Vauxhall at the Paris motor show 2008

By Guy Bird

Motor Shows

02 October 2008 16:31

The Vauxhall Insignia Sports Tourer bagged its world debut as an Opel-badged vehicle in Paris. Yet another well styled, curvaceous family estate in the vein of the Citroen C5, Ford Mondeo and Honda Accord, it begs the question: is the large boxy load-lugger now officially dead?  

The curving roofline – with integrated rear spoiler to visually extend it even further – plus a much more shapely rear end consign the very square old Vectra estate to history. It also results in a decent-for-class 0.30 Cd drag coefficient.

And although the rear lights are only mounted on the tailgate, they still manage to wrap around the sides. With no exterior lights mounted on the rear shoulders, two internal lights have been added within the internal walls of the boot space – an original touch – and one that vice-president of GM Europe design Mark Adams explains is necessary to meet road side safety legislation with the hatch open.

Adams also claims that despite the smaller opening, the new estate still holds more luggage below the tonneau cover than the old Vectra wagon did (540 litres versus 530). Handy.

Another green-leaning ecoFLEX Insignia model offering 160bhp and a sub-140g/km CO2 rating from a 2.0 CDTi engine.

Opel/Vauxhall seem keen to continue the move upmarket within the volume segment to join Ford, VW and Honda – and the Insignia Sport Tourer looks like a convincing product with which to do so.

Opel/Vauxhall Paris stand score: 4/5

 

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By Guy Bird