Letter from Europe: 2009 End of Year Report

I must as well get the really bad news out of the way-the probable demise of Saab.

There are several reasons to be upset. First of all it is very sad for the workers who built this very fine product year in year out, especially before it was bought by GM .

Regrettably Detroit’s understanding of things Swedish was nil, consequently they butchered all the uniqueness out of it. In the halcyon days of Saab/Scania it was an exceptional company making fine cars and heavy-duty trucks. (The truck side is still in business.) The Saab 96 in particular was also one of the finest rally cars of all times.

Nearer home it was also a brand which was led by the much missed, unforgettable Bob Sinclair. The ultimate car guy -whom we’ve lost a while back- would be very sad today as he put his heart and soul into it. Yes, Saab was as Swedish as Volvo (alas, soon to be Chinese owned..) Abba and Ikea.

The good news is that I’ve had several opportunities to drive some great cars.

It is very hard to beat driving Ferraris and Lamborghinis in Tuscany. For me some of this year’s offerings in the 500 horsepower plus category were a bit over the top for my driving abilities but I can hardly blame the cars for that. As for those Modena to Monaco trips in Maserati’s Quattroporte, well, just imagine. You get off the autoroute, start descending , take a right, take a left and suddenly the whole Riviera opens up in front of you. You can’t see those appalling hordes of tourists disembarking from those equally appalling ships, all you have from the top of hill is the vista. Magic.

Coming back to Earth I can now understand why just about everybody voted the Jaguar XF their car of the year. Some of the awards are from minor internet sites and tiny publications but this time I have to agree with all and sundry. The car, both in diesel and in gas/petrol form is truly excellent. It was the one car my wife wanted to keep. As for the trip to Lotus, well, that was something else. The Evora was certainly the best handling car I‘ve driven for a very long time. It has the late Colin Chapman’sDNA written all over it. For schoolboys young and old the Mitsubishi Lancer was not be forgotten any time soon. With grandson Freddy we were a bit naughty, found a huge car park with lots of gravel and I leave the rest to your imagination. Awesome. We couldn’t stop grinning for days.

Fords and Lincolns were a bit of a mixed bag. I’ve always had an aversion for the gutless Duratec engine, on the other hand I am seriously impressed by their latest offering, the Ecoboost. Mercifully they’ve promised faithfully that for us fans they will not drop their V8 engine in order to save the World a la Copenhagen.

They are leaving that to their 2012 electric car which is currently on the Jay Leno Show. A brilliant bit of PR if I’ve ever seen one. Old friend Justin Bell is the man behind the scenes teaching some of those hapless stars and starlets how to drive in anything other than a straight line. The last hero stuffed it into the barrier in no time at all.

But back to CO2 and all that. Here my hero has to be Honda’s Fit, a great little car, thousand times better than the Suzuki rival I had the misfortune to drive. The Nissan Pathfinder certainly won’t save the World in any shape or form, the company makes several crossover which are gradually taking over from it. Funny how suddenly all SUVs seem very passé.

I’ve been driving the 2010 Acura, wait for it: TL SH-AWD Tech HPT. Honest. Nobody could make up that such a silly name. Luckily the car is just fine and it made me think of the unforgettable Honda NSX. Just as I was about to moan about its demise some years ago old friend Peter Habricht popped up in Facebook with some amazing pictures and sounds of, yes, you’ve guessed it, the new NSX.

For street purposes they could just drop the whole Acura sans bodywork on to something exciting. The engine, a 300 horsepower V6 would be just fine for most customers, the six-speed manual gearbox is excellent, my only beef is with the brakes which just don’t see to have the sort of grip I would expect. Maybe a quick call to Brembo would solve the problem. Interestingly enough the Honda Crossover also had so-so brakes but it amazed all and sundry with its amazing carrying capacity while the looks were a huge success wherever I went in Marin.

The most improved car company award has to go to Mazda. This hitherto relatively grey also-ran has produced one good car after the other.

You might like to know that The Autochannel first appeared on 6th January 1996. I have been European Bureau Chief since that day. Happy birthday to us!

See you next month.