Purchased/Looking after a 2012 Insignia - WCPGW

[B'stard Child]

Explaination for early thread posts - Mods kindly moved this from it’s original location in Car buying as it’s kinda morphed into an “ownership” thread

Hi looking for advice on issues, what to look for etc

(Long time old School Vauxhall fan but nothing made since 1994 so not clued up on modern stuff)

A while back "Nightmare Niece" (single working mum with two kids) had an insignia 2.0 CDTI (wrote it off) and since then has had a succession of cheap junk with short life expectancy

She's looking for another Insignia and shes asked "scary uncle" aka "car guy" for help....

My instinct is to say buy petrol 1.8 but her last one was diesel and she liked how it drove so wants another - she does about 10K - 12K miles a year so it's getting close to "diesel v Petrol break even"

However it seems that some of the Insignias (eco flex) are cheap VED and her budget for running a car has to be balanced against the needs of the kids

So PH massive let the hate for Vauxhalls begin and maybe there will be some gems come out that help me steer her to a good result

Everyone likes pics - this one was £1995 and on a 63 plate tax rate was 112 g/km so £30 tax 91 K miles too last change of keeper 2016



Unfortunately I had already sold

So now I have to find similar spec and similar money!!!!

Edited by B'stard Child on Saturday 29th October 08:41

[ZX10R NIN]

They're good cars they can suffer with the oil pick up pipe (long service intervals are the cause) clogging up so make sure you give it an oil flush when you buy one & cut the services to every 10k & flush every third service.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103039...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103019...

But finding an EcoFlex will be the hard part.

[willmagrath]

Avoid the 1.8. They are known to be very very slow.

My dad had a 2.0cdti 160. Was good to drive, but a bit unreliable.

[B'stard Child]

willmagrath said:

Avoid the 1.8. They are known to be very very slow.

Slow could be good in this case

willmagrath said:

My dad had a 2.0cdti 160. Was good to drive, but a bit unreliable.

I had two decades running the best cars Vauxhall have ever produced (Carltons and Senators) I'm under no illusions that the more recent offerings are crap........ But this isn't my choice to make

[B'stard Child]

ZX10R NIN said:

They're good cars they can suffer with the oil pick up pipe (long service intervals are the cause) clogging up so make sure you give it an oil flush when you buy one & cut the services to every 10k & flush every third service.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103039...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103019...

But finding an EcoFlex will be the hard part.

what is it with these insignias that they can't hang on to their badges

[B'stard Child]

Well I can say one thing at the £2000 mark there is an awful lot of dross out there - finding a nice clean car is tricky!!!!

Common faults that seem to be present in most cars

Knackered headlights (full of water)
Drivers seats that are cracked (the part leather versions seem really common for this)
Little or no service history
No knowledge of last cambelt/waterpump change
Giffer scrapes on corners
Alloy wheels with chunks missing
I know looking at 9 - 12 year old cars I expect to see a few owners but 5 seems normal

[B'stard Child]

Purchase made so closure for this thread

2.0 Ecoflex (114g/km so £30 VED)
MOT to Jan 2022
111 K Miles
2012 (2 Owners)
Full Service History
Very recent Bill for clutch, flywheel, cambelt and water pump (Old parts were in the boot which was nice)
3 mths warranty on engine and gearbox
Michelin on both the rears in near new condition (Mix of Bridgestone and Uniroyal on the front with 3-4 mm max)
Steel wheels and trims (looking at the pictures I would have said they were alloys but on closer inspection found they weren't - good because her parking skills are suspect)







Dealer quite happy for an unaccompanied test drive so we went for a 40 mile drive - town work - dual carriageways and a short stint on the M25 - brakes in a straight line, ABS works fine - it has a few minor age related marks but at the price point perfection in paint work is a rare thing

Bad news was it was £2490 (Above her budget so I've lent her £500 to get her out of the doldrums of sub £2K cars which was driving me nuts trying to find half decent ones)

Best bit for me was it still has it's badge on the front - should I use sikaflex or superglue?

