Saab asks plenty of coin for a small station wagon made in Japan, roughly what a BMW 325xi wagon or Mercedes-Benz C240 wagon without any options might cost. That’s more than the starting price of a Lexus IS 300 SportCross. That’s more than the starting price of an Audi A4 Avant 1.8T. That’s more than the starting price of a Volvo V50 T5 AWD. That’s more than the starting price of a number of established competitors with more size, more prestige, or both.

Saab says the true competition for the 9-2X is yet to come in the form of the Audi A3, the BMW 1-Series, the Mercedes-Benz B-Class, and others. Perhaps by transforming a Subaru into a Saab, the company has gotten a jump on the competition. Maybe there is an untapped desire amongst ever-larger Americans wanting to pay a premium for ever-smaller European cars with luxury badges pasted onto them. We’re not convinced that this is the case…yet.

Evaluated on its merits, the Saab 9-2X is a great little car. Evaluated within the context of the American marketplace, the unusual, offbeat, and quirky Saab 9-2X appears to be the answer to a question nobody has asked.