Opinions on Vauxhall Insignia please

Trebor16

My Meriva had cruise control and once you have had it there is no way you can go back to a car without it.

Former_MSE_Andrea

Evening everyone. Can you add anyone you don't get on with to your ignore list please?

Thanks

Honeydog

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

Evening everyone. Can you add anyone you don't get on with to your ignore list please?

Thanks

Done.

Jamie1981

Definately test drive both to ensure you make the right decision.

Many members of my family are in the motor trade (as mechanics) with my uncle being a garage manager. He always says that all makes and models have faults at some point or another although some manufacturers have common faults across certain models.

I have owned a vectra before and people were telling me that they were rubbish and Vauxhall this and Vauxhall that...... I had the car 3 years and it only needed a battery and routine servicing. I put 85k miles on it in that time aswell.

I would say go for petrol over diesel because at 10k per year, you will pay a higher purchase price for diesel and wont be doing the mileage to really offset the difference between the cost of a petrol variant. Also, some things to watch out for on modern diesels and especially Vauxhall from the owners forums I frequented.

1. DPF - Ensure if the car has one that you give it a good blast up the motorway once a week to allow a re-gen to take place. This saves the DPF from becoming sooted up and needing replaced. I have been in the dealers when they have relieved some poor soul of the best part of £1,500 iirc for a replacement.

2. DMF (dual mass flywheel) - These were an achilles heel on the vectra and astra cdti's. Again, around £750 (if your lucky) to replace the DMF and clutch.

3. Alternators - On the diesels they were prone to failing. Again £300 approx to replace.

Go and have a look at vectra-c.com or insignia enthusiasts (do a google search). It's good to hear other owners experiences and there is a wealth of information on the forums.

Also, imo, stay away from the petrol 1.8 as it is not economical as it is such a heavy car and with this engine, is severly underpowered. The 2 litre is a better bet.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Stephb1986 wrote: »

Thank you manual is really my preference too :-)

I do about 200 miles a week mainly around town as I collect ironing then about 100 miles on the motorway, I do like having cruise control

Make sure you don't do just the stop start town running, that type of use will not help the DPF, and won't be great for your DMF either if you go manual.

Your choice, at least you have been warned about the potential problems by the good people here.

The only thing i dislike about Insignia is the mirrors do not lend themselves to parking etc, its almost impossible to see the rear wheels and the door mirrors narrow out at the edge.

cyclonebri1

After a few years with the Renault it is my intention to go with a Vauxhall next time, had cavs, calibras, vectras before.

I have tried and had Insignias on lone. I find them a graet and vastly underestimated motor.

I chose the Insignia over the Passat, A4, and older Mondeo from the car pool. The new Mondeo is as good maybe even better, but it's close.
SIL Has a 320 M sport company car, needs more space, he too was well impressed with the VX on extended test.

Lats face it, what suits 1 won't suit another tho'

RICK..._2

Lum wrote: »

I have had several Insignias as hire cars and sorry to say but I really dislike them. They are a massive improvement over the Vectra that they replaced, but I'd still rather have a Mondeo.

A small list of things I dislike:
- The seats. It seems impossible to get them into a position that doesn't aggravate my back problems on long journeys. Even 20 minutes driving is enough to cause me pain.
- Electronic handbrake. Sorry but I just don't trust them.
- Visibility. Ok so all modern cars have crap visibility out the back, but the Insignia is particularly bad and Vauxhall are rubbing salt into the wound when they make a car with a rear windscreen shaped like a D rotated 90 degrees to the left then supplying a rear view mirror shaped like a D rotated 90 degrees to the right. Forward visibility is pretty bad too with A pillars big enough to hide a Transit van.
- Engine. The 1.8 petrol engine feels like you're driving a mediocre 1.8 diesel except for the fuel bills. The diesel version is worse.

All down to a matter of opinion isn't it - I couldn't wait to get rid of my 60 reg Mondeo and replace with an Insignia. Mondeo was awful.

Seats - I have the sports seats and they are a hell of a lot comfier than the ones I had in my Mondeo.
Electronic handbrake - Takes some getting used to but after that probably one of the best features of the car - love it.
Visibility - Regardless of how it's shaped, visiblity is just as good as the Mondeo, I've had no issues with it.
Engine - 1.8 poor, agreed, diesel fairly quiet, good power delivery and smooth - better than my old Mondeo tdci!

OP:

If you're doing 10k+ a year then don't even consider the petrol, absolutely munches through fuel.


I currently own the 2.0 CDTi 160 SRi Nav.


My car got smashed into in November and I had been using an Insignia Automatic up until last week and it definitely uses a lot more diesel than my manual. For the same mileage that I do, I was using £5 more diesel in the auto. Although I did enjoy the auto side of it, in bad weather it was pretty bad, especially ice. No matter how slow I pulled off it just would not grip!

As long as you give it a good run down the motorway you shouldn't have any problems with DPF. I certainly haven't anyway, and your mileage seems simliar to mine although I do a few K more.

Stephb1986_2

I'm now a proud owner of a insignia cdti Sri 2.0 nav 160 on a 60 plate 41k miles I know it's high miles but I got it for a good price £12,500 with 12 months tax full tank of fuel I'm getting £9,700 for my car which was the highest price for it so I'm chuffed

Thanks for all the advice

Steph

Jamie1981

Well done and enjoy your new car.

SimonJGreen

I had one of these on loan from their company test drive fleet. I got it to try because I was going from a Vectra Elite, so they gave me the Insignia top spec as like-for-like comparison. I can categorically say it was one of the most horrible cars I've ever driven that claims to be brand new. The whole thing just felt constantly "almost there" but in the end underwhelming. I phoned them and got them to pick it up the next day.

My lasting memories of the experience are:

Nav/Entertainment - Feature list ticks all boxes, usability is terrible, interface is slow, graphics look like they're from a 8 year old BMW
Interior - Pics in catalog make it look like a jet fighter cockpit, in reality it looks and smells like a giant lump of plastic
Build quality - Rest your arm on the centre arm rest, the arm rest wobbles to the side along with the entire centre trim piece. Says it all.
Handling - it's even more of a boat than my Vectra was

Overall it felt like a poor man's attempt at a BMW 3-series. Tick's all the same boxes on paper, in reality didn't deliver.