Claim's Cabbies Corner. Repo Revenge.

[Warren t claim]

Great stuff.
How many runs did you do?

About 30.

[NigelBickle]

Wow! I had no clue there was so much to it.

Well done on battling through.

[DodgeRover]

Amazing how much work is taken you, hopefully you can earn decent money for a while now

[Warren t claim]

I suppose I should give my expert opinion of the 250,000 mile Insignia.

Firstly, this isn't my first time working an Insignia. Back in 2017 I had the pleasure of using one of our company Insignias. A pretty base spec 2009 example with the manual handbrake and Sierra LX levels of equipment, no electric rear windows or Bluetooth. Sporting those steel wheels fitted with trims that look like alloys it had covered 170,000 miles and the engine had what sounded like a Pinto powered Cortina cam rattle. According to the fleet manager our firm ran half a dozen identical Insignias which gave plenty of headaches to the mechanic tasked with keeping them on the road. The mechanic did indeed look like a zombie! They were cheap to rent at the time because instead of having just the usual magnetic door signs, they had a full wrap advert for the company. This is something I hated to the point where I was actively seeking another car but it did come in handy being seen by my passengers when picking up out of the area. With the benefit of hindsight, I should have hung on to it because a few months after I gave it back the firm threw in the towel with them selling them off to the lads who rented them for £800 each which back then was a bargain for a pated eight year old Insignia. Highlight of my Insignia tenure was an early Sunday morning run to Gatwick airport one Easter Sunday where the Vauxhall behaved itself wonderfully.

insigniawbu1.PNG (507.09 KiB) Viewed 490 times

Here's a pic of it after it was sold and the new owner removed the wrap ad.

[Warren t claim]

Anyway, about my current Insignia.

Make no mistake, this Insignia was quite literally the last turkey in the shop before Xmas. It was either this or nothing. Having said that, it's a totally different car to FE09WBU pictured above. Despite having the same 1956cc engine and six speed box my current Insignia does 48mpg which is a 9mpg improvement over the 09 example. I was a but surprised about the low mpg figure of FE09WBU because I'd ran a Vectra C 1.9 SRi 150 diesel and that never gave me less than 50mpg.

Spec wise the two Insignias are literally worlds apart. My current car is apparently an Insignia Techline Cdti Eco S/S. I've got no idea how high that is up the Insignia food chain but it is very well equipped featuring front and rear electric windows, DAB radio, Bluetooth, sat nav, automatic headlights and wipers. Pretty much Mk4 Mondeo Titanium spec. The only thing it lacks over it's 09 plate predecessor is the handy pocket on the driver's seat base that was useful for stashing cash, a bag of coke or an open razor in. On the subject of the driver's seat, it is betraying its quarter of a million miles by having a horizontal bar that digs into me between arse and hip level. Mind you, I've driven Mk4 Mondeo's with the same miles and their seats have fared worse with age.

Other than the seat what betrays its age? Well, there's a stonechip above the screen that is rusting nicely. The engine is less than quiet. The clutch pedal makes the kind of squeaks and creaks that'll be familiar to any Mk2 Cavalier owner. The rear parking sensors only work sometimes meaning that I don't trust them and the electric parking brake has to be treated with much suspicion, sometimes it automatically releases but sometimes it doesn't meaning that I usually hit the switch. The automatic wipers are nowhere near as intuitive as those fitted to the Pug 406.

This Vauxhall is also fitted with some sort of Happy Shopper version of the BMW iDrive system. This uses something like the mouse pad from a 1998 Compaq laptop to control the radio and sat nav with little success. At least the Bluetooth system has A2DP compatibility meaning I can stream music from YouTube unlike the majority of Mk4 Mondeos I've had. The audio system will only store five presets but is so confusing it discourages front seat punters from retuning it which is a plus.

Rear access and space is more akin to the Hyundai Ioniq than a Mk4 Mondeo, especially with the rear doors that slope down. The rear hatch is huge and a good shape for airport runs. No remote release though. Surprising lack of rear central armrest. Seat material hasn't aged at all and still looks new.

Handling is OK but not up to Mondeo standards but it clings on well enough in fast corners without having the Vectra C "hinge in the middle" feeling. Steering feel is a little numb.

Performance seems OK, it pulls well in the gears at low to medium revs, but as this has got to last me until at least February I've not thrashed it near the red live. The six speed box is quite flickable between the gears via its stubby lever with my left arm on the armrest.

Oddment space is about average, on par with a Mondeo but nowhere near as good as an Avensizzz. Decent door pockets although the cupholders could be better. Plenty of 12v and USB charging points in the front although the storage space under the central armrest and cubby in front of my left leg are a little too small to hold a mobile phone.

[Warren t claim]

Insignia is getting 53mpg in daily use. This is probably helped by me treating it gently as it has to last. It does have a nasty driveline vibration at 50mph in third and fourth gear.

My entire financial future is relying on an Insignia with 247,000 miles on the clock.

[brandersnatch]

57E2B871-71A8-4190-934D-D5BFAC0B3E98.png (187.99 KiB) Viewed 418 times

[treehugger]

What could possibly go wrong?

[Warren t claim]

What could possibly go wrong?

Everything which is why I'm making the most of it while I can.

[mercrocker]

My entire financial future is relying on an Insignia with 247,000 miles on the clock.

Vauxhall couldn't even guarantee theirs with mint ones......