It has been an appalling few years for Saab - its time under the ownership of General Motors was a nightmare as the American company drifted along in a sea of incompetence and mismanagement. The will-they-won't-they period in early-2010, when no-one knew if Saab would be kept, sold or closed meant that the company took its eye off the ball, unable to commit resources it didn't have.
Its 9-3 model has become the Energiser bunny of the automotive world though; it's the car that seems to just go on and on and on. Even before it went on sale way back when it was already based on an ageing platform donated by the previous-generation Vauxhall Vectra - those canny engineers at Saab did their best to disguise these cost-cutting origins and try and provide the 9-3 with some of the company's brand identity.
Saab hasn't managed to do the impossible - you can design quicker, cheaper, or better - but never all three at the same time. Some of the interior materials are very cheap and wouldn't even have been tolerated in the Vectra donor car. The dashboard layout is starting to feel more like a Saab pastiche than anything - this isn't to say that the car is badly built, but it does lag behind rivals in perceived quality.
There is plenty of room up front, however, and the 9-3 is a comfortable car to cruise in. Rear space is slightly constricted and the boot is smaller than you might expect in this segment, though. The 9-3 will speed along the motorway efficiently and hangs gamely on round corners, but there's no frisson of pleasure there as you hook the car up through a series of corners in the same way you would get in a BMW 3 Series or Mercedes C Class.
There is a small range of engines to choose from for the car - the turbocharged petrol engines are a Saab speciality, but will turn out expensive to run, whilst there is also an archaic 1.9-litre diesel unit in various states of tune. Sadly the 9-3 is getting far too old to be able to compete on talent or innovation alone - or at all. It has been steadily left behind by its well-funded opposition and really needs replacing as soon as possible.