► First pics of new Vauxhall Insignia
► New 2017 family car is here
► Bigger, smarter and clever. But better?
The new 2017 Vauxhall Insignia Grand Sport has been unveiled – ready to take the fight to the Ford Mondeo, Skoda Octavia and VW Passat.
As widely tipped, it’s had a huge growth spurt, explaining the addition of Grand Sport to the familiar badge. The headline increase in dimensions are as follows:
- Length: 4897mm (+55mm)
- Width: 1863mm (+7mm)
- Height: 1455mm (-29mm)
- Wheelbase: 2829mm (+92mm)
- Track: +11mm wider
- Front overhang: -30mm shorter
- Rear overhang: -7mm shorter
Yep, Insignia 2 is as big as a Skoda Superb.
The first official photographs follow on from earlier leak where the car was photographed undisguised in the US.
There’s an identifiably GM character to the styling (check out the scalloped flanks), but the vibe is fresh and new. We’ll even allow for Vauxhall’s coupe-alike claims.
What’s new on the 2017 Insignia Grand Sport?
What’s not new, more like! It’s based on an entirely new architecture, dubbed Epsilon 2 in GMspeak, that local dialect understood only in downtown Detroit, Russelsheim and Luton.
That means the newcomer is much lighter, despite bristling with kit and extra centimetres for passengers.
The body in white is 60kg lighter, while Vauxhall and sister brand Opel claim the total kerbweight is up to 175 kilos trimmer. Impressive stuff.
We drive a prototype Vauxhall Insignia Grand Sport
Lighter, sleeker and longer…
That increase in shirt size has helped the aerodynamics, with Vauxhall claiming unusually quiet cruising. Thank the drag coefficient of 0.26 (ironically, exactly the same as the Calibra trailblazer back in the 1990s), the latest family Whisper diesel engines, an eight-speed auto and – on some versions – double glazing.
It’s not all positive news, however. Despite the Tardis-like space promised, it prioritises bodies over baggage: the 490-litre boot is down 40 litres on the current hatch – and it’s still 20 litre short with the rear seats flopped down (at 1470 litres).
Tech, specs
Few engine specs have been formally specified yet, but we know the car will have outputs from 108bhp in the weediest diesel to 247bhp in the brawniest petrol (a 2.0-litre turbo; no V6s allowed…)
More certain is the lashings of technology packed in to the new Insignia Grand Sport: OnStar phone connectivity is standard, torque vectoring is offered on AWD models and next-gen IntelliLux LED matrix lighting is claimed to offer the brightness of laser lights at a Vauxhall cost.
There are also niceties such as heat seating for passengers front and rear, plus heated windscreens. And there’s even a head-up display available for the first time.
‘Vauxhall is raising its game even further with the launch of the new Insignia Grand Sport,’ said Rory Harvey, Vauxhall’s chairman and managing director. ‘It has all of the virtues of its successful smaller brother the Astra, and takes those to a higher level. The Insignia Grand Sport will set new standards for design, efficiency, technology and connectivity when it debuts next year at the Geneva motor show.’
