2009 car of the year

This year's uncontested recipient of the 2009 Car of the Year award goes to. . .

Sven. Saab. 1991. 178,000 miles. And kicking.

Over the last three months, we have driven Sven over 8,000 miles across the country (please forgive our carbon footprint -we'll make up for it by walking 2,200 miles this spring). He's been to the beach and the mountains, the south, the midwest, and the land of 10,000 lakes. He is AMAZING! Having sat in our friend's driveway for a year and a half, we thought he might be running a little rough. But to the contrary, this incredible Swedish machine has been running in top form all the way to the far side and back.

In Minnesota in negative 20 degree weather, our friend's 2004 Volvo would not start; Our eighteen year old Saab cranked right up, and then jump started their car. Running at nearly 30 miles a gallon, he saved us hundreds, maybe thousands compared to what we could have spent on airfare to get where we were going. And with a fold down back seat providing twenty-four square feet of hatch back space, he's carried all our possessions -clothes, packs, cooler, and fishing poles, comfortably behind us. What a machine.