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Journals

Friends and associates of Hagstrom Saab have some pretty strong views about the superiority of the Saab brand, as you might expect. Please choose a journal below and read what our learned enthusiasts have to say...

Pick your Hagstrom Saab correspondent here>> | Stuart's Spin-offs | From the Archives | Alan's Column | Tommi's Restoration Projects | Emma's Reports | Notable Saabs | asd | Sonetts Surely! | Saab God | Enthusiast Links | Ashley's Other Saabs | Newsletter | 123 | 123 | asd | Open Forum | Nigel's Noggin | Matt's World | Owain’s Adventures

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Picture of journalist    
Picture of journalist

Matt's World

One man’s sermon from the mount

10/05/2024

02/11/2010

All Hail a New Breed of Motoring God

02/11/2010

New 9-5 Estate

15/10/2010

New 9-5 (Addendum)

06/07/2010

The New Saab 9-5

17/03/2009

The Curse of the Lead Right Foot

06/03/2009

Saab, in Trouble??!!

05/03/2009

Beware the Four Chrome Rings

05/03/2009

David Llewellyn Owen: a Memorial

03/03/2009

Are there ANY Saab crazed Girls out there?

29/11/2006

Oddballs

02/02/2006

The Unicorn

02/02/2006

A Re-acquaintance with the Saab 9000

08/12/2005

The New Saab 9-5

03/12/2005

Our Country is Disappearing up its own A**e Part III

03/12/2005

Dual Flow Filtration Part III

06/10/2005

Farewell to Scandinavian Blue

09/06/2005

Dual Filtration Part II

13/05/2005

Dual Flow Oil Filtration

03/05/2005

My Saab of the Moment!

09/03/2005

Mixed Emotions

09/03/2005

Why are the T16S 900's being scrapped in droves?

03/02/2005

Question: Where does Classic end and pile of s*** begin?

03/02/2005

When is a Saab not a Saab? When it's a Subaru

03/02/2005

Born Free, Taxed to Death

01/05/2004

Back in the Saddle ..

15/11/2003

The classic Saab 900 1978-1994

19/04/2003

Saab 99 buyer’s guide

01/04/2003

Stay safer in an older Saab!

01/04/2003

Petrol £6 a gallon...? But apparently it’s on the cards

The New Saab 9-5

Well, if the brochure is anything to go by, the new 9-5 has landed. And Saab have filled this little book with the usual gumph of pretentious photography that irritates me to the core; no surprises there then. But in amongst all this Guardian reader twaddle is, at least, one lovely little surprise: the return of the ‘Turbo’ badge.

About time too. Saabs have for too long had to put up with a silly little ‘t’ to denote the presence of a turbocharger, be it in lpt form. With the Classic 900 you got that wonderful and large turbo badge on each flank and another on the rear, and to really hammer the point home, another set into the grille. The new 9-5 only has one, on the rear with a ‘4’ stuck next to it. Not quite as ‘in your face’ as I would have liked but in these PC times it is a little victory.

What a lot of people don’t realise is that the word ‘turbo’ doesn’t mean turbocharger but is in fact a reference to the Norsk word ‘Turbosk’ which literally translates as ‘Don’t even bother trying’.

As for the rest of the new 9-5, I am a little confused. All the modern design cues are there: the high tech lighting, the slick cohesive lines, the aggressive vents, the big wheels, the smoked glass and chrome trims. It should look really great. It should look like a powerful and aggressive tour de force of a car, so why does it look so innocuous? One might even say bland if one was feeling a bit cruel.

What’s going on? I was quite pleased with the out going 9-5 or the 9-3 Turbo X. They both looked like Darth Vader’s family run-about. So what happened here? Are the design bods at Saab eating far too many lentils, wearing sandals and rainbow t-shirts while they listen to Mike Oldfield in crystal clear volume on their ‘Harmon Kardon Octereo’s?

Like I say, I’m confused. So I guess I’m just going to have to troll down to the local Saab agent in the vain hope that this beastie looks better in the flesh so to speak.

In the meantime, Happy Trolling.

Matt
6 July 2010-07-06


PS In the new 9-5’s brochure, next to a picture of the car’s interior, it has the caption ‘PREPARE TO BE MOVED’. What kind of idiots are writing these brochures. ‘prepare to be moved’, well yes that’s the general idea, after all you don’t pay £40,000 to have the damn thing sitting in the driveway while you take the bus!!! Cretins!!!

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