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The following appeared in my Daily Telegraph here in the UK recently - I thought I would share it with all you nice "Yanks" ...
<<LAST year, with considerable regret, I wrote a highly critical "First Drive" report on the Viggen, Saab's high-performance image booster. Well, that was what it was supposed to be
I was not alone in finding the car worse than disappointing, and now the Viggen has been quietly dropped in Europe, after fewer than 2,000 had been sold worldwide, of which 427 found their way to British owners. Sales continue in the USA, but there's nowt so queer as Yanks.
This is a very short run for an international car maker, even a specialised one such as Saab.
Viggen, a name also used for Saab jet fighters, is Swedish for "Thunderbolt", but this one has fizzled out like a damp squib. Saab still boasts of its high-tech aero associations, although there is no longer any connection, other than the name and the badge, between plane maker and car maker. It should produce the hardware (and software) to back its braggadocio.
The Viggen, despite its fabulous engine (probably the best turbocharged four-cylinder anyone has made) and generally high standard of build quality, damaged the image not only of Saab, but also of TWR, which apparently believes that suspension tuned for hot laps of Silverstone is acceptable on public roads (though I suspect that the Viggen would be a trifle too hot for comfort even on a race track). Cranking up suspension stiffness to denture-rattling level does not make a car sporting: it simply makes it uncomfortable.
Why was the Viggen introduced without traction control? One can readily understand that four-wheel drive was ruled out for cost reasons, but - especially for front-wheel-drive cars - ESP (Electronic Stability Programme) or something equivalent is now essential for high-torque models: it may be possible to extrude 252lb ft through the front wheels of a road car without such a system and still achieve acceptable handling, but no one has yet done so. It must be said that an elderly Cavalier chassis was probably not the best kit to start with.
Ironically, some time after Viggens began trickling out of Valmet's factory in Finland, standard-issue traction control was added. It is conceivable that this system transformed the car, but even if it was not too little, it was certainly too late. Saab has revised its model line-up after axeing the Viggen: the Aero has been given slightly more power and a slightly more Viggenish appearance.
However, Saab's thunder, as the innovative, high-tech, sporty Swedish company, is at risk of being stolen by Volvo. Saab is still the world leader in turbocharged petrol engine technology, but if it is not to disappear (or follow the dismal fate of Vauxhall and merely assemble badge-engineered Opels), it desperately needs a credible image-booster. Let's have Viggen II, but this time with ESP from the start, and a chassis engineer worth his salt. >>
'94 900 SET 94K (and one time hopeful owner of a Viggen - but I'm not so sure now - my dreams have just been shattered)
, Thu, 30 Nov 2000 12:16:49
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