!NEW! Opel Insignia Sports Tourer: Trailer Towing the Relaxing Way

• Strong stuff: New Opel flagship pulls up to 2,200 kilograms
• Road safety: Trailer stability program, all-wheel drive with torque vectoring, hill-start assist
• High visibility: 360-degree camera, rear view camera, large exterior mirrors

Strong stuff: Opel’s flagship, the new Insignia (here the Sports Tourer) tows up to 2,200 kilograms.

The new Opel Insignia Sports Tourer features a sporty-elegant design, numerous pioneering technologies and lots of interior space, and it is also the ideal car for towing. The new Sports Tourer offers 1,665 liters of cargo volume and everything that exceeds this figure goes onto the trailer. In order to make towing as easy as possible, the Opel Insignia Sports Tourer not only offers features such as swiveling tow-hook, trailer stability program and advanced all-wheel drive with torque vectoring, but also hill-start assist, 360-degree or rear-view cameras and smooth-shifting eight-speed automatic transmission.

 

Highest priority: Trailer towing safely

The basis for relaxed trailer towing is the swiveling tow-hook with integrated plug socket, which is available for the Insignia Grand Sport as well as the Insignia Sports Tourer. As soon as the trailer is attached to the optional tow hook, a significant increase in safety is provided by the Trailer Stability Program. It helps to prevent potentially dangerous swaying movements. The car’s ESP system identifies the movements of the trailer and compares the continuously supplied data with predefined limits. In the event that the car and trailer start to sway and a certain level is exceeded, within milliseconds they are decelerated and selectively braked until stability is restored. The intensity of the trailer stability program is increased during larger swaying movements, so that the car and trailer are optimally stabilized.

The long wheelbase of the new Opel Insignia Sports Tourer (at 2,829 millimeters even 92 mm longer than the previous generation) also contributes to the calm ride and handling and the intelligent Twinster all-wheel drive system with torque vectoring provides optimum grip on every road surface at all times. In this high-tech system a conventional differential on the rear axle is replaced by two clutches, which can accelerate each rear wheel individually in fractions of a second, depending on the driving situation. The basis for this optimum driving behavior is supplied by the mechatronic FlexRide chassis that adapts shock absorbers and steering in fractions of a second; FlexRide also changes the calibration of the accelerator pedal (and the shift points of the automatic transmission). The driver can choose between Standard, Tour and Sport modes.

A strong combination of engine and transmission is required for towing heavy loads – the new Opel Insignia Sports Tourer can tow up to 2,200 kilograms (braked on slopes equivalent to 12 percent test gradients). The 2.0-liter turbo with 191 kW (260 hp) and torque of 400 Newton meters is a particularly powerful example (NEDC fuel consumption: 11.5 liters per 100 kilometers urban; 7.1 l/100 km extra-urban; 8.7 l/100 km combined; 199 g/km CO₂). Mated to the all-new eight-speed automatic transmission (and if the trailer is uncoupled), the four-cylinder engine accelerates the Sports Tourer from zero to 100 km/h in 7.5 seconds and up to a maximum speed of 245 km/h.

On the slipway: all-round visibility with new Opel cameras

When it comes to putting the boat into the water at the slipway, the large rear-view mirrors of the new Insignia Sports Tourer make reversing easier. For increased visibility, rear-view or 360-degree cameras are optionally available. As soon as reverse gear is selected, the rear-view camera shows the area behind the car on the IntelliLink-touchscreen of the center console. A bird’s eye view is delivered by the 360-degree camera, which is based on four individual cameras. With the trailer unloaded and when the driver moves his foot from the brake to the accelerator, the Opel Insignia Sports Tourer is prevented from rolling backwards on the slipway by the Hill-Start Assistant fitted as standard.

With the boat in the water or the caravan parked, the Opel Insignia Sports Tourer can continue its journey; as the tow-hook is no longer required it can be swiveled out of sight under the rear apron where it does not disturb the sporty elegance of the Sports Tourer’s silhouette.