The homeland of Count Dracula has become the site of a long-awaited test of the second generation of advanced Opel Insignia. The premiere show of a new generation of cars took place in March 2017 at the Geneva Motor Show. The flagship Opel received not only improved appearance, but also technological processing. The use of high-strength steel and light-alloyed metal made it possible to make the car 175 kg lighter.

Description and specificity of the car

Since the release of the first generation Opel Insignia, at least 1,000,000 buyers have given it preference. In many ways, this popularity has arisen because of the bright and unique design, a large range of engines, the presence of a number of body variations, a large selection of complete sets.

It is worth saying that the model was sold not only under the Opel brand, but also under the Buick brand in America and some Asian countries. The last generation Insignia was presented in March at the Geneva Motor Show and is designed not only to strengthen the brand’s position in the segment, but also to interest new car enthusiasts. To help with this end she can have many impressive arguments. So, for example, in terms of its size and size of the wheelbase, the new car outperformed almost all competitors. Insignia now has an adaptive all-wheel drive system, a significantly improved suspension, an eight-speed automatic transmission, a one and a half liter turbo engine with direct injection, and a diesel engine with a pair of turbines.

Sizes, convenience and comfort of the new Insignia

The large cabin space and impressive dimensions of the trunk of this car allows it to occupy a good position among the rivals. A real achievement of the designers of the new Insignia 2017 are the seats of increased comfort, which were created with the participation of employees of the AGR association from Germany. Such chairs allow you to make sitting in the car not only comfortable, but also beneficial to the health of your back. The driver's seat in addition to various electric drives and heating has a memory in several positions. It also received the functionality of the massager. The passenger seat has the possibility of mechanical adjustment and an electric drive to support the waist.

Passengers from the back row will feel at least comfortable, they have heated seats, personal blower vents and a pair of USB ports. True, the third passenger from behind will have to share a seat with a wide transmission tunnel.

The front panel of the novelty has been completely redone, now it has found a place for impressive dimensions of the touch screen. In addition to analog sensors, the combined instrument panel also has a 4.2-inch color screen. By analogy with the main display, the dashboard can be customized to the individual needs of each driver using the buttons on the right side of the steering wheel.

IntelliLink or new technology

Also in the new Opel Insignia appeared a system of projection on the windshield, which allows the driver to provide various information, for example, the navigator readings. Among the huge number of innovations that have become available in the new generation of these cars, you can see the entertainment and information system offered optionally. Managing additional features is now even easier and more convenient.

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Unique IntelliLink technology enables the maximum benefit from all functional applications for the car on smartphones and communicators. This technology adds enough useful functions, for example, you can learn about traffic jams on the radio channels of special stations, which means that global connectivity is not required, and information will be available completely free of charge, as well as the opportunity to download add-ons, for example, the weather application. Smartphones can be connected to the system via wireless or via USB. To manage a large number of important functions of the smartphone and the radio, you can use voice or special keys on the steering wheel - it allows you to not come off the ride and not be compromised.

All the necessary information from the system will be displayed on the main screen, control is also carried out using the buttons on the steering wheel.

Despite the fact that the second generation insignia of 2017 was slightly lower than the previous one, the driver does not have problems with the review. During the movement back you will be helped not only by mirrors, but also by a rear-view camera with all-round visibility.

Buyers are available petrol turbocharged engines with a volume of one and a half liters (140 hp and 165 hp), as well as a two-liter version 2.0 Turbo for 260 forces. Engine and a half liters depending on the number of horsepower works with a manual or automatic six-speed gearbox. In the basic configuration of the engine for 260 forces there is a new eight-speed automatic transmission and four-wheel drive.

Diesel lovers will be able to choose between a 1.6 liter engine with 110 or 136 horsepower and a two-liter, 170 and 210 horsepower with a twin turbine.

In addition, the Insignia with 170 hp engine. can be equipped with 4x4 drive. In general, we can say that in this car, despite the relatively affordable price in its segment, everything was done for the convenience of the driver and passengers.

As part of testing, we were able to test a pair of petrol and one diesel engine, manual and automatic gearbox, as well as 4x4 and monodrive.

