[nrg]

Hi all
Here is my write up (part one) of my car, I will split it into various categories just like the websites. Please understand these are my views and people may not agree with me but hey.

The photos are below and relate to some of my write up.

Dealership

My experience was pretty bad, they were quick enough to sell me the car and take my money but when it came to the handover...this was appalling. The salesman didn?t know the car at all, the only thing he pointed out was that the indicator stalk went up and down and the centre armrest opened. He thought the Nav was touch screen, didn?t know how to operate the nav or sound system and had to seek advice of how to load the nav disc (see nav section below). He couldn?t wait to get out of the car and felt more impelled to tell me stories about his wife rather than actually speak about the car. In the end I couldn?t wait to get rid of him and read the manual and find out about it myself. I just received my reg docs and it states 160bhp when my car is 130bhp, rang the dealers and they say it is a DVLA error....but who has told the DVLA what it is?!? They are sorting it.
Rating 2/10

Exterior

I love every angle, I think it has the presence of the back offside of an Aston Martin DB9 (yes an Aston) and a side look of a BMW 5 series, and a front end of a Merc. The little upside down Nike slash looks great on the side. The griffin badges look stunning, the back griffin badge underneath opens the boot easily. I love the spotlights and the chrome around them. My only gripe is that of the wing mirrors, they don?t really do a great job in seeing behind you due to the shape. The paint work is very good, but going to get it professional detailed soon; I just love the Black but hate maintaining it. Rating 9/10

Storage

The glove compartment is useless...sorry but it is. Hardly get anything in it. There is NO sunglasses holder despite showing it in the booklet. The centre driver armrest opens up and that is where you have the ipod connection/aux, you can?t get much more in there than the ipod. The door storage is ok and there is a little cubby hole that opens up lower right of the steering wheel...this is where I keep my sunnys. The boot is a good size. There is a sliding cup holder thingy, feels cheap and probably will break if used a lot...time will tell. Rating 6/10

Engine

Opening the bonnet is easy and you get a nice little shhhwissh as it opens as there is a hydraulic bar that holds up the bonnet. The engine looks fantastic; it highlights in yellow all the parts you need to maintain. However, the dealers have broken the top of my battery cover ( I know this as they had to jump start it when I took it out for a test drive as it had been standing for a while and the battery was dead) im not going to bother with it. Starting up the engine is not a pleasant sound, but that?s what you get with diesels...a taxi like effect. Vibration seems to be ok at the start but it is noisy. Unlike most engines where the isn?t any room to fit your hand in between places, this engine doesn?t take the entire bay up, nice as you can have a good rummage around checking things out and will surely be easier if things go wrong to sort out. Rating 8/10

Comfort

The seats are fantastic, I am a fairly big chap (both wide and 6ft2?) and the driving position is the best I have experienced in any car I have had. The driver and passenger seat front part of the seat has this clever little extension, the only problem with this is it is like sitting on your settee and you could easily go asleep. The electric lumber support on the driver?s seat is not my cup of tea but can see it helping on long journeys. I haven?t sat in the back yet so can?t comment. The whole interior feels like it belongs to the driver, you have everything you need wrapped around you and with easy access; the steering wheel functions are good but doesn?t have any buttons relating to the sat nav which is a shame. The steering is so light and easy when still and firms up when driving making it comfortable to control. I haven?t done any long journeys yet so cant comment on the comfort relating to that. The only thing I will say is about the ride at low speed bumps, I know its a sri and has sports lowered suspension but the small bumps has a big impact on the car soaking them up, but I like this, it makes me feel connected to the road and is part of a sports driving experience. If you want comfort in the suspension go for the other models. Over big bumps it soaks it up nice with no worrying sounds. Rating 9.5/10

More to come soon

Thanks
Steve

Album of pics

http://s594.photobucket.com/albums/tt23/nrg123/

[biffbangpow]

very good review mate , sadly i thing it,ll be a long before i get one !

however i,m intersted in what you have compared it too, say vectra b or c ,

do you think it feels like a big car as in omega , a car which seemingly vx have never replaced , bit like the carltons and sennys , omega did really replce those , just shoved use in a different direction ,

also , did you consider buying any other cars instead of the insignia ,ifso what ?

