I thought the SE is already HOT.... (long/philosophical) - Saab NG900 & OG9-3 Bulletin Board - Saabnet.com
The banner above is an advertisment - if it asks you to download software, please ignore.
Site News -
4/9 Saab Owners' Convention Day Pass Raffle |
3/26 M Car Covers (by State of Nine)
[General |
Members |
C900 |
9000 |
NG900 & OG93 |
93 |
95 |
NG95 |
99 |
Sonett |
Vintage Models |
Clubs |
Other Cars |
FAQs |
Gifts |
Member Photo Galleries |
Member Directory |
Classifieds |
Manuals |
*Buddy Registry |
*Mileage Registry |
Polls |
What's New |
Raffle |
Photo of the Month |
Sponsors]
[Main NG900 & OG93 Bulletin Board | BBFAQ |
Prev by Date | Next by Date | Post Followup ]
Member Login / Signup - Members see fewer ads. - Latest Member Gallery Photos
I thought the SE is already HOT.... (long/philosophical)
Posted by Chris K (more from Chris K) on Sun, 1 Apr 2001 18:37:58
In Reply to: Tuning, Jeff, Sun, 1 Apr 2001 18:11:56
Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup
Seriously, I am not an expert, but my impression is that Saab has been tuning the car since the NG900 came out. I think cars can normally be tuned for two reasons:
1) It was originally underpowered so the automaker could ramp us HP in new model years and/or they wanted to see how it performed (across a wide range of customers/conditions) before increasing rpms/torque/HP. e.g. Passat 2001.5, Audi A4,BMW 3series, Acura integra. For instance, automakers test cars in the North and South of the US but they can't anticipate every situation. Hence the recalls and gripes of every model when consistent failures come up across many users. Starting models at lower horsepower puts less stress on the engine and lets them claim a better MPG, useful for CAFE standards which are not rigidly rechecked with each model year.
2) American cars tend to have power with less effeciency - what 4 cylinder domestic model comes close to a Saab? So there is a lot of room on American cars to make adjustments. Some of these adjustments are also tradeoffs, giving up something (MPG, comfort, snow handling) that the automaker's marketing department wanted for Mr and Mrs mainstream that you (and I) don't care about.
My impression is that the Saab 9-3 has been around for so long and that Saab is relatively performance minded, so that it offers the base and the "tuned" SE. While there are always things you can do to improve/ individualize/ screw-up (or all three) a car, there is little that you can do the Saab that will really get you a MAJOR change in performance. I am not saying the SE is perfect by any means, only that it is pretty close to the best you can do with the underlying design Saab chose to work with.
Posts in this Thread:
- Tuning, Jeff, Sun, 1 Apr 2001 18:11:56
Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup
Post a Followup
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
StateOfNine.com
|
SaabClub.com
|
Jak Stoll Performance
|
M Car Covers
|
Ad Available
|
Random Saabnet.com Member Gallery Photos (Click Image)
This is a moderated bulletin board - Posting is a privilege, not a right.
Unsolicited commercial postings are not allowed (no spam). Please, no For Sale or Wanted postings, SERIOUSLY.
Classifieds are to be listed in The Saab Network Classifieds pages.
This is a problem solving forum for over 250,000 Saab owners, so expect to see
problems discussed here even though our cars are generally very reliable. This is not an anything goes
type of forum. Saabnet.com has been a moderated forum since 1988. For usage guidelines, see the
Saabnet.com Mission and Purpose Page. Please remember that you are
not anonymous. Site Contact | Site Donations | Other Sites by SP -
Poverty2Prosperity.org | Run Club Menlo Park | ScreenBot
Site Members do not see red text instructions, bottom of the page anchor ads, or box ads.
Click here to see all
the Site Membership Benefits!