Vauxhall Insignia VXR Sports Tourer revealed

Vauxhall has revealed the Vauxhall Insignia VXR Sports Tourer to go on sale later this year

Still on a Vauxhall tag this morning – Vauxhall are busy bunnies at the moment. We had the reveal of the new Vauxhall Astra last week, and the news that the Police are taking off-the shelf Insignia Sports Tourers. And maybe plod new something we didn’t- – that Vauxhall were to reveal the Vauxhall Insignia VXR Sports Tourer so soon (we thought it was a week away – what do we know?!). Perhaps that’s why the Sports Tourer seemed to make a good patrol car – lots of space and more performance to boot.

So the Vauxhall Insignia VXR Sports Tourer joins the saloon and hatchback to make a full set of hot Insignias.

The VXR Sports Tourer gets the same engine as its siblings, namely a 2.8 litre V6 twin-turbo with 325bhp, 4WD and a six speed gearbox. It sports the big air intakes at the the front and the same aggressive body styling as the other VXR models, but with a big estate lump on the back. And it looks good. Very good.

But to us it looks even better than the saloon and hatchback. It seems somehow a little more subtle. All the aggression and promise, but not so brash. 0-60mph comes up in 5.8 seconds, and the handling is great, thanks to the Hyper-Strut System, which fights torque-steer and maintains negative camber when cornering to improve grip. The VXR ST also has a limited slip diff, and ride height is lower than standard models (by 10mm).

This should probably be considered the ultimate rep-mobile. But it’s much better than that. For the first time Vauxhall seems to have a car that can stand toe to toe with comparable offerings from BMW and Audi.

Fine car.