[Vectra-Arctic]

Interesting review and objective, thanks.

Obviously with the slowdown in Sales at Dealers and less people walking into the Showrooms you would have thought the Salesman would have had more than enough time to sit in a Showroom Car and totally familiarise himself with the car so he was fully conversant with its features, equipment and trim levels etc. That is just plain inconsiderate and lazy. Perhaps you should write to the Dealer Principal there with a complaint, that'll soon put the Salesman's ar*e into gear.
:confused:

[nrg]

Thanks lads

The car I have pitched it against is the new mondeo and I did have the new passat for a while. I have never owned a Vectra. The insignia is the best by far but not quite a BMW 3/5 series or Merc, but i didnt want it to be.

Mitch I didnt understand about the bit about the back window?

I agree Artic, I will be writing to Vauxhall about the experience, thing is I did like the chap who sold me the car, he was fairly new (few weeks) but that is no excuse, if he dont know about the cars he shouldnt sell them.

The car looks so smart that people are actually stopping in the street to look at it and double taking. :D

[Vectra-Arctic]

What i was getting at, that its missing, & would finish the car nicely,,,, IMHO, is one of our fine club membership stckers!!:D:D(-:D:D

I think you should send a 'freebie' Mitch to our first Insignia owner !!!:rolleyes:

[Happy42]

Hi NRG (-(-

Great review and very informative, keep up the good work ;)

Great set of pics and shame about the saleman ! I'm having similar problems at a dealer in Glasgow - nice guy just hadn't done his homework.

Guess we won't hear from you for a while unless your partner can prise you out your new Insignia :D:D

Happy driving ;)

[anda_d]

Thanks for the review hoping to try one for my self soon ;)

and as for the dealer that sounds pretty standard from what i've experienced

Great looking cars though ;)

[nrg]

I think you should send a 'freebie' Mitch to our first Insignia owner !!!:rolleyes:

Haha, yes please! I would put a sticker on the back and remove the phoenix one if that sways it. But it is cheap to join and I will do it soon.

Update
Just had the reverse sensors fitted and it really does help.

[guinney1971]

interesting review, and its a shame that Vauxhall's product training isnt up to the training that I had at Renault product launches.

It sounds like the Insignia is step in the right direction compared to Vectra C - Phill had to use his bosses one this week as his van has died - unfortunately, despite being a Vauxhall convert now for over 2yrs, Phill hated the Vectra (an Elite 1.9cdti), and then to cap it all, it overheated in the middle of London due to a failed waterpump - and the cambelt was hanging on for dear life apparantly too - not the cars fault I know, but Phill did say, that based on driving the Vectra for 2 days, he certainly would never entertain buying one.

I was surprised tho to see many Vauxhall dealers today offering Insignia's on 09 registrations for £11,999!!!! Why are they discounting them so heavily already? :confused:

[Melbury]

Hi all
Here is my write up (part one) of my car, I will split it into various categories just like the websites. Please understand these are my views and people may not agree with me but hey.

The photos are below and relate to some of my write up.

Dealership

My experience was pretty bad, they were quick enough to sell me the car and take my money but when it came to the handover...this was appalling. The salesman didn’t know the car at all, the only thing he pointed out was that the indicator stalk went up and down and the centre armrest opened. He thought the Nav was touch screen, didn’t know how to operate the nav or sound system and had to seek advice of how to load the nav disc (see nav section below). He couldn’t wait to get out of the car and felt more impelled to tell me stories about his wife rather than actually speak about the car. In the end I couldn’t wait to get rid of him and read the manual and find out about it myself. I just received my reg docs and it states 160bhp when my car is 130bhp, rang the dealers and they say it is a DVLA error....but who has told the DVLA what it is?!? They are sorting it.
Rating 2/10

