Took the wife out for a spirited drive through the local Rocky mtns this morning and on the return trip a Saab 9000 caught up to us in traffic. When we hit a clear piece of highway we hit the gas overtaking whatever was in the way with the Saab staying close up to 160kph then it was 'goodbye'. The next time we did this I had the car in 3 pulling out to pass left the Saab in the dust then we hit some nice sweeping 140-160kph curves and the 'contest' was completely over.........we left him for dead.

He caught up again when we slowed for our rural turnoff and waved to each other; he gave us the bowdown salute

We pull up to the house and the wife asks if I had fun.........oh yeah

disclaimer to our 928 folks who have Saab cars..........no idea of horsepower of the car or driver ability; never seen him before.........it's just that we almost never have a car and driver up here that wants to have that much fun

 

Saab 9000's run the gamut from kinda poochy to decently fast. The NA versions started out at 130 HP, 165Hp for the Turbo. The later models got up to 225HP in the Aero (200hp with the auto trans.) There was a V6 model also but I'm not familiar with that one.

The Saab 9000 Aero is pretty neat:
http://webpages.charter.net/ralimi/aero/

They scoot a bit better than the specifications would suggest. Also they have fantastic sport seats standard. Every now and then I think about getting a really nice one.

-Joel.

 

For the main course, you dusted a poor little car with a turbo 4 - probably an auto .... ... what's for dessert - a Neon, or an Echo?
BTW, when the SO asks the question " ....... and the wife asks if I had fun........." and adds the 'look' , hope you enjoyed it, for that's all the fun coming your way for the next while.

Seriously, the Saab sedans can run quite well, and some have a V6 IIRC, although the turbo 4 is adequate.

 

One other thing--you were at high elevations which would give a turbo vehicle a bit of an advantage versus normally aspirated engines...

Those are some fantastic driving roads, I did Vancouver to Medicine Hat and back last summer and it was a blast.

 

I had (eat) one 2 weeks ago, and played with a 06 (vet) this sunday and he Killed me the same way.
But lots of fun!

 

Garth........you forgot about the candle light dinner we're having tonight in celebration of our Canadian heritage days...........brownie points to be had galore

 

My Saab is decently fast, but no match for my S4. The handling is much worse, But it,s a nice tourer and gets better than 30 mpg. Killer AC .

 

They are very nice cars!

 

Whatever you do never attempt the same thing in Sweden, over there it is a national sport to cram power out of Volvo and Saabs up to insane levels.. The HP kings in the 2.3 liter Saab community has about as much power as the high HP 928's here on Rennlist..

 

COOL!
Like F1 IN THE 80'S 1.6L 1200HP

 

I had 9000 2.3T up until a year ago. With simple modifications, it would spin the tires in 3rd.

It was blindingly fast, and the engine survived the hight boost level too.

I will not comment on wether it was faster than my current shark, or not....


MM

 

I remember back in the day you either had a Volvo 740 Turbo or a Saab 9000 Turbo. I had the former and a friend had the latter in Aero form. Took a trip to Vermont from NJ in that car and I remember it being quite comfortable and quick with a bit of turbo lag.

 

IIRC, 9000 Aero had peak torque of 258ftlbs at 1800rpms. Not bad for a 2.3L I4. The stock engines will take a lot of abuse and can easily put out 400-500hp without major mods. The 2.3L is a much better engine than the 2.0L which produces 550hp in ProRally cars.