The beginning of the test new Insignia

Initially, tests were conducted on a 165-horsepower petrol-and-liter engine with a six-speed manual. This combination can show quite attractive results. With a straight turbo engine with 250 Nm of torque, it easily reaches the maximum speed specified in the documentation at 222 kilometers per hour. At high speed, the car behaves pretty well. When compared with the first generation, the gearbox has become more convenient and has a clearer mechanism for changing gears. The sports steering wheel is pleasant to the touch, but you have to get used to the large number of buttons on the steering wheel. The first version of Insignia did not cause any complaints about poor handling. In the new generation of cars, the situation has not changed. Electric power steering works very well, at high speeds can not but rejoice the appearance of a pleasant weight. When parking, you can easily turn the steering wheel, even with one finger. The suspension easily absorbs large bumps, but on small cracks you can notice an extra shaking. It's nice that the noise from the street in the cabin is almost not audible, and the sound of the engine is noticeable only when it works at the limit. Part of the test route was on a winding mountain road. It should be noted that the car easily turns into corners. The sensitivity of the brake pedal leaves much to be desired at the initial stage of braking, but most likely it is more a matter of habit than the lack of the car itself.

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The combination of a 165 horsepower engine and a manual transmission is what makes it possible to get a good car at an affordable price. If we talk about specific numbers, the Insignia Grand Sport liftback in Russia and the CIS with an engine of 165 forces and six-speed mechanics can be purchased from 19 thousand euros.

More sports with the Opel Insignia

The next test car was the owner of a two-liter diesel engine with a capacity of 170 forces with a manual transmission. Despite the fact that the diesel engine was somewhat noisier than its gasoline counterpart, it does not cause much discomfort. Turbodiesel with its 400 Nm of the moment is able to give a much more vivid emotions from driving. It is well felt during overtaking on a winding road, where you can not lose a single moment to perform the restructuring of the row to row and on overtaking. In addition, this version has an advanced adaptive suspension, created by the technology called "Flexible Riding", which can be controlled using the buttons on the transmission tunnel.

Under standard settings, it operates in the "Normal" mode, but depending on the preferences of the driver, you can switch to "Sport" or "Tour" mode.

In addition to the level of hardness of the suspension system is able to adjust the level of resistance on the steering wheel and the sensitivity of the pedals.

Sport mode makes the car more rigid, and the responsiveness of the steering wheel and the gas pedal more acute. Tour mode works the other way around. We prefer sport car settings, as the Tour mode makes the car unnecessarily “plastic”.

Top and most audacious version of Opel

Well, lastly there was a top-end version with all-wheel drive, a two-liter engine with 260 horsepower and a new eight-speed automatic. To part with such a car did not want to. The most powerful engine does not cause any complaints and questions, but the transmission seems too complicated. The only explanation for this complication may be the desire to improve environmental friendliness and reduce fuel consumption. This version also has an adaptive suspension FlexRide, so that any bumps in the road as much as possible smoothed out. Special attention is given to the fact that Insignia received a revolutionary 4x4 drive system with the technology of vectorization of traction when cornering. This allows you to increase the convenience of entering the turns, and also improves the dynamic stabilization of the car. The mountain winding road, on which the tests were carried out, made it possible to clearly see this - the car is incredibly easy to make turns. We can not say about the corporate system customizable main light with the use of matrix LEDs. It should be said that the Opel company was one of the first to decide on the mass use of matrix-type LED headlamps.

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The second generation Insignia received an updated IntelliLux LED headlight system with 32 LEDs in each of the headlights, which is twice as much as the Astra model. Such an increase in the number of LED elements makes it possible to embody the whole variety of lighting variations, depending on the situations arising during driving.

Let's sum up and evaluate the new Opel Insignia

The second generation Insignia is a good car, which has already traditionally excellent build quality. Most of the parameters allow the leader of the Opel company to claim the title of a premium car without any problems. The design well combines classic forms with modern fashion trends. This allows the design to look modern and fresh for a long time. And thanks to the huge amount of optional and basic equipment, any driver will almost literally be able to “assemble” an ideal car for himself, without overpaying for unnecessary and uninteresting functions for him. But the main thing is that in terms of cost and quality, Opel Insignia actually has no competitors.