Vauxhall Insignia Sports Tourer 2008-17

With plenty of examples to choose from and keen forecourt prices, the Insignia is worth a second glance.

- Euan Doig

VAUXHALL AND FORD have battled for UK tow car buyers’ custom for decades. Back in the 1980s, there was the sharp edged Cavalier Estate and jelly-mould Sierra Estate to choose from. Move on a decade and it was the Vectra Estate or Mondeo Estate, and now buyers have the option of the trendily named Insignia Sports Tourer or the Mondeo Estate (see Practical Caravan’s December 2016 issue for details of the latter).

The Insignia was aimed at high-mileage company drivers who had to carry around a lot of business-critical items between sales meetings. There has always been a bewildering range of petrol and diesel engines on offer, with everything from a weedy-sounding 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol, through the sweet 138bhp 2.0 CDTi Ecoflex turbo diesel we focus on here, all the way up to a 321bhp 2.8-litre turbocharged V6 petrol.

The range of trims is equally confusing; if you include the fact that some are listed twice, depending on whether or not they have satellite navigation fitted, there are a full 12 for buyers to negotiate.

The best option for tow car buyers, in our humble opinion, is the Insignia Sports Tourer 2.0 CDTi Ecoflex SRi Nav. This offers by far the best combination of performance, economy, handling, comfort and equipment.