Night panel

On request, here's how the night panel on the new Saab 9-5 looks. Move the mouse courser over the image to turn on night panel.




The Night Panel was first introduced in the new Saab 900 for model year 1994 as the Black Panel. It changed name to Night Panel in the 9-3 and 9-5. This cool and helpful feature when driving at night, has been beloved ever since introduction.

Moose collision!

No, I didn't hit a moose, but my sisters fiancé did with their 2001 Saab 9-5 SportCombi. He wasn't going very fast, maybe 40 km/h when he hit the moose, but when you get 500 kilograms of moose on the hood and into the windshield, it is still noticeable!

I wonder what would have happened if he'd driven a 2001 Toyota? To quote a past Swedish car slogan: "There are no moose in Japan"...

Installing rear mud flaps on the car

Last Sunday I installed rear mud flaps on my car. It was a very simple operation that took less than one hour.

First I loosened the wheel nuts and raised the car and removed the wheel.

Then it was time to remove three screws that keep the wheel arch liner fastened to the rear bumper. These screws can be put away since three new and longer screws are included with the mud flaps.

Then I loosened the protective plastic on the adhesive tape and used alcohol to clean the area where the tape would stick to the bumper.

Then I fastened the mud flap to the bumper with three new screws (I used the same holes as the three screws I removed), and removed the protective plastic on the adhesive tape before I tightened the screws. Then I drilled a hole in the wheel arch liner and used the plastic clip to fasten the mud flap to the wheel arch.

Finished!

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My trust in my new Saab took a hit - But now it's back

Today I went to wash my car. After the car was sparkling clean, I was ready to leave the wash bay. I sat in, pressed in the clutch and pushed down the start button. Nothing happened. I pushed the button again. Still nothing. The only bright symbols on the dashboard was the parking break icon and the engine icon. By this time I was getting a bit bewildered. I got out of the car and tried to lock the car hoping that locking the car would turn off and reset all systems. But the car couldn't be locked. Standing outside my car I noticed that the car decided to turn on the lights. I got back in and tried to start it again. No reaction. But now there was some message about the remote key. I was too confused by the whole situation to notice exactly what the message said before it disappeared. But the message made me suspect that the immobilizer was stopping me from starting the car. I decided to pop up the hood and see if I could disconnect the battery and thereby reset the car. But I did of course not have the needed 10 mm wrench to unhook the battery's ground cable. By this time there was a queue forming behind me, so I asked the next in line if he could help me push the car out of the wash bay. When we got the car outside I got back in and sat there for a few seconds. Then suddenly all the LCD-screens went black. I pushed the start button. Brooooom. It started! And I drove off.

This experience took a chunk of the trust I had in my car. And it was really bad advertising for Saab that I couldn't start my brand new car and we had to push it out! I hope I'll never need to experience that again. But just in case, I will keep a 10 mm wrench in the clove compartment.

Update: But now the trust is back. Why? Because I got two good advices in comments :)

Make "my" new Saab 9-5 the Car of the Year!

Each year the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet has a Car of the Year award. First a poll is run over several weeks where the people can cast their vote. Then a panel of so called experts pick the winner. So you might think that what the people vote is not important. Well, it is important because the car that's the people's choice gets a lot of attention!

Last year the Saab 9-3X won the people's vote, but the Toyota Prius won the Car of the Year award due to the experts not listening to the people. They claimed the Prius was a more modern and technological advanced car.

But this year, let's vote the new Saab 9-5 as the Car of the Year and give the so called experts another challenge! 

Visit the following link, scroll down to the voting section, pick the Saab 9-5 and click "Send inn".

http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/10/22/tema/arets_bil_2011/bil/13964844/

Thank you :) 

 

Chrome and black frames

So you think the previous generation 9-5 looks terrible with the chrome frames around the headlights?

　

And the wide black lines framing the "frosted" white tail lights on the 9-3 Sedan aren't much better?

Then lo and behold, they are both present on the new Saab 9-5!

But I guess one can argue that the use of chrome and black frames are much more sophisticated and subtle on the new 9-5. The frames around the headlights use matt chrome and are integrated into the rest of the grille, while the black edges on the rear lights are barely visible.

　

Do you still not like chrome and black frames?