Vauxhall Insignia Sports Tourer review: Have a look inside the Brit maker’s luxurious and roomy new estate with SRi VX Line

A FEELING of relief is something I usually experience when I find my missing keys, or just make it to the toilet in time to avoid something disastrous happening.

But this week it was a car which made me feel relieved, which was a new one on me.

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I was relieved because the Insignia Sports Tourer was the first Vauxhall I’ve driven in a solid six months — and it was fantastic.

Car buffs have all been worried about Vauxhall since Peugeot bought them out in the summer. We have an inherent, deep-seated antipathy towards the French on this side of The Channel.

What would happen to our beloved Vauxhall, a British company which has been selling us homegrown cars since 1903?

If the new Insignia is anything to go by, Vauxhall’s future isn’t as bleak as we once thought. Vauxhall doesn’t have it easy selling cars in this segment, estates are a speciality of premium brands such as Audi, VW and now, with the XJ Sportbrake, Jaguar.

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Then there’s the problem that everyone under the sun seems to want an SUV — the estate’s natural nemesis. I’ve used this column plenty of times to implore people to consider an estate over an SUV. They handle better, can swallow just as much stuff and usually offer better value for money.

The Insignia Sports Tourer ticks all those boxes.

For a start it is bloody massive. It can fit a family of five and enough kit for two weeks’ camping, and still have room for all of Philip Hammond’s hate mail.

To be more specific, the boot is a hefty 590 litres — you have to collapse the back seats on the VW Tiguan to make that much space. The cabin is luxuriously roomy, happily housing the longest legged among us without a compromise.

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Then there’s value for money. The entry level trim, called Design, is equipped with DAB radio, a pin-sharp touch screen infotainment system, autonomous braking and cruise control.

And it costs just £19,135. Beat that, Hyundai.

Splashing out £21,000 bags the SRi trim, which adds sporty seats and sexier alloys. Not that this car suffers from a crisis of aesthetics. It’s one of the best-looking estates on the market, with plenty of design studio additions — the French influence shining through perhaps?

The version I drove was the SRi VX Line, with a 2.0 litre diesel engine which knocks out a respectable 170bhp, and which comes with more tech than the starship Enterprise.

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Two colour screens crown the dash, which control the sat nav and Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. There’s a heated steering wheel, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, seven speakers, sports pedals, dual zone climate control . . . you get the gist.

And driving it was actually a lot of fun — another emotion I haven’t experienced at the wheel of a Vauxhall since the VXR8.

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Handling is crisp, especially for such a whale of a car, and the ride is comfortable without even feeling flabby. It’s also well insulated at high speeds, making the outside lane a peaceful experience.

The new Insignia range, which now comprises only of the Sports Tourer and the Grand Sport, is moving Vauxhall on from the boring-as-bat-s*** company car image, the Ramada Inn car park cruiser.

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It’s now a tasty proposition for families and businessmen who want a decent drive, value plenty of kit, but can’t afford German prices.

I’m not sure if I can say the new Insignia makes me proud to be British, those damn Frenchies have got me all confused.

But if the Sports Tourer sells as well as it deserves to, it should keep a lot of UK jobs safe for a while.