Faults:

Engine kept stalling when the engine temperature increased. After much speculation from various parties, problem was found to be the crank sensor. Fitted and now no problems at all.

Paintwork chips very easily, my old car was bashed and battered and still didn't chip anything like this.

General Comments:

Engine pulls superbly. Put the car in 4th at 20mph and pull right the way through to 90mph+.

Cabin is plain, but well laid out.

Excellent car for carrying lots of equipment. Car still drives exactly the same with 5 people and luggage on-board.

Dealers are a complete much of morons. All the dealers in my area charge £60+ per hr labour and really haven't got a clue when it comes to engine faults.

Faults:

The car has sustained a dent on the tailgate. The car rolled back with the tailgate open and hit the house!

The drivers door "stay" fell apart.

The Handbrake shoes disintegrated after recent dealer service.

There are a few rust spots appearing now (especially the rear wheel arches) and there are some stone chips.

The alloys are becoming a little tatty.

General Comments:

None of the faults are "serious" and all, apart from the first, are due to "normal usage".

The car is seriously quick!

The car has a Manual gearbox, which is apparently rare. Apparently the power transfer between gears can be felt by passengers, if the driver is in a "sporty" frame of mind!

The engine sounds lovely. It sounds like a jet - and goes like a rocket!

The phone is built into the radio; there is no handset. The microphone is in the center console, the ear piece is the front speakers! Unfortunately does not accept all networks (For example "Orange")

The car has:

A great sounding entertainment system.

Black Leather upholstery.

(Are you "Drooling" yet?)

Electric Sunroof.

Tinted Glass.

Xenon lights.

Cavernous load compartment.

The "Faults":

Noisy and "ear popping" when sun roof opened. (Thank the Lord for the Air conditioning!)

Can be a little "thirsty". I have got the trip to read 7 mpg! But, hey, if consumption was an issue, I wouldn't have bought this car!

Faults:

Within 2 weeks of buying the car the horn failed. This was repaired under warranty.

Intermittently the driver's door locking button would not lift fully, so the door stayed locked. Dealer would not investigate until fault became consistent, so took it to private garage who fixed it within 30mins!

Both front tyres wear the outer edges of the profile despite the tracking being correct. Front tyre wear is common in Omegas according to local Kwik-Fit.

General Comments:

I bought this car second-hand from a car supermarket as an "emergency" buy, because my previous car had finally died on me that same weekend.

The Omega fitted my list of "wants":

-rear wheel drive

-an engine with more than 4 cylinders

-cheap to buy. What a find!!

For service, main dealers are typically over-priced and under-helpful. One quoted £450 for replacement exhaust, and couldn't carry out the work for 3days; A local exhaust centre supplied and fitted the same thing (without the Vauxhall label) for £145 within one hour of me asking for a quote.

I still use the main dealer for servicing (oil and filter changes only) to maintain the vauxhall service history. All other work is done by my local private garage for a fraction of the cost of the dealer.

Beware of cost for timing belt replacement for Vauxhall V6 engines. The dealer-quoted price of £110 only refers to supplying and fitting the belt. What isn't included is the other £200 for the pair of belt-tensioning jockey-wheels that must be replaced at the same time. Again, this work was done much cheaper (including the parts) by my local private garage.

The car drives well, smooth and civilized at all speeds. Tyre noise can become intrusive at high speed.

On dry roads, general road manners and cornering are good, with fairly tight body control without an unduly harsh ride. Despite this, for a rear-wheel drive car, the cornering is not as confidence inspiring as, say, a BMW, but is similar to Merc C and S classes. Cornering on damp roads must be treated with caution.

Everyone that rides in the car is impressed with the level of equipment and quality of fittings; even more so should they be told how little a second-hand Omega can be bought for. Mine was just over 3 years old, average mileage, but was only a quarter of the original list price!!

The saloon boot is huge, with split-fold rear seats to allow for longer bulky loads. Unfortunately for long wide loads, even with the seats folded forward, the aperture in the rear bulkhead between the boot cavity and the seats does restrict the available width. The estate does not have this shortcoming.

After owning a 2Litre diesel Montego, the power from the petrol 2.5 V6 was initially a revelation. It feels a bit flat now that I've got accustomed to it, needing to be worked hard up to 4000 to 5000 revs for respectable acceleration, so maybe I need to upgrade to a 3.0 V6 automatic for a swifter, but lazier drive! Having said that, despite a "boy-racer" driving style, the 2.5 V6 still gives me 27mpg each day, and 35mpg on motorway cruises.

The manual gearbox isn't bad, although first gear is always heavy to engage and disengage until fully warmed up. The clutch is light in action, but doesn't give the most positive feel, and is horrible for use in stop-start traffic.

Overall, the quality feel and road presence that exude from this German-made executive car are extremely impressive, irrespective of the budget brand name.

The styling, the gadgets, the hidden features (e.g. interior pull-down loop on underside of boot lid, fully folding FRONT passenger seat for those REALLY long loads) all show quality. This car doesn't just look the part - it IS the part.

I am now an Omega addict, and am lusting after an MV6 auto estate next. Hopefully the extra 500cc under the bonnet, bigger loadspace at the back and the sportier handling tweaks will eradicate my only shortcomings with my current car.