For the past month, I’ve been putting the Graphite Green Aero through its paces, over 1000 miles covered, and what an absolute pleasure it’s been. I’ve taken it up to the beautiful Northumberland coastline, through rush hour traffic in Nottingham, in and out of London, and many, many B road blasts around Leicestershire and Rutland. It’s given me time to not only work out a few of the niggles after the second engine rebuild, but to also get fully aquatinted with the car again.

As much as I love a manual 9-5 Aero, there’s something exceptionally rewarding about the auto in these Saabs, it compliments its luxurious, comforting cruiser mode so perfectly, and when called upon, the torque and acceleration are still smile inducing. Over the years, I’ve learnt to not give the car full throttle, but to tease the power out more steadily, it rewards you with a growing surge of Turbo boost and doesn’t down gear or scream at you. Its smooth changes enhanced by the NoobTune Stage 3 remap, and even on hot days, the power is constant thanks to the upgraded intercooler.

It needed a new alternator as there was a constant whine that got worse over a few hundred miles, so a new one has been fitted, and not directly associated to the car’s drivability, but a new set of boot struts have been added to stop it slamming shut, other than that, the 1000 mile road test hasn’t thrown up any other concerns and more importantly, the reoccurring oil light issue seems to be well and truly fixed.

An obvious fascination with this car for me was the beautiful Graphite Green Metallic paint and Sand leather interior, it’s a combination that is so endearing and really suits the 9-5’s elegant form. The satin anthracite 18” wheels and Michelin tyres have enhanced the overall aesthetic, and the usual Bilstien / Eibach suspension combo has transformed the handling of this car. The wonderfully low 75,000 miles it’s covered over its 21 year life means it also feel really tight still; it gives you a small glimpse in to how it might have felt to pick up a brand new 9-5 Aero back in 2003.

Top Gear recently classed the 9-5 Aero as one of their top Saabs of all time "The first generation 9-5 Aero may have had the greatest driver focused, button filled interior of all time. It also looked fantastic, was hugely reliable and could do 0-62mph in under 7.0 seconds. All the car you would ever need".

I'm not really sure I could put it better myself, these are truly fantastic cars, and have been underrated for far too long, saying that, I'd prefer them to stay under the radar. Is the road testing finished yet? Hmmm, just a few more miles please...