1999 Vauxhall Omega GLX review from UK and Ireland

At around 50,000 miles, the car developed an intermittent fault. After a long run, the car wouldn't restart if left for less than an hour or so. Eventually, the car refused to start when cold one day, so off it went to the local Vauxhall dealer, where a £140 bill was presented for replacing a crankshaft rev sensor.

An exhaust baffle has just started to rattle in the past six months.

A steering bush is on its way out at the moment.

This is by far the best car I have ever owned. Perhaps the best comment is down to a friend of mine who has an identical model and just considered replacing it with an AMD Mercedes. He looked at, and test drove, the Merc then said the Omega might be the boring choice, but he loved his current one more than any car he'd ever owned. He's just bought another Omega.

The secret with these cars seems to be to buy secondhand. In the UK, the depreciation on these new is suicidal, so a three year old one can easily cost 25% of the cost of a brand new one. Makes it an amazingly cheap luxury car to run.

Certainly, if you've no need for a snobby badge on your car, an Omega is an opportunity for luxury motoring on he cheap.