Vauxhall Insignia

[Fatboy]

Hi to all,
ive been towing with a sorento and obviously had great results, but its time for a change and im looking at the insignia estate with the 160 power, its about 86 per cent match which is ok, my ace van is 1500 max weight , question is any body else using a Insignia, i would be looking at a manual.....please pass on all your advise ...thanks ladies and gents .

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Until earlier this year I was towing with it's predecessor, the Vectra. I had a 2007 diesel hatch, 1.9 cdti, 150PS, manual, towing at 80%. Excellent tow and could maintain 6th gear, even going up inclines on a motorway.

The Vectra weighed about 15435 kg, so is the Insignia that much heavier (200 kg) to get 86% for a 1500 kg van?

 

[AlastairClements]

Hi there,

We've recently added a 2.0 CDTi 140PS to the fleet, so we'll be reporting back soon with how we get on with it. We've done quite a bit of towing with the 1.6 turbo petrol version of the Insignia Sports Tourer, which performed well enough to win our Best Petrol Tow Car gong at the 2014 Tow Car Awards - see http://www.thetowcarawards.com/tow-car-chooser/?sort=&filter_make=Vauxhall&filter_miro= for our verdicts on several Insignias, including the 160 you're thinking about buying!

Al

 

[PaulT]

The Vectra weighed about 15435 kg, so is the Insignia that much heavier (200 kg) to get 86% for a 1500 kg van?

That's a very heavy car!!!

 

[Damian]

That's not a car its a tank !!!!

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

The Vectra weighed about 15435 kg, so is the Insignia that much heavier (200 kg) to get 86% for a 1500 kg van?

That's a very heavy car!!!

Woops - too many digits, for 15435 read 1,535.

 

[JonnyG]

just replaced my mk3 2.2tdci mondeo with an 11 plate ecoflex 160.early days and nice to drive but 6th gear is 40 mph for 1000rpm! and with just 250 odd ft Ib of torque ,its useless for towing .also the engine has to be rev'd somewhat more than i expected as all the gears are on the high side.great for none towing cracks the 50 mpg easily at m/way speed,but i am somewhat disappointed at its low down power compared to my old mondeo. i will try to rectify this by using a single channel tuning box,otherwise those high gears and non impressive lowdown grunt would be a backward step for me where towing is concerned

 

[seth1]

As you say easily rectified,box/remap.Apart from that another gem of an engine.Full of Itallion roots.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Don't forget that if a car is remapped then your insurance company needs to be informed.

 

[RogerL]

just replaced my mk3 2.2tdci mondeo with an 11 plate ecoflex 160.early days and nice to drive but 6th gear is 40 mph for 1000rpm! and with just 250 odd ft Ib of torque ,its useless for towing .also the engine has to be rev'd somewhat more than i expected as all the gears are on the high side.great for none towing cracks the 50 mpg easily at m/way speed,but i am somewhat disappointed at its low down power compared to my old mondeo. i will try to rectify this by using a single channel tuning box,otherwise those high gears and non impressive lowdown grunt would be a backward step for me where towing is concerned

The whole point of a gearbox is to select the appropriate gear for the speed and load involved - top gear is there to cope with the high speeds the car is capable of.

There seems to be an obsession among caravanners to judge a car's towing suitability in top gear - which is utter nonsense if a lower gear is more suitable for the job in hand - just select a gear that gives rpm approximating the max torque rpm at the desired cruising speed

 

[JonnyG]

hi roger. i thing i mentioned that all the gears were on the high side given the way it develops its torque..of course i am comparing this to my old Mondeo a similar sized car with similar power, that still had decently high top gear 35mph per 1000, but pulled like a train in comparison,for me that is the point i made..maybe some in our older age are forgetful of why diesels became popular and more so for towing and it wasn't just the mpg,it was because you didn't need to rev the darn engine so much nor spend the whole journey changing up and down the gearbox,as much as one had been forced to do so with petrol engines."obsession" ummm

 

[JonnyG]

As you say easily rectified,box/remap.Apart from that another gem of an engine.Full of Itallion roots.

hehehe. hey its not for everyone and I'll stick to a single channel tuning box,the same make,sorry same one I've had on 2 previous vehicles. I just send it back pay £40 to have it sorted for my next car.and off i go again.

 

[dhardy]

hi
Just returned from my first tow with my Insignia Tourer 160bhp 4x4 manual towing a Adria adora rhine MIRO 1440kg, MPTLM 1700kg. The car proved very stable even up on the A66 with a strong side wind. It has plenty of power to drag the caravan up hills only needing to change down on the steeper sections of the A66. According to the onboard computer i was getting 26 mph one way and 30 mpg on the return journey.Its early days but i am very pleased with the car.

 

[Fatboy]

that was nice to hear a good report about the insignia, my ace is only 1500kg max so going on the info you have provided i should be ok, its strange though how peoples oppinions vary , at the beginning of the post someone else said the y were very dissapointed. any more comments would be appreciatted cheers to all.

 

[LizziePope]

Speaking of Vauxhall Insignias, here's our latest blog – just click here!

 

[DaveA1]

I have had my Insignia SE 160 Auto for six months now, Van max is 1410kg As said, early days yet, towed just over 400 miles, in that time, so far can't fault it, it's stable, bags of power and around 28mpg towing, mostly on single carriageway roads, have yet to have a long run down a Motorway, so far so good.

 

[Woody3]

One word of warning. If the Insignia is an estate there are two sets of rear lights, those on the tailgate and those on the body which come on (and the tailgate lights go off) if the tailgate is opened. It is VITAL to use a Vauxhall wiring assembly (may only be available with Vauxhall towbar, don't know) else the caravan tail lights will go out if the car tailgate is opened. One of my former colleagues found out the hard way!

That colleague by the way tows a 4-wheeler with the 140bhp Insignia Estate and he says he has no problems whatsoever.