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.
8th Jul 2003, 14:57
Your "sound system" will sound great the MV6 and Elite Omega's have Bose speakers fitted to them as standard.
I drove a 2001 Omega estate "Elite" company car, to south Wales and back... (North East England) and I felt somewhat deafafterwards... I went through the whole CD wallet, great car.