34 — North Shore News - Friday, April 14, 2000

openreag

Viggen’s engine promotes smo

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engine, and makes most other
engines of this displacement
seem underpowered. Not only
that, the 2.3-live engine is
very quict and smooth, partic-
ularly at highway cruising
speeds where, for example, it
revs at just 2,200 r.p.m. at 100
km/h in top gear.

In addition, fuel consump-
tion is good for a 230 horse-
power car: 11.61/100 km (24
mpg) in the city, and 7.4
1/100 km (38 mpg) on the
highway. It does, however, use
more expensive premium
grade yusobine

The Viggen’s standard
manual transmission is a five-

speed unit that offers slick,
fluid, medium-length throws.
True to its performance hez-
itage, the Viggen does not
offer en automatic transmis-
sion.

I found the steering well-
weighted but sensitive to road
imperfections and grid lines —
the car would sometimes fol-
tow road ruts rather than the
direction of the road.

The Viggen's ride is
smooth, quiet and weil-
damped on even pavement,
but feels a bit stiff over bumpy
surfaces, in part because of its
low-profile 17-inch tires.
Compared to the standard 9-
3, the Viggea has revised
springs, damper and anti-ro!l

, ‘36 ro. barnes $2000 OF « tavseaety b ea OC Oe enon

or i 218 |

canard

bars, up-rated 16” ventilated
and grooved brake discs, and
17" x 7.5” unique 5-spoke
alloy wheels with
P215/45R17 pertormance
tres.

I found handling to be sta-
ble and steady with some ini-
Gal body lean when entering a
comer and some dive under
hard braking.

Roomy Interior, Big Trunk

Viggens are offered in
three body styles: ewo-door
coupe/hatchback, four-door
coupe/hatchback and two-
door convertible. My test car
was a two-door coupe.

All Viggens offer a unique
black leather interior with scai

or ot °25; i |

career

99 GMC Safari ‘sit

Brand new, 8 pass, power group, power driver seat, deep
tint glass, remota keyless, a/c, fit, speed contrel, am/im
stereo CD & much mare. Was $32,085

SSA SA

and side panels available in
charcoal, blue or ochre colours
embossed with a Viggen sym-
bol in the seat backrest, and a

4-spoke, leather-wrapped sport
steering wheel. A special

“metal-look” fascia surrounds
the instrument panel.

The Viggen seats five pas-
sengers and has plenty of
headroom and legroom, but
access to the rear seat is ham-
pered by a front passenger seat
thar does not slide forward
automatically when the seat-
back is folded. The front
power sport seats offer plenty
of lateral support, and have
standard seat heaters which are
verv useful on cold mornings.
However, dont wave thei an

too long — he get quite
toasty.

For safety, the front sport
seats are designed to bend in a
frontal or rear collision to
reduce the risk of whiplash. Ail
five seating positions have
height-adjustable head
restraints, and three-point safe-
ty belts.

THE Saab Viggen has a roo!

oth, quiet ride

A telescopic steering wheel
is standard, but a tilt steering,
wheel is not available. - Sel it’s

ible to find a good seating

osidion by moving thr height-
adjustable power driver's seat
and sliding the steering wheel

in and out to an ideal position.

See Viggen following page

photo Mike Vnkefied
my interior and the steer-

ing wheel spokes feature duplicate stereo controls.

SPRil

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