Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: humbucker on 13 July 2010, 23:26:40
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the elite went to have her mot today and for the first time in our 6 years together she failed.
basically a list of minor things, but a fail on major leak of exhaust gasses and failed emissions test due to fubarred exhaust from cat back. also brakes all round need doing, and rear spring snapped. handbrake cable needs replacing, track rod end etc etc, windscreen washer pipe needs replacing as leak emptying tank from somewhere...
all in theres a lot of little things and an exhaust, i've got the springs, then the brakes etc etc
not sure what to do really... the cost of the zorst is quite a bit when you consider that shes a 200,000 mile motor (well, nearly) thats getting a little rough around the edges. thinking it might be time to get something else, take her off the road and strip/use her to provide parts for my V6 cavalier build... dunno really...
love the car but i do 400 - 500 miles a week in her and cant ignore rising fuel prices as well. need something with less miles and more fuel economy perhaps...
whatcha reckon... shes not worth selling really, a great car but wouldnt get anything back on her. ive spent a fortune over the last couple of years but maybe enough is enough... she can live on in my other car perhaps?! :-?
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the elite went to have her mot today and for the first time in our 6 years together she failed.
basically a list of minor things, but a fail on major leak of exhaust gasses and failed emissions test due to fubarred exhaust from cat back. also brakes all round need doing, and rear spring snapped. handbrake cable needs replacing, track rod end etc etc, windscreen washer pipe needs replacing as leak emptying tank from somewhere...
all in theres a lot of little things and an exhaust, i've got the springs, then the brakes etc etc
not sure what to do really... the cost of the zorst is quite a bit when you consider that shes a 200,000 mile motor (well, nearly) thats getting a little rough around the edges. thinking it might be time to get something else, take her off the road and strip/use her to provide parts for my V6 cavalier build... dunno really...
love the car but i do 400 - 500 miles a week in her and cant ignore rising fuel prices as well. need something with less miles and more fuel economy perhaps...
whatcha reckon... shes not worth selling really, a great car but wouldnt get anything back on her. ive spent a fortune over the last couple of years but maybe enough is enough... she can live on in my other car perhaps?! :-?
Can I put my name to the floor mats if you decide to part with her. (Pretty please - and of course if they are still the wool mats )
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Sounds like mostly consumables to me. Not too bad. Exhaust £130 from Eternalcar.com. Brakes are only a couple of hours work and while you're under there the handbrake cable is easy, as is the rear spring.
Kevin
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From past experience i'd say it depends how much you have to spend on the new car. Many years back I had a Mk1 Carlton that seemed to have something niggly go every month, I ended up spending a couple of grand on a secondhand Mk2 because it was driving me mad.
What happened was within the year i'm starting to revisit the exact same areas that I had done on the old car, pads worn, rusting exhaust etc etc. In hindsight I should have stuck with the Mk1 that had had all the routine stuff done and just kept tweaking it.
When I bought the Elite I spent significantly more for a 2yr/40K car which served me well with only minor work until last month.
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From past experience i'd say it depends how much you have to spend on the new car. Many years back I had a Mk1 Carlton that seemed to have something niggly go every month, I ended up spending a couple of grand on a secondhand Mk2 because it was driving me mad.
What happened was within the year i'm starting to revisit the exact same areas that I had done on the old car, pads worn, rusting exhaust etc etc. In hindsight I should have stuck with the Mk1 that had had all the routine stuff done and just kept tweaking it.
When I bought the Elite I spent significantly more for a 2yr/40K car which served me well with only minor work until last month.
Exactly. If you're replacing it with another used car you are stepping into the unknown and may well be in the same if not worse situation next year. If the car is basically sound and doesn't require much more than routine servicing items it's best to stick with it IMHO.
Any car you buy will wear brakes, after all.
Kevin
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Hey Dan, ive seen your car in the flesh, sorry to hear shes failed the MOT :( . i can understand about the fuel costs, i have noticed the difference from going from a Cavalier to a 2.5 lol. i think at the end of the day you have to look and see whether its really worth keeping her on the road. Ive just sold the Cavalier and i owned that for 6 years so know all about sentiment and not wanting to part with something thats been reliable. Good luck with the decision is a toughy :y
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Sort her for the MOT, as has been said they're mostly consumable bits and LPG her...
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Dan,
You can't let the mothership go after all you've spent on her. As said, they are essentially all consumable items and there's every chance that it's replacement will need it all doing again.
Keep it IMO :y :y
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hey all!
