vauxhall insignia

[mostavern]

Hello all,
Does anyone own and tow with a insignia tourer, test drove a 1.8 petrol (saloon)the other day as the didnt have a diesel, oh my word it was so underpowered, smart looking car and it'll be the 2.0 diesel
so come on if you've got one what's it like ?

cheers
mark.

 

[rangergt60]

got a 2.0 diesel sri (160) hatchback with 20 inch wheels towing a bailey ranger gt60 510/4 plenty off power throw the gears(1to 5) 6 gear a bit slow when doing 50 mph bit bumpy on back roads when on good roads you can forget you are towing nice and smooth
getting around 35 mpg not to bad hope it helps

 

[mostavern]

cheers for that was thinking that no one on here was towing with one !!!!!!

 

[seth1]

Well there seems to be plenty about,read somewhere GM sold sixty thousand of them last year.Would expect them to be a very capable vehicle in diesel form,especially with FPT,s latest 2 litre common rail power unit.Not seen many towing though saying that.

 

[taylor.paul]

Another one here Tow Abbey Spectrum 416 with a 2.0CDTI, comfortable and easy to tow with,

 

[KeithJ]

Hi Seth

What does FPT stand for?

 

[seth1]

Hello Keith,FPT is short for Fiat Power Train,which in itself is a subsiduary of Iveco(Fiat) who happen to be the largest industrial diesel engine maker world wide.This side of the business is run seperate to the rest.All the development and manufacture of all the power units regardless of size is done under this roof.hope it helps seth.

 

[Lutz]

The 2 litre diesel is not built by Fiat Powertrain but by Opel in their Kaiserslautern plant in Germany. The basic engine was originally developed as a joint venture with Fiat but they have since gone their own separate ways. Fiat are no longer involved.

 

[carper2]

I am thinking about the Insignia 2.00td Elite. The only problem I have is finding the kerbside weight. It is not on the website, all that gives is the maximum towing weight and the gross vehicle weight.

Les

 

[Lutz]

The Opel website quotes 1503kg for the 4-door saloon and the 5-door hatchback and 1610kg for the Sports Tourer. As the Opel and Vauxhall versions are practically the same, just with different badges, there is no reason to assume that the figures for the Vauxhall would be any different. Note that the figures quoted are only minimum typical for the base car and do not include additional weight of any factory-fitted options.
I dug up a couple of road tests of a 2.0CDTI manual 4-door saloon quoting an actual measured kerbweight of 1650kg and the other 1628kg. Vehicles supplied to the car magazines for road test are usually very well equipped so that would explain the quite considerable difference between these and the published figures. Depending on the level of equipment that you select, you can expect to be somewhere in between.

 

[JonnyG]

The 2 litre diesel is not built by Fiat Powertrain but by Opel in their Kaiserslautern plant in Germany. The basic engine was originally developed as a joint venture with Fiat but they have since gone their own separate ways. Fiat are no longer involved.

Not one to question you, but are you sure about your facts? I have herd nothing of the joint venture ending, and hardly see GM in a position to go it alone. And what happens to the joint engine plant in Poland? Is opel still part of GM?

 

[DianneT]

Knowing Lutz personally I know he knows what he is talking about when it comes to Opel. He will obviously be on later to comment.

 

[seth1]

Lutz is quite right when he says the joint venture has finished which it has,and not trying to get away from the original post but the latest 2L diesel is a fiat developed unit,just like the 1.9L(vectra,saab,all GM) diesel unit was before it which fiat fitted long before the joint venture and this 2L unit is not the same unit in the antare which i find strange ,but then the antare is badge engineered like most stuff today.Do GM actually have the resources to develope their own units,the last ones i remember were the YD22?

 

[carper2]

The Opel website quotes 1503kg for the 4-door saloon and the 5-door hatchback and 1610kg for the Sports Tourer. As the Opel and Vauxhall versions are practically the same, just with different badges, there is no reason to assume that the figures for the Vauxhall would be any different. Note that the figures quoted are only minimum typical for the base car and do not include additional weight of any factory-fitted options.
I dug up a couple of road tests of a 2.0CDTI manual 4-door saloon quoting an actual measured kerbweight of 1650kg and the other 1628kg. Vehicles supplied to the car magazines for road test are usually very well equipped so that would explain the quite considerable difference between these and the published figures. Depending on the level of equipment that you select, you can expect to be somewhere in between.

Cheers for that, I will be towing at 91%, it looks like I will have to look at my other choices. The options are Volvo V70 1732kg (86%) and the Ford SMAX 1688kg (89%

Les

 

[Lutz]

The Szentgotthard plant is being set up for a completely new family of engines which will fulfill Euro 6 emissions standards, Start of production is timed for 2012. Like all other engine units within GM, application is on a global basis, so global resources can be put together. The 6 cylinder engines that Opel/Vauxhall use, for example, and which used to be built at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, now come from GM's Holden facilities in Australia.

 

[Lutz]

I do find it strange that 89% is considered acceptable and 91% is not. It's as if there were a big black hole that one would suddenly fall into at 90%.

