Saab 99 Reviews

The attraction of ethanol is that it is a renewable resource derived from plants and is essentially carbon neutral because the plants from which it comes consume carbon dioxide during photosynthesis.Manufacturing ethanol would not be carbon neutral unless the power consumed came from a source such as solar, wind or hydro electric generation.But even then, the energy consumed to make infrastructure for these power generation systems would consume non-renewable resources.It is a vexed question.However, using ethanol for transport has other benefits that need to be taken into account, specifically, it reduces our dependence on imported oil and we have all seen what that can do, particularly at the bowser.Using ethanol to power vehicles is probably not the answer to global warming, oil dependence and fossil fuel problems but is part of the solution as we wait for hydrogen engines to be fully developed.Ethanol can be viewed as a stepping stone along the way towards hydrogen.Saab is the first auto manufacturer to bite the bullet in Australia and release a production car that happily runs on mostly ethanol.More than that, the BioPower 9-5 runs better on E85 (85 per cent ethanol) than it does on straight petrol, producing more power and better performance on the "green" fuel.But E85 is not readily available in Australia, certainly not at a commercial level through numerous outlets.Our preference for petrol has seen ethanol almost completely overlooked as a transport fuel.Perhaps the best Saab can hope for in the short term with its BioPower cars is that the Federal Government is pushed into dealing with the issue and also that the average motorist starts thinking about ethanol as an alternative to petrol, LPG, and diesel.Right now, there are three ethanol producers in Australia: Rocky Point, Manildra and CSR.Total annual production from the three companies is around 170 million litres.This would have to be increased hugely should ethanol use for transport become commercial.However, even if every scrap of arable land in Australia was put under crops, it would still not provide enough ethanol to power the nation's vehicles.The Swedish experience (where Saabs are made) has shown that the move to ethanol has not been driven by petrol prices, but by demand for cleaner fuels.But the Swedish government has significant cash incentives for people who buy bio-cars.These incentives for the population to go "green" are not replicated here.Saab hopes E85 will spread rapidly as a transport fuel. It is already extensively used in countries like Mexico. 

Two of the fastest on show are the $659,000 Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 and the $574,000 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, each capable of more than 330km/h. But you won 't be able to buy them even if you have the money.Honda and Toyota are showing mock-ups of their 2006 Formula One cars, while Subaru is showing a mock-up of its World Rally Championship car driven by Gold Coaster Chris Atkinson to fourth place in the Monte Carlo Rally.Other show stoppers include Jaguar's supercharged 4.2-litre V8 XKR, Audi's $300,000 R8 which is not due for production until later this year, and the 500-horsepower seven-litre V8 Corvette Z06 American muscle car converted from left to right-hand-drive in Gympie by Performax International.At the other end of the power scale are a collection of 50cc commuter scooters with less than 10 horsepower, as well as environmentally friendly petrol-electric hybrids and Saab's BioPower 9-5 which runs on 85 per cent ethanol fuel made from sugarcane.Motor show manager Michelle Ramsay said the 311 vehicles on display were brought in this week by 450 trucks and 150 commercial vehicles. The show runs until February 11.

