The race to clean up car exhausts has had a surprising effect on the new Saab 9-5; it’s made the most popular version ride more firmly over Britain’s pockmarked roads writes Ian Donaldson.

Lower emissions mean lower road tax and a smaller tax bill for company car drivers. Building the 9-5 lower to the road cuts aerodynamic drag and that gives the engine an easier time.

But to stop the newly lowered car grazing the Tarmac on the worst roads there are firmer springs under the wheelarches. For a better riding new 9-5 you’ll need to buy an automatic version, with softer, taller springs and a take a bigger hit at the pumps (but less on the bumps).

It’s a typically interesting twist from a car company that’s tried to plough its own furrow and produced some tasty and decidedly individual cars over the years.

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More interesting even than the cars in recent months has been the state of the business behind them. The Swedish car maker was sold by its American owners General Motors some months ago to one of the world’s smallest car companies, the Dutch-based Spyker.

Last year that firm built a grand total of 36 Spyker cars (the latest model costs £194,000, so no wonder) but the new coming together has the substantial backing of the European Bank and Swedish government to keep Saab alive.

Fine job

Confused? There’s more; quite a lot of the hidden bits of the new 9-5 are from a Vauxhall Insignia, built in Germany by General Motors and taking the same sensible money-saving route as, say, Audi does by using Volkswagen (or even Skoda) bits where it really doesn’t matter.

Where it does matter is on the pieces you can see. And Saab has done a fine job making the new 9-5 looks both modern and very Saab-ish, with bold sweeparound windscreen and the latest version of its big radiator intake.

Inside, there are many more Saab design details, from a starter button low down between the front seats (where Saab ignition keys used to be found), ventilation grilles with little knobs to change the airflow’s direction and a dash button to dark-out all the inessential dials at night.

Saab still talks about its aircraft heritage (you can have a Top Gun-style head up display on the windscreen in some models) and it’s most evident in the solidly black, no nonsense look of the whole interior, but most notably on the curvy dash. It’s either ruthlessly efficient or too plasticy and black, depending on your point of view. Either way it lacks the obvious precision fit of an Audi, say.

The new 9-5 range offers 2.0 litre diesel and petrol engines and a V6 2.8 litre from launch, with more powerful versions of the 2.0 litre units arriving soon. Prices range from £26,495 to £37,995, the latter a four-wheel drive, 300 horsepower car that’s likely to make hens’ teeth look plentiful.

Back in the real world, the £26,495 9-5 Vector SE 2.0 TiD test car is likely to prove a big seller. Buyers won’t be disappointed with the way it convincingly shrinks distances thanks to a combination of roomy, hushed cabin and big, comfy seats.

It goes well too, with a distant thrum from its 158bhp diesel engine producing convincing performance and potentially excellent economy with a light touch on the accelerator.

They’ll also be impressed with a standard equipment list that includes heated seats, cruise control, dual zone climate control, part leather trim and parking bleeps front and rear.