Exterior

I love every angle, I think it has the presence of the back offside of an Aston Martin DB9 (yes an Aston) and a side look of a BMW 5 series, and a front end of a Merc. The little upside down Nike slash looks great on the side. The griffin badges look stunning, the back griffin badge underneath opens the boot easily. I love the spotlights and the chrome around them. My only gripe is that of the wing mirrors, they don’t really do a great job in seeing behind you due to the shape. The paint work is very good, but going to get it professional detailed soon; I just love the Black but hate maintaining it. Rating 9/10

Storage

The glove compartment is useless...sorry but it is. Hardly get anything in it. There is NO sunglasses holder despite showing it in the booklet. The centre driver armrest opens up and that is where you have the ipod connection/aux, you can’t get much more in there than the ipod. The door storage is ok and there is a little cubby hole that opens up lower right of the steering wheel...this is where I keep my sunnys. The boot is a good size. There is a sliding cup holder thingy, feels cheap and probably will break if used a lot...time will tell. Rating 6/10

Engine

Opening the bonnet is easy and you get a nice little shhhwissh as it opens as there is a hydraulic bar that holds up the bonnet. The engine looks fantastic; it highlights in yellow all the parts you need to maintain. However, the dealers have broken the top of my battery cover ( I know this as they had to jump start it when I took it out for a test drive as it had been standing for a while and the battery was dead) im not going to bother with it. Starting up the engine is not a pleasant sound, but that’s what you get with diesels...a taxi like effect. Vibration seems to be ok at the start but it is noisy. Unlike most engines where the isn’t any room to fit your hand in between places, this engine doesn’t take the entire bay up, nice as you can have a good rummage around checking things out and will surely be easier if things go wrong to sort out. Rating 8/10

Comfort

The seats are fantastic, I am a fairly big chap (both wide and 6ft2”) and the driving position is the best I have experienced in any car I have had. The driver and passenger seat front part of the seat has this clever little extension, the only problem with this is it is like sitting on your settee and you could easily go asleep. The electric lumber support on the driver’s seat is not my cup of tea but can see it helping on long journeys. I haven’t sat in the back yet so can’t comment. The whole interior feels like it belongs to the driver, you have everything you need wrapped around you and with easy access; the steering wheel functions are good but doesn’t have any buttons relating to the sat nav which is a shame. The steering is so light and easy when still and firms up when driving making it comfortable to control. I haven’t done any long journeys yet so cant comment on the comfort relating to that. The only thing I will say is about the ride at low speed bumps, I know its a sri and has sports lowered suspension but the small bumps has a big impact on the car soaking them up, but I like this, it makes me feel connected to the road and is part of a sports driving experience. If you want comfort in the suspension go for the other models. Over big bumps it soaks it up nice with no worrying sounds. Rating 9.5/10

More to come soon

Thanks
Steve

Album of pics

http://s594.photobucket.com/albums/tt23/nrg123/

Yes the glove box is too small, the cupholder thing in the centre console is like a pencil-case without a lid ( which I hope to produce a lid for )
I am not happy with the radio which I presumed would be a DAB as I had on the Vectra and so was surprized to find it is a AM/FM.
Suppose I should have asked . Anyway thinking of getting a converter gadget which I see advertised by 'PURE'
Other than these minor niggles I am well pleased with the cars looks and performance.
I have parking sensors front & rear and think they are really essential on this car.
The boot space is excellent but I can not get much use of it as my dog is in residence there.
The 1.8 engine is very smooth ,quiet and gives good acceleration but of course cant give as good a mileage return as the diesel.
I havent a clue how to post up my pictures and am waiting for somebody to tell me. managed to get one on the avatar !

[Melbury]

:)Have a look in Here (https://vodc.co.uk/showthread.php?t=798) Melbury, it should help with posting pics up??
P-m me if you need more help on this!!(-(-:)

Thanks a lot will give it a go!

[PhilCavy]

Regarding dealers, I was dismayed to hear that a local Vauxhall dealer seems to have gone downhill. My wife is currently covering the Transport Manager's job at her company. They run a fleet of Vauxhall vans - one had a cambelt change in November last year at the dealers and it broke down a few days ago - the verdict was a broken cambelt, after just 10,000 miles. And the dealer is saying "nothing to do with us"! How can they say that?