Demonstration vehicles with UK specification were on hand for the press this week at the appropriate sugarcane region in Queensland.The Saab 9-5 BioPower is flex-fuel capable, which means it can run on E85 ethanol or petrol or any combination.Saab Australia and New Zealand director Parveen Batish says 9-5 BioPower vehicles are available to order. He anticipates their arrival about late March. They are expected to have a $1000 to $1500 price increase over the current 9-5 range and will be available in sedan and wagon form.But as E85 is not yet publicly available at the pump and doesn't seem to be part of the plan for the near future, the cars will have to rely on E10 or unleaded petrol.Saab says there is no indication of when we will see E85, but hopes its BioPower 9-5 will help speed up the process.The bioethanol used by Saab, which is produced from biomass, reduces emissions in the environment as the CO2 released during driving on E85 is removed from the atmosphere through photosynthesis."Ethanol is the fastest-growing alternative fuel in the world, because it's renewable," Batish says. "It doesn't add to carbon dioxide. We at Saab believe ethanol is a key part to the environment's future."And Saab has proven that ethanol doesn't mean you have to sacrifice performance. Indeed, the BioPower 9-5 produces better figures on ethanol than on petrol.The 9-5 vehicles used for the launch had the 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo engine, generating 132kW, up from the 110kW on petrol and 280Nm, an increase of 40Nm.But the models expected to arrive in Australia this year will be powered by the 2.3-litre, four-cylinder turbo engine, with 154kW, up from 136kW on petrol and 310Nm or torque, compared to the petrol's 280Nm.Driving the BioPower 2.0-litre doesn't feel different to a normal petrol-powered car, although it takes away some of the guilt, knowing you're helping the environment. It's like eating low-fat chocolate and knowing you won't put on the kilos.On the road, our test model made an unusually loud, jet-like sound, which apparently wasn't supposed to happen.There was ample power on hand and it gave off an adequate performance on the track and real-road conditions, but still seemed to lack pizazz. The cars driven will spend a few months getting a workout by the media, government, industry and fleets for long-term testing, with E85 provided for the period by ethanol producers from NSW, the Manildra Group."We are using the by-products of crops that are actually waste," Batish says.In order to run on bioethanol, Batish says no new technology is needed, rather the car just has to undergo minor engineering changes. By running on E85, the BioPower 9-5 is believed to reduce emissions by about 80 per cent.While E85 consists of 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent petrol and is already used to start vehicles in cold climates, Saab says it has also developed the ability to run vehicles on 100 per cent ethanol.BioPower 9-5 Saabs are already on the road in overseas markets, with more than 12,000 BioPower cars delivered in Sweden since July 2005. They are also available in Britain, Germany, Ireland and France, countries equipped with some E85 filling stations and where the governments offer tax breaks, reduced fees and cheaper parking to those driving the vehicles.But Batish says there is a whole industry of ethanol already under way in Australia.Renewable Fuels Australia executive director Bob Gordon agrees that ethanol is a good option for the present."Ethanol isn't going to solve our problems in decades to come, but until hydrogen-cell technology comes on line, we need a process to get there," Gordon says. "It's a stepping stone."Batish adds: "We think biopower leaves a cleaner footprint on the environment."Saab also released its 2007 9-3 diesel range this week. The company proudly boasts the title of the most fuel-efficient premium sedan and wagon on the market. It even has the first diesel-powered convertible in Australia, also making it the most fuel efficient of its type.The 9-3 diesel sports sedan has a 5.8-litre per 100km fuel consumption combined claim, 6.3-litres per 100km for the convertible and 5.9-litres per 100km for the SportCombi.Prices start at $44,900 for the manual sedan, $67,400 for the manual Convertible and the SportCombi starts at $47,400, all available with the Linear specification level.The 1.9-litre turbo diesel engine produces 110kW and 320Nm and all the models have a six-speed manual as standard, with a six-speed auto optional.Batish says there is now a greater acceptance of diesel engines and their positives, such as high-torque engines and better fuel efficiency.

