Manufacturers will occasionally load a press fleet car with a great many optional extras for evaluation purposes, and that's what Vauxhall has done with this Insignia. In its official form, this diesel estate would cost £28,920, but if you want one in this precise specification it will cost you no less than £36,400.The Navi 900 navigation system accounts for £1200 of that, but the bulk of the additional expense is accounted for by the Premium Nappa Leather Pack, which is priced at £3060.Relax. You're not being asked to pay more than three grand just for cow-derived upholstery. The Pack also includes leather door panels and centre armrest, Piano Black-effect door and facia inserts, sports pedals, dark headlining and carpet mats. While that still doesn't make it the bargain of the century, there's no doubt that the Pack gives the Insignia's already well-designed interior an ambience that other versions can't match - one, in fact, that is easily beaten by Jaguar but not by more mainstream brands.The extras also include a mobile phone system with Bluetooth connectivity (£420), an Infinity Premium Sound System (£525), rear side window sun blinds (rather stiffly priced at £210), a Towing Pack (£595) and a Flex Organiser Pack for those who need various methods of stowing different items (£110), none of which requires further comment. Nor would I mention the full-sized spare wheel (£110) except that it turned out not to have been supplied after all, as I found to my alarm and dismay after a pothole jumped out in front of me on a weather-ravaged back road.It is, however, worth devoting some attention to the Flex Ride adaptive damping suspension. This costs £790 and, if my experience of Insignias without it is anything to go by, is well worth it. As you may recall from previous descriptions, it has three modes, one un-named and the other called Sport and Tour (nothing to do with the Sports Tourer part of the car's name, which is simply Vauxhall's way of describing what most people simply call an estate).I drove a Flex Ride-equipped four-wheel drive Insignia Sports Tourer just over a year ago and didn't think much of Tour mode at all. In this front-wheel drive version it was much less objectionable, though like Sport it doesn't seem to be very far from the standard setting, which, after some experimenting, I reckoned was the best of the three.The best way of improving the ride would be to avoid spending an extra £460 on 19" wheels (the last option I'm going to mention, you'll be pleased to hear). The slight jiggliness that they cause is, however, only a marginal irritant. Generally, this Insignia is a fine car to drive, with firm but smooth controls and a very nice cornering balance.Despite what seem to be very high levels of soundproofing, the diesel engine is noisier than you would hope for in something costing more than £36,000. Apart from that, it's very flexible, pulling well from well under 1500rpm, and according to the official figures it gives the car combined fuel economy of 50.4mpg and CO2 emissions of 139g/km.A more exciting 192bhp twin-turbo version of the same engine has recently been announced, and I'm sure that will be a lot of fun. The 158bhp of the current unit was good enough for me, though.Previous general comments about the Insignia Sports Tourer still apply. For a start, visibility is not good enough, as is also the case for other body styles, though for slightly different reasons.More positively, luggage capacity is roughly on a par with that of the Ford Mondeo and Renault Laguna estates, at least with the rear seats in place, but not as good when those seats are folded down. The Skoda Superb estate, however, remains by far the best in class in this respect. Engine 1956cc, 4 cylinders Power 158bhp Transmission 6-speed manual Fuel/CO2 50.4mpg / 139g/km Acceleration 0-60mph: 9.3 seconds Top speed 132mph Price £28,920 Details correct at publication date
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