THE SECOND GENERATION Opel Insignia is now called the Insignia Grand Sport and further details have been released on the groundbreaking new tech to be featured in Opel’s flagship car.
The new Insignia, which hits the market in a few months, will be available with a clever state-of-the-art torque vectoring system with all-wheel drive, which will deliver “the highest levels of dynamics, feel and handling on the market.”
All-wheel drive and torque vectoring is a great way of giving cars excellent grip and putting high power onto the road in all weather conditions. However, this type of system usually adds a lot of unwanted weight to cars which can reduce performance and efficiency.
To combat this the new Opel Insignia system uses a Twinster all-wheel drive system that has a rear-drive module that utilises a twin clutch system (two hydraulically-actuated clutches) without a differential.
It is the lack of diff that reduces weight, and the clutch pack on the rear-drive module disengages when there is no need for all-wheel drive, which helps with engine efficiency and fuel economy.
This system can then distribute torque between the front and rear axle as well as to one or both of the rear wheels independently, enabling torque vectoring capability across the car’s full performance range.
When things get a little racy and during cornering the system sends more torque to the outside rear wheel which induces yaw (rotation around the vertical axis) and helps the car turn in harder, faster, and more precisely – as well as responding more immediately to driver input.
This system also controls the distribution of torque based on changes in throttle position, steering angle and road surface which makes the car more stable and safe. This is known as ‘yaw damping’.
Drivers can also select the amount of yaw damping via a drive mode function: from high yaw damping in Tour mode to low in Sport mode, for more spirited vehicle behaviour.
William F Bertagni, Opel’s vice-president of vehicle engineering in Europe, says:
The new generation Opel Insignia sets new benchmarks for midsize automobiles. Torque vectoring represents the state-of-the-art in transmitting power to the road. The new Insignia with torque vectoring all-wheel drive matches the best in the industry when it comes to ‘fun-to-drive’.
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