So the latest findings by the University of Melbourne will come as a shock. The university's Business School surveyed 2000 car owners to rate how well they would recommend their cars to friends.The survey was based on a system called the net promoter score (NPS).German marques came out the winners ahead of Japanese carmakers such as Subaru, Toyota and Honda.The Australians - Mitsubishi, Ford and Holden were a poor third. It's an interesting result considering Holden and Ford are two of this country's biggest sellers.Study leader, associate professor Mark Ritson, says it pinpoints which cars deliver the best overall customer experience.He says the best performer was BMW with a score of 59, followed by Volkswagen with a ranking of 47. Audi, which has spent big money on its revival in Australia, scored 45, finishing ahead of Mercedes-Benz on 39.Mitsubishi and Holden both scored in the red, with a minus 16; Ford was worse, scoring a minus 25.Ritson says more than half of the owners of the four leading German marques are "promoters". They will actively encourage others to buy the brand and are more likely to buy their next car or a second car from the same brand."Perhaps even more impressive is the remarkably low number of detractors that these brands have," he says. "More than a third of Holden drivers are detractors and they will spread an enormous amount of negative word-of-mouth about their car. Contrast that with either BMW or VW which have almost no detractors to speak off. Their whole customer base is either passive or a promoter of the brand."It's important in a category such as automotive to recognise the crucial importance of low numbers of detractors for a brand. Detractors spread more than 80 per cent of the word-of-mouth on a brand."We are much more likely to tell our friends bad things about our products than the good things. For a big social purchase such as a new car, this can have a major impact on sales."The study provides depressing reading for Australian producers. Mitsubishi, Holden and Ford all posted dire results, he says. The bottom-ranked brand was Saab."There are many potential explanations for this position, but perhaps the most likely is that Saab's operations in Australia are handled by Holden," Ritson says. "This is a company that struggles to generate positive NPS for its own brand, and is probably too busy and too distracted with this mission to successfully manage an additional brand."The NPS is based on analysing the results from a single key question: How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or a colleague?The NPS is calculated by measuring the difference between the percentage of customers who give high responses (promoters) and those who give low ones (detractors). Customers who scored in the middle are deemed passively satisfied and are not calculated in the final score.

Selected dealers have been approached to join an exclusive network that will sell the military-inspired Hummer H3 SUV, and eventually encompass Saab and US luxury marque Cadillac."It's gone beyond the discussion stage. It's been formally talked about to the dealer network," an automotive retail source said. The source said Holden had modelled its strategy for adding two new American brands on Ford's Premier Automotive Group of Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo."What they're envisaging is Holden going to do its version of PAG — Hummer being Land Rover, Saab being Volvo and Cadillac being Jaguar," the source said. "It's a lot of money to spend for dealers, but the pay-off is they'll eventually get three brands. They haven't finalised the Cadillac bit of it, but the Hummer plan is a fait accompli."The longer term intention was to integrate Saab with the Hummer and Cadillac network, the source said.The offer was only being made to selected high-volume Holden dealers or dealer groups."The volumes will be too small to spread across the Holden dealer network, so the plan is to ensure a concentrated market presence," the source said.Large Holden dealers were aware of the plan but reluctant to discuss it."It (Hummer) will be bundled in with other products — just what, we haven't been told yet," one metropolitan dealer principal said.Another city dealer principal said, "Not everybody's going to get Hummer ... I've been told it could come under Saab, HSV or Holden."Holden launched the Hummer H3 at the Australian Motor Show. It said the SUV would go on sale next year after right-hand drive production begins in South Africa, but sales and marketing director Alan Batey declined to give specifics."We're finalising the details of which distribution channel we'll use and we'll make an announcement in two months' time," he said."It's a niche. It's not going to be a mainstream segment but it's going to do well."About 1000 Hummer sales a year was the initial target with prices starting between $50,000 and $60,000, according to another Holden executive.Holden spokesman Jason Laird said the company had yet to finalise its Hummer marketing strategy and had no detailed plans for Cadillac."We're looking at all options available to us," he said. "But nothing's firmly in place when one of the brands is not confirmed for this country."If approved, Cadillac would be unlikely to arrive here before 2008, Mr Laird said. "Discussion about Cadillac would be premature, although we've made no secret of our interest in the company," he said.Cadillac is on an export push with foreign sales up by 42 per cent last year, giving the brand its best result since 1990.Cadillac launches in South Africa — another right-hand-drive market — next February.The three-model line-up consists of the Cadillac BLS, a sedan based on the Saab 9-3 for $44,000, the STS sports sedan at $70,000, and the SRX crossover at $79,000.The vehicles will be marketed together with locally made Hummers and imported Saabs by GM South Africa's newly established Premium Channel division.GM executives in Detroit are bullish about the export prospects of Hummer, which has been one of the few sales successes in the automotive giant's recent history.In Europe, where the H3 went on sale last year, the brand's sales are up more than 200 per cent. Exports could account for up to 25 per cent of the brand's 62,000 annual sales, Hummer general manager Martin Walsh last week told the Detroit News.

