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  1. Five ugly cars needing their facelifts
  2. Ford Scorpio, Good body, bad face
  3. BMW 7 Series, Flame surfacing not so hot
  4. Saab 9-5, A chrome spectacle
  5. Fiat Multipla, From pretty odd to oddly pretty
  6. Subaru Impreza, Addicted to surgery

Saab 9-5, A chrome spectacle

The Saab 9-5 was already way over the hill by the time the Swedish maker got around to facelifting it, so you'd think it would give its flagship saloon a pretty comprehensive refresh to keep the executive buyers happy. Sadly, the cosmetic surgery Saab bestowed upon its big Swede were, frankly, bizarre. Imagine, if you will, going to a plastic surgeon for a chin tuck and a bit of forehead smoothing, then waking up to find your doctor has simply replaced your contact lenses with a set of sunglasses acquired from a McDonald's Happy Meal.

Yes. 50p worth of chrome 'accenting' around the headlamps was about it, and that was back in 2006; the 9-5 is still on sale today, nearly 12 years since it first replaced the old 9000. Plus, inexplicably, in 2007 Saab decided to give the much newer 9-3 junior executive a facelift too. The result? A very near copy of the 'new' 9-5, which, to continue our earlier analogy, is like waking up to find the surgeon has made you look like your granddad.

Mark Nichol