Cabrio ride hint : rediscovered roads in Slovakia

I've been on these roads before, but either it was too long ago or I was not driving or something else. But last week I did 540 km roofless through Slovakia, found some very nice hints for convertible drivers and this is the place to show them.

1. Hlohovec - Topoľčany
If you drive to northwestern Slovakia, this is definitely one road to do. It's easy to find and fun to drive. It starts with a passage through the woods with many curves, ideal for slow and chilling ride. After a while you come between the fields which are not exactly horizontal. There are some surprising abrupt "downrides" (we call them parachutes) where you have to be careful not to jump. It had somehow the power to let me drive more sporty, more gear switching and braking, but very careful. It was really a nice surprise.

Through the woods

Larger map

2. Along the river Váh
Between the National park Veľká Fatra and the mountain range Malá Fatra flows the river Váh, the longest slovakian river. Along it leads a wonderful road, on one side a mountain edge on the other the river. Because the main road through northern Slovakia is somewhere else (still not full highway) this one is not very frequented and in good condition. Because I had to turn in one point, I didn't do the whole road, only a part shown in the map below. My part was very comfortable and the rest will be definitely the same.

Along the river Vah

Larger map

It doesn't happen too often that summer temperatures comes so surprisingly soon. In the last days it was 29-30°C which is really hot for an april in Middle Europe. The snow in the mountains still didn't melted. A scenery sitting in a convertible like in summer while the mountains are covered with snow was a kind of mindblowing.

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Saving the last 9-3 for the Saab Museum

One of the largest Saab community sites worldwide Saabsunited is running a fundraising campaign for saving the last 9-3 of the current era for the Saab Museum in Trollhattan, where all the important milestones of the Saab Automobile are on display.

The museum itself is saved for some time, but the funds are by far not endless therefore it cannot afford to buy the last built Saab 9-3. This is the reason and moment, where fans, members of the community can donate money. The Saab is a white 9-3 Griffin sedan. It is also a moment, where the fans can show their power.

At the time of writing this, the amount is 11.700 € of the 28.500 € needed. 19 days and 15 hours remaining to the end. 

You can donate through Saabsunited and Paypal, the entrance with all the informations is here. Also if you don't have a Paypal account, you can donate as a guest without a need to open an account. It should work with credit as well as debit cards.

If the amount will not be sufficient, all the money will be donated to Saab Museum. Also, if the amount will be higher than needed, again all the remaining money will be donated to the Saab Museum.

I did. Now it's your turn.

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... a ride

The convertible season is already here, so I've made a ride with a friend with similar obsession for topless cars but driving a different brand. It's fine to have friends, who in these situations doesn't immediately start to compare cars and battling in features but instead just enjoy the ride.

Also here in eastern (ok central) Europe many people assume, that if you drive this kind of car, you must be a member of mafia or a sophisticated thief or something like that. This is definitely not the case. But one have to learn to live with that and after a while each of us simply doesn't care what the others think.

I didn't had the camera with me, so just some telephone pictures. 

Btw. 581 horsepower together on the pictures. 275 hp in the Saab (2.8 V6 + Hirsch, 400Nm) + 306 in the Z4 (3.0V6, 400 Nm).

BMW Z4 and Saab 9-3 Convertible

BMW Z4 and Saab 9-3 Convertible

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Style

Just a stylish image, definitely from a photoshooting session. Argentinian flag, but the numberplate seems to be american.The source of the pic is returning errors at the moment.

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Saab 900 Classic Pickup

Just a picture. My heard stopped for a moment. This is purity.

Credits : saabianti.ee

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Saab 900 NG Pickup. Unique and awesome.

A website and gallery found partially by accident. A real one of a kind 900 NG custom pickup made in Estonia. Built between 2002 and 2011 with some breaks in between. And officialy registered as a pick-up vehicle. Care to details. Awesome work. Below are some selected pictures and if you like them, make sure to go look to the original site linked at the bottom of the post. The text about the project is very well written, I guarantee you will not stop read it before the end :)

Saab 900 NG Pickup

Saab 900 NG Pickup

Respect !
Read more : saabianti.ee | saabianti gallery

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Saabism is partner of IntSaab 2012

I'm very proud to announce, that Saabism became partner of one of the largest european Saab events - International Saab Club Meeting 2012. IntSaab 2012 will take place 3-5.8. in Spa in Belgium. To this day, more than 3 months prior to the event, there are 253 registered participants with at least 230 Saabs and the number will even grow significantly as the event will be near.

