Faults:

Oil leak, misfire, ABS, and the A/C was pretty weak.

Seemed hard on tyres, suspension and brake parts, but it was a heavy car and I drove it hard sometimes!

Nothing out of the ordinary for the time and mileage I put on it. Mine seemed more reliable than most Omegas I heard about, a lot of people had problems. Main dealers were terrible (in my experience, uninterested and expensive); had to seek out independent Vauxhall specialists for service and repair, but it was worth it.

General Comments:

'98 Omega in black with lovely alloy wheels. A stunning car at its time.

I bought this car for work back in the day. Like many, I spent most of my time up and down the motorways of the UK. It was an accomplished relaxed cruiser, and it did everything well. Seemed popular with traffic police also! I had the best generation in my opinion (94 - 99 models) I didn't like the late 1999 onwards face-lift Omega as much, it looked too bland.

Interior was stunning, very comfortable and smooth with every option of the time (as far as 1990's technology goes); I have never had a more comfortable car to this day. It was super smooth and silent. Elite was top of the range, but they were all well equipped, even lower range cars had all electric windows and air con, etc. Spacious, and a huge boot.

2.5i petrol engine was fast when needed, even with the automatic, but it was more at home on motorways as mentioned earlier. Not very good on fuel, I think it did around 25 mpg at best.

Handling was surprisingly decent for a larger heavy car. But do not push it too hard in corners, heavy under-steer or it can surprise you with over-steer in winter on icy roads; it made me have to respect rear wheel drive with a bit of weight behind it!

I miss it a lot, but had to sell it when it was 15 years old due to needing a newer car for work. I miss it a lot and the only thing Vauxhall have made close to it in recent years is the Insignia, but that car is closer to the Vectra; the Omega competed with bigger German executive cars of the time, and I miss when manufacturers like Vauxhall made cheaper to buy luxury class saloons like this.

Faults:

Lots, but mostly wear and tear expected of many years and miles.

General Comments:

The Omega was not as good as the Carlton I had before, but it was a decent enough car.

2.0 petrol had average performance and economy, so you might as well go for the bigger engines; try and avoid the standard 2.0. GLS was also a very basic model, go for a CD or above. Comfort levels are still top notch however, seats are good and most things were electric.

Great looking car and I miss it a lot, scrapped back in 2018. But at 20 years old and higher mileage it was good going for any car.

Faults:

Over the 16 years I had it, lots of wear and tear;

Entire brakes + suspension parts replaced.

Full exhaust system.

Timing belt changed.

And of course regular oil changes. Only real "faults" were an electric window stopped working, an ABS sensor needed changing, and a leaky rocker cover gasket. Nothing too serious or expensive.

General Comments:

One of my favourite cars to drive, the Omega handled with ease for a rear wheel drive car, and gave acceptable acceleration. The 2.0 16v unit was not the fastest, and if recommending this car I'd say go for a V6 model - 4 cylinder feels a little under powered for a car of this size. However I did achieve around 30 MPG or a little more on average - you won't get that out of the V6s.

5 speed manual box was a little vague in feel and use, though it felt correctly geared to the car. Never struggled with enough torque for most situations. Again, V6 models are probably a different story and I've heard even the auto boxes are good.

The interior of this car was its most appealing feature. The CD model was mid to high range as per Vauxhall, and being an executive car there are a few things one can expect as standard; electric windows all round, air con, plush velour seating, cruise control and trip computer. Mind you, this was the 90s, features like that were a big deal back then but are now commonplace on run of the mill smaller cars you can buy now. But what appealed to me about this car, even in its final years and kept its luxury feeling going, was the ride quality and quietness in the cabin that you simply still don't get in smaller cars. Shut your eyes and most people wont be able to tell the difference from this car if they are sitting in a top end BMW or Mercedes. I feel the Vauxhall was very underrated in this respect.

Vauxhall can make an executive saloon and this proves it, never mind what the press badge snobs said about it back when it was a new model in 1994.

Incidentally, my car was a 1998 which I'm glad about as this was just before the facelift version in 1999 that ran for a few years until discontinued in 2003. I preferred the look of the older 90s models.

In conclusion though this car was only scrapped recently, but after nearly 20 years and nearly 200,000 miles I think I got my monies worth out of it. Reliability was also not as bad as some reviews suggested, though they did have a lot of electronic problems. Maybe I got lucky, but I did look after mine with not much more trouble other than the wear and tear mentioned above, which would happen to any car.

If you are considering a Vauxhall Omega to buy today... ideally go for a well optioned V6 (4 cyl is acceptable, just don't expect great performance) with history and as low miles as possible, and find a nice independent garage to look after it. It makes an ideal second car to cruise around in absolute luxury, and still blends in with more modern executive cars - no one will know what you drive.