 

[Lutz]

The joint venture already came to an end in 2005.
The engine plant is not in Poland, but in Szentgotthard in Hungary. That's where they build the smaller Family 1 engine for the Astra. Kaiserslautern builds the larger Family 2 for the Insignia in both petrol and diesel form. The Polish plant in Gliwice produces some of the Zafria and Astra models. It used to produce the old Agila, too. There is also a powertrain plant in Aspern, Austria, which builds the smallest range of engines, and a lot of transmissions.
Although there were attempts at pulling Opel out of GM and their assets were managed by a separate company for a time, they are back in the fold again. However, GM Europe has ceased to exist and Opel now reports directly to GM headquarters in Detroit and Vauxhall is part of Opel.

 

[Lutz]

Lutz is quite right when he says the joint venture has finished which it has,and not trying to get away from the original post but the latest 2L diesel is a fiat developed unit,just like the 1.9L(vectra,saab,all GM) diesel unit was before it which fiat fitted long before the joint venture and this 2L unit is not the same unit in the antare which i find strange ,but then the antare is badge engineered like most stuff today.Do GM actually have the resources to develope their own units,the last ones i remember were the YD22?

Yes, Seth, you are correct. The 2.0 diesel in the Antara/Captiva is a completely different engine to the 2.0 diesel in the Insignia. The one in the Antara/Captiva was developed by VM Motori and is produced under licence by GM Daewoo in Gunsan, Korea.
The main market for the Antara/Captiva was the USA where it was known as the Saturn Vue. However, with the recent disappearance of the Saturn brand I'm beginning to wonder how much longer the Antara/Captiva will continue to be built. Although it is also sold in Australia as the Holden Captiva and in its home country as the Daewoo Winstorm the volumes can't be anything like as high as they were once and I have my doubts whether it is still profitable.

ps: Sorry, I've wandered so far off the original topic.

 

[carper2]

I do find it strange that 89% is considered acceptable and 91% is not. It's as if there were a big black hole that one would suddenly fall into at 90%.

I realise that there is not a great deal of difference, but it is just that I prefer to keep to 90% or less.

Les

 

[JonnyG]

" Hi lutz, thanks for clearing that up. "The engine plant is not in Poland" I was asking about their shared ownership plant which is in Poland which was funded jointly and did build the multijet 1.3 diesels and others . Having done a google it appears info is low on the ground, but appears GM are selling their share as of this month.can you shed any light on this lutz . cheers

 

[Lutz]

" Hi lutz, thanks for clearing that up. "The engine plant is not in Poland" I was asking about their shared ownership plant which is in Poland which was funded jointly and did build the multijet 1.3 diesels and others . Having done a google it appears info is low on the ground, but appears GM are selling their share as of this month.can you shed any light on this lutz . cheers

You must be referring to the engine plant in Tychy, Poland, but that is not an Opel plant, not even as a joint venture. It is wholly owned by Isuzu, but it does supply Opel with the 1.7 diesel engine which Isuzu developed. Although GM still has a 49% stake in Isuzu there are rumours that it will be sold off. I doubt whether it will affect Opel much as that engine will be phased out anyway.

 

[JonnyG]

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=22970499 Hi lutz was actually referring to this one which was one of their first co venturers.

 

[Lutz]

The link that you quote above doesn't show up anything on my computer, but the engine plant in Biesko-Biala and which builds the 1.3 engine, is not an Opel facility even though, as one of the last remnants of the joint venture with Fiat, it was apparently sold off to GM earlier on this year. I can therefore only assume that GM, as Opel's parent company, is now in direct full control, but only being an ex-Opel person myself and not having had any direct dealings with powertrain operations, I wouldn't know the intricacies of that arrangement. Transparency is lost in the murky depths of globalisation.

 

[seth1]

Hello would i be right in saying Fiat have put in a bid to buy GM's share out of the Bielsko-Biala engine plant earlier this year.This plant makes the 1.3 multijet unit and will carry on suppling GM under Fiat management.From what i can gather the JV came about for both companies to benifit from each others use of components. For example Fiat "borrowed" GM's Epsilon floorpan(Vectra,Signum,Saab,in different lengths) likewise GM used Fiat engine design.I think i was told when the JV disolved, Fiat were allowing GM continued use of the larger family engines(1.9,2.0 jtd's which are extremely similar anyway)I know at this present moment FPT are developing a two stage turbocharged version of the 2.0 jtd,as preivously done with the 1.9jtd.(Saab ttid?)Might find its way in to the Insignia with a bit of luck.

 

[Lutz]

My understanding is that GM bid for the plant in Poland, and not Fiat.
Only the 1.9 engine was covered by old Fiat/GM joint venture agreements. With the introduction of a 2.0 version, Opel no longer has any obligations towards Fiat. The two stage turbocharged version was not developed by Fiat, but by Saab, initially for their own use. Now that Saab no longer belongs to GM, this engine is no longer available to Opel/Vauxhall until a solution is found. The Insignia was validated and released with this engine prior to GM's sale of Saab. Start of production is therefore on hold at present.