Besides the socialising and Saab sniffing part you will find in the programme a possibility to drive on Spa as well as take a part on a Belgium by Saab Tour. You can read more about the event on the official website, follow it on facebook as well as in the Twitter feed. All partners of IntSaab 2012 are listed here.

It's not just a marketing partnership, my part will be to make as best as possible photos from the event, which will be published on IntSaab webpage as well as on Saabism and on evenings on the event itself.

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Classic Saab 900 Turbo in Wheeler Dealers

You've might seen the episode of Wheeler Dealers where the first generation of Saab 9-3 was featured. There was another part of the series with a very nice black classic Saab 900. In case you didn't see it, below is the whole cca 46 minutes long episode, sliced in 5 pieces. Enjoy.

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Bits and pieces before the storm

This post will be more like a notepad or timestamp for future reference than a news article. It's mainly quiet, although it's clear that behind the curtain of Saab administrators heavy activity is going on.

The deadline for bids for Saab is over. The bids are there and of course not a single name was unveiled  on the regular press-conference. Through the media are only two names flying : Mahindra & Mahindra and Lotus - Youngman. However all of the bidders (5-7 ?) reportedly submitted the bids and all of them are interested in the "whole Saab package", incl. the successful Saab Parts.

This is what the administrators are solving now.

 Some numbers appeared in the media in the last days. The Youngman bid should be 3.2 billion SEK (362 M€). Seeing the number in context of Saabs debt 12 - 13 billion SEK (1.5 B€, source), the bid is much lower. But also part of the debt should be in convertible shares and also not everything will be payed out. Youngman also stated to invest 10 billion SEK (1.2B€) for the production restart as well as anothe 10 billion for the next gen (?) Saab (source). But since in the past Youngman reportedly sent funding always late and less than promised, please take this with reserve.

Saab Parts AB also started to produce body parts. After negotiations with the administrators they rented the the press- and body factory in Trollhattan with required machines. Also they've bought a large amount of already produced body parts. Swedish original of the press release is here [pdf], the english translation here.

The former bankruptcy administrator Guy Lofalk as well as Victor Muller were in the court to bring more light in their operations prior to Saab bankruptcy. Since they don't like each other at all, this was a tough fight.

There are positive indications for usage of the Saab brand for the future, coming from the administrators. Besides of the importance of the fact that possible future cars from Trollhattan could be sold under the Saab brand, it is also a very important indication, that there is a serious interest from the bidders to continue the Saab production in some way. Otherwise they wouldn't loose time on this complicated topic.

54 BMW engines are missing. In the time of agreement between Saab and BMW about using their engines in the future generations of Saab, BMW has sent 54 engines to Sweden. Now they seem to be missing and the german automaker is afraid of dissapearing them to someone who could reverse engineer / copy them. Hm.

That's it. It's still nothing against the time when we know who will be the future owner of Saab and what are the intentions with the brand. This will be the most critical moment in many months and years.

Credits : Saabsunited | Saabblog.net | facebook

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Saab article in the latest Speed magazine

In the Czech version of the May 2012 issue of Speed magazine is a 4-pager about Saab called "The northern tragedy". Below you can find scans of it.

For all of you who doesn't understand czech or similar language, a large part is about Saab history naming models and technical innovations. Also it briefly states what happened after GM wanted to close Saab, the story with Spyker, PangDa and Youngman from the last year.

It also states very clearly that GM is the main reason for all the recent troubles, because it didn't understood Saabs at all. The original idea was to buy Saab with the same strategy of luxury brand like Toyota - Lexus and Nissan - Infiniti, but instead of bringing real new models, it tried to cheat customers with Vectra in another coat, even if Saab 900-II shared only 1/3 of the parts (and had completely different spirit). Also there are very valid words, that GM didn't understood Saabs customers at all and couldn't offer them a reason to buy the GM-Saab.

The article ends sad, saying : 

"The loyal, enthusiastic and somehow rich customers are gone. New ones doesn't exist and even if the production would be restarted, the customers wouldn't risk. The reputation is gone, the trust is destroyed. Only memories remain.".

