GM FYI Blog

By Peter Gilbert
Guest Blogger

Editor’s Note: Here is the second installment in Peter’s two-part series.

After some much-needed sleep, I was now beginning my second day to not only to make it to Trollhattan by evening, but to experience driving on Sweden’s National Day, with all ephemeral beauty of the blue and yellow flags.

The terrain was making the driving more interesting and enjoyable. I was now doing more engine braking, and hill climbing. Having hit all those deer during my years behind the wheel, I saw the “beware of the moose” signs! This was one Saab experience that had I no interest in. All though, it would have been amusing to see a sign with a Saab on it, warning the moose that I was coming down the highway!

I was now on Highway 44, a two-lane road with hills and curves. The transmission was very easy and smooth, as was the clutch. The power was always available (this was the 2.0t engine, with less power than the proposed 2.3T engine with could be available next year in the States). With all that extra power, I can hardly wait to test-drive that model.

This car is so practical that I bought some groceries and placed a bag of frozen vegetables by the battery. When I stopped at a wayside a while later, my hot lunch was ready!

After 40 years of driving Saabs, I overlooked the factory where all my many cars had been created. That was a very proud moment. I even felt proud seeing the little Cadillacs on the lot, awaiting their new owners.

Because all the hotels were booked up in advance of the Saab Festival, I was on my way to my hotel in Uddevalla, west of Trollhattan. This meant I was going to have a most pleasant daily commute in a great car with no traffic. Not only was the ride of the BioPower much smoother than my Aero, the roads were as good as I have experienced in my globe trekking. I am no longer buying the excuse that we have potholes in Wisconsin due to the weather, as we have the same climate.

With all this driving, I glanced at the fuel gauge, which was becoming illuminated. I was about to have some new Saab firsts: one was personally buying E-85 with an American credit card for the first time. The E8-5 was not available with cash, and credit cards have to have pin numbers. As luck would have it I received permission the previous week for my pin to be valid in Sweden. However, I was limited to 55 liters, because of the new U.S. limits on some cards. Being a new car, the fuel consumption figures are always less (with a new engine anyway).

As the evening before the convention loomed, I went to explore the craggy coastline of western Sweden. The roads were very narrow and hilly. They say you can judge a car from the country it came from. Well, this is why Saabs are what they are. The braking, acceleration and cornering… I was really having fun, while viewing beautiful scenery (carefully).

Thursday morning I was on my first visit to the factory. It was so exciting seeing the production line, even though most of the production was on a maintenance schedule that week. One interesting fact was that the locally produced Leer seats are brought, just in time for installation, just as Leer seats which are also manufactured in Janesville, Wisc., are brought over to the Chevy Tahoe plant.

Kjell Ac Bergstrom gave one of the most interesting seminars at the convention. He explained how the BioPower engine worked, and about the special characteristics of E-85. He explained why there was no smell when I re-fuelled, because of the lower evaporation point of the ethanol. I had my epiphany at this session, because I was not only experiencing the car that Kjell was talking about, but with the generous government subsidy, I was only paying about U.S. $4.09 per gallon, which was only 12 cents more than in Chicago, the week before for premium! For Europe, this was a steal. I was averaging 25 miles per gallon, which was truly remarkable for the power and price for fuel.

For obvious reasons this journal could be much longer, but the whole experience was a real eye-opener. The Swedes I met were so friendly, and I even found the language fun to learn in the short week I was there.

How do we market the BioPower in the U.S.? It’s not the engineering, as this engine is a world-beater, but it’s how we overcome the perceived negative backlash to ethanol. I would love to see the BioPower premiered at the world-class Milwaukee Art Museum, as this car is an absolute work of art.