Opel Insignia OPC - Spicy or Spicy?

For some companies, car design is like a diet. More precisely - a new miracle diet, which consists in the fact that you just wait for a miracle ... Opel, however, did not want to go with the flow and rely on coincidence and decided to make extra efforts to create a roomy limousine that can easily compete with pure sports cars . Then what is the Opel Insignia OPC?

Women laugh at men that their husbands are big kids. In fact, there's something to it - after all, who doesn't love cars that shoot so violently in front of them when you touch the gas pedal that the skin on your face smooths out? The only problem is that it's hard to drive a Porsche Cayman in a growing family. Luckily, there are cars on the market that don't allow our ability to reproduce to buy a boring station wagon. Yes - the station wagon itself may be needed in case of more children, but it should not be boring. All you need is money.

From the very beginning, the Insignia was a beautiful and practical car - sophisticated design, three body styles and modern equipment ... No wonder it still sells well today. However, if the usual Insignia is not enough, it is worth considering the seasoned Insignia OPC. Although, on the other hand, this car is not seasoned - it is just completely different.

One thing needs to be said about the Opel limousine - both before and after last year's facelift, it looks very good compared to the competition. It is a pity that people are not always in such a great visual state as this car, because when a person stands in front of the mirror in the morning, sometimes he is surprised, sometimes this is not the last poster of Iron Maiden. And Insignia shines for now. However, the sporty version of the OPC is hard to recognize at a glance. What gives it away?

In fact, it is only after a while that one can say that this wagon is strange and a little unusual. Wheels are 19 inches, although 20 inches is not a problem for a surcharge. The front bumper scares off other cars with air intakes that Opel describes as tiger fangs. On the other hand, two large exhaust pipes are subtly integrated into the body at the rear. And it would indeed be so. Everything else is hidden under a neat body, which, in addition to the station wagon, can be both a sedan and a liftback. Anyway, I must add here that the best is invisible. All-wheel drive, a 325-hp V-twin turbocharged engine, a sport differential at the rear and the honorary title of the most powerful Opel in the history of the concern - all this sounds great. But since the curves of the legs can be hidden by a large neckline, this graceful silhouette has its drawbacks.

This may be a plus or a minus, but the interior doesn't hide too many sporty accents. In fact, were it not for the Recaro bucket seats, which were supposedly designed by some people who know a lot about the spine, the driver wouldn't feel much different from a regular Insignia. Well, perhaps the sporty, flattened steering wheel with buttons is a welcome addition. The rest is really nothing new. This means that the electronic gauges, while modern and "trendy", have graphics from Atari computers like the traditional Insignia, and the dash contains touch buttons that not everyone will like - because they just don't work as accurately as analog ones. . On a positive note, the cockpit is much more defined than the pre-facelift versions. This was achieved by transferring some of the options to the infotainment system with an 8-inch screen. You can control it in the most intuitive way on earth, i.e. with your finger and smudging the screen at the same time. There is another way - the touchpad, located next to the gear lever. In the latter case, a cursor appears on the screen, with which you need to hit the icons while moving - it's almost like shooting people through the windows with a slingshot. Only in the Insignia does the cursor hover even slightly, which doesn't change the fact that touch screen operation is much more comfortable and precise, if messier.

The Intellilink system, which combines some of the functions of a smartphone with a car, is known from the standard version of the car. Just like 9 modes of road lighting, cornering light or traffic sign follow. However, the optional watch display is a wise addition to the OPC. While driving, you can read not only oil pressure and temperature, but also more “exotic” lateral accelerations, G-forces, throttle position and a few more interesting facts. However, it was finally time to ignite the heart of the car and one thing immediately came to my mind - is it really a sports car? The sound of the engine is very thin, and only a louder and duller “rumble” is heard from the exhaust system inside - just like replacing the muffler on a Honda Civic 1.4l of the 90s. Those who expect sports fireworks may be a little disappointed and even hold a grudge against Opel. However, I refrained from making rash judgments, as my neighbor recently accused me of my dog ​​chasing people on a bicycle. When I told him that it was impossible because my dog ​​didn't have a bike, he looked at me askance and left, and I started to wonder why he fell on me when I don't even have a four-legged friend. Therefore, I preferred not to blame the Insignia OPC for being bored before the trip - and I was fine.

As soon as I jumped onto the mountain serpentines of Germany, the car immediately showed its two faces. In the first half of the tachometer it looked like a normal living limousine with a tuned Honda Civic exhaust system, but when the tachometer needle passed over 4000 rpm, a tsunami of power poured into the engine. 325 HP and 435 Nm of torque just near the red frame show that you want to get out of this car and go crazy off-road. The roaring engine releases the energy hidden somewhere at the bottom - and the car begins to bring a lot of pleasure. However, everything is extremely delicate, because neither the sound of the engine, nor even the loud one in the cabin, scares me. The power itself is also released in two "clumps" that aren't too intrusive. The 4x4 drive electronically distributes the power of the engine between the front and rear axles thanks to the Haldex clutch, and the sports differential at the rear is able to transfer up to 100% of the power to one wheel. Combined with a pleasant steering system, sports suspension and several driving modes to choose from, you can feel like a teenager in an amusement park and forget that the family is still in the car with green faces and paper bags in their hands. All this makes this car an ordinary limousine for every day - roomy, family, discreet. It's only when the engine is overturned that you feel the hidden power. However, the truth is that 6.3 seconds to the first XNUMX does not evoke as much emotion as typical sports cars, which are simply faster, but at the same time guarantee a lot of power on the road and amazing emotions. Especially when the potential of a supercharged engine combined with all-wheel drive is used on mountain serpentines - this family station wagon from OPC is even made for such driving and defies the laws of gravity. And since nothing brings you closer than a common enemy, you can quickly find an agreement with Insignia OPC - in this case, the enemy is enough emotional boredom. Because in this sporty limousine, under a relatively calm body, there is a restless soul. He is not uncompromisingly sharp, wild and crazy, but at the same time you can fall in love with him, because everyone will tame him and thus feel the freedom on the road.

Nothing is impossible. Even time can be stopped - at the end of work it always slows down, and on Friday it stops altogether. Therefore, even sports can be mixed with family life. Due to the fact that Opel does not believe in miracles, it was decided to do everything possible to create a specific car, which is not accidental. He successfully combined a large, roomy family car with incredible fun and emotions. He valued everything in the basic version for just over PLN 200 and put it in the salon. Is it worth buying? If someone expects wildness from the car, then no - then it's better to look for something - door, typically sporty, at least with rear-wheel drive. But if there are a lot of emotions, dosed in a subtle way, then the Opel Insignia OPC will be ideal.