Vauxhall Insignia 2.0 CDTI (2008) CAR review and video

Having driven a Vauxhall Insignia 2.0 CDTI (160) for almost a year as a company car driver, I can only sum up my experiences of the car as "disappointing"
Yes it is true that it looks very good both inside and out (and I mean it looks very good!!) – And the engine provides loads of power giving this Insignia very good performance indeed (and I mean very good performance!!)

Unfortunately that is it!

Vauxhall have been condemned in the past for being quite basic in the visual department but have actually been proved to be very good in all other aspects
The Insignia swings this around – that is it looks very good but the other qualities of Vauxhall’s from the past are missing
As an example – my last car was a Vauxhall Astra SXI 1.7 CDTI that looked quite dull on the inside and average on the outside. It was actually my favourite car ever – the handling and ride were exceptional and the supposedly 100 horsepower felt much more than this. It was an absolute delight to drive – push it in the corners and you may have got an occasional squeal but that was all. Brilliant!
 

So back to the Insignia
Let’s start with Noise – the Insignia diesel engine is very coarse indeed. This is supposed to be the car that leads the way in refinement but in practice it has the noisiest diesel engines I have ever experienced. It is much noisier than the 1.9 unit in the Vectra (and a multitude of other GM cars)
OK you may say, what about going petrol – I have not driven any other Insignias apart from my own but what I do know is that the road noise that penetrates the cabin is not acceptable – and actually puts the noise from the diesel engine into insignificance. Basically on the motorway it is very noisy and not exactly relaxing! So my thoughts are that at slow speed I would expect a petrol version to be a little more refined but higher speeds – well the same as the diesel I guess – road noise rules!
Let’s stay with the noise theme – OK the engine is noisy and drowned out at speed by the tyre noise – unfortunately there is more – turn the corner at low speed and there are rattles and vibrations from the front wheel drive system that spell – lack of refinement
Do not approach the hatchback style boot from the side, or you may find yourself being hit by a sharp point that is profiled into the side of the hatchback lid (like I did – it was enough to draw blood)
Do not attempt to take an Insignia out in poor winter conditions – they simply do not respond to any command and have a mind of their own. The worst car I have ever driven in winter conditions. You are better off in a rear wheel drive car like an MX-5 and that is saying something!!
I have another 2 years to “put up” with this vehicle. Make sure you at least consider every other car available on the market before plummeting for this one. At the very least give the Insignia a real test drive that includes fast motorway driving and slower country lanes before making up your mind
I will not be test driving another one though. I now really hope that my company change their car policy to include other manufacturers – I don’t particularly want to be restricted to Vauxhall in the future

Something terrible happened to me back in April, on the M25 near Egham. I was behind the wheel of a special offer from Enterprise Rent-a-Car – a Vauxhall Vectra hatch, in light metallic grey. It was only about £35 for the day, plus taxes and insurance and some other stuff I didn't understand. My memory is a little hazy, but it was definitely automatic and probably diesel. Anyway, there I was, cruising quietly along, counting up how many shades of grey there were in the cabin. Then it happened. So suddenly I didn't even notice it. With a short sigh and a shrug, I completely lost the will to live. Gone, just like that. A few minutes later I stopped at the BP garage at the end of the Egham bypass. I could still hardly be bothered to inhale and exhale, so completely had the Vectra voided me of any hope or purpose in my futile existence. I did what people always annoyingly suggest when you lose something – I tried to remember where I had last put it. I checked the cup holders, but they could barely hold cups, let alone metaphysical concepts. Even after I figured out which armrest button opened which armrest storage box, I didn't find anything other than a biro. At this point I knew there wasn't much hope for me. My heart couldn't be bothered to pump anymore and I was slowly turning into the sixth shade of grey in the cabin when a miracle occurred. I could feel myself leaving my body and floating along a tunnel towards a bright light. As I got closer to the light I heard a voice calling out "Dave! Dave!" My name isn't Dave, but I realise now in retrospect that Dave is the name of the idealised customer in Vauxhall's D-segment market research. As my eyes became accustomed to the brightness of the light, I realised I was looking down upon a Vectra. Only it wasn't a Vectra. Inside the cabin, the instruments glowed red. For no apparent reason. And in addition to all the shades of grey, there were some streaks of shiny silver plastic as well. I blinked as I took in the Vectra's new silhouette. There was a sort of Bangle Butt slash Honda Legend tail, BMW-aping side fluting and a hint of Hoffmeister kink. The nose was sculpted from a fusion of Audi and BMW you could mistake for an Avensis. All beautifully melded into a completely original coupe shape. Original for Mercedes, that is, five years ago. My heart leaped as I realised I was being offered a tantalising glimpse of the future. That soon I would be driving a car so advanced of the current Vauxhall Vectra that it would be given a new name. It would still be a Vauxhall, unfortunately, but they would find some other word ending in 'a' for us to associate with sales reps and poor residuals. And in that moment I knew that I was not about to die. Because I had already long since passed away into the first circle of Vauxhall-driving hell. I would continue to tour the M25 in a car with overly firm suspension, in seats of upholstered concrete. But now at every opportunity I would tell people how I was driving 'the best looking car in its class by some margin, according to Tim Pollard in the prestigious Car magazine'. And that, somehow, made everything so much worse.