The various reviews on YouTube are favourable. I’ve had Vauxhalls in the past and they’ve been good cars. However, my issue with the brand is that they don’t discount by very much when buying new and the residuals plummet when trading in. More recently, having been bought by PSA, my concern is that they will be Vauxhalls with Peugeot/Citroen engines and running parts. The adverts say “A brand since 1903” which is true, but I fear that’s all they will be in the future.

Vauxhall have not been an independent company since 1925. Surely whether or not the cars are any good is the main thing, not who owns them?. The PSA group seem to be on a bit of a roll these days, so personally I have no issues with the idea of a Vauxhall having the engine and floorpan of a Peugeot or Citroën. My concern would be that UK production would cease as that would result in a huge amount of jobs lost.

Re the Insignia, assuming that a year old version would be the current shape, what I have read about it has been fairly positive. Not exceptional in any way (apart from possibly standard equipment), but a good solid and competent allrounder. Also, contrary to what was mentioned earlier, I have read that the cabin is very spacious indeed, maybe not quite as big as a Superb, but not far away.

Thing is, the Astra, for example, has huge discounts available and that's a really nice car too. I just couldn't get my dealer (who knows me well) to budge very far on the Insignia.

I have a sneaking suspicion the dealers have been told not to discount it too heavily to try to keep residuals up in an attempt to counter the problem you rightly point out. It's not going to work!

I had a quick look on Autotrader and higher-end Insignias with a couple of thousand miles on them are already in the £<18k category; imagine your disappointment if you'd paid full price for it new!

I don't see the Insignia lasting much longer really. Very few people seem to want big estates these days and the new family car is one of those crossovers instead. On the Vauxhall website now, the Insignia is sold the same way as a Kia or a Hyundai. You specify a trim level and you get x amount of kit. No optioning at all apart from a colour range about as exciting as mildly moist blancmange.

It's not on a PSA platfoorm so its days have to be numbered.

Amusingly you can add a £4400 paint option. Sign me up!

I rather like Vauxhall, despite the fact they've been doing 'a bit dull' on a professional basis for a long time now. The Corsa and Astra are good cars but everyone will be ordering a Fiesta or a Focus.Vauxhall have never quite shrugged off that 'car your grandfather drove' image, but if looked after, last a long, long time.

The various reviews on YouTube are favourable. I’ve had Vauxhalls in the past and they’ve been good cars. However, my issue with the brand is that they don’t discount by very much when buying new and the residuals plummet when trading in. More recently, having been bought by PSA, my concern is that they will be Vauxhalls with Peugeot/Citroen engines and running parts. The adverts say “A brand since 1903” which is true, but I fear that’s all they will be in the future.

Many would say that a switch to PSA powertrains from Fiat/GM units would be an improvement. Vauxhalls have simply been rebadged Opels since the '70s with only the Astra built in the UK, and then not all versions.