My Insignia has now more than 5,000 km on the clock and it's time for a short review.
The main thing is that I am really satisfied with the car and there is absolutely no regret in my selection. Considering that the Sport trim level costs around �24-25K, it's definately a very good value for money.
Build and material quality is very good, with the only downsides being a rattle at the bottom of the navi screen and a couple of big panel gaps on the outside. In terms of ergonomics and functionality, no problems have been noticed.
Performance is good, as expected from a car with 180 hp, but bare in mind that it's almost 1.5 tonnes heavy and 4th, 5th and 6th gear rations are rather tall.
In terms of reliability so far, everything works fine. Only one of the flaps of the cup holder was replaced under warranty, but I bet that it was damaged over here prior the delivery. The only complicated thing about this car is the firmware updates. Those are available from Opel, but it's down to the main importer to decide which ones are mandatory. Getting the rest of them it's either up to the kindness of the dealer or a matter of paying.
This situation however became irritating, due to the fact that there was an issue on all 1.6T models with a very noticeable vibration when the engine was being switched off. This was solved with some updates, but finding a dealer to do it was a difficult task, since there was no notification sent to the dealers by the main importer. When the updates were installed, the engine response changed (now it seems to be smoother with no lag at all) and with no vibration anymore... but then cruise control stopped working as the technician cocked up the brake pedal sensor! A calibration of the sensor was required, after the updates, but because he was ignorant, not only the problem with the cruise control came up, but also the brake lights did not work!!!
Last but not least, original navi maps were completely crap and YM2010 cars are equipped with much better ones. I am not sure if the main importer has decided on how customers with the old maps will get the new ones installed, but thanks to a good salesman, a lot of people managed to get them at a meeting of the club...
LIKES
+ Exterior styling (... it looks even better in white!)
+ Interior design
+ Support and comfort of sports seats
+ It's relatively fast
+ A lot of kit
+ Sound of turbo
+ Braking performance
+ FlexRide suspension
+ Good quality
+ Value for money
+ Cheap spare parts
+ People are staring at it!!!
DISLIKES
- Sound system (CD500) is disappointing
- When changing from CD playback to radio, volume is not automatically adjusted
