Saab 9-3 Convertible (2003-) Review

On the road

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Particularly comfortable height-adjustable seats are standard, and are electrically adjusted on all but the Linear trim level. The electric seats have lumbar adjustment, too. The driving position is very good and apart from a handbrake that's awkward to release, the major controls are easy to use. The electric hood is a doddle - press a big tab on the dash, and electric motors do the rest. You can operate the hood on the move too, at up to 18.5mph, which is handy. But some of the minor controls are less clever - if it's fitted, the CD changer is a challenge to load and empty, the trip computer control is distant and the sat-nav isn't entirely intuitive. In one test car, it even malfunctioned. A small high-mounted display, positioned at the base of the windscreen to supplement the main display, helps you understand the sat-nav's instructions.

Visibility is good, particularly over the shoulder thanks to very slender centre pillars, and though the rear quarters of the hood are big, vision is not too seriously impeded. That said, the tall boot makes the optional parking sensors a desirable option. It may not be the most exciting ragtop on the block, but this car is likely to prove very satisfying to drive and own. Even with 250bhp, the Convertible isn't really a sports car, despite proving capable of very brisk progress. It has plenty of roadholding, its front wheels handle the engines' considerable pulling power easily (in contrast to the old model) and its handling is entirely predictable despite the steering's initially lazy response. Yet the 9-3 isn't a car that encourages you to hustle it too hard. At less frenetic speeds however, the Saab induces a sense of well-being that ordinary cars struggle to deliver.

The 175bhp and 210bhp 2.0-litre engines are stout performers, the more powerful unit capable of impressively strong acceleration if you work at it  which means stoking more than 2,500rpm on the rev counter. For all that, it doesn't feel as quick as 210 horsepower suggests it might be, partly because of the delay-action response if you're starting from low revs, partly because this car weighs over one and a half tonnes.

But outright speed isn't everything in a soft-top  the buffeting can get too much  which means that for most owners the 175bhp engine is the one to go for. This delivers its best from lower revs, making it easier to drive in moving traffic, while its overall performance is more than adequate for a car like this. Strangely, both engines sounded gruffer than they do in the saloon and are unhappy at high revs: rorty sports car engines they are not.

The 2.8 V6 (230 or 250bhp) is no real gain over the 210bhp unit. Though capable of higher out-and-out speeds in a straight line and initially quicker from a standing start, it isnt particularly strong mid-range, where the most benefit is felt in day-to-day driving. It also tends to get coarse when pushed  though not as harsh-sounding as in the Cadillac CTS  and feels less authentically Saab than the well-established four-cylinder, turbocharged 2.0-litres, which have very distinctive performance characteristics.

Strangely, the 1.9 TiD diesel (150 bhp) feels more like a Saab engine: slow to build initially, but with a large chunk of turbo-boosted grunt coming in strongly further up the rev range. Its capable of cruising comfortably at motorway speeds, but is a bit lacklustre.

The manual 'boxes have tidy gear changes, especially the six-speeder in the Aero and diesel models, but the automatic transmission isn't the smoothest shifter and the slightly lazy response to the (optional) paddle shifts on the wheel soon has you abandoning manual gear selection in favour of full automatic mode. This sometimes struggles to find the right gear and leaves the 2.8 V6 Aero feeling well short of its full power output.