Saab 9-5 Sport Wagon

Our verdict

The Saab 9-5 estate has a yawing chasm of a boot, and a yawning driver.

Comfort

Great seats, lots of room in ever department and decent ergonomics lead the 9-5's tick-sheet on comfort. But if you get big wheels the ride is turbulent.

Performance

Thanks to their turbos, nothing in the range is tragically slow, especially for mid-range overtaking. But the lower-power versions, petrol or diesels, will struggle if you load them with the amount of weight their boot invites. All power units are four-cylinders, so don't expect class-leading refinement.

Cool

Big working estates exempt themselves from the cool scale. Neither cool nor uncool, they're just out there.

Quality

It's been around so long those Swedes have had lots of time to practice spannering the 9-5 together. It's a tough old boot. But it completely lacks the satisfying quality interior jewellery buyers of this class of car have come to look for these days.

Handling

It's stable on a motorway but through the curves it's imprecise and wobbly. Understeer-heavy, afflicted with torque-steer and generally uninterested in playing games. Get the high-power turbo and the front tyres are really strained.

Practicality

It's huge and has an equally huge boot. A bioethanol version might seem impractical if you're going to drive a long way from E85 stations but don't worry, it'll run on regular petrol too.

Running costs

Pretty well-contained for servicing (at 18,000-mile intervals) and insurance, but secondhand buyers have lost interest so it depreciates fairly fast.