From: DervMan on
"AstraVanMann" <Peter(a)Swerveforeskinweb.com> wrote in message
news:HL6dnSQoYPdzbRjVnZ2dnUVZ8qGdnZ2d(a)bt.com...
> <<Test it an decide. The auto LPT I drove was nice, but a bit wallowy
> and the steering was silly light. But still a nice place to be when
> driver and front passenger get to choose their own vent temperature.>>
>
> All well and good, this modern fancy fandangled dual-zone malarkey. But
> the air all mixes together in the end....


The end being the people at the back. Some systems work remarkably well. I
like it icy cold, Charlie likes it furnace hot* and the 9-3 works well in
this respects.

*minor exaggeration for Usenet purposes.

--
The DervMan
www.dervman.com


From: DervMan on
"Elder" <carl.robson(a)bouncing-czechs.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.22f0309a6e6afd8398a0b6(a)news.individual.net...
> In article <6emkvsF7q92cU1(a)mid.individual.net>, toomany2cvs(a)gmail.com
> says...
>> Douglas Payne <douggie(a)cheerful.com> gurgled happily, sounding much like
>> they were saying:
>>
>> >>> They do have comfy seats though. And a button which turns all the
>> >>> dash lights off except the speedo. And the ignition locks the
>> >>> transmission in Park when you take the key out.
>>
>> >> It's in the middle still, but I don't think it does the locking
>> >> anymore. Or maybe it does on the autos.
>>
>> > The 2002 Manual 9-5 Estate we have in the stable locks the car in
>> > reverse when you remove the key. I was assuming there'd be a similar
>> > arrangement in the Auto.
>>
>> I think it's just the current-shape 9-3 that doesn't.
>>
> Ah right. OK


Yes. It has an electronic steering lock when you take the key out, but you
don't have to have it in any gear whatsoever.

--
The DervMan
www.dervman.com


From: DervMan on
"Douglas Payne" <douggie(a)cheerful.com> wrote in message
news:6esk98F8m5eaU1(a)mid.individual.net...
> jackhackettuk(a)yahoo.co.uk wrote:
>> On 25 Jul, 00:58, Douglas Payne <doug...(a)cheerful.com> wrote:
>>> jackhacket...(a)yahoo.co.uk wrote of Saabs:
>>>
>>>> Aside from them being a bit shite and likely to depreciate like
>>>> buggery, any company that tries to market their cars as 'Eco
>>>> Power' (IIRC), when they're just as shite on fuel as anything else,
>>>> sucks.
>>> Yeah, I mean 'Ecotec' was a much cleverer marketing ploy, wasn't it?
>>
>> It wasn't plastered all over the car in big letters on a trade stand
>> with a euro standard 'energy rating' placard sitting on the windscreen
>> pointing out it was actually quite shite on fuel though, was it. ;-)
>>
>> In fact IIRC it was just the name of the engines they were doing back
>> then rather than a full on, leading the campaign for the range with
>> the term concerned headlining it.
>>
>> This thing was a 9-3 estate IIRC, with 'ECO POWER!' in huge letters up
>> the bottom of the doors.
>
> Was it set to run on Ethanol or something? Saab have been into that for
> ages too. I remember reading that they were developing a variable
> compression engine that moved the cylinder head depending on the boost and
> demand for power. It sounded kind of cool.

Yes. Biopower? High RON stuff...

> I'm just asking cos Saabs have had an engine called EcoPower for ages. My
> next door neighbour has a 9000 with an EcoPower engine IIRC. Don't think
> its particularly powerful or economical.

No it isn't, but that defeats some of the point of it.

> I'm fairly immune to advertising on the telly because I don't watch telly.
> I wasn't at your county show either. )c:



--
The DervMan
www.dervman.com


From: DervMan on
<jackhackettuk(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:f44da250-c647-4a1c-96bc-d36eda016cfe(a)v39g2000pro.googlegroups.com...
> On 24 Jul, 21:40, st...(a)italiancar.co.uk (SteveH) wrote:
>> Adrian <toomany2...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>> > st...(a)italiancar.co.uk (SteveH) gurgled happily, sounding much like
>> > they
>> > were saying:
>>
>> > > We're all petrolheads, but I can guarantee that the average bloke in
>> > > the
>> > > street places Saab pretty much up there with the other prestige
>> > > brands -
>> > > and streets ahead of Vauxhall.
>>
>> > The average bloke in the street is well aware that recent Saabs are
>> > just
>> > tarted-up Vectras.
>>
>> I'd disagree - people may know they're owned by the same company that
>> makes Vectras, but I don't think many are all that aware of the platform
>> sharing.
>
> Having looked one over at the County Show I went to a couple of weeks
> ago, I wouldn't touch one with yours.
>
> Aside from them being a bit shite and likely to depreciate like
> buggery, any company that tries to market their cars as 'Eco
> Power' (IIRC), when they're just as shite on fuel as anything else,
> sucks.


LOL! Good point, but misses the mark a little. Saab coined Ecopower when
carbon dioxide wasn't the only pollutant to emerge from exhaust pipes. Do
you remember when Saab demonstrated that the 9000's radiator cleaned
London's air, and how the air coming out of the exhaust was also cleaner
than when it went in?

--
The DervMan
www.dervman.com


From: Adrian on
jackhackettuk(a)yahoo.co.uk gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying:

> only today I was out in the
> Astra at work and noted it really does have a cracking chassis...

That'd explain the torque-steer. Still, I'm sure it can be welded up.