Faults:
Rear doors became extremely difficult to open from the outside - especially in damp weather. This happened at around 20,000 miles and numerous dealer attempts to fix only gave temporary relief. I have not experienced the problem in the last 20,000 miles.
At around 35,000 miles I suffered engine warning light and stalling problems - I had to suffer this for almost 1,000 miles before I could get it fixed - diagnosed as a leak in the air inlet!?
Almost from new the car has suffered from misting in the car in wet weather. The problem is solved by using the aircon, but if I then switch off the air-con the problem is even worse. The dealer has completely failed to resolve this.
At around 85,000 miles I noticed an oil leak - the bottom of the sump is covered in oil. For a short while this also (obviously!) meant higher than usual oil consumption. Prior to this I could go 10,000 miles between services without a top up. Strangely the oil consumption has now improved. The dealer palmed me off with a story about the dipstick being incompletely inserted. My local garage now suggests one of the oil seals and suggests that I combine it with a precautionary (while the engine is being worked on) clutch replacement - is this a good idea at 100,000?
I have had one exhaust replacement - Quick-fit or similar. This was a bad idea - it interfered with my tow bar - banging when under load. I now have the problem that the exhaust bangs against a heat shield above the rear axle - irritating but not sure what needs to be done - next time I would consider an official pattern exhaust.
General Comments:
I now use the car mainly for (75 mile round trip) commuting with 3 or 4 passengers. This is what the car is good at - I return average 32mpg - I am a steady (75mph on motorway) driver, I guess I should be happy with the fuel consumption.
I used to tow a caravan with it - another plus point for it, but at any speed the drop in fuel consumption was dramatic.
The car is starting to feel its age and mileage, but to be fair it has been pretty good to me. I had it as a company lease car for 4 years and then I bought it 9 months ago. The depreciation is frightening - I would have hated to lose £15,000 in 4 years!!
The car handling is OK, but too much body roll for my liking.
My car share partners are very happy with it - 2 of the 4 are over 6 foot, our average weight is over 15 stone.
1st Mar 2002, 11:47
On an Omega GLS that my father owns, the recirculation flap, in the blower, had water in it. The flap would be stuck in recirculate mode. The result was a lot of misting, (only cureable with air-con).
Vauxhall fixed the problem, but has since gone again.