Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: TNTom on 14 July 2011, 15:11:24
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hi guys, new to the board here, im looking to treat myself to a big old cruiser (hence why im here), I currently drive a seat leon fr (waiting for the boos!) as im only 22 running costs are quite important to me as although im in full time employment i'm not minted :P Ive got my eye on a 1999 VAUXHALL OMEGA ELITE V6 AUTO GOLD 36000 MILEAGE. seems a clean car all the extras at a fairly good price. Now what should i be looking at in terms of runnings costs such as fuel mpg servicing ect, any nastys i should be looking out for?
Thanks for any advice in advance
Tom
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Omega's are not the cheapest car to run,fuel consumption around town can be low 20's up to early 30's on a good run,mine does around 25 average with mixed running,also check insurance costs as some folk here are seeing scary premium costs although a lot depends on where you live.servicing and maintenance costs can be quite cheap if you do a lot of it yourself or use one of the mechanics from here on the forum
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22mpg unless you drive like a granny. Tyres are £100+ a corner and you'll get through a front set every 20,000 miles or even sooner if you drive it hard, unless you have the wheels PROPERLY aligned and the camber correctly set (hardly anyone can do this, including main dealers).
You will enjoy endless, very expensive, repairs which you will have to do yourself or you will spend all of your disposable income on garage labour charges.
Your oil cooler will fail and/or your HBV which in turn will ruin your dis pack which cannot be reached by normal humans. (I know becaue I tried it today - and failed)
Your central locking motor will fail in your drivers door so you will have to open the back door first and reach round to open the drivers door (as long as your fingers aren't wet), your ignition barrel will stick so you can't turn the key start the car and your glove box handle will break.
Your scuttle drain will get blocked and flood the passenger footwell in the winter.
Your crank sensor will fail regularly which will cause the car to stop wherever it is, whenever it happens, which will be quite often.
Your alarm power sounder will set the alarm off every couple of hours at night until it spontaneously combusts and destroys the car. Unless you remove it as described in these pages.
Your headlamps will cloud over. Your brake pad wear sensors will break, while you are putting them on.
You won't be able to change the oil filter because the cap will seize on and not even your local garage will be able to get it off without a power saw.
You cannot change the spark plugs without taking half the engine to pieces.
The exhaust system costs £300+ and you can no longer get an original GM system that lasts a few years (I think I bought the last one). I think you nowhave to import one from Germany if you want a decent one.
Every part you need to buy will seem to cost twice as much as it does for other cars. Even with a Trade Club card.
Every fixing on the car is made of blancmange so when you want to undo it, the head melts. This is particularly true of the transmission plug and the oil drain plug. This largely irrelevant since nearly every fixing on the car is inaccesible anyway.
BUT, when they are working well they are an absolute joy to drive. I've had mine for nearly 7 years.
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;D great discription there, good way to put me off tbh lol, what about the diesel is that any good??
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Think Alex is trying to give you the worst case scenario... I'm on my 2nd one. My saloon was bought with 113k on the clock, LPG'd at 118k and sold on at 175k having given 21/2 years almost faultless service. Had to change the HBV and the Crank sensor, both of which are easy enough to do but a bit fiddly, but everything else was service items (which I also include wishbones in!)
Front wishbones are heavily used but polybushing the front bush will extend the life of them considerably :y :y
They are a big comfortable cruiser but are not cheap to run, even if you drive like a saint... I reckon on combined costs of around 30p per mile on petrol, 20p per mile on LPG from my 3.2.
On the plus side, if you get a Trade Club Card from Autobahnstormers the service items are relatively cheap from the main dealer :y :y
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going from a diesel to a petrol i no im going to get hit by big fuel difference, can you get a lower engine sized model with the same spec as the 3.2?