From baby beep-beep hatches through to luxury supercars, the millions of dollars worth of metal on display is guaranteed to thrill and delight. But there are always some that stand above the crowd. Our 10 show stars were:H3 HummerOnly a distant relative of the behemoth that raced through the Gulf in Desert Storm, but it still has the aura. The Hummer is known for its size - particularly its wide girth. However, in reality it's not much bigger than your average family SUV but - for better or worse - is designed to make you think in supersize.Ferrari 599 GTBAs slick and stylish as the Hummer is clunky. A beautiful piece of Italian design wrapped around F1 engineering. You may never own one but don't miss the chance to see it up close and personal.Audi R8With this race-bred beauty Audi steps up to the supercar plate and hits a home run. Refined over a year on the motor show circuit, the production model is one to desire.Mitsubishi TRM 380 ConceptPoints for bravery on this one. Some exterior flash, some shiny new rims and performance rubber, racing shocks and a Sprintex supercharger bolted to the 380. The result is a special that is definitely worth a look.Volvo C30What will be the baby of Volvo's fleet when it arrives in 2007 should once and for all put paid to any suggestion the Swedes can't style a car. The little coupe should be a must-have for cashed-up youngsters - and safe to boot.Saab Aero X conceptWith a nod to its aeronautical beginnings, the Saab design team has come up with an absolute cracker. The ethanol-powered performance car was named best concept at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year. Bentley Continental GTCAnother from the dream end of the market. The drop-top Bentley is proof that large cars - very large cars - can still look stylish ... and there is no substitute for that special attention to detail for which Bentley is known.Suzuki SX4 WRC ConceptWith its war paint on, the car that is going to take a resurgent Suzuki back to world rallying is an absolutely awesome sight. Even better: try to imagine this corker in civvies and you will have a pretty good idea of just what a grand Swift GTi this would make.Honda Sports 4 ConceptA glimpse into Honda's future with regard to their sports lines - particularly the Accord. The four-seat coupe is both sleek and menacing.Aurion Sports ConceptClose to the TRD Aurion scheduled to be revealed as a production car in early 2007, the Aurion Sports Concept is still a front-driver. The sports concept promises a substantial lift of the base car's 200kW thanks to a force-fed engine lifting torque above 400Nm.And a couple of extras that deserve a special mention with our top 10 favourites:Mazda Kabura ConceptThose crazy Japanese. Named for the sound of a howling arrow, the Kabura is a three-seater with a token effort at a fourth behind the driver. Styling and packaging is guaranteed to turn heads but don't be too quick to dismiss it out of hand. Mazda don't do things by accident.Hyundai Arnejs ConceptKorean design has been taking giant steps and the Arnejs Concept is one of the most stylish studies to come out of the Hyundai studios. Unveiled in Paris last month, the Arnejs points clearly towards the Euro-hatch derivative of the company's new Elantra.

