Confession...

[WMAveteran]

Tristan: congratulations on your vehicle purchase.  You will be happy to know that it appears a Dutch car company is now going to purchase Saab from GM with cash, stock and a loan from the Swedish Government so you will have a continuing supply of spare parts. 

[WMATAGMOAGH]

I'll be a parrot here, but it is tough to live in the DC area and be car free, unless maybe if you live very close to the downtown DC CBD. 

I'm moving within Jerusalem this week hopefully and part of my decision in choosing where to live is that I will not only remain car free (easy to do in Israeli cities for the most part), but my primary form of transportation will be WALKING, and I look forward to it, though I'll keep maintaining the Jerusalem Bus Map (at www.jlembusmap.com for those of you who haven't seen it). 

However, closer to home, I've been a life long transit fan, but having a drivers license and access to a car when I've been in Maryland and also up in Ithaca has its advantages.  The bus and train are great, but there are times where I have too much stuff to carry or a trip by transit would take hours whereas driving might take 25 minutes (i.e. to Tysons Corner).  Also, while having a car in Ithaca gave me greater flexibility in getting to Wegmans or the mall when I needed to buy things, the main purpose was so I could drive between Ithaca and home easily, on my schedule, and in accordance with travel restrictions as a result of my religious beliefs. 

Tristan, congrats on your new purchase and while I hope you come around again and set foot on transit occasionally, do enjoy the car, it is great fun. 

[Tritransit Area]

Amazing how transit is so horrendous down there, despite the gift from the heavens, Metrorail.

It seems like there's just too much sprawl down there to adequately serve everything...and WMATArail sure doesn't help matters...

[Scrabbleship]

Amazing how transit is so horrendous down there, despite the gift from the heavens, Metrorail.

It seems like there's just too much sprawl down there to adequately serve everything...and WMATArail sure doesn't help matters...

I think some mulligan should be tossed to DC proper, Arlington, southern Montgomery, and Alexandria (that is until these DASH cuts come into play if they do).

[WMAveteran]

Tristan: The New York Times published more information on Saab's new owner in the Sunday edition:  the company's name is Spyker. It makes about 40 hand built sports cars a year.  The C8 Laviolette begins at $212,000 and the Aileron begins at $237,000.  Spyker paid $400 million in cash and stock for Saab. The one burning question about the purchase is "How can a company that makes roughly 40 cars a year hope to rebuild and manage Saab, which in 2008 was churning out nearly 100,000?" 

[Tristan]

I was watching that situation (I have a RESCUE SAAB! poster framed in my cube at work) and was glad to hear that the sale finally went through.  I don't think Spyker will have too many problems because they're getting "everything" - they bought a company that already knows how to mass produce.

My concern is in not knowing if GM left Saab "compartmentalized" enough that it could operate successfully without their involvement.  They did beforehand and hopefully they can afterwards.  I wonder how much of the GM dealer network, if any, will continue to perform Saab work, and how much componentry will change. 

I hope they bring back the 4-door hatchback, their most popular product ever in the form of the Classic 900, the "New" 900, and the 9-3, so that when the current one dies, I can get a new one.

[WayneNYC]

I'm sure there's some agreement to permit Saab to continue using GM parts.  My big question is what will Spyker do in a few years when it's time to move to a new platform.  Currently both, the 9-3 and 9-5 are built on GM's Epsilon platform.  The second version is out now and I imagine GM will use it for several more years.   

[Tristan]

New York Times-Wheels blog

Spyker Reveals Plan for Saab
By RICHARD S. CHANG

Spyker Cars released a statement on Tuesday to offer details before its planned shareholders meeting on Feb. 12.
Spyker's chief executive, Victor R. MullerArmando Arorizo/Bloomberg News Victor Muller, with Spyker C8 Spyder, has a deal for Saab.

