Perc
Very Odd Looking Vehicular Object
My new... Opel? Yes, really.
So, my first GM product. Right before Opel turns French. A 2014 Insignia Country Tourer CDTI with 128000km on the clock. And it's not in a shade of grey. Last time I had a car with a color was six years ago.
Compared to the Octavia it replaced it has twice as many torques, turbos and driven wheels. It also has 73 more horses and 100% fewer spark plugs.
I've never even considered owning an Opel before, and I barely even knew this model existed. I just searched nettiauto.com for the features I absolutely wanted and this car came up. I figured it was worth a look. I've always wanted an XC70 but I'm not willing to go far enough down the model years for them to get into my price range.
As far as the greasy bits go it's the top of the range bi-turbo diesel with 195hp and 400Nm driving all four wheels through a six-speed Aisin automatic and a Haldex AWD system. It has adaptive suspension with three modes: sport, normal and waft. The button says TOUR, but WAFT would suit it better. I bought it 300km from home and I can report that it does an awesome job at smoothing out our terrible roads. Other than the ever so slightly taller ride height it has exactly zero off-roading pretentions. There are no buttons for locking diffs or hill descent or anything like that, and certainly no low-range gearbox. What it does have (as far as Google tells me) is some kind of clever rear diff. I did manage to produce rooster tails from both back wheels on the slush-covered road to my parents house earlier tonight.
It's not a fast particularly fast car since it weighs 1.8 tons and has an old fashioned automatic, but I actually missed having a torque converter for driving around town. DSG's are great when the car is moving, but bumper to bumper traffic is not what they do best. And unlike my 1.4 ton Skoda with half the torque, this 1.8 ton barge isn't as bothered by a couple of passengers with luggage. Or a trailer. Or both. And 0-100 performance aside, this will be sooo much nicer around town next winter. A FWD car spins its tires, rattles the ABS and slides sideways trying to find grip where an AWD car just shrugs and goes. Multiply this by about 1000 traffic lights per year... yeah, I won't miss it. I also expected it to behave like a big, lumbering tractor around town as well but it doesn't. It almost feels more light-footed than the Octavia did.
I like features, buttons and toys and this car has many. Adaptive xenons with 9 different beam patterns and automatic high beam assist, 230V AC power outlet, touchscreen satnav, etc. Unlike a certain other Finn on the forums that removes the tow bar from all his cars, I tend to buy cars without them only to realise I need to tow a trailer one week later. This has one that folds away neatly when you don't need it. It lacks adaptive cruise control which is a strange omission.?? I'll need to replace the windshield at some point since it has a crack in it and I hate cracked windshields. The foldable tow bar also doesn't recognize when it's in the folded-in position. It locks in place like it should, but it BEEPS VERY LOUDLY when the mechanism isn't fully locked in or out, and the it doesn't recognize the "in" position. Luckily the folded-out position works fine so I'll get it sorted whenever I have time. Or disconnect the beeper.
I have nothing planned for this other than driving it, and maybe a software tune. The reputable tuners seem to promise about 240hp and 450Nm. Oh, and the factory keychain fob for remote starting the pre-heater will probably be replaced by a smartphone app next fall.
And no, I don't really do enough driving to benefit from diesel. In this country, road tax is steeper but in return fuel is slightly cheaper and I was close to breaking even on the Octavia compared to a 2.0 TDI. I just like diesels (especially with an automatic) and I think it suits a car like this. Besides, I wouldn't want to fuel up a 2.0 or 2.8 liter petrol turbo version. Heading home today, I got pretty much the same fuel economy as the Octavia managed on the trip down. Only the Opel did it with twice as many driven wheels, a torque converter, 225/45R17 instead of 195/65R15 and 400kg more weight to lug around. Besides, for reasons unknown to me the Opel is several orders of magnitude cheaper to insure at my company than the Skoda was. It's almost enough to make up for the eye-watering 750eur/year road tax.
