UK Drive: Vauxhall’s Insignia Sports Tourer makes for an appealing proposition
Vauxhall’s latest Insignia can be had as a sleek hatchback, but also as a capacious and practical estate. Tom Wiltshire puts the latter to the test, in company car-friendly 1.6-litre diesel form
What is it?
The first Insignia was a replacement for the awful Vectra range – a serious and long-awaited upgrade. This second-generation model moves the game on even further, and offers a genuinely appealing package of style, space, and impressive value for money.
What’s new?
This Insignia ST sits on the same platform as the hatch, which is all-new and shared with sister brand Opel as well as Buick in the US. It’s allowed Vauxhall to give the latest car a longer, lower silhouette and sleeker styling.
What’s under the bonnet?
Our car featured Vauxhall’s 1.6-litre ‘Whisper’ diesel engine. It’s a four-cylinder unit which, as the name suggests, places a big focus on refinement as well as offering impressive fuel economy – we saw an easy 55mpg on test across lots of motorway miles.
Petrol options are best suited to low-mileage drivers and consist of a 1.5-litre turbocharged unit in either 138bhp or 163bhp states of tune.
What’s it like to drive?
This car’s natural environment is on motorways and A-roads, where excellent refinement and a comfortable ride join forces to make for a very relaxing journey indeed. The small wheels and chunky tyres of our test car aided this further, soaking up bumps and imperfections beautifully.
The lifeless and ultra-light power steering also spoils the fun on faster B-roads, with the car stubbornly refusing to excite. You’ll need a high-powered GSi variant for that – or a rival such as a Mazda 6 Tourer. Handling is safe, secure and predictable though, regardless of which model you choose.
How does it look?
The Insignia is actually a rather handsome vehicle, with sleek lines, a low silhouette and some genuinely attractive detailing. There’s a boil on this supermodel’s nose, though, in the form of the Vauxhall badge. Desirable it may be to company car fleet managers, it’s not likely to win you legions of adoring fans in the same way a more premium badge would.
What’s it like inside?
The Insignia’s interior is certainly roomy, especially in this ST form – there’s ample legroom for four six-foot adults, improved headroom thanks to the higher roofline and a massive 1,665 litres of maximum luggage space. That’s still not as much as the smaller Skoda Superb, though.
What’s the spec like?
Vauxhall offers a baffling array of trim levels – some geared towards private buyers, some towards fleet. Our car was in mid-spec SRi Nav trim, which as the name suggests gets Vauxhall’s 8-inch infotainment display with built-in sat-nav as standard. It’s fairly easy to use and comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality, making it easy to connect up a smartphone for calls, media and other apps.
Verdict
This Vauxhall Insignia Sports Tourer is a far more appealing proposition than its predecessor, and though it’s not class-leading in any one area it does rather well in most – great news for those company car drivers who don’t have a lot of choice in the matter. It’s at its best when cruising, making effortless the sort of long motorway slogs that most owners gravitate towards. The payoff is a car that’s just a little bit dull. Whether this matters really depends on your own needs and the type of driving you do.