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The v6 Omega is a lovely car to drive...the elite is top of the range...2 questions, what year is it and what do you feel is a good price?? And where are you based...if you are near one of the more knowledgeable hands on members it will help you out a lot :y
What Alex W is trying to say is that they need to be well maintained to help avoid the pitfalls but, for example, while a new tyre may well set you back £100...you can get a decent set of Omega alloys with good tyres on for about the same money or less and you have 3 spares once you have replaced the knackered tyre/wheel...there are ways around everything :y
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ive got an ebay link if i can post it here?? not allowed to post ebay links on the seat owners forums. i would be trying to haggle down the price. its a 99
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Not allowed to post ebay links on here either...I think you can put the auction number on though :y
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ive got an ebay link if i can post it here?? not allowed to post ebay links on the seat owners forums. i would be trying to haggle down the price. its a 99
its fine if you want opinions on something :y
its links to you own that are not allowed
(you do need a few posts before you can post a link, if it doesnt let you, use the auction number)
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If its the gold mini facelift then it looks very tidy...I would ask them when the cambelt and tensioners were last done...needs to be done every 40k or 4 years...probably never been changed...
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I truly love my Omega, that's why I've kept it so long.
I wasn't being a doom monger for the sake of it, ALL I described above has happened/is happening during my ownership. They are common faults most of which I have fixed myself because of the kind and generous help I have received from members of this forum. Sadly, I had owned the car for a couple of years before I discovered OOF during which time the local main stealer had enjoyed a grand (two actually) time with my credit card.
My car is of an age and value where it is uneconomic to keep repairing now but I am reluctant to change it because I know its quirks and foibles so well.
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here you go chaps auction number:250852905711
debating what to do, funnily enough the insurance is less on an omega then will be on my seat come renewal time.
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Yep thats the one I found...definitely worth asking when the cambelt and tensioners and waterpump were last changed and whether or not there is documentation for it :y
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ill drop them a message see what they say. still not sure if i wanna part with my beloved Leon though lol
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*Buy mine so i dont have to sell it to Sea Sick Steve! >:(
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201126395802860/postcode/DA1%205SP
*This should explain it lol...
http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1310503289/0#pagetop
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ahh i noticed that on there yesterday, tbh ive gotta stick with pre facelift, some reason the insurance is about 400quid cheaper, id be more then happy to buy from someone off here, dont want to end up with something thats gonna cost me half my wage to run for a year. btw im based in slough
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Why not consider a 4 pot? you get all the benefits of a big comfy car without all the maintenance costs of a V6, juts a bit slower off the line, better mpg and capable of cruising all day at 70mph plus, and as a younger driver, cheaper insurance.... :y
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I do not want to puit you off and I hope that you do eventually manage to get a mig but there is no doubt that they do take a fair bit of looking after and unless you are very capable yourself (they aint easy to work on either) the repair and maintainence cost can be very high.
That said, once you have owned a mig you rarely change to any other car.....they really are that good!
Best advice is that if you doubt you can afford to run one then don't buy. No-one can tell the future and you might buy a real pearl you will enjoy reliability for little maintenance layout or a real pig that will forever be in your pockets. The question you need to ask is why anyone would want to sell one unless its for another mig in better condition. If you do buy one remeber that should you then sell it you will most likely not get anywhere near what you paid for it.........
As said before, the 4 potters are cheaper than the 6s with most of the comforts but they do not have the sheer raw power.
GudLuk :y
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Why not consider a 4 pot? you get all the benefits of a big comfy car without all the maintenance costs of a V6, juts a bit slower off the line, better mpg and capable of cruising all day at 70mph plus, and as a younger driver, cheaper insurance.... :y
That depends on the OP's useage ;) ;)
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thanks guys, you've been very helpfull, maby i need to look at somthing else, as much as i would like to own one could possbily be a bit expensive for me to run, i no this is a omega forums but is there anything else in the vauxhall range the kind of compares??
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.... but is there anything else in the vauxhall range the kind of compares??
An Astra compares with your Leon ;) ;) ;)
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Coming from a fairly stiff FWD car, you may find the Elite quite soft (RWD doesn't need rock hard suspension to get the power down), which may take some getting use to.
Fuel aside - I get 23mpg from my 3.2 Elite and about 25mpg from my 3.0 MV6 (both autos) on petrol (about 20% less on LPG) - I've found them quite cheap to run IF you do your own work. Garages seem to struggle with them, and end up charging a fortune for substandard work.
I drive mine quite hard, so do have to take the hit on tyres and brakes, although, as mentioned, with 'trade club', service items like brakes are dirt cheap for genuine Vauxhall parts.
You don't list your location, but if you are near me, pop over, and I'll happily show you my pair, and point out their many strengths, and their weaknesses (wishbone bushes and cam cover gaskets!).
But, a 1.8t car is never going to match your FR for economy.