2000 Vauxhall Omega CDX review from UK and Ireland

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.

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!