1997 Vauxhall Omega CDX review from UK and Ireland

It would probably be easier to say what has actually still worked with this car as most things have gone wrong!!

I bought this as a low mileage 2 year old motor from my local Vauxhall dealer and covered by their over rated Network Q Guarantee.

This was a one owner car with a full history.

I still wince when I think this cost me around £10,000. I had hoped that I could get a decent and well engineered car for half the price of a Mercedes or BMW of the same age, Could I have been more wrong!!

I still don't know why I kept this car for 6 years, I guess as each fault happened, I hoped it was a glitch, payed my money and hoped for the best!

I actually totalled up repair bills about half way through ownership, came to £4,500, after that was afraid to look at my credit card bill!

As for faults!

Forgive me if I forget "Minor" items under £100 that is as bad as these cars are.

1999- 26,000 miles approx, 1 month of ownership, autobox became very rough, and lost kick down function, after 4 trips to Vauxhall and 3 fluid changes, eventually diagosed kick down sensor, replaced under warranty.

1999- 30,000 miles approx, aircon became smelly and failed, dealer told me not covered by warranty, ended up removing aircon drive pully, so no aircon now on a £10,000 car.

2000- 34,000 miles on board computer display fails, again "not covered by vauxhall"

During most of 2000 I had a variety of annoying faults, including Airbag warning, sunroof leaks and poor running, all in all about 10 trips to my Vauxhall dealer resulted.

2001- In early 2001 the engine failed, turned out that Vauxhall use a cheap plastic cam tensioner of the that they recommend is replaced at 60,000 miles, despite only 52,000 miles at the time they refused to repair under warranty, the excuse "I had missed a service schedule" I had by time not mileage. This repair cost me nearly £1800.

2002 Car actually ran fine this year apart from the electric windows and sunroof opening themselves from time to time!

2003- I guess well after the end of Vauxhalls supposed excellent Network Q warranty things went from Bad to worse. At 75,000 miles, the car started running poorly, as a result 2 weeks in the Local Vauxhall garage, the mechanics, though friendly enough really didn't have a clue, turned out that the cam covers (plastic) on the top of the engine had warped, the result the plug leads were damaged, the end result was a bill for nearly £900!! The plug leads alone cost £190, yet a set for my last car a Ford Granada were only £45!! A few weeks later the ABS failed resulting in another trip to the garage, I tried to buy a second hand ABS cable as diagnosed, however the scrapyard I went to was unable to remove it without damage as the cheap plastic cover snapped.

During 2003 I started the Omega paintowrk at the top of the doors started to bubble and break off showing rust. The car was only 6 years old at the time!! The dealer had the cheek to say that I must have left the car outside all the time! Of all the Vauxhall dealers in the Bessbrook area where I live, I found nothing, but incompetence and a general acceptance of how unreliable these cars are.

2004. I stuck this into a local auction, and despite losing a lot of money felt more sorry for the naive guy who bought it!

Cheap Rubbish.