Crazy wrapping

Cabrio ride hints: another try on southern Czechia and Moravia

This was a bit different drive then the previous ones. On the way back from the Saab gathering in Roudnice I came late on the road home. The sun goes down these days about 8 p.m, my start was about 4.30 p.m., so I didn't had the time for the whole route out of the highway. So I've choose a route which wasn't far away from the highway, so when the sun goes down I can quickly jump on it.

Main lesson from this drive: the road blocks are positive, they lead you to the nicest backroads you would never discover otherwise.

Some pics, as usual click for higher resolution.

It's there:)

It's there! And it is a different feeling. More elegant, more subtle... upgrade! :)

Hirsch gear shift trim

Arrival last week, installation tomorrow. Yes!

The only remaining thing to find is the glovebox compartment. It would fulfil all the interior desires:) Or wouldn't?

Maintain your identity

The first longer roofless ride in 2014

In contrast to the north America and Canada, the winter here, in the middle of Europe, didn't existed. So I hope, at least the spring will be nice. It seems, that it started today. The 188 km without the roof through the country roads of middle Slovakia were really refreshing. I needed that. Urgently.

Night street catches

It always makes me smile when I meet something like this on the street. Especially when living in a city, where Saab isn't common at all. So two recent street catches from my mobile phobe. The 900 belongs to a friend of mine, the convertible is unknown to me (therefore the registration plate is retouched).

Winter

Time machine

I have nearly zero time to update my loved Saab blog. Many things and several fundamental changes are going on here. Most of them are positive, but they demand time and energy. So my apologise for not updating as often as before. Still here. Alive and kickin'

"Winter" in Europe

This is a photo of a friend Kerim from Saabunderground.cz.

It's a 900 SE convertible, some day in the last winter. It's a "she", name Hedvika.

The postprocess

Tons of photos are flowing around the Saab scene on the internet and social networks every day. Their quality varies, but some of them are really beautiful. One of the quality submitters is Nikolay Kachev, based in Moscow. You can see some of them on kachev.com and saablog.ru. So when he requested people to send him photos for postprocess, I did so.

Well, not everybody is a friend of the hard postprocess way, including myself. While many times it ruins the photo completely, sometimes the results can help the picture. And also time periods in which we perceive things as nice and later not anymore are part of the development.

So I waited what happens with my photos. Three of five came back. The best one is above.

Breaking the grey

Yes, it's everywhere. Black, grey and white. Also mine aero is black. But some aren't.

Photo by Matej, Puppy Hunters Saab Club, location Bratislava, Slovakia

Back to the roots

It's always great to have some photos hidden somewhere in the darker side of the harddisk. Just for coming back after months or years, to enjoy them. This is one of them.

Technically far from ideal but still it has a lot of atmosphere. A good friend of mine, Eva, a photographer shot it. Just as an experiment. It was a cold March, it's on the parking place on the hill above the village Hainburg an der Donau in Austria. A photo flash is used as light source and some games with shutter times, appertures, ISO and things. This is what left. I like it.

It's already a timestamp from the saabish era. 

11 practical things to consider when buying a convertible

There was recently a question somewhere on the net about Volvo C70 convertible. After a short talk it wasn't about a C70 but about convertibles in general. To compare convertibles and to set expectations for a newbie are two different discussions. Since there are people having  a convertible desire and never owned one, here are a couple of practical points, the obvious and the less obvious, to consider.

Most probably you need a garage
Outside can be cold, snowy and frosty. Not everywhere, but still. Also thiefs. Your future toy doesn't like none of these things, so doesn't do your wallet. 

Consider a wind deflector
A ride with the wind in the hair might sound romantic, but when after a full-day trip your frequence of asking "What? I didn't understand, could you please repeat ?" increases, you will know why some kind of wind protection is needed. If it doesn't hurt, it's the better case. The leather flying caps from WWI might look like from psychiatry these days, but the creators knew what they did. The creators of wind deflectors knew as well. Some of them are built in, mainly in roadsters (two-seaters), some you have to buy. It's not a cheap thing, but it works great.

What about the trunk / cargo space? Is it large enough?

In our Saab 9-3 convertible we could comfortably pack our stuff for a one week long vacation for two people and drive with the roof down with attached wind deflector along the adriatic coast a couple of hundred kilometers. The back seats are a huge help. Try that in a two-seater.

In general, there is more trunk space in soft-tops, then in hard-tops. Check it, when you buy your convertible. It's far less, then normal sedan trunk space but still with a bit of thinking, you can pack a lot of thigs inside.

Is in a four-seats convertible really enough space for four people? 
For short trips yes. One, two hours maybe. We did two times 11 hours in three people. It was ok. But to do this in four people you need a special kind of people. The ones who enjoy to suffer. Then it's ok.

A cap, a jacket and gloves
You have no roof, so the sun can look into your eyes in a very detailistic manner. A cap helps significantly, together with sunglasses. If you are afraid to look stupid in a cap (I do), you either ignore it or find a normal cap. There are so many choices. Also through the sunny days consider sun lotion. The sunburn can come very quickly.

The temperature jumps sometimes like crazy and you don't want to close the roof. Mountains, fields, city, countryside, morning, sunny day, evening, season, whatever. I've experienced 15º C difference within ~3 hours. You can use the A/C or heater but to have a light jacket with neck protection for the colder passages is very practical. Somewhere hidden in the car, it doesn't take too much place. The gloves are stylish, but that's it. Imho. Try them. Unless you drive with the roof down in winter.

