YOU'VE got to hand it to Saab. With sales taking a battering last year and the increasing woes of its parent General Motors, the resilient Swedes took the machete to local 9-3 pricing, slicing $8000 of the entry price in an effort to re-invigorate sales. The entry point is now $39,990 for a 2.0-litre 9-3 sedan and that’s where it should be. A lack of model diversity has also been addressed, in part, by the arrival of the 9-3 SportCombi – Saab’s way of calling this model a station wagon to you and me. The stylish wagon looks like a hatch from some angles and a pure wagon from others. It inherits all the solid and respectable attributes of the 9-3 sedan – a crisp chassis, superb seats and interior appointments, and enviable safety credentials. With the entry 9-3 Linear SportCombi kicking off at $45,400, plenty of European wagon buyers should start to give the safe Swedes more than a passing glance.