It is, in its way, the best show for ages, with a quotient of concept vehicles and exotica balanced by real world stuff you'd actually consider buying.Highlights?It's hard to walk past Audi's R8, a fully-fledged supercar likely to come in with a "bargain" tag of substantially less than $300,000. Next to it is the second generation Audi TT, mightily improved and not screamingly unaffordable from $68,500 the entry model and about $20K more for its 3.2 V6 quattro sibling. We drove both of these through the Austrian Alps in June 2006, and will hazard the guess that Audi will struggle to meet demand for this superbly executed coupe.And, just for show, is a model of the R10 – the amazing V12 diesel that took first and third at this year's Le Mans.The great thing about concept cars is that they needn't conform to such tiresome criteria as Australian Design Rules - hence the lack of an A pillar on Saab's Aero Concept X. The lack of any pillars for that matter. Slightly more tangible is the 9-5 bio ethanol-powered wagon - a car to gladden the hearts of sugar cane growers.Lotus has revived an iconic brand name with the Europa S, a car that should affirm two-seater motoring can still be an unadulterated and largely unconstrained experience. When the product of mainstream manufacturers seems to keep getting fatter, like a choc-addicted neurotic, the mere existence of Lotus serves to remind us of (hard) core driving verities.Mazda's Kabura sports compact - with its cute 3+1 seating arrangement - is a concept from which the theme and shape of Mazdas to come can be divined. Ditto Honda's Sports 4 Concept for that marque. Or so we hope. While Honda's SH-AWD system is damn clever, it'd be neat to see it attached to something a little more athletic than the globulous Legend.A few metres away from the Kabura is the CX-7 - the crossover SUV with much of the Mazda 6 MPS's drivetrain - which you'll be seeing on our streets soon. It's one of two vehicles that perfectly defines what marketing types like to call the "zeitgeist" of the Australian buyer at the moment.The other, you may or may not choose to believe, is a Volvo. The S80 all-wheel-drive V8 luxury sedan might be the Swedish marque's new hero model, but their decidedly groovy 2+2, the C30, could be the car that finally puts paid to those ancient "bloody Volvo driver" cliches.It also points firmly in the direction that Australian private buyers are going ie: those of us not enamoured of soft road SUVs are downsizing but up-speccing.And speaking of good things in small packages, those who have queued long for the Volkswagen Golf GTI will be delighted to see that not only is demand being addressed, but the new to Australia three door-model starts $1500 under the five door at $38,490. VeeWee's highly desirable Eos CC, the big drawer at last year's Frankfurt motor show, finally made its Australian debut ahead of its release early in 2007.And yes, that's a turbo diesel variant you see parked near the turbo petrol. If diesel seems anomalous in a (part-time) open top car, it works.Given the mudslide of Holden hype this year, it comes almost as relief not to see some lurid concept jobbie from them for once, although unveiling the Hummer H3 did at least provide comic relief.With the pomp and circumstance we've come to expect from Holden on the opening day of the show, the covers were hauled off to anything but the reception they've come to expect.Far from the rapturous and somewhat sycophantic applause that greeted their Torana and Efijy creations, there was … well, the sound of no hands clapping. In fact, the silence that greeted this spectacularly pointless and ugly apparition could best be described as stoney.Nissan's Foria is a concept car we’d very much like to see come into fruition. Apart form the corporate grille, this is an elegant Lancia-like coupe intended as an MX-5-like alternative. 

Aero X is a clear pointer to a future in which the car and the environment get ever closer. Clever Swedish innovation and Australian powertrain expertise combine within the Aero X, making it a 'must-see' exhibit at the 2006 Australian International Motor Show in Sydney.The futuristic design features no lack of sophistication beneath the skin. The Aero X's 2.8-litre, twin-turbocharged V6 engine is based on the GM 'global V6' manufactured locally by Holden at the Port Melbourne engine plant.It is uniquely designed and calibrated to run on 100 per cent bio-ethanol – which means its exhaust emissions are potentially carbon-neutral.The reason why the Aero X's bio-ethanol engine does not increase greenhouse gas levels is because its carbon-dioxide emissions are balanced by the amount of carbon-dioxide that is removed from the atmosphere when crops used to manufacture bio-ethanol are grown.Bio-ethanol can – theoretically at least – re-use the greenhouse gasses that are emitted over and over again in fully sustainable, carbon-neutral production cycles. It could also open up vast new markets for Australian farmers, in effect making Australian agribusiness a powerhouse of global fuel production. With prodigious outputs – 298kW of raw engine power and 500Nm of torque – plus an ultralightweight carbon-fibre body and considerable grip underfoot thanks to a hi-tech all-wheel drive system, the Aero X is capable of reaching 100km/h in 4.9secs It's up there with many a supercar.Drive gets to the wheels via a seven-speed, double-clutch operated fully automated manual transmission and ride is controlled by a computerised, actively damped suspension system.Inspired by Saab's long-term alignment with the aerospace industry, the Aero X features a fighterstyle cockpit that renders conventional car doors obsolete, and the aerospace theme is continued in the jet turbine-style wheels.Inside the Aero X cockpit Saab has applied the latest technology from Swedish glass and precision instrument-making specialists to completely eliminate conventional dials and buttons.So if you want to look at the future of automotive display systems to get some idea of the medium-term outlook for production cars, the Saab Aero X will be high on your shopping list.It's a high-performance supercar even an environmentalist can enjoy.

