Test cars for a living and you quickly get a handle on their target clientele. Polo necked Guardianistas, cash-rich plumbers, old money on the slide or schoolgate mums - you can find a car aimed at each of them. Saab's 9-3 2.8T V6 Aero is a tougher call. After driving it for a few hours, I got out, had a drink and drove it again. Still I was none the wiser, instead becoming fixated with the oleaginous, Bostonian Brahmin drawl of Loyd Grossman. "David," - extended dramatic pause - "Who would drive a car like this?"

Think about it. The 9-3, be it in Sport Saloon or SportWagon guise, tends to appeal to those customers who admire a BMW, Mercedes or Audi but who either can't quite afford them or balk slightly at the rather brash image. Saab make great play of including themselves alongside these manufacturers in an artificial construct they dub the P7 (Premium Group of 7) which also encompasses Jaguar, Volvo and Lexus, but if they were entirely honest with themselves, they'd realise that from an image perspective they'd be propping up that particular table. That's why the lower-end Saab models sell so well. Instead of poaching business from the German premium manufacturers, they instead siphon off sales from buyers who would have previously bought cars like the Ford Mondeo, the Honda Accord, the Toyota Avensis and the Peugeot 407. Trading up to a Saab 9-3 makes all sorts of sense in this instance. Instant status and a smug sense of superiority for minimal capital outlay seems a smart piece of business.

Where the story becomes a little fuzzy at the edges is when splashing out for a top-end 9-3 and they don't come any further up the scale than this 2.8T V6 Aero variant. The Sport Saloon is priced at £29,310 with the estate pitching in at £30,410. While still not exactly nosebleed pricing, it's in the same territory as some quality stuff from BMW and Mercedes or, to put it another way, you've really got to want a Saab to sign up for this car.

"Top end Saab 9-3s face a demanding market"

As usual, it conforms to the Saab philosophy of offering a lot more power than its rivals; in this case a turbocharged 280bhp is at your disposal. The limiting factor in the bhp arms race in this instance is the fact that unlike many of its P7 rivals, drive is directed to the front wheels and putting a whole heap of power through the front wheels can have rather disappointing results. Saab's solution is their latest XWD all-wheel drive system which lays on active four-wheel drive and a 15% torque boost to the 2.8 V6 engine to make the most of the extra traction.

That said, the standard 9-3 2.8T V6 does an excellent job of masking the fact of its front wheel drive. There's no riotous torque-steer as you accelerate the car, the most extreme manifestation being a gentle tug at the tiller under full throttle. Likewise, there seems to be little in the way of wheelspin or obvious traction control intervention, on dry tarmac at least. If you must direct drive forwards, this is the way to do it.

A normally-aspirated 2.8-litre V6 should be good for around 220bhp so the twin-scroll turbocharger is worth a good 60bhp. It works smoothly with very little lag and strong pick-up from low revs without the whines, hisses and other audible histrionics of other cars that lean heavily on their blowers to bump up the power figure. Saab quote a sprint to 60mph of just 5.4 seconds for the saloon model and it'll run to a top speed in excess of 155mph. Make no mistake, this is a seriously rapid car, although one suspects that motorways and sweeping A-roads are more its forte than twisty country lanes.

All the current Saab 9-3 models benefit from a facelift based on the Aero X concept car. The clamshell bonnet visually widens the front of the car and all external rubbing strips have been removed to give a cleaner look. There's a classier finish to the front grille and a set of LED light strips that sit across the top of the headlamp pod while the rear light clusters are shrouded in smoked glass. Inside, there's a more muted effect with less silver plastic.

Standard specification in Aero trim includes the sports chassis, uprated brakes, sports bumpers, twin exhausts, bi-xenon headlamps with pressure washers and heated front seats. Safety provision runs to ESP stability control, active head restraints plus front, side and curtain airbags.

The Sportwagon is well worth looking into. Unlike many vehicles that campaign in this class, the Saab offers some serious carrying capacity. There's 419 litres available with the rear seats in place and a whopping 1,273 litres of space available with the seats folded down. The recessed sub floor allows valuables to be stowed out of the view of prying eyes and can also be used to store wet or dirty gear without muddying everything else up. Despite its sporting looks, the rear hatch is actually fairly steeply raked, allowing for additional carrying capacity. This is where some rivals fall down, favouring style over practicality. Saab aim to offer both.

As long as you don't mistake it for a no-compromises sportster, there's little reason why you should be disappointed by the Saab 9-3 2.8T V6 Aero. It's well built, civilised and very good value for money. It's just difficult to see where the sales are going to come from. Those armed with a little knowledge may well decry it as a rebadged and made-over Vauxhall Vectra and it would be difficult to deny its roots. Those not so savvy will likely be swayed by an entry-level BMW or Mercedes and tick the badge delete box on the order form. Who does that leave? The nebulous leftovers are what Saab seem to be pursuing with the 9-3 2.8T V6. We wish them luck.