What's Wrong With This Picture: Fit For A King Edition
In our Regal-welcoming thread, Martin Schwoerer noted that the Insignia is smaller inside than the Cruze. And guess what? He’s right (trust but verify). The German-market Cruze has 963 mm (37.9 inches) of rear kopffreiheit, while Insignia comes in at 910 cm (35.8 inches) according ( PDF) to the guys at motor-talk.de (who cite sources ). These same resourceful forum denizens also dug up the range of distances between the rear and front seats on the Insignia and some competitors and by comparison, Insignia rear seating isn’t sitting pretty.
Ford Mondeo: 12-37 cm
Opel Insignia: 10-37 cm
Skoda Superb: 23-48 cm
Volkswagen Passat: 18-42 cm
As the picture above proves, rear seat space is a perennial complaint in reviews (this one by Autocar) of foreign spec Regal clones. Which is probably why GM is hinting at a “sporty” positioning for the Insignia-as-Buick. Because you have to sell a slightly-more-cramped Epsilon-based Buick somehow.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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Oh, and the 4 door saloon is the option. The 5 door hatch is the standard car.
Who the heck needs more leg room than the car pictured?!?!?! Are there that many people with 36" inseams? Really? It's larger than VWs most popular Jetta. Good enough. I thought we were on a downsizing trend?
I've always wondered why people care about rear legroom. How often do most people have adults sitting in the back of their cars, much less adults for whom they care so much about their comfort as to select an entirely different daily driver?