Spyker, the Dutch carmaker, said it planned to change its name to Saab Spyker Automobiles, while maintaining the two brands as separate entities. "Spyker believes that through the purchase of Saab, it has a rare opportunity to acquire and rebuild a global car brand, which will be repositioned toward an independent performance-oriented niche car company with an industry-leading environmental strategy," Spyker said in a news release.

Of course, "performance-oriented" can be interpreted many ways. But "industry-leading environmental strategy" provides much less wiggle room, and only time will tell whether Spyker will live up to that promise. For now, it has to work with what General Motors left behind: the 9-4x crossover vehicle and new 9-5 sedan.

According to Spyker's statement, the 9-5 will be released this summer, and the 9-4x early next year. Spyker also intends to produce a new 9-3 model (in sedan, hatchback, sport wagon, X and convertible iterations) to be sold in 2012. And a 9-1 model will be considered to slot below the 9-3.

In an article in last Sunday's Automobiles section, Victor R. Muller, Spyker's chief executive, said that his company and Saab shared similar values, including a penchant for quirkiness:

    And while industry critics accused G.M. of erasing Saab's Swedish identity, Mr. Muller said G.M. also left Saab with new technology and advanced manufacturing and testing facilities that can greatly reduce Spyker's production costs. Mr. Muller likened the potential for Saab to the marked improvements of Bentleys and Lamborghinis under the corporate wing of Volkswagen and Audi.

"With the companies under the same umbrella, we can tap into Saab's resources," he said. "Brilliant Saab engineers can get their hands on future Spykers and make them even better."

[btconet]

Wow, Tristan, I know I'm late seeing this, but wow.  Sobering...

I can't fault you though given your location and life status at the moment.  I have owned three vehicles during a span of the years 2000 to 2007 or so, before giving it up.

My last car, a 1985 Chrysler, acquired in 2003, sort of weened me off of auto ownership for a while, as it pretty much gave me the perfect storm.  Using a "connection," I replaced the carbeueretor (don't remember why by now), and he didn't fashion the connection to the transmission kick-down cable properly, which, within a year, wore the transmission down to nearly useless.   Add to that a defroster cracking the rear window that was under vynil, and my car expenses in 2004 were out of sight. Fuel line, Ignition and brake work wore me down by 2006, but the straws that finally broke my back was electrical drain problems combined with outstanding emissions clearance issues.  Since the vehicle had become hobby more than transportation, I gave the vehicle up to my brother and didn't look back.

Today, I'm back to transit reliant (I avoid the word "dependent") but I'm fortunate to have over a dozen Zipcar spots located within a 30 minute walk of me, and use the service to get out on average of 2 to 3 times a month.  With gas and insurance already included, my monthly auto expenses are about $140 to $200, and I never have to worry with the hassle of maintenance.  Previously, insurance alone was $110 a month.  Zipcar has an occasional hiccup too, but its far less taxing than ownership to me, given my limited utilization.

I still carry a big bad bent against sprawl mentalities, and do try to practice what I preach.

You may at some point upgrade and relocate to somewhere better laid out to use transit as your primary means of travel which has a car sharing service as an alternative for those times you want to stretch out further.

[Tristan]

*cough*SFO*cough*

[btconet]

I *JUST noticed that if you rearrange the letters in TRANSIT, you get TRISTAN.  It's a little off topic but so odd to me! LOL!

[Tristan]

I didn't find that out until I was about 15, so no sweat for the delay.  Weird though, ain't it?

[Tritransit Area]

Tristan was destined to be a transit enthusiast/professional! ^_^

By the way, I just discovered that this car I really liked is apparently a Saab.  It has the LED headlights.  However, it's arranged in such away where the LEDs are in a straight light at the top of the headlight, with a circular halogen (?) light for normal illumination.  It looks like this >:  I think that's so cool .

I have no idea what model it is, though.

Side note: I wish Pontiac would come back...maybe make more vibes.  I actually sent an email to the plant that made my car.  Apparently some guy got a "birth certificate" for his car emailed to him.  I hope to get the same!

Yeah, I'm excited about my car...even though I get the honor of replacing its windshield!   Argh @ trucks...