Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by petrol engines and utilizing the 4-door sedan body style within the same 'Large family car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (rear for the Lexus and front in the case of the SAAB). The first one has a Toyota-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 8-cylinder, 32-valves 423hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 280hp engine designed by Opel.

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the same number of safety stars gained in the process. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. Both vehicles belong to the large family car segment, which is generally a good thing safety-wise, but that fact doesn't break the tie between the two cars. Furthermore, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, the Japanese car offers a considerable difference of 11% more metal.

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that Lexus does have a slight advantage, at least on all of the models level. These are the results of an independent reasearch, while our visitors describe reliability of Lexus with an average rating of 4.9, and models under the SAAB badge with 4.1 out of 5. Some independent research have also placed IS as average reliability-wise, and 9-3 is more or less at the same level.We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as the Japanese car rank it on average as 5.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.5 out of 5.

Lexus is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 1.9 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 270 kilometers per hour, 20km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the Swedish car, averaging around 10 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (28 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 14% difference compared to the Japanese car.

Lexus appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the Japanese car offers significantly better overall protection, taking the lead here. It all continues in the same direction, with Lexus being considerably quicker, thus putting more smile on driver's face. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... It's really tough to make a final decision here, but if I'd need to, I'd say Lexus. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser™, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.