All Entries Tagged With: "Swade"
Swade + Swedish Car Day
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: Steven Wade about to enjoy a Saab Sonett II
ONE of the great pleasures of writing automotive drivel content for the net is connecting with other automotive aficionados from far and wide. They don’t come further than fellow scribe and Tazmanian denizen Steven Wade a.k.a. “Swade” from SaabsUnited.com.
Steven and his Tennessean cohort Mike a.k.a. “Eggs ‘n Grits” have been good friends and their writings for the Saab community are now the stuff of web legend. And it was fun chewing the fat with them over sausages and hamburgers Saturday night.
Swade and Eggs were both present in the Boston metro area for Swedish Car Day, an annual gathering of the Volvo and Saab Party Faithful at the Larz Andersson Auto Museum hosted by the nation’s oldest Saab dealer – Charles River Saab.
At Sunday’s Svenska service, Swade gave an address to the congregation on the state of Saab – which in the marque’s current state of independence from GM is in a critical moment of do or die.
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.
All United For Saabs United
A 900 turns into a 9-3
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Saabs United
MY good friends “Swade” and “Eggs ‘n Grits” (those are web 2.0 noms de plumes, if you haven’t gathered) have established a new website that obsessively covers the world of Saab.
Formerly “TrollhattanSaab”, the new site is “Saabs United” which sounds like a firm defense against the oncoming unknown.
Frankly, the GM Swedish division is in rough shape. But there are silver linings including a new 9-5 replacement and maybe just maybe a 9-X (Lord, hear our prayer!) so that means that there should be product for Swade and Eggs to opine on.
Trollhattan Saab and now Saabs United are testaments to the best kind of marque-centric blogs.
They do not faun or merely act as automatic regurgetators for the corporate press machines they receive relentless PR statements from. Rather, Saabs United offers insightful, often positive accounts of the good, and critical thought on the bad, and the ugly of their Svenska corner of the car biz.
That they hold GM to account for Saab’s current state is another reason for reading.
In this vein, Saabs United has every bit the chance to surpass the original Trollhattan Saab success story for standing out among the generalist automotive blogs on the web.
Cheers to them for being the role model for other car sites.
[Linked: Saabs United]
Cadillac SRX Crossover | CTS Wagon | Resurgence
By Gunnar Heinrich
A funny thing happened on the way to the forum earlier this morning.
Frequent ADL commentator Jim sent me an email with a link to the new Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon (again the auto industry doesn’t use “station wagon” anymore – passato) with comments that read like an audible sigh.
Jim’s a Benz guy, so that’s pretty good and speaks to Cadillac’s efforts to bring the marque back in play on the global stage. Cadillac’s on its way, damen und herren.
Last night, GM rep. Adam Denison gave ADL a shout-out about the CTS Sport Wagon’s intro at Pebble Beach today – along with the SRX Crossover – which I’m sure Swade over @ Trollhattan Saab is as about as pleased to see as having one of his island’s eponymous Devils bite him on the ass (the SRX shares the Saab 9-4X crossover’s platform and may just steal its thunder).
Ah well. The SRX is looking sharp, too, Swade.
[IMG: BoingBoing | Linked: GM PR]