At least 40 new cars will be unveiled at the Australian International Motor Show, which begins in Sydney in two weeks.Futuristic concept cars, with designs and features hinting at possibilities for production vehicles, will lead the line-up.The Mazda Kabura is one such concept. Sitting between the size of an MX-5 and an RX-8, the Kabura features a glass roof that connects to the windscreen, and borrows chassis components and the 2.0-litre double overhead cam engine from the MX-5.For Nissan, the stand-out will be a concept car by the name of Foria, which was unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show last year. The compact coupe has easy access to the rear seats through centre opening B-pillarless doors.Likewise, Honda's new Sports 4 concept, also revealed in Tokyo last year, will be on display at the show. It features a low centre of gravity and low inertia body and a sports cockpit with futuristic controls.Over at the Saab stand, the aviation inspired Aero X will be on display in Australia for the first time. With a 298kW, twin turbo V6 engine, fuelled entirely by bioethanol, the Aero X does 0 to 100km/h in 4.9seconds.An eye-catching feature of this concept car is the cockpit-like entrance, usually found on a jet aircraft.Straight from the Paris Motor Show, Hyundai's concept car, the Arnejs, is aimed at developing a stronger identity for the brand. Designed in Germany, the Arnejs gives an indication to the upcoming FD-series Elantra, expected here late next year.While there will be a plethora of eye candy in the concept cars, they won't be the only stars to debut at the upcoming motor show. Production vehicles will also go on display to the public for the first time.Perhaps the biggest on the list will be the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano. But those interested shouldn't reach for their wallets just yet. All models destined for Australia and New Zealand for this year and next have already been sold.The new Ferrari, which races from 0 to 100km/h in just 3.7 seconds, has a $574,000 price tag for the manual model and costs $600,000 for the model fitted with the F1 superfast gearbox.Over at Audi, the all new R8 will go on show. It is the company's first attempt at the rarefied supercar segment. With its 309kW 4.2-litre, V8 engine, the Audi R8 has a top speed of 301km/h.While the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione made an appearance in Australia at the 2004 Sydney motor show, that was merely the concept version. Now, two years later, the 8C will return in production form as a 336kW, 4.7-litre, V8 supercar.The new Holden Captiva, launched to the media this week, will also go on public display. The Captiva is Holden's attempt to break into the compact SUV market.Toyota's new V6 family car, the Aurion, will also make an appearance.Motor show spokesman, Mark Mathot says: "It will be as strong as any motorshow we have ever had and we still have a few surprises in store."Other new production cars to feature at the show will include the Alfa Spyder, the Mazda CX-7 and the new Audi TT.* Don't miss the official motor show magazine exclusively in The Daily Telegraph on October 27.FAST FACTSWhen: Thursday, October 26 until Sunday, November 5Where: Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling HarbourPrice: Adults $17, children under 16 $10.50 (under five free), family $42, seniors $10.50More information: australianmotorshow.com

The ultra-green machine has a 2.8-litre, twin-turbocharged engine based on the GM global V6 made in Australia. However, the engine in the Aero X has been developed by Swedish engineers to run on bio-ethanol.Saab says the bio-ethanol engine does not increase greenhouse-gas levels because its CO2 emissions are balanced by the amount of CO2 that is removed from the atmosphere when crops for conversion to bio-ethanol are grown.It has 298kW of power, 500Nm of torque with a seven-speed double-clutch manual gearbox in a lightweight carbon-fibre body.Saab says it is theoretically capable of 0-100km/h in less than five seconds.Several new concept cars are expected to debut at the show along with key new production models, including the all-new Toyota Aurion, the Ford BF II Falcon and Holden's new Captiva 4WD.For details, go to australianmotorshow.com