Faults:

Three of the six ignition coils have failed, the last one at 40,000 miles. All have been replaced under the three-year warranty. However, Fords refused to allow the dealer to replace the other three suspect coils. The engine is made by Volkswagen and I believe they have recalled all VW cars fitted with these coils and replace all of them.

Engine cooling fan solenoid failed at 96 miles!

Windscreen wipers failed at 28,000 miles. Caused by faulty switch on steering column.

Air conditioning has to be re-charged every 10,000 miles, but dealer cannot find a leak.

General Comments:

Many rattles inside cabin. Not what one would expect from a Ghia.

No radio controls on steering column. I believe this has been upgraded on latest model, but my previous 1998 Omega had them. Again not what you would expect on Ghia trim.

Rear electric quarter-light windows in the brochure were, in reality, manual. After some considerable wrangling, the dealer paid £500 compensation for incorrect description.

Fuel consumption not bad considering the size of engine and weight of fully loaded car - averaging 25.5 mpg overall.

Could do with more luggage space when all seven seats are in position - car needs to be about 6 inches longer.

However, when everything is working, the car is very comfortable, powerful, and the seating arrangements are very flexible.

Faults:

I purchased the car from the Great Trade Centre in London in November 2002. In December 2003 the engine management light came on. This was when my problems started. My local Ford dealer, Dees of Croydon, have had my car at least 15 times. As no error code appears all they have done in the past is reset the light. Obviously, not having fixed the fault, the light keeps coming on. A Field Engineer was finally sent down in April. He diagnosed one of the values needed replacing. This was done in May (after Dees having my car for 5 days). After approx. 200 miles the light came on again. I have had a constant battle to get this problem solved. In July the car was again booked in for the Field Engineer to inspect. He in fact did not turn up and diagnosed that the same value needed changing... without even seeing the car! Apparently this valve has been modified. It seems that this valve keeps picking up impulses from other components in the engine thus causing the management light to illuminate. Dees replaced the valve in 5 hours this time (not 5 days!) and I collected the car last night. I will let you know if this has cured the problem. I will however not be buying another Ford as they seem unable to repair their own vehicles.