Reliability of new model Insignia?

California Dreamer · 17-04-2019 5:17pm

The Holden Commodore is one of the most popular in Australia and that is essentially an Insignia

bazz26 · 17-04-2019 5:38pm

Only the current (new) model as the previous Commodore were different cars altogether. The first generation Insignia was sold as the Holden Insignia in Australia before the new one became the Commodore. They also don't buy the diesel versions of either there too.

road_high · 17-04-2019 7:30pm

California Dreamer wrote: »

The Holden Commodore is one of the most popular in Australia and that is essentially an Insignia

What happens the Holden make with Opel now gone from GM? They really used to mirror the GM Europe cars but obviously that won’t be the case going forward. Not familiar with the US Chevrolet range but I’d imagine a big SUV focus

Cordell · 17-04-2019 7:40pm

California Dreamer wrote: »

The Holden Commodore is one of the most popular in Australia and that is essentially an Insignia

With the same 2.0 diesel?

road_high · 17-04-2019 7:57pm

Cordell wrote: »

With the same 2.0 diesel?

Imagine it’s mainly petrol out there?

zilog_jones · 18-04-2019 4:17pm

road_high wrote: »

What happens the Holden make with Opel now gone from GM? They really used to mirror the GM Europe cars but obviously that won’t be the case going forward. Not familiar with the US Chevrolet range but I’d imagine a big SUV focus

It's currently a combination of cars from Canada (Chevrolet), Europe (Opel), Korea (formerly Daewoo) and Japan (Isuzu). They don't make any cars in Australia anymore. Something like the Malibu could replace the Insignia easily enough, Chevrolet do still make saloons.

Sexual Chocolate · 19-04-2019 1:47pm

road_high wrote: »

Imagine it’s mainly petrol out there?

Mostly petrol yeah. 2.0 turbo and 3.6 V6 but you can get a 2.0 diesel, all automatic.

I've had a quick spin of a turbo petrol and its a nice car to drive.

Not too many of them on the roads however in comparison to the VF Commodore.

road_high · 19-04-2019 2:54pm

Sexual Chocolate wrote: »

Mostly petrol yeah. 2.0 turbo and 3.6 V6 but you can get a 2.0 diesel, all automatic.

I've had a quick spin of a turbo petrol and its a nice car to drive.

Not too many of them on the roads however in comparison to the VF Commodore.

The Insignia is a big car but the Commodore previously was always a more Omega sized motor wasn’t it? I think the new Insignia is a quality car suffering a bit from the previous ones reputation

chicorytip · 19-04-2019 3:05pm

road_high wrote:

The Insignia is a big car but the Commodore previously was always a more Omega sized motor wasnâ€™t it? I think the new Insignia is a quality car suffering a bit from the previous ones reputation

It always has been a good car but the new design is very bland looking in comparison to the older.

Sexual Chocolate · 19-04-2019 4:22pm

road_high wrote: »

The Insignia is a big car but the Commodore previously was always a more Omega sized motor wasn’t it? I think the new Insignia is a quality car suffering a bit from the previous ones reputation

Thats right, late 90s and early 00s ones were based on the Omega platform.

bazz26 · 19-04-2019 5:42pm

The old ones were proper big, rwd with V8s and competed with the likes of the Ford Falcon down under.

road_high · 19-04-2019 6:59pm

chicorytip wrote: »

It always has been a good car but the new design is very bland looking in comparison to the older.

I’m driving one at the moment and at first wasn’t sold on the styling- admittedly it could have been executed better but from many angles I think it looks great. The front grille area looks bland alright. The interior is excellent though I really like the dash and ergonomics

Hellrazer · 19-04-2019 7:10pm

Have seen a few stupid issues with them since they were released.
They were giving problems with intercooler pipes blowing off (seals need to be replaced)
Exhaust temp sensors were acting up but an update fixed that one.
Currently we`re going through a spate of accelerator pedals failing..need to be replaced.
Stupid niggly problems that really should have been picked up in production.
Theres is a few recalls on them--mainly software updates for some of the systems.Theres a seatbelt rerouting recall. Clutch pedal recall.