Here it is with some 300-odd km of Finnish "spring" weather on it:
And verification.
So, my first GM product. Right before Opel turns French. A 2014 Insignia Country Tourer CDTI with 128000km on the clock. And it's not in a shade of grey. Last time I had a car with a color was six years ago.
Compared to the Octavia it replaced it has twice as many torques, turbos and driven wheels. It also has 73 more horses and 100% fewer spark plugs.
I've never even considered owning an Opel before, and I barely even knew this model existed. I just searched nettiauto.com for the features I absolutely wanted and this car came up. I figured it was worth a look. I've always wanted an XC70 but I'm not willing to go far enough down the model years for them to get into my price range.
As far as the greasy bits go it's the top of the range bi-turbo diesel with 195hp and 400Nm driving all four wheels through a six-speed Aisin automatic and a Haldex AWD system. It has adaptive suspension with three modes: sport, normal and waft. The button says TOUR, but WAFT would suit it better. I bought it 300km from home and I can report that it does an awesome job at smoothing out our terrible roads. Other than the ever so slightly taller ride height it has exactly zero off-roading pretentions. There are no buttons for locking diffs or hill descent or anything like that, and certainly no low-range gearbox. What it does have (as far as Google tells me) is some kind of clever rear diff. I did manage to produce rooster tails from both back wheels on the slush-covered road to my parents house earlier tonight.
It's not a fast particularly fast car since it weighs 1.8 tons and has an old fashioned automatic, but I actually missed having a torque converter for driving around town. DSG's are great when the car is moving, but bumper to bumper traffic is not what they do best. And unlike my 1.4 ton Skoda with half the torque, this 1.8 ton barge isn't as bothered by a couple of passengers with luggage. Or a trailer. Or both. And 0-100 performance aside, this will be sooo much nicer around town next winter. A FWD car spins its tires, rattles the ABS and slides sideways trying to find grip where an AWD car just shrugs and goes. Multiply this by about 1000 traffic lights per year... yeah, I won't miss it. I also expected it to behave like a big, lumbering tractor around town as well but it doesn't. It almost feels more light-footed than the Octavia did.
I like features, buttons and toys and this car has many. Adaptive xenons with 9 different beam patterns and automatic high beam assist, 230V AC power outlet, touchscreen satnav, etc. Unlike a certain other Finn on the forums that removes the tow bar from all his cars, I tend to buy cars without them only to realise I need to tow a trailer one week later. This has one that folds away neatly when you don't need it. It lacks adaptive cruise control which is a strange omission.?? I'll need to replace the windshield at some point since it has a crack in it and I hate cracked windshields. The foldable tow bar also doesn't recognize when it's in the folded-in position. It locks in place like it should, but it BEEPS VERY LOUDLY when the mechanism isn't fully locked in or out, and the it doesn't recognize the "in" position. Luckily the folded-out position works fine so I'll get it sorted whenever I have time. Or disconnect the beeper.
I have nothing planned for this other than driving it, and maybe a software tune. The reputable tuners seem to promise about 240hp and 450Nm. Oh, and the factory keychain fob for remote starting the pre-heater will probably be replaced by a smartphone app next fall.
And no, I don't really do enough driving to benefit from diesel. In this country, road tax is steeper but in return fuel is slightly cheaper and I was close to breaking even on the Octavia compared to a 2.0 TDI. I just like diesels (especially with an automatic) and I think it suits a car like this. Besides, I wouldn't want to fuel up a 2.0 or 2.8 liter petrol turbo version. Heading home today, I got pretty much the same fuel economy as the Octavia managed on the trip down. Only the Opel did it with twice as many driven wheels, a torque converter, 225/45R17 instead of 195/65R15 and 400kg more weight to lug around. Besides, for reasons unknown to me the Opel is several orders of magnitude cheaper to insure at my company than the Skoda was. It's almost enough to make up for the eye-watering 750eur/year road tax.
Here it is with some 300-odd km of Finnish "spring" weather on it:
And verification.
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