So, after buying the 9-5 NG Aero in June 2017 and then buying the 9-5 NG Turbo4 Premium for Mrs. Sonett shortly thereafter, I kind of got a late start to joining the summer/fall party that is the Saab scene. I’ve never been one to join in this kind of stuff in the past, but my fellow Saab owners have been pretty encouraging about getting out there and having some fun.
With the recently installed VTuner “Stage 0” program into the Aero, the first trip with the New England Saabs gang (www.nesaab.com) was a venture up to a car show in Montpelier, VT. Up early on 9/23/17 I drove alone through the back woods of Northern MA and Southern NH (using “Sport” mode of course!) to the first checkpoint to meet up with a half dozen fellow NE Saabers. Sport mode puts the Aero’s “DriveSense” suspension in position to keep the big 9-5 in line, making it handle like a car a thousand pounds lighter. It’s uncanny!
In Keene, NH we got the first group of the convoy together, including a heavily modded Viggen, an equally heavily modded 9000, a tuned 9-3 SportCombi Aero 2.8, and a few others to boot. After seeing some of the other cars that I was cruising up with, the new goal wasn’t to make it to VT. It was to make it without a large speeding ticket or a night in jail!! We began riding up towards VT where we picked up Interstate 91 North. Due to the advice of my attorney, I will not publish what speeds we drove… just to say that “we arrived expeditiously and safely…”!
At that point we joined up with another half dozen Saabs and we all cruised up to the Crossway Auto event. Upon arrival, I pulled up and was greeted by a young lady who told me to take a spot in the show line. I told her I was just checking out the show and not planning to show my car. Her words were something to the effect of: “Are you crazy? Show your car!”. So I took my spot in the lineup and hurriedly bought some detailing supplies from Crossway and wiped off the 3,000,000 bugs I had killed on my trip off the front end! The show went off without a hitch and there a ton of great Saabs, including a beautiful & pristine ’59 93B… that unfortunately a video-recording drone crash nearly took it out!!! Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when it ended up being a miss…but WAY too close for comfort. Also in attendance were some nice 9-3’s and OG 9-5’s, and my buddy Roger’s well kept ’71 96 too.
One great event under the belt, I was ready for more! This time Mrs. Sonett joined me in the NE Saab cruise up Mount Washington. For those of you who don’t know, Mt. Washington is the tallest point in New England, and holder of the coldest weather in the continental US. During the recent winter, while we were at -15 F in Central Massachusetts, the top of Mt Washington was -90 F with wind chill! It’s incredibly tall, and the very narrow and very winding road is not to be taken for granted. The warning signs all over the road about overheated brakes was a stark warning for underprepared cars!
Thankfully, we could not have picked a nicer day! Literally perfect, 70 degrees and sunny. We even got to follow a Lamborghini Gallardo to the summit! We gathered at the base of the mounted with the rest of our crew and began the trek up. It was steep and slow going, with no guardrails in most sections. If you screw up, you’re done… But the climb was well worth it, and we proceeded to get some great shots at the top, where you can see for miles on end. We only had one breakdown, with an OG 9-5 blowing off some steam from the radiator. It wasn’t a total failure thankfully, and by leaving it in a parking area halfway up, we were able to get him underway on the way back down so that he could limp it home. Thankfully, I had packed extra tools and automotive fluids in the gigantic trunk of my 9-5 before the trip, because Saab! I had a funny feeling someone would need it, thankfully it wasn’t me…
On a humorous note, when we got to the top a bunch of us V6 guys popped the hoods on our rides to help with the cool down of our overpacked engine compartments. While we all walked away, Mrs. Sonett kept taking pictures. To her amusement, a random motorist got out of his car upon reaching the top, saw our cars all lined up with the hoods up, and with a chuckle to himself proceeded to pop the hood too… on his Prius!?! Maybe he was worried about his batteries overheating…?
With winter approaching, we got in one more outing before the snow hit. The local Volvo club put on a dyno day at Enhanced Street Performance in Sterling, MA to which local Saabs were also invited. I was one of only a couple of Saabs to show up, versus a whole fleet of Volvos… could Saab hold off the wolves?!? Local NE Saab admin Lucas came and hung out with me to provide moral support (which I definitely appreciated)! ESP has a “Mustang” dyno, which is known in local circles as a “heartbreaker” since the numbers are normally far less than a typical Dynojet unit. With 300 HP stock, fellow NG 9-5 owners have reported about 230 HP to the wheels using the Mustang dyno. It’s obvious the XWD system saps a LOT of power… to the tune of 23-24% drivetrain loss on a Mustang dyno! If you know musclecars, you know that is unheard of. Most cars are 15% to 18%, with “extreme” examples of 20%…
At the event, no one was jumping forward to go first, so I agreed to get the day going for everyone. The Aero did not disappoint! She put down 260 WHP (wheel horsepower) and 300 WTQ (wheel torque), so with 23% loss that is 337 HP at the flywheel (right in line with VTuner’s claim of 335 HP). Despite just a tune and an air filter, I outdynoed many of the much-more-heavily modded turbo Volvos in attendance. And this is with skyrocketing Intake Air Temps (IATs) that tell me the intercooler is having trouble keeping pace with the increased boost. In 10 seconds, the IATs went from ambient to a whopping 50 degrees over ambient. Why is that a problem? Hot air is less dense, and has less oxygen to burn. And in a double whammy, the hot air forces the car to dump fuel to keep detonation at bay, pushing the Air to Fuel Ratio all the way down to 10.2 on one run!?! If you’re not up on AFR’s, that number is nearly a full 2 points richer than where we want to be. So getting that AFR in line and getting the IATs way down gave me a goal for 2018. After hanging out until noontime, it was obvious to Lucas and I that Saab had proudly held its own, so we went and grabbed a beer in celebration. Let the plotting and scheming for 2018 begin!
While the Aero wasn’t the top dog, it had earned respect out of a bunch of guys who had no idea what the NG 9-5 could do. And most importantly, it provided some direction of what to go after in 2018. I’m not going to lie… nailing down a big dyno number is addicting! After watching my brother burn through more cash than Hillary’s presidential campaign in his quest for 1000 HP (results soon!), I know that it’s easy to get carried away… Which pretty much describes Saab ownership to a tee…
What On Earth Is An NG 9-5? 