There’s a charm and desirability to the Vauxhall Insignia Country Tourer the regular vehicle merely cannot muster – it appears grips, corners and great properly as well as the fairly recently-facelifted indoor seems correct up-to-date. With poor fuel economy and unremarkable performance, this BiTurbo engine and auto gearbox combination is flawed. We’d stay with the 163bhp manual variation and save £5,510 – the cheapest variation is additionally £3,881 below the access-level VW Passat Alltrack.

It is easy to see why jacked-up, 4×4 Audi Allroad-fashion estates are becoming quite popular – they offer all of the area, away-highway ability and styling style that a lot of modern day people could wish for. So it’s hardly surprising that Vauxhall has followed suit.

We’ve already driven the entry-level 163bhp Vauxhall Insignia Country Tourer with a manual gearbox, but this is the range-topping 192bhp BiTurbo model only available with a six-speed auto, which is a bit of a shame. The gearbox never feels sporty enough to make it worth your while, even though it’s all well and good having an extra 29bhp and 50Nm of torque to play with.

Settle into a cruise and it slides between ratios smoothly enough, but plant your right foot and it’s slow to kick down. While you can alter gear personally by pulling and pushing the gearlever, there are actually no paddles about the wheel to actually take part you using the driving expertise.

Vauxhall Insignia Nation Tourer 2. CDTi BiTurbo rear

The engine pulls strongly, as you’d expect, but is a bit gruff during acceleration and is certainly no hot-rod. Considering it’s an surprising 20mpg thirstier compared to 163bhp guide design that’s ultimately a lot more stimulating to operate, it is hard to create a case for this.

As an overall package though, the Country Tourer is an easy car to like. The cladding around the arches and sills, plus a 20mm increase in ride height make it a bit of a head-turner – especially if you go for a lighter paint colour. Most of the time the ride feels reassuringly firm, with tight body control for a tall car in the bends, but over larger lumps and holes extra cushioning becomes apparent. The four-wheel drive system only sends power to the rear when needed, but it’s a seamless process – not once did it scrabble for traction even during a torrential downpour.

Vauxhall Insignia Land Tourer 2. CDTi BiTurbo indoor

All Country Tourers come with an electric tailgate, adaptive headlights and parking sensors as standard, while our top-spec Nav models added Vauxhall’s latest IntelliLink sat nav, complete with a futuristic, but fiddly to use track-pad controller.

Depending on the Sports activities Tourer, the continent Tourer offers the exact same roomy indoor and one of the primary boots within its course at 540 litres, or 1,530 litres with the back chairs down.

Select the land Tourer Nav requirements, and Vauxhall throws in an 8-inch shade touchscreen, a keep track of-mat and an 8-“” digital tool group right behind the wheel.