Havent seen any major component issues (yet)
They are a bit heavy on front pads --seen them really low (less than 10%) on some reps cars at 25k. Normal driver they seem to do around 30k.
Also a bit of a tyre eater--around 30k as well for front tyres.

road_high · 19-04-2019 9:09pm

From memory the old model was a tyre eater too! Surprised the new one is, they’ve reduced the weight substantially.
Seems Opel’s only “made in Germany” quality model is possibly their worst car for build quality?

OldmanMondeo · 20-04-2019 1:33pm

chicorytip wrote: »

The Insignia is a very good car - loads of them driving around that have done very high mileage. They are no less reliable than any other similar type of car out there. The latest "facelifted" version is bland looking compared to the earlier design. Opel cars, particularly the larger models, tend not to hold their value that well. You could say the same about Renault, Ford and Fiat who all produce great cars. The fact of the matter is that there are no longer any cars being produced that could be described as bad or unreliable because standards of engineering and design have evolved to a uniformly high standard across the motor industry.

.

This made me laugh out loud, I have a 2011 Insignia diesel and it is the most troublesome car I have ever owned, Oil pump seal failed, €20 part, cause the destruction of the bottom end of my engine, €3k rebuild later, Oil cooler goes, then the oil pressure switch fails, again €20 part, but subframe off to replace, DMF also went so I saved €350 labour in getting both done at same time. I put best part of €5k into that car last year, it is currently sitting outside my house broken down. Needless to say it will be fixed as cheap as possible.

Point is, I have checked loads of forums, spoken to mechanics around the country, my job allows me that honour, and the Insignia is considered the worse car currently available.

I will NEVER buy an Opel again. and i would advise everyone to steer clear, the word steer reminds me, the steering rack also failed not long after I got the car, managed to get that covered on warranty...

colm_mcm · 20-04-2019 1:39pm

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

.

This made me laugh out loud, I have a 2011 Insignia diesel and it is the most troublesome car I have ever owned, Oil pump seal failed, €20 part, cause the destruction of the bottom end of my engine, €3k rebuild later, Oil cooler goes, then the oil pressure switch fails, again €20 part, but subframe off to replace, DMF also went so I saved €350 labour in getting both done at same time. I put best part of €5k into that car last year, it is currently sitting outside my house broken down. Needless to say it will be fixed as cheap as possible.

Point is, I have checked loads of forums, spoken to mechanics around the country, my job allows me that honour, and the Insignia is considered the worse car currently available.

I will NEVER buy an Opel again. and i would advise everyone to steer clear, the word steer reminds me, the steering rack also failed not long after I got the car, managed to get that covered on warranty...

Best thing you could hope for is that catches fire (or have a ‘thermal incident’ as Opel call it)

chicorytip · 20-04-2019 1:43pm

OldmanMondeo wrote:

This made me laugh out loud, I have a 2011 Insignia diesel and it is the most troublesome car I have ever owned, Oil pump seal failed, â‚¬20 part, cause the destruction of the bottom end of my engine, â‚¬3k rebuild later, Oil cooler goes, then the oil pressure switch fails, again â‚¬20 part, but subframe off to replace, DMF also went so I saved â‚¬350 labour in getting both done at same time. I put best part of â‚¬5k into that car last year, it is currently sitting outside my house broken down. Needless to say it will be fixed as cheap as possible.

OldmanMondeo wrote:

Point is, I have checked loads of forums, spoken to mechanics around the country, my job allows me that honour, and the Insignia is considered the worse car currently available.

OldmanMondeo wrote:

I will NEVER buy an Opel again. and i would advise everyone to steer clear, the word steer reminds me, the steering rack also failed not long after I got the car, managed to get that covered on warranty...