And unless you dont have a special heater for the neck or so which the luxury convertibles offer.

Strong or weak engine? 
Of course strong. All the slow cruising things are *******. A weak engine means less fun. You don't need to be a notoric speeder to have moments when you love to push the gas pedal a bit more than usual. This experience in a convertible is simply more intense. If you like diesels, fine. But be aware of the engine sound. You drive a convertible, not a tractor.

Hard top or soft top? 
Firstly it depends on your taste. From the practical side both have pros and cons. Hard tops are heavier, slower in operation, take more place in the trunk and have a more complicated construction.  On the other hand they are less sensitive against bad weather, thieves and the cars are more quiet in the down position. They are also easier to clean. Soft tops are the exact opposite. Modern soft tops have multiple layers, mine survived several strong storms without any problems.

Dark or light interior? 
Again it's up to your taste. The dark seats heaten up faster if you leave your car open, that is true. In my experience I had only once a situation, where they were really hot. Not a real problem here. On the opossite side, it's an open car, it will always be a bit dirty inside. Do you want to clean it ? How often ?

Parking sensors or rearview camera 
Strictly recommended. You don't see too much in reverse with the roof down. The rear window is small and some kind of assistant is very helpful. 

Heated or / and cooled seats
Heated seats are great, when the temperature goes down or when you drive through the night. It's pleasant and comfortable. I don't have any experience with cooled seats.

Edit: now I have. Well, I can live very well without it.

What is the right temperature for driving with the roof down ?
Depends on your sensitivity. In my opinion the ideal temperature is 24-28ºC (75-82º F), It starts to be too hot after 33º C (91º C) and too cold below 17º C. However in the spring when you can't wait for an open ride, you will definitely drive in colder conditions.

I might forgot on something so feel free to ask. Enjoy the ride.

Clean

Someone repaired the isolation of the walls in our garage. The result was a tiny film of dust on cars parking inside. It's gone now .)

Cabrio season as it should be

These days is here in the middle of Europe probably the best convertible season in the year. The summer started, 25-28°C (77-82 Fahrenheit) is the ideal temperature, not too hot, not too cold. Exactly as it should be. It's no sea or ocean here, but the Danube keeps the days and evenings very comfortable.

Things have changing nature. We had at the staircase of my former flat a grafitti saying simply: "up and down", Right now some things are up and some down. It depends on how many things you do and perceive. It's now here this strange mixture of the ups and downs.

Fuzzy-headed from both sides I've decided to do a bit of head refresh, stabilise the too many thoughts and emotions. With a convertible ride of course, in this weather a no-brainer. Through the drive some nice moments appeared.

Some pictures, photographed simply through my sunglasses.

Ferry through Danube. Someone decided 20 years ago, that a free ferry for many years is cheaper than a bridge. OK :)

Sunflowers around the road.

A ride ...

From the recent ride to Czech republic. Rains were forecasted, but nobody knew when and where. Reality : at that day nowhere. So roof down and bzzzuuummmm ...

The season is coming ...

The convertible season seems to be right behind the corner. Maybe the joy is a bit too early, but no wonder, many people around here, incl. me, have enough of the winter. A fresh 9-10° C forced me to push the roof button on the convertible. For the first time this year.

It's still a bit cold, but the windshield works perfectly and the couple of kilometers outside of the city was a really joyful ride. In the last years the periods between cold and warm temperatures were quite short.

And the time works for us now.

YAY !

The Independence Edition dashboard

It seems that everything needs it's time. This was a Christmas gift to my Saab. It needed some time to come here and again many thanks to all who helped. Then it was Christmas time, afterwards 2.5 weeks vacation, then hardcore work. And then the service guy got a flu. So the whole thing took nearly three months from start to installation.

But it's here and installed. Finally. Together with Hirsch leather door handles. The dashboard hasn't a Hirsch logo on it, because the Independence Edition didn't had it. It is maybe one of the last available, if not the very last one.

My biggest concern was, that it will visually "fight" with the Maptun steering wheel. Luckily, it's not the case, they are playing very well together. I love it.

And besides the visual upgrade, the original dashboard had a quasi alumium edge, which created a bit annoying reflection on the windscreen under the "right" light conditions. This is now gone.

The search another parts for replacement or covering of other aluminium parts in the cockpit continues. The center console and probably the glovebox. If it needs it's time, ok. So let's see ...

Maptun upgrade installed

My Saab reached 100.000 km and the circumstances were good for an upgrade. So after a short e-mailing with Maptun two boxes came and were installed some days ago. Here are the first feelings.

The more visible new part is the Maptun steering wheel. It is thicker and softer than the original one. It fits very well into the hands. My fear, that the rugged structure will be a hurdle in smooth steering was not confirmed at all. It is a nice piece which found its home in the cockpit basically immediately.

Also I had the luck, that the service here had black steering controls which are looking much better in this combination than the chrome ones.

The less visible but very important upgrade was the front strut brace again from Maptun. Since the convertible doesn't has a fixed roof, the chassis got torque steering at fast acceleration in some situations. For example, when you enter a fast road and don't want to slow the cars behind you. Or while overtaking a slower vehicle on a country road. These were places where the car started to "dance". The strut brace eliminated it completely.  The car is much more stable, feels more robust and drives more smooth. As it would be from one piece of metal. Unexpected and a nice surprise.

Hopely it's not the end. Something more is still in plan. Let's see how this works out.

edit : oh yes and if you're in doubts how to hold the steering wheel properly, check this :

 source : gamespot forum