Thoughts on a Vauxhall insignia?

[djdest]

No more expensive than any other car!
Unless you're talking about M5's and stuff like that, a 530i shouldn't cost any more than an Insignia to service.
You might pay a bit more at BMW but personally I use trusted independents

[Emeye]

Seriously OP - if you've always earnt bugger-all and had crappy cars, don't go and buy an expensive crappy car - buy a premium car that's a bit older.

You are a prime candidate for petrol engined unpopular cars - I am sure a petrol BMW will go wrong a lot less than a modern diesel Vauxhall, especially if you are only doing 3k miles a year - modern diesels hate low mileage.

[dave_s13]

Djtemeka said:

Thanks for the info.

I was looking at 530i tourers but thought that BMW had rather expensive bills when they did go wrong which is why I discounted them.

640d would have been great for me but no room for the sprogs unfortunately.

I might look into the 5series again

The approved used one I linked to will have 12m official bmw warranty and you can then keep it going after. It's a proper warranty just like a new BMW would have. Ultimate peice of mind really.

[Emeye]

A petrol car doing 3000 miles a year is unlikely to go wrong very often unless you are unlucky - Ok cars don't like doing too many short journeys or being sat around for ages not being used, but it sound like the OP will be doing a few longer journeys.

Edited by Emeye on Monday 30th November 15:59

[PDP76]

dave_s13 said:

Used approved petrol 5 series.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

That will feel like a new car and be approx 1million times nicer to own and drive.

I think you're in the mindset of why buy car A that's the bit older and gone further when I can get car B that's nearly new fourth same money. Because car B is a turd.... This is how girls buy cars.


A nice merc or beemer will depreciate to zero much more slowly than an insignia too.

Excellent advice here. If I was throwing 16k at a car to do low miles in, it wouldn't be a derv or an insignia.

[Fastdruid]

rix said:

For those miles, how about a 2.5T Mondeo estate for a fraction of that cost. Live with the VED, and its a fantastic drive with a great engine and huge boot (to boot!)

Not exactly that bad on fuel either. Mid 20's round town, mid 30's on a run and if it's not fast enough a remap will see it up to 265hp/409Nm...

Your only issue will be finding one.

[Dannbodge]

Very comfortable in the front
Very small in the rear
Big enough boot
Not terribly slow
Crap MPG

[Djtemeka]

Just saw a 535i for 19k which I really like. Over budget but I'm only buying in the start of summer anyway so it just means a little more saving

Thanks for the info guys

[Djtemeka]

Update.

So the corsa has been serviced and mot'ed. no advisories. This thing just won't die!
The wife's sister is turning 17 next month so will be getting her learners so we thought to give the car to her. This put us in the predicament on finding a car quickly. We managed to find a Mazda 6 2.2d 160bhp locally. 2012, 50k miles and pretty tidy for less than all the others out there. Quite frankly, it tickles all the boxes apart from being VERY left field which I like.
Collecting in a couple weeks time as we are really busy.
I understand about the dpf issues on diesels. It we won't really use it during the week and on weekends it will be used for long journeys (70m+)
Pretty happy with it all really. Just got to sell a couple motorbikes at the end of the year now
Thanks for all the inputs. We just decided on the Mazda as a stop gap to something nice... Which won't be a car but will be a house.
Wife took my pants and is wearing them now

[Djtemeka]

Oh and far under half the budget I originally wanted to spend and it comes with 12 month Mazda warranty

[ZX10R NIN]

Nice one OP

[AH33]

I like the Insignia. Had one for a couple of months when my TT was written off, was the 170? Diesel SRi, facelift had just come out and it had a few hundred on the clock.

Was quick-ish for normal usage. I wouldnt call it "fun" by any stretch but it is definitely a useful car. Massive too, and looks better than it's rivals (especially the german ones!) My gf thought it was the best car ever, her criteria for a "good car" is one that is clean, new and quiet.

The VXR i'd definitely have if I didnt have a stop start commute across town every day. I had to buy a smaller VXR to suit those needs.

[Emeye]

Is there a reason Mazda 6 diesels are cheap?

I recall something about them being unreliable, but that may be older ones - worth checking out though?

[toon10]

We drive a lot of pool cars at work and the Insignia is by far the worst to drive. They are all poverty spec diesels so not the best models but all the cars are pretty much like for like engine and spec wise.

The cars we have ranked in order of my preference
BMW 320
Volvo V70 D5
Merc C Class
Mondeo
VW Passat
Audi A4
Walk
Bus
Insignia



In all fairness, it is big, practical and pretty comfortable so if that's all it needs to do then it meets your needs. To drive, it does feel a few generations behind the competition. I hated it with a passion. At your budget point I think it will lose a lot of money and there's better out there. It should be cheap to run though and you do pay a premium for the German stuff so I can understand discounting them.

Edited to add, just read you got the Mazda. Better choice!

Edited by toon10 on Thursday 5th May 10:03

[Jimbo_888]

Ive had 3 Insignia Elite Navs in 6 years. 160bhp Diesels. 40k Miles a year.
Great spec. I couldn't think of any options I would want that aren't included as standard.
No issues apart from Turbo Hose on the 1st one.
20k service intervals and great (30k Fronts and 50k Rears)on tyres.
50mpg
They have their quirks and I dont like the facelift Infomation system. The old Jog Wheel was much better.

[Djtemeka]

Emeye said:

Is there a reason Mazda 6 diesels are cheap?

I recall something about them being unreliable, but that may be older ones - worth checking out though?

as far as I'm aware the only issue is if you do short journeys only which we wont be doing. Something about the dpf pushing diesel into the oil and thus indicating high oil levels

[a7x88]

Had one as a company hack for a little bit. Unremarkable in every way. The three on the company fleet did all suffer the same failure at around 60k miles though. The plastic EGR valve split and pissed coolant everywhere. Pretty cheap fix though and I imagine its sorted by now as these were all early cars with the 160 CDTi engine.

[donkmeister]

toon10 said:

The cars we have ranked in order of my preference
BMW 320
Volvo V70 D5
Merc C Class
Mondeo
VW Passat
Audi A4
Walk
Bus
Insignia

I'd say that the beauty of lower-end marques isn't the poverty-spec models, it's actually the used bargains of the posher trim levels - you won't get a nicely-specced BMW 530 or Merc E350 for the same money, age, mileage, condition etc as an Insignia Elite 2.8T or Mondeo Titanium X 2.5T.

The flipside of that is that they are rarer than the BMWs and Mercs because few will drop £30k+ on a Ford or Vauxhall that doesn't have a V8 is unless they are planning to keep it forever.

[toon10]

donkmeister said:

I'd say that the beauty of lower-end marques isn't the poverty-spec models, it's actually the used bargains of the posher trim levels - you won't get a nicely-specced BMW 530 or Merc E350 for the same money, age, mileage, condition etc as an Insignia Elite 2.8T or Mondeo Titanium X 2.5T.

The flipside of that is that they are rarer than the BMWs and Mercs because few will drop £30k+ on a Ford or Vauxhall that doesn't have a V8 is unless they are planning to keep it forever.

True enough. I ran a couple of 6 pot Mondeo's in the past when I'd have had to buy a bargain spec German marque with a lesser engine for the same cash.

[yosamuel]

I’ve got one on rental at the moment. A boggo petrol one. Big boot, comfortable, good motorway cruiser.

However, the car is driving me insane… the plastics rattle, the air vents are deafening and at low speeds it vibrates like a diesel van.