2000 Vauxhall Omega CD 2.2 16v petrol from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Nice!

Faults:

Mass air flow sensor.

Climate control is broken.

Power steering pump (expensive).

Usual wear and tear (shocks, exhaust, brakes, etc).

Looked after car, gets the oil changes and belt changes as required.

Probably more, but I have had the car a long time and cannot remember everything, but I genuinely do not remember any major disaster or anything costing too much. After a poor experience at a Vauxhall main dealer I used local mechanics to keep costs down for servicing and repairs.

General Comments:

An excellent comfy cruise that I bought very cheap back in 2008. These Omegas depreciate like hell and are only averagely reliable, but a looked after one will be about as cheap as you can get for an executive/luxury car on the road.

My car is an updated shape 2000 model in silver, a very common sight at one time (there are not many left now). Good looking car in CD spec with original Vauxhall wheels.

Interior is gorgeous also and very comfortable, lots of electrics and nice seats, awesome for motorway cruising. Spacious, and the handling is not bad considering the car's size and weight.

2.2 petrol engine with the automatic has pretty poor economy and performance by today's standards, but take it easy and around 30 mpg is still achievable, and you can use sport mode to overtake on busy roads. I'd recommend going for the bigger V6 engines however.

It has been my main car for a long time, but lately has taken to my garage a lot and is now in use only as a second car. In more recent years I have replaced it with a Vauxhall Insignia, which is the closest thing to it that Vauxhall still make in recent years, and is a nice car, but that car is closer to the Vectra than the old Omega. I do miss these cars. If they still made them and were a bit more reliable and fuel efficient, I'd happily buy another as a daily driver.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 27th August, 2023

2000 Vauxhall Omega CDX 2.5 V6 24v from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Could teach new beemers and mercs a thing or two about ride

Faults:

Intermittent poor starting.

Knocking/rattling noise on start up, which goes away after approx a minute.

Driver's side heated seat inoperable.

Electric sunroof slow.

Whistling wind noise from driver's side wing mirror.

Occasional high pitched noise from climate control system, regardless of whether the fan is set on high or low.

Cruise control occasionally deactivated of its own accord.

General Comments:

Plus points first -- this has to be the comfiest car I think I've ever owned, it rides fantastically and the seating is spot on, like sinking into an old sofa after some cars I've driven.

I bought this car as very high mileage for only £800, for that money I got a large, roomy, luxo barge that accommodates even 5 adults in reasonable comfort, still felt very well built even after all those miles, and had a very high kit count.

Half my journey to work is dual carriageway, the Omegas home turf, it cruises at 80-85 mph with hardly any engine or wind noise, feels nice and stable, and has re-assuring brakes in case of a high speed stop, also kicks down quite well at speed, handy for pulling out into lane 2 or 3 if something is pulling up at a rate of knots behind you.

Xenon headlights are brilliant, really noticeable improvement over standard lights, also thought the 4 disc CD autochanger mounted in dash is a good idea, no rummaging round in the boot, and the audio system sounds really good, handy info display as well, coming up with messages like "washer fluid low" or "check engine oil".

Negatives for me were the slightly barge like handling on country roads, although the steering feel is pretty good, it tended to wallow quite a lot and felt like the damping needed to be better, perhaps the price you pay for such a good ride!

I also felt the initial brake bite was too spongy, not that confidence inspiring, although the brakes are very powerful if you need them to be. I had the traction light flash too many times for my liking as well, although to be honest I think this was more to do with the time of year and the fact the rear tyres were down to about 2mm, I actually came close to losing it once round a left hand bend whilst accelerating onto a dual carriageway off a roundabout, good to know it's a 4 star Euroncap car then!

Most other niggles really are down to the above listed faults, not sure what the poor starting was about, the knocking engine noise seemed to start after I had the spark plugs changed (expensive as one bank's stupidly hidden by a load of crap in the engine bay), sunroof issue was down to lack of use by the previous owner, I think the whistling wing mirror was due to the fact it was slightly loose on it's mounting and wind was getting through a gap, and the most annoying thing, the high pitched whistle from the A/C system, was just weird! It was intermittent, seemed to go away under acceleration, and sometimes turning the temp down as low as it would go and running it on full blast would clear it.

Was a bit thirsty, got 25.5 mpg on average, and I thought low down torque was a bit lacking as well, prompting using sport mode on the box more than I would've liked.

Overall, a good car, I'd have another, hopefully a 3.0 litre Elite next time!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 21st January, 2009

16th Apr 2009, 07:34

You seem to like the car overall though from reading your comments.

I have had my 3.0 MV6 manual now for about 3 years now, and other than normal wear and tear items she has been brilliant.

You think your traction control kicks in too much, you should try a manual 3.0, it's far worse. Having said that I would rather it kicked in than lost the backend round a roundabout in the wet.

I carry large amounts of tools in the boot, and it can still accommodate 5 adults and more.

Love my MV6 to pieces, just wish she had less than 130'000 miles on her, but what the heck, she starts first time every time without knocks, rattles, and goes like a rocket with exceptional handling as well.