[thedjse]

Excellent Review i love the car and yours is an excellent example

It doesnt surprise me at the poor salestaff MONEY MONEY MONEY, CUSTOMER last

THe only thing that bugs me about this car is, who is it built for???

The Veccy C = EVERYONE inc POLICE (Awesome 2.5 V6)

Insignia = IMO very small audience (Surely Police wont be using these) which imo means a big loss for VAUXHALL

Again tho mate love the wrtie up and love the motor congrats!!!

[martin99]

Love the review.

Must agree about the storage.

What were they thinking about! :( Gone from Passat where you had a cubby hole for everything dotted around the cabin to the Insignia with a poor attempt :eek:

Apart from that love the car:cool:

[cameron66]

Insignia = IMO very small audience (Surely Police wont be using these) which imo means a big loss for VAUXHALL


As you probably know by now, several police forces have ordered them, with some already in use.

[cameron66]

Love the review.

Must agree about the storage.

What were they thinking about! :( Gone from Passat where you had a cubby hole for everything dotted around the cabin to the Insignia with a poor attempt :eek:


I fully agree the glove box for such a large car is a total joke, front storage is really abysmal on the Insignia, :( though rear storage is much improved.:)
They really should have made that glove box storage capacity much larger.:(

Also, anyone else think that the soft touch rubbery matt finish to the front buttons etc. looks as though they won't take much use before they start showing usage marks before very long.

[martin99]

Also, anyone else think that the soft touch rubbery matt finish to the front buttons etc. looks as though they won't take much use before they start showing usage marks before very long.

Any greasey fingers/warm fingers leaves a mark. I found a glass cleaner on cloth brings it back but yes after a short drive the buttons look wrecked again. :eek:

I can see Insignia drivers going round with white cotton gloves :D:D:D

[Happy42]

Wot, you're NOT wearing gloves :D:D;)

Yip have to agree, I keep cleaning the buttons :(

Cheers :)

[cameron66]

Worth mentioning... I notice that VX has not fitted any cushioning adhesive pads where the glove box catches go into the side holes (one either side)

These used to wear through on the vec-c's and would sometimes result in a difficult to locate faint rattle, often sounding as though it was coming from the area of the intruments in front of you. One's ears can be very deceptive indeed when it come to locating where the source of noise eminates from, certainly in my case anyway...lol

I managed to get rid of all the tiny rattles in my vec-c, took a bit of time, but I hate noises of any kind in a car.

In fairness the Insignia does not seem to suffer from any squeeks or rattles whatsoever inside the car, but you never know as time goes on. However to pre-empt issues, I've still put some 2 small pieces of self adhesive velcro strip (the smooth soft part of the velcro, not the loop side) on the Insignia's 2 glovebox holes where the catches locate, as currently its plastic against plastic, and may possible result in causing slight noises.

Worth bearing in mind, in the event one should get a slight rattle from your dash in the Insignia. :) No cushioning on the small storage compartment on the drivers side either I notice.

[aongoren2]

Hi all
Here is my write up (part one) of my car, I will split it into various categories just like the websites. Please understand these are my views and people may not agree with me but hey.

The photos are below and relate to some of my write up.

Dealership

My experience was pretty bad, they were quick enough to sell me the car and take my money but when it came to the handover...this was appalling. The salesman didn’t know the car at all, the only thing he pointed out was that the indicator stalk went up and down and the centre armrest opened. He thought the Nav was touch screen, didn’t know how to operate the nav or sound system and had to seek advice of how to load the nav disc (see nav section below). He couldn’t wait to get out of the car and felt more impelled to tell me stories about his wife rather than actually speak about the car. In the end I couldn’t wait to get rid of him and read the manual and find out about it myself. I just received my reg docs and it states 160bhp when my car is 130bhp, rang the dealers and they say it is a DVLA error....but who has told the DVLA what it is?!? They are sorting it.
Rating 2/10

Exterior

I love every angle, I think it has the presence of the back offside of an Aston Martin DB9 (yes an Aston) and a side look of a BMW 5 series, and a front end of a Merc. The little upside down Nike slash looks great on the side. The griffin badges look stunning, the back griffin badge underneath opens the boot easily. I love the spotlights and the chrome around them. My only gripe is that of the wing mirrors, they don’t really do a great job in seeing behind you due to the shape. The paint work is very good, but going to get it professional detailed soon; I just love the Black but hate maintaining it. Rating 9/10

