Totally Confused, looking for advice

[CTID Hants]

Hi All,

I hope i am posting in the correct place, if not please move to the correct location it would be appreciated.

OK since i joined a few months back, when introduced myself, i was initially looking at a late A face-lift 2.0 170 BHP, of which i have my eye on a few samples.

However, as the days of lock-down have gone on, i have started to be drawn to the Type B style wise especially having looked at a video review on YT telling me their are significant changes in the new model, including it being 175 KG lighter making handling significantly better.

So i strated looking at engine options and noticed that road tax has risen from £30 on the Type A to £145 on the Type B, whilst not a show stopper, i would like to understand why?

I then started considering the engine options (mentioned in the video), from what i gather there are the following variants.

Diesel 2.0 litre 170 BHP
Diesel 1.6 litre 134 BHP
Dieisel 1.5 litre 163 BHP
Petrol 1.6 litre 163 BHP

All, including the petrol model have turbo? So how come the 1.5 has better performance than the 1.6 diesel?

I am used to driving a Saab 9-3 1.9 Diesel turbo 150 BHP, so concerned about the lesser engine sizes being grunty enough.

What i am hoping to garner from this in particular is those who have gone to Type B from Type A face-lift and their opinions of pro's and con's of both.

Also anyone has experience of driving the different engine sizes outlined above.

Cheers

Ian

[lizzard-t]

Ok illll own up , I'm neither a insignia A or B owner , but I do own a dare I say it Fleet of Saab 9-3's 2 are 1.9 tid 150 and the other is a different kettle of mustard.
But to put power differences into context.
My wife owns a 1.5 DCI qashqai with a lowly 110 BHP but there is not much difference in performance between the saabs and the qashqai.
I did at one point own an insignia A 160 ,and yet again not much in it .
If you are interested in figures have a look at the torque curve or maximum torque.
That's where on paper they all differ from the Saab that you are use to .
For every day driving loosing a couple of horse power is not going to be noticed.

[ilunn]

as for road tax You can have identical car that came off the production line together but registered a day apart one can be £30 the other £145. I always check the actual dvla web site find out date registered & emissions and cost of tax before I hand my money over, I agree its become a mind field, up to couple years ago you could put reg in on dvla but they took that feature away makes it little harder.

[Drew]

I had a Vec C estate 150cdti manual, an Insignia A preface estate 160cdti manual and now an Insignia b estate 170 auto. All diesel engines. All have been an improvement over the previous model. None fell into the lower tax bracket currently £145. The b appears less economical but it's my first automatic and I would never go back. The Insignia b is a lovely ride even on 20s and definitely worth a look.
Hope that helps?

[RBH]

I've the insignia A 2.0 cdti ecoflex 140 remapped to 192 and my road tax is £0
The performance and economy is superb......when the insignia b came out they're were a helluva lot of disappointed people but the build quality and refinement won them.

I had the vectra c 1.8 petrol 136bhp and was £220 a year.....so I agree with ilunn...check all the figures etc before handing over the shekels.

[Drew]

Prefacelift bs had 4 petrols:
Two were 1.5 turbo with 2 power outputs 140hp, 165hp both 250nm
A 2.0 turbo 260hp 400nm
Breifly a 1.6 turbo with 200hp (not sure on nm)

And 4 diesel:
Two1.6 with 2 power outputs 110hp, 136hp 300nm and 320nm
A 2.0 single turbo 170hp 400nm
A 2.0 twin turbo 210hp 480nm

(Info from my owners manual)

[Drew]

I've the insignia A 2.0 cdti ecoflex 140 remapped to 192 and my road tax is £0
The performance and economy is superb......when the insignia b came out they're were a helluva lot of disappointed people but the build quality and refinement won them.

I had the vectra c 1.8 petrol 136bhp and was £220 a year.....so I agree with ilunn...check all the figures etc before handing over the shekels.

Yeah there was a time when a few cars were 0 or low tax until the Germans were caught cheeting and spoilt it for everyone!

[Alex421]

Yeah there was a time when a few cars were 0 or low tax until the Germans were caught cheeting and spoilt it for everyone!

Would that be my nemesis vag

[Qmark78]

I've the insignia A 2.0 cdti ecoflex 140 remapped to 192 and my road tax is £0
The performance and economy is superb......when the insignia b came out they're were a helluva lot of disappointed people but the build quality and refinement won them.

I had the vectra c 1.8 petrol 136bhp and was £220 a year.....so I agree with ilunn...check all the figures etc before handing over the shekels.

192bhp you say [emoji2960][emoji16]

[Drew]

My wifes 1.0 Corsa was just a gram or two per km over the 0 tax a smilar Polo was just under, cheating bar stewards!

[MattG]

I've the insignia A 2.0 cdti ecoflex 140 remapped to 192 and my road tax is £0
The performance and economy is superb......when the insignia b came out they're were a helluva lot of disappointed people but the build quality and refinement won them.

I had the vectra c 1.8 petrol 136bhp and was £220 a year.....so I agree with ilunn...check all the figures etc before handing over the shekels.

Nice wheels also.

[MattG]

All the diesels iv had have been over £100, 1.6 petrol Astra 110Bhp was over £150, 2l 170 bhp insignia £30, not complaining at that.

[Drew]

The worst mistake you could make right now is buying a car that was over £40k new. They're a lot to tax until theyr 5 years old some people have had a nasty shock and dealers don't always make it clear. Some elites and gsi models can fall into this band.

[Drew]

Nice wheels also.

My god with the money you and Rab are saving you should both have nice wheels

[RBH]

192bhp you say [emoji2960][emoji16]

Yep.
Had it mapped last year. Then went onto the rolling road.....extremely happy with it.