Vauxhall Insignia 2.8 V6 4x4 (2008) CAR review

Good to drive?

Pleasant. Much has already been written on the minutiae of driving dynamics comparisons with the likes of Mondeo, and in that context alone the Insignia romps gently home in second place. But who really cares? The four-wheel drive chassis improves handling grip in low-speed corners, the steering’s accurate but not all that nicely weighted at speed, and the ride’s perfectly comfortable.

The cabin’s a pretty classy place to be, and build quality takes a huge hike over the outgoing Vectra. In fact, pretty much everything takes a huge hike over the outgoing Vectra, and you’d be hard pushed to unearth any major gripes about the V6 Insignia as a competent, high velocity motorway cruiser. Unless you were in the back, that is, where legroom has considerably improved, but headroom decidedly has not.

‘Effing else?’…as my old Chinese takeaway used to say on the phone.

Couple of things I didn’t get round to mentioning in my 900 mile drive back to Luton the other day: Unlike the cats cradle of wiring necessary in a Mondeo, an iPod connects quite happily, since both auxiliary socket and recharging 12v supply are in the centre arm rest box. True, you can only adjust the volume through the car controls, but at least it can all be hidden away.

Vauxhall has, mercifully, thrown out that horrendous electric indicator system, and even afforded the Insignia a sat-nav system within which traffic alerts may actually be switched off altogether rather than simply interrupted each and every time they start up, as was the mind-boilingly irritating case with the last Vectra I drove.

However, the new electronic handbrake is simply vile, requiring monster revs to drive off through automatic disconnection. It’s also equally reluctant to engage, causing huge mirth to the clearly pie-in-face-humour obsessed populace of Baden Baden, and very nearly the first low-speed accident I’ve been involved in without actually sitting in the car.

This is a pity, because the presence of the electronic brake frees up enough transmission tunnel space to afford the driver a second multimedia screen control button which falls far more readily to hand. This is, admittedly, a mere duplicate of the button on the centre console but, unlike the latter which bizarrely requires you to concentrate hard enough to push only the outer ring of the button, it’s much easier to use.

Verdict

I can think of no one who’ll actually own this car except, of course, a Vauxhall dealer principle. The 2.0-litre turbo I drove home makes a far more arresting proposition, and you can spend the £7000 you’ll save on something to run your granny down to the shops for cat food and corn plasters of a morning.

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