Sudden glow plug failure. 4 out of 6 burned out resulting in being unable to start the car. Very awkward to change and expensive to buy.
Very smooth and quiet car for a diesel and much prefers motorway cruising to in town driving. Driving rear wheel drive again takes getting used to but car very forgiving.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 22nd March, 1998
Just about everything electronic. Door window motors and sunroof motor (twice each). ECU Twice. Immobiliser. Entire New Loom.
Also - Glove compartment handle twice. Trims on doors catch and come off.
The car is good to drive. Brakes and handling good. Quiet and smooth on motorways. Engine pulls evenly through the rev range. Room inside good. Family like it.
Looks good. BUT the reliability is hopeless. The dealers are even worse.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 19th October, 1997
Automatic Gearbox - Electrical faults. Spent much time locked in 3rd gear-get-you-home-mode.
Air Conditioning - Feeble & smelly.
Indicators - Failed at random. Traced it myself (See comment on dealers) to intermittent hazard warning light switch!
Horn - Failed.
Cruise control - Switched itself off at random with a loud click.
Glovebox - Poor fit, failed to open. Lock fell off. Had to take hinges off to get at documents inside. Internal release mechanism made from plastic(!), so it had fatiged, and finally broken.
What's good?
Comfort - Quiet and comfortable, but the ride is not as smooth as the magazine reviews would lead you to believe.
Economy - Over 35 mpg on the motorway at a steady 70 mph (when the cruise control worked!). Excellent for a 3.0 V6 auto.
Audio - Speed sensitive volume control saves you from being deafened when you stop at the lights.
Electric rear sun-blind!
What's not so good?
Weight - A VERY heavy car, which only reluctantly goes round bends. Senator 24v much more fun, and quicker too.
Auto-dimming rear view mirror - No override switch.
V6 Ecotec - Not as smooth as the previous straight six in the Senator and Opel Monza.
Vauxhall Main Dealer Network - When presented with the problems, they were clueless. If you want an executive car, don't buy one from a mass-market manufacturer!
Conclusion:
An electrical nightmare! Just an isolated example? I'm not so sure. It seems like Vauxhall build quality took a giant leap backwards with the introduction of the Omega. Sold at auction, after the auto-box started playing up again, only a few hundred miles after the last E.C.U change. I will never choose a Vauxhall again because I have no confidence in the dealers. Good riddance to bad rubbish!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 28th August, 1997
My dad bought the old type, and we had it for 7 years and it didn't break down once. Bought the new version last year, a V6, and I love it; it's fast, comfortable and reliable.
An older review but what a great write up. I wanted the Omega to be good as well after having a Carlton and Senator that still to this day are among the most reliable cars I ever had. Shame the Omega could not replicate this, it was an otherwise capable car aside from reliability.
Some Omegas were OK. I knew people who ran them to nearly 200,000 miles relatively trouble free. Still, they just were not as reliable as the Carlton or Senator were. But the Omega was more complex and required particular maintenance to keep them right, which for some strange reason even Vauxhall seemed unaware of how to do at the time!
19th Mar 2008, 03:39
A previous employer ran a fleet of very reliable Carltons which were replaced with the (then brand new) Omegas. They were a disaster. All the faults you mention, plus steering locks that refused to relinquish the ignition key, idling faults, engine management warnings and head gasket failures.
The whole lot was sent back to the lease company after 18 months. Complete rubbish! I'm told the later ones were better once Vauxhall had sorted the problems out, but that's no good to business users who need a car to get from London to Manchester for an important meeting, not to leave them on the side of the M6 after cutting out for the fifth time since leaving home.