[onewhippedpuppy]

Stay away from the 2003+ 9-3 coupe, they are a crap rebadged Opel. Stick with the 900SE/9-3 hatchback, which was still mostly Saab engineered. The 9-5 was mostly an Opel underneath but still pretty heavily modified by Saab. In the 9-3/900SE you can either find the HOT (high output turbo) or Viggen, both of which provide really nice performance. The Viggen was Saab's M3. In the 9-5 go for the Aero models. In either case avoid the automatic transmission and they are really solid cars. You can fit a massive amount of stuff into the relatively small 900SE/9-3 four door hatchback, and the 9-5 Aero is available in a wagon with the stick.

If you don't mind going older, the 9000 Aero is a simply fantastic car. If you can find one that isn't rusty, the old school 900 SPG is also awesome.

I had both a 9000 Aero and 900SE four door hatch with the HOT. Both were really great cars and would scream with a boost controller. Saab used to advertise that the 9000 Aero was faster than a Testarossa from 50-75, they are absolute rockets on the highway with excellent MPG if you stay out of the boost. Also robustly made and simple to wrench on. I would love to find a mint 9000 Aero to drive.