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After a period of relative quiet on the road test front, there’s four new road tests of the Saab 9-3 in various guises appearing online today.

Here they are, one by one.

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Australian Car Advice’s Paul Maric continues his long-term test of the Saab 9-3 TTiD today with a complaint that I haven’t read much about for a number of years now: torque steer.

The big steering wheel tends to jerk from one side to the other all too easily, and there seems to be no variation in steering weight from standstil to highway speeds. The car would certainly benefit from a variable setup of some sort, otherwise the torque-steer and abrasions in the road start taking over and irritating the heck out of the driver.

The TTiD does have a lot of torque, but my drives of the car in Sweden and here in Australia showed no evidence of this complaint, which has all but been eliminated in modern Saabs. Perhaps the lighter-than-preferred steering is the main cause of the issue and if so, this would seem to be a personal issue. I can’t recall torque steer being mentioned in other reviews, either.

It’s not a negative piece, though. Whilst he also has concerns for the stability control system (again, I’m a little confused), the brakes and fuel economy both get big ticks of approval, as does the look and feel of the car.

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As soon as I saw that this next test was from Fortune, on CNN, I knew I wasn’t going to like it. And I didn’t. I’ll spare you the reasons why I knew this as I don’t want to offend anyone, but suffice to say this isn’t (and shouldn’t be) Saab’s target market.

Sadly, the 2009 9-3 Aero Sport that I drove in December isn’t likely to change [Saab's future]. Amazingly, this is the first made-in-Sweden Saab to come equipped with all-wheel-drive. That in itself tells you a lot about Saab’s ability to react to the market. Over in Germany, Audi, which once competed with Saab in the sub-luxury market, has made a name for itself with its own Quattro all-wheel-drive system (and has of course since become a true luxury competitor to BMW and Mercedes Benz.)

The rest of my Saab was well equipped with a 2.8 liter, 6-cylinder, 24-valve, dual overhead cam engine putting out 280 horsepower. The only drawback was the six-speed manual transmission, which didn’t add enough fun-factor to make up for the inconvenience of shifting.

Anyone who regards a model like this as being inconvenient due to having a manual shift is not in the same segment of the market as I am.

And remember, you’d only have a manual shift if you chose to buy a car with one, so this seems totally irrelevant in the context of a road test.

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Glen Woodcock from Autonet.ca notes the following:

I was sitting at my computer, transcribing the notes I’d made about my week with the 2009 Saab 9-3 Aero, when something odd happened.

While I worked, the TV was on in my office and I was half watching the second round of the (former) Big Three Detroit automakers’ coming cap in hand to the U.S. Congress for a bailout….

…..the possibility of General Motors shedding its Hummer, Saab, Saturn and Pontiac divisions came up again.

After the hearings in Washington there was an immediate outpouring of Internet support for Saturn, but not so much for Saab. Interesting, I thought, because my notes on the 9-3 Aero X read: “Has lost most of the quirkiness that used to make a Saab a Saab. It might as well be a Pontiac.”

Glen makes a point that’s both relevant and wildly overinflated and it goes to the heart of why I’d like to see GM sell Saab to a more responsible buyer this year.

The Saab 9-3 is a great car that’s quite possibly the best car that Saab have ever made and yet you can’t help feel that a customer’s perception of the car could have been much better if it weren’t so obviously related to a number of other GM products.

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And last – but not least – Gary from The Garage Blog has spent some time in a 2009 Saab 9-3 Aero with XWD and it seems he enjoyed that time very much:

Thanks to a 280 horsepower, 2.8l V6 the 93 Aero launches hard just like a fighter while the turbo woosh above 5,000 rpm sounds just like a Navy catapult. If you are a little creative. All those ponies make it to all 4 wheels via a 6 speed manual tranny or an optional 6 speed automatic like our tester. The autobox helps keep things civilized in peace time, though I’m sure the manual would be much more fun….

….Overall, the 09 Saab 93 Aero XWD is a comfortable, capable Euro sedan with the soul of fighter jet with just enough design details to keep the Saab purists interested.

Gary also had a problem with the traction control system, in that he couldn’t figure out how to turn it off. This was also noted by Paul Maric at Australian Car Advice.

The controls for turning it off are in the car’s computer menu system, but it does beg the question as to why there’s not a simple on/off button on the dash like there used to be?

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It seems that three out of the four testers found some definite value in the Saab 9-3 they were driving. The fourth reads like he’s a conceited blue-ribbon tosser anyway, so I’m not worried by his opinion at all.

A good morning’s reading if you’ve got the time.

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