What’s the best way to spend a wintry weekend? Some might say snowshoeing or skiing. These two guys say sliding around in two Saab 9-3X on a snow-icey roads! these two Saab cars belong to the Greek Saab enthusiasts, members of the Hellenic SAAB forum (one of the gathering places for Saab car lovers in Greece).
The black Saab 9-3x belongs to Alex Sakellaris, and this one dreams for his video channel, and these are the video clips for his video channel, and the other white Saab 9-3x belongs to his buddy with whom Alex often drives off-road driving tests. As most know the 9-3x model is equipped with a cutting-edge all-wheeldrive system of that time – generation 4 Haldex 4. This system is embedded in the Saab 9-3x and Turbo X models, as well as models of many other manufacturers, and is mostly used in cars from a large VW group.
The basic advantage with this system is that Electronic control distributes driving torque to where it’s needed – not only between the two axles but also between the rear wheels. In practice, this system, in just over 10 years since its integration into various cars, has proven to be very good. But as good as all-wheel drive is, so is the use of the right tires. In the case of these two Greek Saabs that we can see in these two videos, these are Michelin CrossClimate+ on the black Saab and Bridgestone Blizzak tires on the white Saab:
Michelin CrossClimate+ is not a true winter tire, but for all seasons, so they are not the best choice for roads covered with high and humid snow, while Bridgestone Blizzak is a real winter tire, but according to the author, they are quite old – they even ride for the 5th season – maybe not worn but the tire lost its required properties. However, even though the tires are worse than necessary, the XWD drive saves things, so even with these tires, more inaccessible roads can be crossed.
An additional problem with this duo was that one car couldn’t turn off the ESP, which is a very important option when driving in winter, when you sometimes need to switch off the ESP. After many years of not producing Saab products, it’s nice to see how Saab technology behaves in practice.
