1999-2009 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Eric: I have a few comments that counter those stated by Misplaced Yankee above. I have an 02 Aero auto, and do not agree that the shifts at full throttle are rough, but think about it this way. When you are running a car at it's max performance level and shift it, you are not going to get the most gentle relaxed shift in any type of transmission. If you had a manual shift and ran it up to redline and were shifting as fast as you possibly could, how smooth and relaxed would that shift be? Probably not your smoothest, and the fact is, the 9-5 does not have the most butter smooth shifting gearbox in it's class, in fact, it's a bit of a clunker.
Regarding the Sentronic business with the paddles on the wheel, they are a total joke in my opinion. The standard sport mode on the automatic accomplishes the most important part of what the paddles are trying to do. Sport mode gives you a much more agressive electronic throttle map, along with revised shift points at the upper end that hold the rpm slightly higher in each lower gear before upshifting. What most people usually care about in an automatic is getting downshifts to occur quicker for passing. The sport mode does this faster and more efficiently than any type of driver actuated paddles or levers could possibly do. On the Saab system, to first use the paddles, you must move the shift lever from Drive to the M position,then push the paddle button on the stering wheel to shift. It is time consuming and counterintuitive to good logic in my opinion.If you are considering the auto, I suggest considering it as an auto only, and not bothering with the push buttons on the wheel. Eventually Saab, like most other high end performance sedans, will use a fully electro-hydraulic gearbox that will offer all the benefits of both a manual and an automatic, but that is still a few years off. I think that the decision to offer the Sentronic system is from the "Monkey see, Monkey do" school of marketing, as Saab saw it's main competitors offering similar systems and decided to join the crowd without really thinking about how the car is likely to be used by even performance oriented drivers.
Good luck with your choice on the new wagon
posted by 24.128.54...
, Fri, 1 Aug 2003 07:44:07
, Thu, 31 Jul 2003 19:27:49
, Thu, 31 Jul 2003 16:11:27
, Thu, 31 Jul 2003 16:01:56, Fri, 1 Aug 2003 10:38:28, Thu, 31 Jul 2003 16:50:00
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.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