Looking at the Saab blogs and discussion forums, i disagree in some extent. I would go for the new Saab 9-5. Definitely, the Saab restart will be hardcore. But with a good car, even if only one model, the new owner could make it. Well, if there is enough will and a reasonable business plan. There is still hope.

Click on each picture to get a readable size. If your monitor is too small, download it. The actual sizes are large enough. 

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Wheels

These are my 17" Aero wheels, I like them a lot. Recently they got new shoes - Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric 2, with very good reviews. Hopely they hold what they promise. They were selected by Porsche as the default tyre for the current Porsche 911 Carrera 2. Hopely they will hold longer than last years Michelins.

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Trademarks

These all are registered trademarks of Saab. More here. Will it be ever used ? Near future will show. Soon.

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Trucks

This picture appeared on some truck page on facebook.

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Heavy products arrived

I waited for some time for two new things, the first is really nice to have, the second is necessary.

Firstly the book Saab 99 and 900, The Complete story. The content seems to be after a short time spent with it a very interested reading. For sure a good gift for a Saab enthusiast. Bought on Amazon.

Secondly my front break discs need to be changed. They have 90.000 km and on one of the recent drives I've got a small stone between the disc and the pad, which carved a circle into the disc and disappeared. The pad is OK, but the disc is gone. Bought at Neobrothers.

It's a real heavy product, which our two cats had to test out. So both tried what a sleep on Saab brake discs tastes like. As everything new at home and as always a small check out for some minutes. Afterwards most of the new artefacts are being ignored. Especially the static ones.

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90003

When I bought him, he had 39.000 km on the tachometer. Now it is 90.000 km.

All the 50.000 km were a pure pleasure. Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia and of course Slovakia. Except regular service stops no serious or expensive failure. Hopely it stays so. I am satisfied.

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Happy Easter

Dear Saabism readers. I'd like to thank for all your time spent on my blog.
Happy Easter !

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40.000 km of experience with the E85 fuel

This post is inspired by the Saabsunited article about the Maptun E85 offers for several Saab engines as well as Saabblog.net article about the same topic. I remembered about a guy driving a Saab 9-5 on E85 already for a longer time. Different from Maptun, but the point here is not to compare several software stacks (Maptun, BSR, trionictuning etc) but to get a direct experience with the Ethanol fuel itself.

It is the same guy, nicknamed Rass and the same car, featured on Saabism already with the custom mp3 Linux based player onboard. Since that we're in contact through Google Talk, so I've asked him for a chat about the topic.

Could you describe your Saab ?

It's a 9-5 Aero, combi, with manual transmission. Model year 2001, engine B235R, 2.3L on petrol.
When I bought him, he had 114.000 km, in cca 150.000 km I did the first chiptuning for E85, now he has around 190.000 km.

Which software do you use and how long ?

I use the software from ecuproject.com or trionictuning.com. I have it for almost two years and 40.000 kilometers. It comes from the original BioPower software from Saab, which is great. So the philosophy behind is, why to reinvent the wheel, a good one, when you can improve an existing one. I've heard that many other chiptuners are doing the same and improving the code on their own, but I don't know it for sure.

Which other parts of the engine you had to change ? What about the costs ? 

Not too many. Firstly after 1.000 km a new fuel filter and after 5.000 km a new gas pump. Also I've changed the plugs to BCPR7ES-11 as required here. But it looks like it is nice to have instead of necessary, because the regular Saab BioPower versions are using regular plugs as well. 

The ethanol resistant gas pump costs about 80€. The original one is not ethanol resistant  but also survives for some time. But mine was old, so in order not to stay somewhere on the road, I've changed it anyway. The plug costs about 3€ / piece and are to be changed every 10 - 15.000 km.

So after all this what happened with the engine performance ?

My original performance was 230hp / 350Nm. After the changes I have 260hp / 400nm on petrol and cca 230hp / 400nm on E85.

Why the difference between gasoline and E85 ? 

Because of the injectors. Ethanol is a mixture of 85% ethanol and 15% petrol. It has weaker heating power (although higher octane number 109 against 95, 98 petrols) so for the same performance you need more Ethanol. But the injectors are designed for petrol, so in higher speeds they have a bit less throughput (simply speaking) to deliver the needed amount of E85. The software has a peak of 230 HP, but adds 50Nm of torque. The change of the injectors would bring also more horsepower.

