Not sure if this is welcome here - The DadWagon.

[Atterz]

@CAR, this is perfectly sensible isnt it . I to never realised that you could get such power from standard engines and this is only the start, after Afghan i intend to be running a twin plate clutch with around 430Hp/745Nm. The engine is a Holden V6 taken by Saab and extensively modified to make it suitable for turbocharging :-

The 2.8V6 Turbo has a 60 degree vee-angle between its cylinder banks for perfect balance and combines excellent multi-valve refinement with outstanding performance. The all aluminum construction provides a light and compact architecture, well suited to its transverse, front-wheel-drive installation in the Saab 9-3 Aero.

The cylinder heads, each with double chain-driven overhead camshafts operating four valves per cylinder, are of high specification aluminum and unique to this turbocharged variant. The design ensures enhanced heat resistance under 85 bar cylinder pressures, as well as minimum maintenance costs.

Also unique are pistons with hard anodized ring grooves for durability and under-skirt oil jet cooling, together with steel con-rods that are strengthened by sinter-forging, a process that involves molding metal in a powered form. The exhaust valves are filled with sodium to further enhance cooling. The cylinders have cast iron liners and a bore/stoke of 89.00 / 74.8 mm.

For improved engine breathing, variable cam phasing on the inlet side is electronically controlled and hydraulically actuated, allowing continuously variable adjustment through 50 degrees of crankshaft rotation. On the road, this translates to a more flexible power delivery and better fuel economy under different engine loads.

A die-cast aluminum oil sump is designed to increase structural stiffness and the strong, four-bearing crankshaft is made from micro-alloy forged steel, a specification more commonly seen in competition performance or diesel engines.

The twin-scroll, water-cooled TDO4-15TK turbocharger, operates at 0.6 bar maximum boost with intercooling and an integral by-pass valve. It is mounted centrally above the transmission and fed by both banks of cylinders. The use of two separate inlet tracts, one for each cylinder bank, separates the exhaust gas pulses, improving gas flow, reducing energy losses and raising turbocharger efficiency.

The turbine wheel is made from a special high-grade steel alloy, commonly used in the turbocharged engines of world championship rally cars, which is resistant to erosion, cracking and creeping under high temperatures and centrifugal forces.

Also unique are double-skin exhaust manifolds, which are hydroformed with stainless steel liners to improve cold start emissions by minimizing heat absorption to the manifold. Air injection into each manifold for up to 30 seconds after a cold start also helps the central pre-catalyst, positioned upstream of the main catalytic converter, achieve 'light off', its effective working temperature, as early as possible.

*Source : http://www.saabnet.com/tsn/press/051220.html*

To be honest i drove the Rallye a few weeks back and the way the Saab piles on the speed with such smoothness i wouldnt say it "feels" quicker, although clearly it is. 60-100 is round about 5.3 Seconds. It certainly isnt as much of an event as the Rallye, which is good as @Sam - This is certainly my daily hack, although im not required to commute .

@Kez - £620 for the year Think outside the box me .

@All others, thanks for the kind comments its an awesome car to drive and it shocks me what it can embaress on the roads, i wont discuss any further than that but its not far of some rather expensive Kraut machinery. Underground, definitely post up you XR2 mate, the more the merrier!