Have you owned the car from new? If so, you have had very bad luck indeed. I am sure most owners would have an exact opposite story to your own.

ba_barabus · 20-04-2019 1:55pm

colm_mcm wrote: »

The 1.6 ‘whisper diesel’ is out a while now and I haven’t heard any reports of them being bad.
I think the new insignia is a fine car and is in my mind just the right size for the segment. Cars keep getting bigger for no good reason.

Haven't read the rest of the thread Colm but I'm hearing awful reports about that engine. Timing chains seem to be failing very often.

A friend works in a main dealer service department and reckons the GM developed Opens still on sale are some of the worst cars available. Riddled with faults. Newer PSA stuff is ok.

markpb · 20-04-2019 4:23pm

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

This made me laugh out loud, I have a 2011 Insignia diesel and it is the most troublesome car I have ever owned,

I own a 2010 2.0 diesel 163bhp SRi model with 260k (km) on the clock. Apart from the DPF (which is mostly my own fault), the only issues I've had are the keys splitting at the barrel (I'm on my third key in four years) and some very peculiar behaviour from the gearbox which I now know how to avoid. It was previously a fleet car so they serviced it regularly and I've continued that. It's been a great car for me, it's a very practical family car and great fun to drive.

CoBo55 · 20-04-2019 4:48pm

markpb wrote: »

I own a 2010 2.0 diesel 163bhp SRi model with 260k (km) on the clock. Apart from the DPF (which is mostly my own fault), the only issues I've had are the keys splitting at the barrel (I'm on my third key in four years) and some very peculiar behaviour from the gearbox which I now know how to avoid. It was previously a fleet car so they serviced it regularly and I've continued that. It's been a great car for me, it's a very practical family car and great fun to drive.

Keep nursing the gearbox and get that seal done, money well spent believe me.

road_high · 21-04-2019 9:13am

ba_barabus wrote: »

Haven't read the rest of the thread Colm but I'm hearing awful reports about that engine. Timing chains seem to be failing very often.

A friend works in a main dealer service department and reckons the GM developed Opens still on sale are some of the worst cars available. Riddled with faults. Newer PSA stuff is ok.

I’m driving the “whisper” engine while it’s reasonably powerful for a 1.6, I don’t think it’s whisper quiet! Certainly less refined than the Mazda 2.2 diesel.
Did GM really destroy the engineering tradition Opel once had?

ba_barabus · 21-04-2019 9:41am

road_high wrote: »

I’m driving the “whisper” engine while it’s reasonably powerful for a 1.6, I don’t think it’s whisper quiet! Certainly less refined than the Mazda 2.2 diesel.
Did GM really destroy the engineering tradition Opel once had?

Cost cutting and rushed production seem to be the biggest sins. I under stand PSA have actually really started to suppose their engineering side of things so the future might be ok.

route66 · 21-04-2019 10:24am

road_high wrote: »

<SNIP>
Did GM really destroy the engineering tradition Opel once had?

I don't honestly think they had much to destroy. Certainly, nothing from the 80s on would warrant much respect.

colm_mcm · 21-04-2019 11:05am

GM took full control of Opel in 1929 to be fair.

road_high · 21-04-2019 12:22pm

route66 wrote: »

I don't honestly think they had much to destroy. Certainly, nothing from the 80s on would warrant much respect.

Early 90s Opels were still pretty good quality. Really the 4th gen Astra was when things got publicly bad with engine issues

TheDriver · 21-04-2019 1:08pm

I had a 12 insignia and the worst car I have ever owned. Even the key broke. The indy garage told me to get rid of it (politely). It never worked right, always poor power delivery, shuddering etc and parts went easily. I couldn't trust it to go more than 30km from home with only 100k on clock before something else went wrong. Never ever again.
Surprisingly, the amount of insignias around that had awful issues but granted, some people never had trouble. They're in minority tho.

21-04-2019 1:20pm

ba_barabus wrote: »

Haven't read the rest of the thread Colm but I'm hearing awful reports about that engine. Timing chains seem to be failing very often.

A friend works in a main dealer service department and reckons the GM developed Opens still on sale are some of the worst cars available. Riddled with faults. Newer PSA stuff is ok.

