Vauxhall Insignia Reviews from UK and Ireland - Page 2 of 5

These have only just been released in Australia under the Opel badge. New clutch and DMF at 25K. Great... think I'll be keeping my Focus for a while yet.

Just shows that an ECOTY Award means diddly squat... What a shame, really because the Insignia is a very nice looking car.

Unfortunately, the Opel Insignia here in Australia hasn't lost its camber sensitivity that has been commented on by many in the UK, i.e, pulling to the left when releasing the steering wheel in a straight line.

I had a Vauxhall Vectra in England back in 2004, and this car suffered from the camber sensitivity issue, too.

Whilst Opel are free to push their Insignia range as being prestige here in Australia, I don't see any prestige connotations myself, nor will I buying one sometime soon. The driving experience, whilst quick and refined, and far superior to the Vectra, lacks the handling sharpness and driver involvement of a Mazda 6 or Ford Mondeo.

In reality, the Insignia is a rival to Mazda 6, Ford Mondeo, Honda Accord, Hyundai i40 et al.

But what further sullies the case to buy, is the number of clutch and dual mass flywheel failures, brake issues, and an underbonnet fire documented on one example. Vauxhall's responses to such problems is still very, very coy, even dating back to Vectra handbrake failures.

Is this a case of more of the same, despite the Insignia being a demonstrably superior car than the Vectra?

You be the judge.

Hello. I have a 2012 2.0 CDi SRi Insignia. Took it to Vauxhall. They said they have never seen this before. It could be the brake pads, as they are now made without asbestos. Don't know what to do, as the grinding is getting worse every day, and I've only done 3000 miles. It's driving me mad, as I can now feel it through the pedals. Any ideas?

I live in North Cornwall where it is fairly hilly. Allegedly the taxis around here are all on THREE sets of disc pads per year. I used to commute using a Rover SD1 V8 auto. The journey involved a climb to about 300 to 400 feet, then a drop to almost sea level, then another climb. Brake pads would be down to the steel in six months - they are a consumable item!

Way back along I repaired a Telma Retarder brake controller fitted to a stone hauling lorry. The controller had a corroded joint in it. "Wow I'm glad to have that fixed" said the bloke "as without that the brakes only last about a fortnight!"

Note that new cars are put together in a hurry, and it is likely that the brake pad sliders might not be treated with "Coppaslip". A lot of jobs on a new car are actually the responsibility of the dealer.

As to new cars, I can remember a garage getting a brake testing machine when these became part of the MOT (prior to that the brakes were tested on public roads). Several new cars were tried on the testing machine and ALL failed the test! This is because it takes time for the brakes to "bed in".

Where I live, the local Motor Factors supply "Mintex" pads in hologrammed boxes and the pads are very good. Avoid counterfeit parts at all costs.