What is it?
Another unexplored corner of the Vauxhall Insignia model range. Vauxhall’s family-sized saloon and estate is available with a trio of petrol engines, the middle-sitting 1.5-litre turbocharged option developing 163bhp. We’ve already tested the new wagon in entry-level 138bhp petrol form, and in saloon guise as the 256bhp 2.0-litre turbo petrol range-topper. Now is our first chance to find out if the middle-sitting option is the sweetest of all three.
In the enlarged estate version of the Insignia, that engine makes for claimed fuel economy of 46.3mpg combined, rated CO2 emissions of 139g/km and claimed 0-62mph acceleration in under eight-and-a-half seconds. An equivalent Ford Mondeo is not only more expensive but marginally slower-accelerating, though a natch more fuel-efficient; a like-for-like Skoda Octavia has the Vauxhall beaten across the board and by bigger margins.
But then neither the Ford nor the Skoda quite equal the Insignia on all-round value for money – the big Vauxhall combining a sub-£20k asking price with a near-600-litre boot, a very room cabin, competitive performance and economy claims, and a standard equipment list that includes touchscreen navigation, smartphone mirroring and an in-car wifi hotspot.