i think im going to keep her regardless. im going to take her off the road for a bit and get a new motor anyway. the resale value wont impact the cost of a new car as 'high mileage' elites arent selling for much these days, so the sensible thing will be to park her up and keep her while i decide what to do. maybe she'll become another project, maybe she'll end up stripped to benefit my cavalier project. or maybe she'll be fixed up and live to see another day on the road. either way i dont think i'm ready to let her go just yet. :y
re the spending money on her: if i keep her on the road OR use her as a cavalier donor i think i'll still reap the benefits of my previous expenditure, but i do think that running a 3.0 v6 450 miles a week is starting to put pressure on the wallet, particularly with fuel prices and service parts going up in price. if i can get something more economical (but not THAT economical!) then the omega will probably benefit from having a rest for a while. she IS a great example, but could do with a bit of TLC which i just dont have time for at the moment, and coming up for 200,000 miles is probably a good time to let her have a breather and decide what to do before she gets too rough around the edges :-/
i've had her 6 years now, and have done 120,000 miles in her in that time. they've been largely a happy 120,000 miles and i will be sad to see her go, so for now skruntie the mats are staying where they are hahaha! ;D
(http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm317/audiojustice/oof/IMG_1974-sm.jpg)
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You can't strip it :o
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glad to hear it danny :y
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Can't scrap it for a front driver!! :o :o :o :o
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Go on then Dan, will let you keep my mats, the car wouldnt look right with out them. Plus am glad to hear you are keeping her. :y :y
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good to hear Dan :y
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Well I decided that I’m going to keep the Omega regardless. I’m not sure what will become of her just yet, after all, mechanically she is sound and the body isn’t in bad condition, but she is getting a little rough around the edges and the cost of continuing to run her 450 miles a week combined with the parts I need to fork out for to get her through an MOT mean she is taking an early retirement. Have no fear, she isn’t being scrapped, and may end up back on the road again, but for not for the time being. Going to SORN her for a while. Worst case scenario is that she becomes a donor car for the Cavalier project, but that is jumping ahead a bit.
Mrs ilovemyelite and I took a trip far and wide at the weekend to pick up the Omega’s replacement. Just like Morten Harket, we were ‘hunting high and low’ for something pokey, reliable and cost effective with fairly low mileage. I was interested in getting a Calibra and my good lady wanted a Mk5 Astra, so we decided to meet somewhere in the middle and look for a Mk4 Astra Coupe. After a scan of the usual motor e-rags we stumbled across a super low mileage Linea Rossa edition which we promptly arranged to go and see. We hopped in the Cavalier and off we went to check her out. After we arrived, we took the Astra out for an hour or so, violated it sufficiently to satisfy our curioisities and made an offer. A little while later we were driving home in the new addition to our Vauxhall family!
It’s an ‘03 plate 2.2 litre 16v Linea Rossa edition Astra coupe; Bertone styling and a stunning interior to match. They only made 200 of these so there aren't that many about. The most impressive thing was a genuine 22k miles covered by one owner from new backed up with a full VX service history. Aside from a couple of scrapes on an alloy or two, and being in need of a deep polish to bring back the Flame Red finish, she’s immaculate. With such super low miles the interior looks barely sat in and there is no wear on the car to speak of. It seems almost a shame to start piling on the miles really, but hey ho it was bought to be an every day driver so that’s what it will end up being. For now at least though she has to be the lowest mileage Linea Rossa out there? Maybe...
We popped down to Woking on the way home to pick up some Cavalier parts and I took a few snaps while we were there. She might not be as ‘rear wheel drive’ as the Omega but she’s still a stunner imho.
(http://www.mediajustice.co.uk/images/astrawip/17072010604.jpg)
(http://www.mediajustice.co.uk/images/astrawip/17072010602.jpg)
(http://www.mediajustice.co.uk/images/astrawip/S7000199.jpg)
(http://www.mediajustice.co.uk/images/astrawip/17072010608.jpg)
(http://www.mediajustice.co.uk/images/astrawip/17072010609.jpg)
(http://www.mediajustice.co.uk/images/astrawip/17072010613.jpg)
(http://www.mediajustice.co.uk/images/astrawip/S7000201.jpg)
(http://www.mediajustice.co.uk/images/astrawip/S7000202.jpg)
(http://www.mediajustice.co.uk/images/astrawip/S7000194.jpg)
(http://www.mediajustice.co.uk/images/astrawip/S7000193.jpg)
(http://www.mediajustice.co.uk/images/astrawip/S7000190.jpg)
Going to leave the car more or less standard for now, however, I will be making some modifications in the coming weeks to improve the car slightly, and I’m tempted by a new GSi front bumper but one thing at a time hehe!
So now I have a Z22SE Mk4 Astra Coupe Linea Rossa, a C25XE Mk3 Cavalier CDX, and a X30XE Omega Elite. Does that qualify as a ‘fleet’?! ;D
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very nice danny. :y
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Very smart indeed ILME 8-) :y
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thanks guys! by the way whats ILME?!
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Yep......very nice.. :y
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thanks guys! by the way whats ILME?!
I
Love
My
Elite
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Very nice Dan... Still ticks the Auto box too :y :y
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Thats exactly what i was thinking LD didn't know they did them in an Auto :y
Very nice car
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thanks guys! by the way whats ILME?!
I
Love
My
Elite
ah yeah so i see hahaha! i was thinking, 'hmmn now i know IMHO but ILME is lost on me... wonder what it could mean' hehehe :y
Very nice Dan... Still ticks the Auto box too :y :y
yeah that was a stroke of luck really... this edition is rare as a coupe, let alone as an auto too. with the motorway miles this car will be munching up an auto box is ideal, and maybe a manual conversion later down the line when we're not ploughing on so many miles!
Thats exactly what i was thinking LD didn't know they did them in an Auto :y
Very nice car
thanks! yeah, i hadnt seen one before this either. :y
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the omega is going into storage now, going to sort it out within the next week. i dont want to get rid, but i also dont want to put her back on the road for now, so maybe a future project or even cavalier donor.... or both!! either way, shes hitting early retirement until i decide what i want to do with her...
(bare metal resto anyone hehe?!)