One Writer’s Take On Building The Perfect Car That Makes A Lot of Sense
by Gunnar Heinrich
“SWADE” over @ SaabsUnited.com posted a recent article titled, “Things I’d like to hear from a car manufacturer (Saab) just once.”
Needless to say, Mr. Wade’s post has less to do with marketing jargon and more to do with building his rendition of the perfect Saab (or car) in light of the news that it’s looking more and more likely that Saab is going to bring back the hot hatch.
A snippet:
Your eyes can sense rain on the windscreen and your fingers can quickly extend from the beautiful sports steering wheel to flick the solid, new and very high-quality stalk used to operate the wipers. Because you shouldn’t drink and drive actively, there are no cupholders. Because you most likely have a smartphone with navigation, there’s no big fat screen to distract you and because you probably digitise your music, there’s just a radio with a USB port. It’s right next to the quite simple climate control interface that gives one temperature for the whole cabin. Do you really need it to be 2 degrees warmer just 12 inches to the left in a small car?
Our good fellow Saab aficionado also went on to mention his perfect 9-2 would be lightweight, feature a small 230 hp four banger, and offer the option to nix all electronic safety nannies at the flick of a switch.
Sounds like a Lotus, an original 911, or a de-contented MINI to me.
Or an old school 900 (*sigh*). His post brings to the fore what’s needed more and more in the automotive world – cars that deliver not so much insulated cabins with mega horsepower, but sensational driving experiences by keeping drivers in-tune with the mechanics of the machine.
A lovely premise.
About the Author: Gunnar Heinrich is publisher of Automobiles De Luxe online and is executive producer of the Automobiles De Luxe Television series on PBS member station CPTV.
Distiller | Apr 11, 2010 | Reply
In short: A driver’s car. Nice! Support it!
But don’t forget that 90% of folks would complain about the austere interior!
Chris | Apr 12, 2010 | Reply
Well put.
Like you wrote about the BMW 7er a few days back, manufacturers have been more interested in letting us fine tune the driving experience to a point that the car no longer has its own character.
I’m happy to drive a now 20 year old car with just one climate zone that has just two buttons I need, one for air conditioning, one for without. My ipod plugs into a retrofitted aux input in my old Becker and I don’t need GPS since I usually know where I’m going.
I see so many tv commercials now for cars advertising their bluetooth capabilties, fuel economy and ruthless practicality. But so rarely is there a message about the driving experience.
Personally, short of adjusting the seat, mirrors and radio station, a car shouldn’t offer much more room for personalisation. A driver should adapt to their car, not the other way around.
Jim | Apr 12, 2010 | Reply
Lightness brings its own reward and simplicity is genius in action.