Saab 9-5 estate is closer to perfection

An acquaintance who drives one of Ireland's slightly more wealthy people told me about the Bentley Arnage they bought last year. "We've had to send it back twice," he said. "All the door seals had to be changed because they were the wrong ones, and then the door mirrors had to be replaced because they were creating wind noise."

Just goes to show that you can't even depend on Bentley for perfection ...

But I'm almost sure you could depend of Saab for it. At least, going on my recent experience with the 9-5 Estate. It's the marque's first estate for 20 years (the quirky-looking 99 estate then) but boy, is it well worth waiting for!

First, it looks the part. A real distinctive and solid piece of Scandinavian engineering (not at all less so now by being owned by GM) in a very classy style. There's no mistaking that nose, and the way they've added the rear accommodation is both showing that this is a totally individual car from its saloon sibling and yet totally intigrated into the model range.

It is the goods, well able to hold its place in the most exclusive of valet parking joints and to my mind a car much more desirable than much of its snootier competition.

(You could never say that a Saab was snooty. Thought this one could justifiably be if it wanted.)

They say a Mercedes-Benz is hewn from a block of steel. The Saab 9-5 is sculpted from one.

Anyway, let's move inside. Again, no mistaking the heritage - the dashboard is pure Saab slab, massivity the trademark and a selection of buttons and switches and dials that are more than in a small aircraft. It could be a negative that it takes almost a pilot's course to learn to use them all, but so be it. You do learn.

And you learn in comfort, because it was the unanimous vote of me and my working partner that the seats and driving position are quite the best we've experienced this year. And bluntly, we don't expect to find ourselves in anything to surpass them.

As the driver, I found myself in my size of car, too. I like big cars. This is a big car. For the rear passengers (we found a few) there is just as much room as those being cosseted up front. Not just room, but equal cosseting too. If I was a racing man, there would be people who would regularly want to travel to meetings with me.

However, no less than the Bentley Arnage, there are some problems. Oh, nothing in build quality, but perhaps in detail design. There was nowhere - but nowhere - to put my mobile phone safely out of the way while driving. It had to be relegated to the door bin, and then not comfortably nor securely.

Call me a nitpicker. But hey, 58% of Swedes have mobile phones. Where do they put theirs?

That said, no matter what you might want to put in the estate end of the car, you'd probably be able to do it. My wife is sometimes an opportunist and when she saw what I was in that particular week, there was an inevitable trip to the dump to get rid of doors anhd stuff which had been languishing in various parts of the garden since her last bout of renovation. (I'm fortunate she never reads my reviews ... I'd be dumped myself if she knew I'd mentioned her. Again.)

Anyway, the 9-5 estate took it all, with room to spare. Even after some general gardening debris had been added. Funny thing, though ... I didn't get a chance to use of of the unique things that tjis estate has - a rear floor that slides out over the bumper on rails so that you can hump up heavy loads without suffering an embarrassing injury. But I have looked at the feature and can see where it will be useful.

The mechanicals of the car are impeccable. More than that, the performance from a 2-litre engine is superb. OK, so it's a 2-litre with a difference, given that it is breathing through a light-pressure turbocharger that is a specific Saab patent. The power output of 148bhp is respectable without being mind-blowing - the real trick is how it is all delivered.

Like, with peak torque coming in at 1800rpm? That allows some very smooth driving, particularly when mated to the really nice 4-speed autobox that was in the review car. That was my style of driving, as it happened, but when I decidced to push the car once for the hell of it, the 9.5s of the 0-60mph was very smart.

We didn't hear much of what was going on, either from the engine or the suspension, which was well-mannered all the way. We didn't even hear the gurgle of petrol, which at an average of 28mpg is reasonable for the amount of heavy metal being motored around.

(Reminds me of the car I learned to drive in - a Ford Consul - which burned at the rate of 27mpg with far less finesse.)

There are cars I enjoy. There are cars I respect. There are, not often, cars I desire.

This year in that last respect has been a good one. The Saab 9-5, in fact, fits comfortably in all three categories. Some of you are by now aware of our running joke (hope) that there is a stable of cars which will be bought when the company wins the National Lottery.

The Saab 9-5 will be the estate in the stable. It may well even be the most driven. When it happens ...

(Not 'if', you will note.)

... or, indeed, we may not bother to wait for the lottery. Even if, at £37,770, it's not the cheapest in the potential fleet.