RE: SOTW: Vauxhall Omega 3.0 MV6

[TEKNOPUG]

Had an ex-plod model. Not MV6, non-facelift model, so about 205bhp. Manual, LSD, TC, pagid brakes etc. Huge inside (easily fit a couple of bodies in the boot so always got pulled at border crossings). Went pretty well, took it too the 'ring. Slow and sideways! But well balanced due to length. 145+ of autobahn. Very comfy on motorways and long journeys. Cam cover gaskets go, leak oil into plugs, causes misfire, blows CATS, destroys DIS pack.......change cam cover gaskets as soon as you buy one!

Sold mine to a drifter for £400. £1k is probably a bit over-priced. I'd look for a manual if I was you. Very few private cars spec'd with manual but should be able to pick up a non-white liveried ex-plod (undercover, special protection etc) model if you hunt around.

[SWoll]

Bobdenero said:

Apologies now for going a 'little' of topic, but I am going to look at a high milage BMW E24 635csi tomorrow which looks ok body wise and has a FSH.He wants more than shed money for it...what I dont want is for it to be worth shed money if something goes wrong
Any advice for non mechanical enthusiast!

Start a new thread. Give more information.

[GWMD]

SWoll said:

I can only assume you've never driven an E39 5 series then?

Of course not, I felt the need to comment on something I had no experience with....

Clocked up near enough 40k on a manual E39 530d sport, and spent enough time in a 530i.

I wasn't keen on the massive steering wheel VX decided to fit to the Omega though.

[Mermaid]

A great chassis IMO.

[rallycross]

They are good old things these V6 Omega's, similar to drive to a BMW 5 series only much, much cheaper to buy.

I use one for towing, 3.0 v6 elite estate with self levelling rear suspension, tows the racing car beautifully at high speeds (the down side is 12 mpg towing).

[SWoll]

GWMD said:

SWoll said:

I can only assume you've never driven an E39 5 series then?

Of course not, I felt the need to comment on something I had no experience with....

Clocked up near enough 40k on a manual E39 530d sport, and spent enough time in a 530i.

I wasn't keen on the massive steering wheel VX decided to fit to the Omega though.

That genuinely suprises me. OOI in what way do you feel that the Omega was equally as good. I've spent quite a bit of time driving an MV6 and an E39 5 series and for me the E39 was considerably better in every way.

rallycross said:

They are good old things these V6 Omega's, similar to drive to a BMW 5 series only much, much cheaper to buy.

Other than them both being RWD I thought they were poles apart personally.

Edited by SWoll on Friday 20th January 12:23

[Shaw Tarse]

SWoll said:

Bobdenero said:

Apologies now for going a 'little' of topic, but I am going to look at a high milage BMW E24 635csi tomorrow which looks ok body wise and has a FSH.He wants more than shed money for it...what I dont want is for it to be worth shed money if something goes wrong
Any advice for non mechanical enthusiast!

Start a new thread. Give more information.

Do this.

[TACottle]

esvcg said:

nooo don't the secret out the bag!!

I managed to get a mint 2002 2.6 v6 elite model in the newer shape for... 1100 quid!

amazing value, my mate with a 2012 audi a4 2.0 sport line could not believe i paid so little.

mine has everything, xenons, leather, elec seats, and a great bose stereo.

i feel like i've underpaid the seller, way too much car for a pokey £1100!

This!

I've always had a soft spot for the Omegas. My first ever girlfriends dad had one, it was a 3.2 V6 Auto Elite, I remember it being a brisk waft mobile - And the amount of toys it had was immense!

I'm waiting till I have a spare £1000-1500 then I'll be buying one

[carinaman]

Shaw Tarse said:

Too much time browsing classifieds!

I don't recognise that one, but other ads I will recognise the backdrop

Guilty as chraged.

I think I'd agree that £1k is a bit steep especially given esvgc's silver 2.6 for not much more and I've seen a similar, more prestigious V6 luxo bargain go for 2/3rds of that this week.

Considering it's being sold by a trader you'd think they'd state how much MoT it's got on it.

I reckon it's got less than 4 months MoT on it. I reckon if it the MoT was due later than August they'd have stated it in the advert.

