... my pleasure !



One of the possibilities to get the song legally is here.

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Cabrio ride hint : from Bratislava to Lipno barrage on the side roads

This was again a combination of a convertible ride and a Saab drivers event. The guys from the czech club site Saabinfo are organising annualy an event in the camping at the Lipno barrage. It is "only" one of the community events they are doing, but I've decided with my girlfriend to go there for the weekend.

There are 3 or 4 alternative roads how to get there, no one of them is shorter than 300 km (186 miles) so it is also a good reason for a longer convertible drive. Since Janette, my girlfriend wanted to see the town of Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou because of its beautiful castle, we decided to go through it and than continue to the Lipno barrage.


Larger map

On the way there we had luck for the weather. Between many rainy days one fine day. The country roads in Czechia are mainly in good condition. Even it was friday, the roads were not crowded at all. As mentioned several times here, the southern Moravia as well as southern Czechia are just beautiful. It is a bit more rough country than for example Austria or Netherlands, where everything is nice but somehow too nice. Close to artificial. All grass and corn exactly the same swidth, everything super clean. In Czechia (and Slovakia as well) you can find many contrasts of well maintained towns or country against parts left on their own.

By the way Google Maps estimates the time outside of the highways quite well. According to Google, the drive on the map above 6 hours long, the clean driving time was 5:30 in realite. That's a good estimation.

Another thing I admire so much on the Czech Republic is, that on really very much places you can find very good food. Not only Prague, but also smaller places which you can find on such a ride. Of course one has to watch out for dirty places but still you have much bigger chance to enjoy great food than in Slovakia - a thing I am not proud of.

The beer is another story. Czech Republic is from a big part a beer country, except Moravia - which has extraordinary good wines. But all the large breweries except Budweiser (Budvar) are sold to multinational corporations and they are producing a yellow beer-like liquid sometimes called Eurobeer. People used to drink beer doesn't like that, so they are searching for beer coming from microbreweries. Hundreds of them are spreaded over Czechia. And indeed, you can often find an unknown local beer from a smaller or a microbrewery in many pubs or restaurants. I dont drink and drive, but afterwards I enjoy a good beer a lot.

The Saabinfo event was a very fine. About 20 Saabs came, some very fine pieces, around 50 people alltogether. For me it was camping in a tent after around 5 years or so. Unfortunately the weather turned to rain but that wasn't a problem. My car battery died, so we couldn't be on all the things we wanted. It would be OK, if the original batteries once they die, they die, they can't be recharded a bit anymore. This was my case, so we had to drive home. We did it. It's OK now, I've got a new one replaced. It's this one. Hopely it holds.

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Guest writer @ Saabsunited.com

Based on the blog you are at right now, the guys from Saabsunited offered me to become a guest writer for them. I've accepted, because Saabsunited is a fine website and the chance to spread the good name of Saab through them is much bigger than through Saabism. The first story is located here.

It doesn't mean at all, that I stop to write Saabism. My little blog is a great thing for relax and sharing fine stuff.

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