Few of the Whisper Diesel 1.6s have failing timing chains, but having rattly tensioners is common enough to have become accepted as an unfortunate characteristic of the engine.

There have been some reports of the plastic chain guide breaking and falling into the sump, damaging the oil pump and causing oil starvation. Again though, not that many reports considering the amount of 1.6 diesels sold in the UK - there are 4,000 cars currently for sale on Autotrader UK alone with that engine.

Wildly Boaring · 21-04-2019 2:13pm

Had an 09 vauxhall insignia in 2010 in decent spec.
30k miles till say 70k??

Nice on a motorway
Poor on a back road

Supposed to be 160bhp. Felt like lot less.

Was a poorly built car.
Back window dropped into door.
Seized caliper.
Other minor niggles.

For a pretty new car, it drove me nuts.
Let it off. Glad to see the back of it.

PukkaStukka · 21-04-2019 2:36pm

colm_mcm wrote: »

Rebuilt
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/opel-insignia-total-engine-rebuilt/20954439

Rebuilt
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/vauxhall-insignia-2-0-cdti-new-engine-fitted-11/21509158

Needs to be rebuilt
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/car/21328051

Rebuilt
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/2010-opel-insignia-estate/21138964

Rebuilt
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/opel-insignia/21255655

Rebuilt
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/immaculate-insignia-160bhp-2-0cdti-6-mth-warranty/20599903

Not scientific but apparently it’s very hard to get engines for these such is there alleged tendency to self destruct.

There was an article in the Car Mechanics Magazine about rebuilding that engine. It seems to suffer low oil pressure because of the oil pickup and seals can fail. The problem is exacerbated by poor servicing. I think there's a modification carried out from 2014 which addresses the issue.

Funny thing is, that engine is used in Fiat's, Alfa's and Suzuki's and anecdotally doesn't suffer these issues. I wonder if it's a GM thing?

The new insignia uses the 1.6 engine so this particular concern with the 2 litre doesn't apply to it

0lddog · 21-04-2019 2:43pm

route66 wrote: »

I don't honestly think they had much to destroy. Certainly, nothing from the 80s on would warrant much respect.

The Vectra A / Vaux Cavalier of the 90s was a very well sorted car.

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Downhill all the way after that tho

colm_mcm · 21-04-2019 4:03pm

PukkaStukka wrote: »

There was an article in the Car Mechanics Magazine about rebuilding that engine. It seems to suffer low oil pressure because of the oil pickup and seals can fail. The problem is exacerbated by poor servicing. I think there's a modification carried out from 2014 which addresses the issue.

Funny thing is, that engine is used in Fiat's, Alfa's and Suzuki's and anecdotally doesn't suffer these issues. I wonder if it's a GM thing?

The new insignia uses the 1.6 engine so this particular concern with the 2 litre doesn't apply to it

Didn’t Opel recalibrate the ecu to not throw up an oil pressure fault as there were too many false alarms as such, so the tolerance was increased on a software update.

Not sure if that’s true.

road_high · 21-04-2019 6:36pm

colm_mcm wrote: »

Didn’t Opel recalibrate the ecu to not throw up an oil pressure fault as there were too many false alarms as such, so the tolerance was increased on a software update.

Not sure if that’s true.

My one was a 2012 and it had some recall
Done alright re the engine

road_high · 21-04-2019 6:37pm

PukkaStukka wrote: »

There was an article in the Car Mechanics Magazine about rebuilding that engine. It seems to suffer low oil pressure because of the oil pickup and seals can fail. The problem is exacerbated by poor servicing. I think there's a modification carried out from 2014 which addresses the issue.

Funny thing is, that engine is used in Fiat's, Alfa's and Suzuki's and anecdotally doesn't suffer these issues. I wonder if it's a GM thing?

The new insignia uses the 1.6 engine so this particular concern with the 2 litre doesn't apply to it

Isn’t there a 2.0 l too? If I was actually getting one I’d get the 2 litre

Reliability of new model Insignia?

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