It has taken Saab all of 13 years to come up with a replacement for its venerable 9-5 – a long time in an industry where the shelf life of a car is getting shorter and shorter.

But at least the new 9-5, and Saab itself, are still with us – a situation that looked unlikely as 2009 drew to a close.

The Swedish firm came within a whisker of being shut down by owners General Motors in December after a sell-off deal to its preferred bidder fell through. And it was only when Dutch supercar specialists Spyker stepped in at the last minute that Saab was saved from oblivion.

Spyker boss Victor Muller was chuffed to pick up such a famous brand for ‘the price of a wind tunnel’ – especially as the new 9-5 was all but ready to go.

He will also benefit from a state-of-the-art production facility at Trollhattan, near Gothenburg, and the good will of Saab fans right around the globe.

The new 9-5 has made it to UK showrooms at last and enthusiasts will be delighted that it marks a return to the ‘Saabness’ of earlier models. Instead of GM badge engineering, we have a car possessing some of the quirky, individual features that have traditionally made Saabs stand out from the crowd.

The 9-5 arrives, then, as a smart executive car with bags of room in the cabin and a huge boot. It sits on the same platform as Vauxhall’s Insignia but is a full seven inches longer.

It shares some parts with its former stablemate but 70 per cent of the 9-5 components are completely and distinctly Saab.

Design

The 9-5 has a muscular design which I can see going down well in the US, globally one of the three most important markets for Saab along with the UK and, of course, Sweden.

Design features include an aggressive-looking bonnet, wrap-round glass effect at the front and a tidy rear for such a big car.

Step inside and there are further familiar Saab design cues like the narrow front window, the cockpit-style driving position, the ‘soothing’ green instrumentation and comfortable seats.

Unfortunately, the traditional centrally-located ignition switch has made way for a dashboard-mounted starter button, while the handbrake has been replaced by an electronic alternative.

The cabin is quite dark and dominated by a large, rather plasticky dashboard. It’s deliberately ‘busy’, with lots of buttons and stitches, in order to distinguish the car from the more minimalist approach of firms like BMW.

Even basic Vector SE models, which start from £26,495 for the 2.0 TiD, are well specified with the following features all as standard: a good audio system, electronic climate control, leather seats, cruise control, keyless entry, parking sensors, bluetooth and ipod compatibility.

It’s an extra £1,200 for sat nav and £600 for Saab’s excellent head-up display which was developed in conjunction with the Swedish air force.

Models further up the range come with features like more supportive sports seats and adaptive damping. They also have upgraded suspension to reduce the torque steer for which early Saab turbos were notorious.

Turbocharged

Saab has stuck with turbocharging, though, and all the engines in the new 9-5 range are turbos. There are two versions of a two-litre diesel (160 and 190hp) along with 1.6, 2.0 and 2.8 litre petrols. The 160PS 2.0 TiD diesel will account for the vast majority of sales, though Saab is expecting reasonable interest in its petrol cars too.

At the car’s UK launch I was able to sample the lower-powered diesel, and the 2.0T and 2.8T petrols.

The 160PS oil burner has plenty of torque and is competitive in terms of its performance, economy and emissions – for now at least. But it is on the noisy side, both at tickover and on the road, and could do with more refinement.

This is less of an issue with the petrol units, which are both very refined. Drivers will instead tend to notice more in the way of wind noise and tyre roar.

If anything, the 2.8 turbo in particular could do with a more exciting soundtrack to match its effortless cruising abilities.

The front-wheel drive 2.0 turbo turns out to be the star performer of the engines I drove: it’s deceptively quick, with plenty of overtaking capability, yet can still return 30mpg if it isn’t caned. It’s also around £6,000 cheaper than the flagship turbo, which costs more than £37,000 to put on the road.

Overall, the new 9-5 looks good, has plenty of room and really does feel like a ‘proper Saab’ again. The best value cars would appear to be those towards the bottom of the range.

The firm is not out of the woods yet, of course, and will have to win over new converts (and keep them) as well as satisfying its faithful fans in the coming years.

But Saab can now face its future with renewed optimism – and if it keeps coming up with cars like the new 9-5 it will at least have a fighting chance of staying afloat.