New car news

14 August 2008 - 13:00

Estate of the art

It's a good time to be alive if you're in the market for a big, good-looking estate.

We've had the Citroen C5 Tourer in the office this week, which has been getting plenty of second looks, and then there's the Mondeo estate and, erm, the oh-so-understated Audi RS6 Avant.

And now this, the Vauxhall Insignia Sports Tourer. Set to be formally unveiled in Paris in early October, it'll go on sale in the UK in the first half of next year.

Looks pretty tidy, eh? Vauxhall is pitching the Sports Tourer (because you can't just call it an estate any more, darlin') as a stand-alone model and not simply an estate version of the saloon. It retains the same wheelbase but is about 8cm longer, and features fresh bodywork from the B-pillar backwards.

It'll get the same engines as the saloon - including the 2.8-litre V6 - as well as two new engines: a big turbodiesel and a little turbo petrol. Expect to see a BlueMotion-style green variant soon.

We're hoping those massive wheels will stay, too. We like those wheels. Keep those wheels, Vauxhall.