Back on topic yet needless to say, Dzbanek exclusively travels in Saab cars.

http://www.facebook.com/dzbanek

I’m currently hoping there will be at least one roadshow later this year in another region, but I’ll add Ireland to the list when it comes up for discussion again.

Being a dog owner and saab driver, I understand and agree (but then I would).

Your old site, SU ran an article about the 95 SC roadshow.  Can you pass on to Saab that if they want people to buy the new 95 SC on the island of Ireland, it would be good to let us see it and sit in it, and maybe even drive it?

Thanks

As to the Saab DNA thread, I quite agree. During the GM era Saab’s image became blurred and it’s DNA got far too diluted, especially during that period of 100% GM ownership.  I think that in the past 10 years people have only had a rather foggy idea of what Saab, and owning a Saab car was about.  Perhaps too late GM realized it’s mistake and tried to install some real Saab ingredients back into the 9-4X and the 9-5, but when you have taken so many backward steps it’s difficult to start moving forward again.  There is a long way to go to change peoples perception of Saab.  I hope that will begin with the 9-3′s replacement?

Tim Colbeck recently talked about trying to move away from the old ‘quirky’ image of describing Saab cars and the people who bought them.  I must admit I have never considered myself quirky.  ”Intelligently different” is much better both for me and the cars!  Saab used to say that it didn’t compete with other brands, it offered intelligent alternatives.  That was a concept that I could embrace.  I can remember reading a comparison test in the mid eighties between a BMW 5 series and a Saab 16 S Aero (SPG).  You probably couldn’t find two more different cars and yet the Saab managed to appeal to quite a few people who might have bought a BMW.  I think they bought the Saab because it was ‘different’ and intelligently so.
Making somewhat ordinary cars and then trying to disguise them so they seem a little bit more inspired or different, is a road going nowhere.  Unfortunately that was where GM was heading with Saab.  That’s going to take a little while to fix, but Saab will get there I’m sure.

As for your dog not comprehending your image in the Sype window, it may just be that a dog’s senses of smell and hearing are much more highly tuned than their sense of sight (or so I have read).  While she hears your voice, the fact that she cannot sense you in the room via her keen sense of smell, leaves her convinced you cannot be close by.  At least this time she connected the sound of your voice as coming from the general direction of the laptop! 

And why does this bring me to SAAB? Well, a guidedog is trained to either be at the feet of the owner, or inbetween the front and rear seats. This means that the front footwell needs to be big enough to accomodate a rather big Labrador/Golden cross. It is however forbidden to have a guidedog close to any airbags fitted inside of a car

Guess what? In Saabs due to the way in which these cars are built, there is ample space for them to be at their owner’s feet, safely under the possible track of an airbag, and with a passenger footwell strong enough to make it a safe place in case of an accident. Travelling in the boot of my 900 is a treat for him, as I always fold the rear seat down.

I will be posting some pics one of these days. Whenever I drive a different car, it has become standard to do the “guidedog test”. Saabs always prove to be the right thing!