Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 10:13:02 +0100 From: H. <musicboxnopsamrider.co.uk> Subject: Re: Driving a 9-3
I drive both my 9-3 Convertible 2.0lpt, my old 94 NG900 Turbo, and my partners Renault Megane Coupe Automatic. (Horrid little thing!) Having been driving manual all my life I am a much better manual driver than auto, and still have the old gearstick-hanger-on feeling or being slightly out of control in an auto. The best thing about both saabs, is nothing to do with straight-line speed - the Megane is fine and peppy around town, but get it up to 80mph on the motorway, and that's about all it's capable of. Oh it'll do 100, but it'll take a year or two to get there. All Saabs I've driven however have been designed not for quick 0-30 times, but for fantastic torque - thus overtaking on a country road, or accellerating on the moteroway after a stoppage is simple - just push the pedal in virtually any gear and off it goes! As for the manual gearing, well in my 900 Turbo, 1st is a waste of time - my advice is to get it out of 1st and into 2nd as quickly as possible - amximum torque (all 198lb/ft of it!) is available at only 1900 revs - so by the time you're in second gear, you're bang on it - and believe me, you will fly! The 2.0lpt in the 9-3 is a slightly different beast, 1st is adequate, but again the sooner you get it into 2nd he better - however, as max torque is way up at 3700rpm, you have a bit more time to play with. In both cars, accelleratin is sufficient that I rearely use 3rd or 4th gears around town - little blip in 1st, smooth accelleration in 2nd byt which time you're over the UK legal limit of 30mph, so drop it straight into 5th. 3rd and 4th however come into their own on back contry roads - in the 9-3 leave it in 3rd, the 900, 4th, and they're both good for 80+mph, and has enough revs that if you drop below 20, you'll still pick up and get away briskly. (My long winded 10%) H. On Thu, 25 Oct 2001 23:04:13 GMT, Just Bob <uctraingnopsamanet.com> wrote: >On Tue, 23 Oct 2001 01:47:40 GMT, "Davo" <whatevernopsamever.net> >wrote: > >>2001 LPT (110kw I presume) is engineered with torque in mind rather than >>high revving turbo acceleration. In other words, the turbo is virtually >>operating from idle, hence no need to be aggressive on the clutch peddle as >>the car has plenty of grunt. >> >>Davo > >But, if it's not an LPT (US version maybe ?) you have to be fairly >aggressive to get it off the line quickly. I'm not talking about >dumping the clutch, but you will have to bring the RPM's up quite >a bit to get a good launch. The reason is that the turbo doesn't >do much below 2500 RPM or so. Once it climbs above that, you have to >hold on tight or it will buck you off as the turbo kicks in. >WOT is not the best idea in 1st gear as the redline comes up fast. > >If you are really new to a 5spd, I'd suggest you learn gradually, >rather than try to start flying off the line. Saabs are not really >'off the line' cars, so you have to learn to start reasonably and >then crank it up as you get moving. > >Bob >try to become a race
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