The news that Saab is to be saved (or maybe not) by a multinational consortium, has been celebrated by Motorpoint, which has 2011 9-3 models in stock. The 9-3 1.9 TTiD 160 Turbo Edition Estates are available from £13,599 – which compares to a list price of £24,120 when the car was last on sale. The cars have around 13,000 miles on the clock. That means they have suffered a theoretical depreciation of almost £1 per mile, although nobody was actually paying list price for Saabs last year.At around the price of the most basic pre-registered Focus estate, the Saab 9-3 estate might be worth a look.

It’s big, comfy and reasonably economical with the diesel engine. Parts availability should be OK, as suppliers are still happy to sell bits for ex-car companies – even Rovers do not have major parts problems today.

Who knows, as the last Saabs before bankruptcy – and, we suspect, probably the last Saabs ever – they might even have some value in years to come. We are not suggesting buying one as investment, like some classic Ferrari, but one of the last-ever Saabs might have a bit of cachet in 10 years. Some retired architect or university lecturer might feel nostalgic and yearn for one final 9-3.

We accept there is no sign of that happening to the Rover 75, but the Saab brand was not trashed quite as comprehensively as Rover in its dying days.