But even without it the subjective feeling is much better than before. The car is faster and the torque comes nearly immediately in low rpm. Recently I tanked petrol for after a month or so and I had a feeling the Saab doesn't go properly, it was weak :) Of course it is a feeling, but the torque plays here a significant role.

How many times did you updated the software ? 

Around 10 times. At the start some experiments and versions, now it's very stable. I did also some open SID software tuning to see more live data on SID, so alltogether maybe 15 times. It's not necessary, but I liked to play with it. Once I burned the software update outside, in front of my house in -20°C, with a bit of fear, but everything was going fine.

What happened to fuel consuption ? 

Well this depends heavily on the driving style. But it increased. In the city traffic 13-15 L / 100km, outside of the cities it's better, around 11.5 L / 100km. The best I could achieve is 10.5 on the highway with 115 km/h on tempomat. But who drives a 200+ hp car like this ...

On petrol the numbers are 10 - 12 L, highways 8.7 - 10.5 litres.

It is more or less correct, that on E85 the  fuel consumtion increases on 20% - 30%. But still, when here in the Czech republic the Natural 100 Petrol costs 39 CZK (1.6€) and E85 25.50 CZK (1.04€) which is 56 cents on liter less, I am still saving good money.


Also when you drive fast and sporty, the fuel consumption of petrol increases at a higher rate than ethanol, so the fuel consumption difference is much less, maybe 5%.

There is one more thing. As mentioned E85 has less heating power, therefore the fuel consumption on cold engine shortly after the start is huge. The engine heatens more slowly. Because of this and the things mentioned before it makes much more sense to drive E85 on longer trips. My experience says more than 50 km long trips.

So is it also possible to use normal petrol ? 

Yes of course. The software allows that and you can drive also on mixtures between petrol and E85. It adapts itself and writes on SID how exactly the mixture is. It is a default feature of the software. After each fueling it writes messages about adaptation to the particular mix in the tank. So petrol doesn't hurt the system at all.

Actually the best feeling about performance you get when you have a mix of both. The software interpolates maps of petrol and E85, so in theory you can achieve horsepower of the petrol mode (260 hp) and the torque of E85 (400 Nm). Makes fun to drive :)

I have stage 1, but you can go up to stage 3, where you have to change several other parts of the engine than I did. For example the mentioned injectors.

Was there any failure in the car which could lead to the E85 adaptation ? 

No, nothing. In fact I had no failure for the 2 years with E85, which is great. Hopely it stays so for some time.

Something else notable to mention ? 

Well yes. Sometimes it smells after alcohol like hell :) When the police stops you, they get immediately suspicious and test you if you aren't drunk. It helps to have some receipts from the gas station, to show them where the smell is coming from. 

Thanks a lot for the talk.

---
I've been a passenger in this Saab and have to confirm, it drives really fast. I don't know if faster than mine 9-3 Convertible Aero + Hirsch, but the feeling was simillar.

Links for more information :

The Saab 9-5 (CZ) | Saablin.net (custom mp3 player in 9-5) | Saab BioPower FAQ | E85 | E85 Myths

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Don't let Saab die

In a kind of sceptical mood ...

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Unusual Saab for sale

There were some special car transport Saabs built by the company Soltstad. One of them is now for sale.

It's a Saab 9000 transport vehicle used by a czech Saab dealer Suchomel for many years, so it's definitely also serviced very properly. If you'd like to know more, click here. It's not cheap at all, but it is very unusual and most probably very well maintained.

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Largest Saab meeting around is coming

The largest annual Saab event in the Czech Republic, where also many slovakian Saab drivers use to go has a date for this year : 5.5.2012. Ou yes. It takes place for several years already in Roudnice nad Labem, a town located some 50 km behind the capital Prague. It is organised by Garage Machacek, a long term and locally very known dealer and service nearby.


Last year there were around 200 Saabs from all around mostly Czech Republic, Slovakia, but also I've seen some cars with austrian and polish numberplates. It is for this part of Europe a large event and most traditional. You can see some pictures from last year here. 

