The seats in the Aero wagon offer sufficient side bolstering for hard cornering, yet sliding into and out of them was easy. There were plenty of adjustments, yet it wasn't critical to adjust them just so in order to get comfortable.

The Arc we drove also had a nice leather interior, with perforated center inserts on the seats. The Arc's seats are particularly nice when it's very hot or very cold outside. We loved the Arc's seat fans. Two fans are located in each of the front seats, one in the seatback and one in the seat bottom, that draw air in through perforations in the leather. Almost to show them off, the fans are noisy, so there's no question when they're on and you can vary the noise by switching among three speeds. But they do a good job of keeping things aired out down under on those sultry days. When it's cold, the seat heaters can be turned on, and feature adjustable temperature settings, useful as the car warms up. Seat heaters in the rear are appreciated by rear-seat passengers who generally have to wait longer for the car to warm up than front-seat passengers.

Brushed aluminum panels on the Aero's dash give it a sporty look. The Aero has a nice leather-wrapped four-spoke wheel with the rim the correct diameter. It's pocked for better grip, between 2 and 4 o'clock on the right side and 8 and 10 on the left.

Arc features an attractive center dash, though the burled walnut wood trim looked like plastic. The black upper dash helps reduce glare and nicely set off the light-colored interior in our Arc. The doors are trimmed very well.

The instrument panel is curved at the top in the same shape as the steering wheel, affording an unobstructed view of the speedometer, tachometer, fuel, temperature and turbo boost gauges. It's fun to watch the boost gauge, as the power responds more to boost than to revs.

Big buttons for the sound and climate systems are located in a large rectangle in the center console and are easy to understand. The audio controls for the Harmon/Kardon stereo are great. Redundant audio controls on the steering wheel reduce distraction from the road. The radio is wired hot so it can be turned on without the key, useful when parked. Vents are attractive and designed well for aiming.

The leather-stitched shifter knob on automatic models has a good feel and is easy and pleasant to operate. The gearshift knob for the manual transmission is also leather-stitched and pear-shaped and likewise has a good feel. Manual models have a light on the dash indicating when it's time to upshift to conserve fuel, a feature we could live without.

Saab comes up with unorthodox, but effective solutions to interior needs. In the 9-5, these solutions are clever and very successful. A cup holder pops out of the dash from a vertical slot the size of a CD and pivots around to hold cans of soda or that grande cappuccino. A fixed cup holder in the center console is a bit less convenient, especially if there's already lots of stuff in there.

The far end of the right side-view mirror bends outward, which provides a wider view of the right lanes. It requires familiarization to determine the location of an approaching car at a quick glance. We found it didn't work well in the rain. When moving from the left lane to the right lane, it could sometimes make an approaching car look like it was changing lanes and moving toward us.

Interior lighting is excellent, including one map light in a rotating directional ball, like the reading lights in airliners. The placement of the gauges, the cup holder, radio switches and the map light indicate real thought went into the Saab 9-5 interior. Instrument lights can be switched off by pressing the Night Panel button for improved nighttime visibility.

Split visors allow shielding the sun when it's in the corner of the windshield or when changing directions frequently. The glove box is small, however, and the cruise control switch, located on the end of the turn signal stalk and hidden by the steering wheel, is inconvenient. In accordance with Saab tradition, the ignition slot is down on the center console, but this turns out to be a convenient location on the 9-5.

SportWagons feature a large, flat cargo space. Simply flip the rear seat bottoms up and fold the rear seat backs down. Smooth black painted metal covers the bottoms of the rear seats, making a nice clean surface that won't dirty or damage cargo. Saab says the 9-5 offers significantly more cargo capacity than the BMW 5 Series, and is similar in cargo space to the Audi A6. We were able to fit an antique dry sink and four tall ladderback dining chairs back there. Loading heavy objects into the 9-5 is easy as it has a much lower load height than an SUV. Add a dog fence, and the 9-5 SportWagon is a great car for a dog.