Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2002 16:50:09 GMT From: "Skid" <skid2nopsami.com> Subject: Re: 4 wheel drive
Saab will eventually offer AWD, but mostly because people like you think they need it and GM will use it as a marketing tool. Here in Richmond, VA, we haven't had serious snow in years, yet half the vehicles parked outside the grocery store are bulky SUVs driven by soccer moms who have never been off the pavement. I recently bought a Passat that offered 4Motion (same drivetrain as Audi's Quattro,) as a $1,500 option. I passed, because paying extra for something that cut acceleration and increased fuel consumption seemed a poor tradeoff. If you truly need AWD, you should chose a car designed for it. Most people seem to buy them because some commercial suggested they were safer or more rugged. Neither is necessarily true. I used to love to cruise mountain fire trails in an old VW Beetle after a foot of fresh snow had fallen. With rear-wheel-drive in a rear-engined car, I was constantly surprising 4-wheelers and dirt-bikers who couldn't believe I had made it through. Saabs are built for bad weather and poor roads, and the three I've owned have never, ever, left me stranded un a blizzard or on a muddy unpaved road. Last year I drove across upstate New York in a blizzard, passing lines of cars stuck behind snowplows in my 10-year-old Saab 9000 with all-weather tires. You are welcome to your opinions, but they show a lack of experience with the Saabs you are criticising. "X" <xnopsamm> wrote in message news:Pf_Q8.77543$Hn4.2715401nopsam1.east.cox.net... > They will and its a about time they did. I expect that every car in the > $25-40K segment will have this as a standard feature by 2004, many do > already. > > x > > > "Frank Jackson" <fjacksonnopsamve.com> wrote in message > news:_sOQ8.52172$ia2.4278530nopsam3.calgary.shaw.ca... > > Does anyone know if SAAB is coming out with a 4 wheel drive? > > Used to be the most advanced of manufacturers, but is the last to go in > for > > the 4wheel drive. > > Why? > > Frank Jackson > > > > > >
