Insignia gets most powerful diesel

Vauxhall has announced a clever new diesel engine in the Insignia range that’s great news for company car drivers.

Known as BiTurbo, the new engine can be ordered in SRi, SRi vx-line and Elite trim levels. It’s based on the top 2.0-litre diesel already featured in the range, but develops an extra 33bhp and 50Nm more torque. The new engine shaves almost a second from the 0-62mph sprint while keeping CO2 emissions below 130g/km.

The new twin-turbocharged 2.0-litre engine will make 192bhp and 400Nm of torque, yet in manual, two-wheel-drive configuration the CO2 emissions are just 129g/km. Fuel economy is a claimed 57.6mpg on the combined cycle, while 62mph is possible in 8.2 seconds for the hatchback and 8.4 seconds for the Sport Tourer version.

Vauxhall’s FlexRide adaptive damping system is also now standard across all BiTurbo models, which means you get an optimised ride for all conditions thanks to the clever electronic assistance in the dampers.

You can also choose either front- or four-wheel-drive, but be prepared for an efficiency hit if you go for the latter. For instance, the very same model that emits 129g/km in front-wheel-drive will emit 146g/km when using all four wheels. Fuel economy drops to 54.4mpg too, while it takes 0.2 seconds longer to get to 62mph.

However, the obvious advantage of four-wheel-drive is that you can use the car in a wider range of conditions so are less likely to get stranded in the snow or ice.

Let’s work out the company car tax bill. For our example we’ll use the cheapest and lowest-emitting derivative, which is the SRi with front-wheel-drive and a manual gearbox. In this spec and with no options the P11d value is £25,365. CO2 emissions are 129g/km, so tax is payable at 18% this year. Working this through with our company car tax calculator this car will cost you around £80 per month on the 20% pay scale.

You can order an Insignia with the new BiTurbo engine now.