Storage

The glove compartment is useless...sorry but it is. Hardly get anything in it. There is NO sunglasses holder despite showing it in the booklet. The centre driver armrest opens up and that is where you have the ipod connection/aux, you can’t get much more in there than the ipod. The door storage is ok and there is a little cubby hole that opens up lower right of the steering wheel...this is where I keep my sunnys. The boot is a good size. There is a sliding cup holder thingy, feels cheap and probably will break if used a lot...time will tell. Rating 6/10

Engine

Opening the bonnet is easy and you get a nice little shhhwissh as it opens as there is a hydraulic bar that holds up the bonnet. The engine looks fantastic; it highlights in yellow all the parts you need to maintain. However, the dealers have broken the top of my battery cover ( I know this as they had to jump start it when I took it out for a test drive as it had been standing for a while and the battery was dead) im not going to bother with it. Starting up the engine is not a pleasant sound, but that’s what you get with diesels...a taxi like effect. Vibration seems to be ok at the start but it is noisy. Unlike most engines where the isn’t any room to fit your hand in between places, this engine doesn’t take the entire bay up, nice as you can have a good rummage around checking things out and will surely be easier if things go wrong to sort out. Rating 8/10

Comfort

The seats are fantastic, I am a fairly big chap (both wide and 6ft2”) and the driving position is the best I have experienced in any car I have had. The driver and passenger seat front part of the seat has this clever little extension, the only problem with this is it is like sitting on your settee and you could easily go asleep. The electric lumber support on the driver’s seat is not my cup of tea but can see it helping on long journeys. I haven’t sat in the back yet so can’t comment. The whole interior feels like it belongs to the driver, you have everything you need wrapped around you and with easy access; the steering wheel functions are good but doesn’t have any buttons relating to the sat nav which is a shame. The steering is so light and easy when still and firms up when driving making it comfortable to control. I haven’t done any long journeys yet so cant comment on the comfort relating to that. The only thing I will say is about the ride at low speed bumps, I know its a sri and has sports lowered suspension but the small bumps has a big impact on the car soaking them up, but I like this, it makes me feel connected to the road and is part of a sports driving experience. If you want comfort in the suspension go for the other models. Over big bumps it soaks it up nice with no worrying sounds. Rating 9.5/10

More to come soon

Thanks
Steve

Album of pics

http://s594.photobucket.com/albums/tt23/nrg123/

hi steve,
We have an opel insignia fan club in Turkey, and I want to put your car's photos on our we site, if you let us to do.

you can check and welcome to our site:

http://opelinsigniaclub.wordpress.com/

thanks,
arda

[InsigniaNige]

excellent personal review ~ well done

nige

[mitch1408]

Plenty more reviews here....

https://vodc.co.uk/showthread.php?t=8390

[Melbury]

interesting review, and its a shame that Vauxhall's product training isnt up to the training that I had at Renault product launches.

It sounds like the Insignia is step in the right direction compared to Vectra C - Phill had to use his bosses one this week as his van has died - unfortunately, despite being a Vauxhall convert now for over 2yrs, Phill hated the Vectra (an Elite 1.9cdti), and then to cap it all, it overheated in the middle of London due to a failed waterpump - and the cambelt was hanging on for dear life apparantly too - not the cars fault I know, but Phill did say, that based on driving the Vectra for 2 days, he certainly would never entertain buying one.

I was surprised tho to see many Vauxhall dealers today offering Insignia's on 09 registrations for £11,999!!!! Why are they discounting them so heavily already? :confused:

Yes, an interesting point about 09 Insignia's going at that price,but also I notice 09 Insignia's selling private and very low miles. What this suggests is beginning to look very obvious!

[Melbury]

As you probably know by now, several police forces have ordered them, with some already in use.

They will have a problem if they find they have received some of the ones with the 'Mad Cow Disease'
I suppose they will have them remapped anyway.