[ZX10R NIN]

Glad you got her sorted looks tidy.

[B'stard Child]

ZX10R NIN said:

Glad you got her sorted looks tidy.

So am I - hopefully this will last her longer than a year - next step will be educating her on this thing called servicing and maintenance

[ZX10R NIN]

B'stard Child said:

So am I - hopefully this will last her longer than a year - next step will be educating her on this thing called servicing and maintenance

Oh now that will be a coup (que the mission impossible music) of epic proportions if you pull that off

[B'stard Child]

ZX10R NIN said:

B'stard Child said:

So am I - hopefully this will last her longer than a year - next step will be educating her on this thing called servicing and maintenance

Oh now that will be a coup (que the mission impossible music) of epic proportions if you pull that off

You aren't wrong there - I think we will start with Oil, Oil Filter, Air Filter and Fuel Filter fairly shortly - regardless of the Service history then we know where we stand with a 10K/Yearly service point

Diesel Filter is recommended every 4 years (No idea if that's a good thing or not)
Air Filter every 2 years

[Jellybeans2016]

That’s a lot of car for the money!

Bet she’s made up with it

[B'stard Child]

Jellybeans2016 said:

That’s a lot of car for the money!

Bet she’s made up with it

She is - she’s been buying very cheap and iffy cars that have been lasting a year at best - this one (with a little preventative maintenance) I think should last her 8-10 years

[soad]

Boot is of a good size - able to swallow larger items with ease.

[B'stard Child]

soad said:

Boot is of a good size - able to swallow larger items with ease.

Yes - not as flexible as a hatch but like I said condition was a higher priority and this one happened to be a saloon rather than a hatch - I did identify a couple of estate versions which were possible candidates but apparently they were too big!!!!

[ZX10R NIN]

B'stard Child said:

You aren't wrong there - I think we will start with Oil, Oil Filter, Air Filter and Fuel Filter fairly shortly - regardless of the Service history then we know where we stand with a 10K/Yearly service point

Diesel Filter is recommended every 4 years (No idea if that's a good thing or not)
Air Filter every 2 years

I'd say every two years for the diesel filter, as you said give it a good service every year (inc Air Filter) & you know where you stand & remember to flush the oil on the first service then every 3rd service.

They're a good car overall just need a bit of looking after as the miles pile on.

[FourGears]

Looks alright that. Worth doing the dpf regen light thingy for her?

[B'stard Child]

FourGears said:

Looks alright that. Worth doing the dpf regen light thingy for her?

Tell me more please - I'm not clued up on diesels at all - it'll be doing a 45 mile each way dual carriageway commute soon so I'm hoping DPF regen won't be an issue

[FourGears]

B'stard Child said:

Tell me more please - I'm not clued up on diesels at all - it'll be doing a 45 mile each way dual carriageway commute soon so I'm hoping DPF regen won't be an issue

When the car does a dpf regen the heated rear window circuit is activated. Assuming the mirrors de mist to when the heated screen does you can wire in a led or similar to the mirror circuit so you'll know when it is doing a regen. Just helps to prevent switching the car off mid regen.
Just google Insignia dpf light or similar.

[B'stard Child]

FourGears said:

B'stard Child said:

Tell me more please - I'm not clued up on diesels at all - it'll be doing a 45 mile each way dual carriageway commute soon so I'm hoping DPF regen won't be an issue

When the car does a dpf regen the heated rear window circuit is activated. Assuming the mirrors de mist to when the heated screen does you can wire in a led or similar to the mirror circuit so you'll know when it is doing a regen. Just helps to prevent switching the car off mid regen.
Just google Insignia dpf light or similar.

Ahhh - great idea for me - not so sure it's a good idea for the Niece who will quite easily get confused

BC "Right when this little LED by the mirrors is on keep driving don't stop"
N "The light is on it was frosty this morning - How far have I got to drive?"
BC "turn the HRW off is it still on"
N "No"
BC "Good you are fine"
N "I'm sooooo confused"