Faults:

Climate control doesn't go cold, been topped up and worked, it lasted 3 days then gas leaked out. previous owner suggested the condenser needed changing, any one encountered similar problems.

Front screen mists up badly when it rains even though its on demist and full fan.

Heated front drivers seat won't heat.

Rear passenger window just stopped working, can hear motor trying to move.

General Comments:

This is second 3 litre Omega I've owned, previous being ex police. loved that so bought an elite so i could have all the toys.

Goes like a train and very comfy black leather seats.

Few minor snags, but it is 9 years old.

Faults:

Within 1 day of owning the car, the cam-belt slipped. Lucky for me it didn't do any major damage (if the garage changes the cam belt for you, make sure they replace the tensioners also)

Heated seats: the car has 4 heated seats. Guess which one doesn't work; that's right, the driver's seat.

Just MoTed the car. Needed some rear suspension bushes; even Vauxhall don't stock them!!! Coming from Germany.

The motors go like hell. Don't think much of the brakes though.

General Comments:

Besides a few teething problems, the car is serving well. It gets serviced every 6000 miles. Mine's an estate version of the Elite. For a big estate car, it picks-up well, and is 1st class as an overtaking car; it scares the life out of the wife.

The Elites are becoming very cheap to buy now, and are a lot of car for the money, but I'm afraid to say I think my 2.6 Senator was a much better car (mainly because you could work on a Senator yourself).

Faults:

Front discs replaced.

General Comments:

Absolute comfort and performance at a reasonable price.

Spec is brilliant.

On the motorway it returns the same MPG as my old Rover 214.

Faults:

Milo-meter Not Working when acquired Repaired Under Warranty.

Dodgy On Board Computer gives wrong Readings.

Rev Counter Gives Faulty Readings.

Noisy when Idle Possibly Exhaust.

General Comments:

This car has good road handling and the auto box is silky smooth.

Goes like the stink with sports mode on had just over 130mph @ 5,000 revs.

Loads of luggage space and is very comfortable on long trips.

Fuel economy 25 mpg thirsty!

Faults:

Battery failed at c.87000.

Instrument back-light temperamental.

Some interior trim quality problems.

Fr OS TCA and A/R bar bushes replaced to cure wandering and 'crashing'.

Possible air-con issues, see below.

Exhaust replaced.

General Comments:

I have been very happy with this car, it was bought without too much thought, though I have always liked the look of the Omega, in Elite spec. I have no ambition to replace it at the present time.

Costs can be a bit higher than ideal, but it must be expected on car like this, it ain't designed for economy! Insurance is about £600/yr which I don't think is too bad.

Not many problems, battery went as mentioned above, but a car with this sort of electrical load is bound to throttle a battery and it was the original. Recently had the exhaust replaced with a custom stainless system from Ascar in Sheffield which is superb, nice throatiness from the V6 but nowhere near intrusive. Again it was the original. Back-light on the speedometer is temperamental, but I've heard these are expensive to have replaced on Vauxhalls so it'll wait a bit. Some front suspension done to cure age problems, mush better now. Air-con utterly useless on 'ECO' mode, but don't have a manual so don't know if I'm using it right. If I use it EVER, the windscreen clouds up in an instant. Hmmmm. If anyone can offer any advice on this, please contact me, hamish@hbp.co.uk. Having read the stuff on headlight performance, I can agree, has anyone any experience on changing to the later spec Xenon system, is it worth it and who might do it? Some plastic parts are not seating correctly which surprised me a bit for a 30 grand car.

Quick enough though I may get some work done, Courtenay do a tuning program for the engine so may look into that. Auto box superb, first auto I've had and no issues, relaxed and smooth in normal, and mush more alert in sport mode. Handling fine, RWD quite good fun, enough power to break traction in the blink of an eye, but TC system brilliant, catches it early every time. Was a bit uncertain to begin with, but getting the loose TCA sorted tightened it right up.

Some rust appearing on rear doors, but think I'm right in saying this is trait of Vauxhalls...? Will get it sorted soon, it is a 7-odd year old car.