Well just back from a week in Scotland in which I hired this ,
9 ( nine ) miles on clock when I picked it up .I was immediatly belwildered by the dash which is initialy very complex with an enormous amount of buttons and switches but my biggest problem was finding the handbrake . After sitting and pulling at every part of the dash and centre console I gave up and followed the very large dash screen pressed the footbrake and drove off. It took me nearly and hour and several interesting hill starts to find the very small button on the console which operated the elecric handbrake.
Absolute rubbish ,a totally useless item which is a perfect example of the " let's design something different but not neccessarily better " principle. Even after a week and getting used to it I found it incomparable to a normal handbrake .
It was a 2Lt Sri model which had the combination of 18" wheels and LP tyres , sports suspension and very firm sports seats. This collectivly resulted in a super harsh ride causing the car to bang and crash over all surfaces . After 40 miles my thighs and backside were actually painful .
One of the most irritating problems was simply attaching the seat belt. The console is so wide that you have to twist and wriggle to gain access to the seat belt anchorage . Doesn't sound much but after a couple of days I bet you'll be well pi$$ed off too .
The A and B pillers ( especially ) are incredibly wide .When reversing the front headrest is so close to the B piller that there is no vision out of the rear side windows resulting in it being like reversing a van. The factory fitted dark windows from the B piller back also make it incredibly difficult to see out in anything but bright sunshine and at night made me open the drivers door to see where I was going ( progress eh ? ). The windows are very narrow and the rear tailgate window shape is awful with a base which is very high further reducing vision !!!
The rear mirrors are triangular and present a very restricted FOV.
2Lt and gutless but with a wonderfully loud induction roar that will send the boy racer brigade into orgasmic delight , reasonable MPG though.
Getting back to Cork last night I was looking forward to the comparison between it and my Omega estate.
Quite frankly I was utterly amazed how much better , yes better ,
the Omega is.
It glided home over roads significantly worse than those in Scotland with neither a creak , bang nor crash and I sat in supreme comfort in those armchair like seats.
It was quieter and the cd I played in both definatly sounded clearer and acoustically better.
Over 30 years of driving new company vehicles I was fortunate to have successive models of cars that were nearly always better than the last model but sorry Vauxhall the Insignia is not what it should be.
I wont be buying a Sri model.
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Topic: Omega versus Insignia (Read 4463 times)