Howdy all.

I recently upgraded this site to a new version of Wordpress (the software that drives this little wagon) but am increasingly worried about how it’s running. The upgrade just seems to have made things a few things worse.

I’ve also been concerned for a while that some people haven’t been able to view video, too.

So…..we’re switching on the wayback machine at the moment. I’ll be reverting back to the previous theme that I used here.

I’m working on it at the moment.

Content should resume either later tonight or tomorrow morning.

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There’s been a few interesting developments in the last 24 hours that very nearly slipped under my radar.

First of all, GM issued a press release about a new direct injection V6 they’ve developed and it’s been very well received by the motoring press.

Owners of the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox crossover will hit the streets next summer in a vehicle equipped with a highly efficient, all-new engine that will help save both fuel and money.

The 2010 Equinox will be offered with a choice of two new direct injected (DI) engines that use less fuel yet make more power – a 2.4L four-cylinder and a 3.0L V-6. The 2.4L engine delivers an estimated 30 mpg in highway driving (EPA certification pending), placing the Equinox at the top of its segment in highway mileage. Consumers who drive the 2.4L-equipped Equinox 15,000 miles per year will save 134 gallons of fuel or about $270 to $400 annually (assuming gas prices of $2 or $3 per gallon as compared to 2009MY Equinox).

The Equinox will join a growing roster of direct injected vehicles from GM, including the all-new 2010 Cadillac SRX crossover and 2010 Buick LaCrosse sedan, which, along with the Equinox, debut in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. In fact, for the 2010 model year, GM will offer more DI models in North America than any other manufacturer.

Notice there’s no mention of Saab there. That’s the interesting subtext in this story, which I’ll get to in a moment. First we need to go back a little, though.

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The Swedish government announced that it was going to provide a bailout package for its automotive industry a week or so ago.

It was only today, however, that they finally submitted legislation through the Riksdag and had it passed by 156-114 votes. 79 members either abstained or were absent.

Not everyone’s happy with it, though. Certain members of the opposition Social Democrats say the package doesn’t go far enough:

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It seems GM are selling off the family jewels now!

Jalopnik have learned that General Motors plan to sell off a number of historic vehicles from its corporate collection at the Barrett Jackson auctions in Arizona early next year. These vehicles are probably considered to be some of the ‘lesser’ models from the GM Heritage Collection, but take a look at the list and it’s still a pretty impressive colletion.

The only Saab on the list is this one - the 1995 Saab 900 SE raced at Pikes Peak in that year. I don’t think it had the success that Per Eklund had later on in the Viggen, but it probably paved a little of that road for him.

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You may know that I’m trying to save up for a Porsche 944 Turbo at the moment. What you probably don’t know is that I’m actually really, really bad at saving money.

Hence, I’ve come up with an idea to keep me amused whilst make my way to Zuffenhausen. Buy and sell childhood dream cars in increasing value along the way! That way I get to experience some of the vehicles that I was always curious about as a youngster whilst hopefully still progressing towards my 951.

I’ve already started with the Alfa, which I was quite keen to own. What I’m thinking of is putting that up for sale after Christmas and all going well, start shopping for a new car shortly thereafter.

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Following on from the Aero Turbo paraphernalia I featured here the other day, a discussion broke out in comments to that article as to whether or not the classic Saab 900 was officially referred to as an Aero at all.

It was the SPG in th United States. Here in Australia it was badged a Saab 900 Turbo but referred to as a Saab 900 T16, which was similar to other markets as well. We also had a quite rare T16 S here in Australia, too, of which there were only a handful imported in the later years of the C900’s life.

Edwin has passed along some photos of brochures that he’s got in his Saab library, clearly showing that in some markets, at least, the 900 was officially called an Aero. Edwin lives in Sweden and although he didn’t specify in his email, I assume these are Swedish brochures.

Click to enlarge:

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I’m most indebted to Albert VDB for sending in this translation of a news release about the DEKRA vehicle deficiencies report.

As noted here on the site yesterday, the Saab 9-3 did very well in this survey, winning to categories of the midsize vehicle class.

As you’ll read below, this is as extensive vehicle inspections survey, involving more than 15 million cars. The full results will receive wide publicity, too, with a special report to be published early next year in Germany’s Auto Motor and Sport magazine.

I hope the good people at Saab Germany are drawing up their marketing campaigns already

This is a great result for the Saab 9-3. It’s been criticised in years past for quality problems and it’s good to see that improvements in the car are starting to be reflected in these types of studies.

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Here’s a subject that I won’t pretend to understand (not that I ever do pretend, but anyways…..)

Saab Trionic 7 is the engine management system used in the Saab 9-5 and Viggen, and in the Saab 9-3 from 2000 until Trionic 8 took over in the Sport Sedan etc from 2003.

There are companies that modify your engine management software so that you get a bunch more boost from your Saab. Commercially speaking, we’re talking about ECU mods from Hirsch, BSR, Maptun, Speedparts and others. But there are people who like to take matters into their own hands and do custom programming, too.

There’s a bunch of guys at ECUproject.com who seem to be into doing this and as part of the exploration they’re doing, one of them has figured out a way to get Saab ECU information to show up on his Saab Information Display, or SID.

There’s a video here that will show you the SID in action and here’s a few screenshots. The ECUproject page on this hack is here and it features a full list of the data you can access.

RPM = revs per minute
Lamb = Lambda correction

tSta = Engine start time (milliseconds)
LIMP = Limp home mode (0=off)

There’s also software that lets you download and then read this sort of data on your computer.

If you’re into knowing everything that your engine is doing - and have the knowledge as to what it’s telling you - then this is something you might want to look into.

ECUprojects.com has a whole section on Trionic7 in it’s forums, too.

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Again, I don’t pretend to understand any of this and if you want to get into it, then do so at your own risk. You’re a big person now.

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Searching round for a bit more info, I also found this site by a guy named Tomi Liljemark.

He’s got all sorts of info on there about Trionic, the Saab 9-3 I-Bus system and even some stuff about BSR’s PPC unit.

Tomi’s also done a hack to get information showing on his SID. Video here. Screenshot below.

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Thanks Mackan!!

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