Saab event, Roudnice nad Labem, 2011

For me as well as for the other members of the Puppy Hunters Saab Club which will join, it means a very long and exciting day. It usually starts with a meeting in Bratislava around 5 - 5.30 in the morning and driving in a small convoy 130 km to Brno. Than joining the guys from Saabunderground.cz and driving in a larger convoy (10-12 cars) around 200 km to Prague. There is always a pre-meeting of many other Saab drivers at a large gas station, at least 20-30 other cars. Than it goes all together the last 50 km to Roudnice Nad Labem. Since the convoys drive more slowly than a normal solo ride, so everything takes longer, but makes more fun. 

Saab event, Roudnice nad Labem, 2011

My ride back last year was on the other day, a great 420 km convertible ride through southern parts of Czechia and Moravia. A land full of ponds, lakes, historical points and scenic stops. The weather was great, not too cold and not too hot. I really hope for the same this time.

Another large Saab meeting will be in Poland at the end of May, more info here.

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Double red retro Saab

Here are two pictures, which could originate only in Sweden, in some of the swedish Saab events. These two Saabs are about same function but different look'n'feel. But both are beautiful and have a really large dose of soul.

Find 6 differences between the Saabs :) Click on the pictures for original size.

Credits : Saabrobz

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Sharp criticism on Sweden regarding Saab

Lars Holmqvist, the recently retired CEO of CLEPA (European Association of Automotive Suppliers) sharply criticised swedish government in talks with Just Auto. There could be done much more in the Saab case and the situation could look completely different today.

He's by far not the only one, with such and simillar criticism.

"In no other country, you would have had such a cool government as Sweden, no other country in Europe. If they wanted to, they could have done a lot more. The deal with Youngman could have been done and closed, " told Holmqvist.

Currently CLEPA members are employing around 5.000.000 people and about a half of the R&D money into cars is their investment, so Holmqvists words have a power.

He also revealed, that Volvo offered a lot of jobs to good engineers from Saab. Great for them, bad for the sinking Saab.

More info : just-auto article | clepa

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Deadline for final bids for Saab extended to 10.4.

The first working day after Easter is the, due to complexity of the Saab sale process, extended deadline for final bids. This was announced on todays press-conference of the administrators.

Again careful answers. This one was somehow tricky :

Q : Do the interested parties remaining want to build cars with the brand name SAAB?
A : If there is a continuation under the brand name Saab is not something the administrators can answer, but all parties are interested in building cars with Saab technology.

In other words, not all of the bidders want to build Saabs. They all probably want to buy the factory, hire the people, use the remaining technology but only some (if) intend to build Saabs. That would be probably Mahindra & Mahindra and recently somehow quiet Youngman.

Saab technology in non-Saab cars could mean the electric alternative by the mysterious japanese / chinese consortium, where Youngman as well as BAIC / Panasonic could be involved, but also companies like Valmet which produced Saab Viggen and 9-3 convertible around 2002.

So if the dealine is 10.4. and the next press-conference on 17.4., this could be an interesting one. 

More info : saabsunited | saabblog

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Zítra vstanu a opařím se čajem : Saab 96

One of the cutest movies of the czech kinematography from the 70's / 80's is Zítra vstanu a opařím se čajem (Tomorrow i wake up and will get scalded by a tea; imdb link). It's a science fiction comedy with time travel into the WWII where a part of the story is going on in the 90's, where the time machines are a routine offering of travel agencies.

Several times a Saab 96 V4 appears in a scene which is repeating itself. This one :

Saab 96 in Zítra vstanu a opařím se čajem, source : imcdb.org

The scene appears also on a youtube video cutout :



It never appears in action, it's only parking but since the scene repeated 4-5 times, the Saab was quite often there :)

The main double role of the guy in the uniform was played by a Petr Kostka. 

Btw, there is an interesting discussion below the picture on imcdb. In the former Eastern Europe behind the iron courtain the Saab 96, besides other cars, was sold in specialised shops for western goods for surreal money. For example the price for Saab 96/96 started at 125.000 CZK, which is more or less the same in EUR today (+/- 20% but no more). The same or a bit higher price was asked for Saab 99. Therefore not many pieces were imported, but there were still some in the streets. And they still are.

sources : imdb, imcdb, czechoslovak TV from the past

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Getaway in Saab

This time only two videos. The first is a seriously tuned Saab featured in Getaway in Stockholm, the second is a "serious" finnish answer to Getaway in Stockholm as a whole. Enjoy.

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