Saab 9-3

Our verdict

The Saab 9-3 is a slightly left-field alternative to all those high-priced German small saloons. Handling and ride not quite up to par, so concentrate on the value and the performance.

Comfort

The ride is shuddery and gets worse with sportier chassis and tyres. But Saab's seats are great and the ergonomics well sorted.

Performance

 Spec your 9-3 with a light-pressure turbo engine and you'll have useful overtaking performance at a price thousands less than a weedy 318i engine in a BMW. The turbodiesel engines are pretty lively too, and then once you go to full-boost or V6, you'll be tearing up the tarmac. Possibly accidentally.

Cool

 The base models are a bit university lecturer, but the Turbo X in black is all Stig Blomqvist, Bjorn Borg, Abba and 1970s Swedish sex. Cool.

Quality

There is a slight old-school GM feel of wobbliness about some bits of the interior, but this car is fundamentally solid and they've had years of practice screwing them together. No worries.

Handling

The more powerful the engine fitted the less satisfactory: you get wheelspin and torque steer and general fuzziness. It can cope with the diesels and lower-power petrols well enough, especially if the roads are smooth and open. The XWD all-drive system is the only sensible route for the full-fat turbo versions: still not brilliant finesse, but security and decorum.

Practicality

 It's a saloon not a hatch, but Saab is very good at taking care of the little things that make a car easy to live with. Like the world's best cupholders.

Running costs

Saab is getting more and more folded in with GM, which means close-to-Vauxhall servicing prices, a good thing. Low initial prices mean low absolute depreciation too, and some of the engines are pretty economical for their performance.