[Vanya]

I coveted these back then... tested one (manual) and loved it.

An itch never scratched, a thirst never quenched.
Still niggles.

[Gorbyrev]

Faust66 said:

Not a bad shed for the money.

I have heard that the Omega is not the most reliable car out there though…

Can't speak to the 3.0 but my mate's 2.6 was a shocker for reliability and had a habit of eating expensive engine parts. Doesn't this 3.0 have a fancy timing set up that effectively runs as 2 3 pots at low revs and a V6 at higher revs? Given their price these days I would strongly recommend buying a matching donor car for parts!

[TEKNOPUG]

Bobdenero said:

Apologies now for going a 'little' of topic, but I am going to look at a high milage BMW E24 635csi tomorrow which looks ok body wise and has a FSH.He wants more than shed money for it...what I dont want is for it to be worth shed money if something goes wrong
Any advice for non mechanical enthusiast!

Take someone with you who knows what they are looking for or at least get it inspected before you hand over any money. Great cars but with huge bills potential.

Edited by TEKNOPUG on Friday 20th January 12:31

[IROC-Z]

P-Jay said:

Tis true, until GM stopped making the Omega they were 90% the same car, the Holden just had different wings, lights and bumpers - the 'GL' spec Commodores looked just like Omegas - although the smallest engine one I ever drove (I used to have a lovely job cleaning and delivering hire cars in Sydney when I was a backpacker a decade ago) was 3.2 V6, not that it felt all that sporty, they used to have a 'sport' button that made a little light glow on the dash, and very little else. Fun cars though, felt very light for their size.

The fast ones were total parts bins specials - Omega bodies with Corvette engines and gearboxes.

When GM dropped the Omega Holden took the design and continued to evole it, making it the first car ever designed in Oz.

I'm not sure about it being the first car designed in Australia, I'm pretty sure Ford had developed entirely Australian designed derivatives of the Falcon by the 1980s, possibly earlier. Unless you meant by GM?

The Commodore was based on the Omega platform but they are wider and look noticeably larger. The Commodore isn’t a badge engineered version of the Omega with different body panels and badges, although the styling is very similar. The 3.2 V6 was used in the Omega but not the Commodore; they used their own version of the Buick 3.8 V6

[TEKNOPUG]

SWoll said:

GWMD said:

SWoll said:

I can only assume you've never driven an E39 5 series then?

Of course not, I felt the need to comment on something I had no experience with....

Clocked up near enough 40k on a manual E39 530d sport, and spent enough time in a 530i.

I wasn't keen on the massive steering wheel VX decided to fit to the Omega though.

That genuinely suprises me. OOI in what way do you feel that the Omega was equally as good. I've spent quite a bit of time driving an MV6 and an E39 5 series and for me the E39 was considerably better in every way.

rallycross said:

They are good old things these V6 Omega's, similar to drive to a BMW 5 series only much, much cheaper to buy.

Other than them both being RWD I thought they were poles apart personally.

Edited by SWoll on Friday 20th January 12:23

The driving dynamics are comparable to an E34 (which is of the same era). I wouldn't suggest it could be compared to a much newer E39

[TEKNOPUG]

IROC-Z said:

I'm not sure about it being the first car designed in Australia, I'm pretty sure Ford had developed entirely Australian designed derivatives of the Falcon by the 1980s, possibly earlier. Unless you meant by GM?

The Commodore was based on the Omega platform but they are wider and look noticeably larger. The Commodore isn’t a badge engineered version of the Omega with different body panels and badges, although the styling is very similar. The 3.2 V6 was used in the Omega but not the Commodore; they used their own version of the Buick 3.8 V6

The Omega is the same car as the Caddy Cantera in the states. Very few parts are shared with the Commodore.

[lawrencec]

Ive owened 2 a CDX and a CD not bad speced but im biased im a vauxhall nut

towing at resonable speed i get about 20mpg pulling the stock car and boot full of tools

mine has few irmscher bits on it and irmscher 19s best ive had on average MPG is 34mpg

its a brilliant motorway cruiser

[TEKNOPUG]

Mermaid said:

A great chassis IMO.

Indeed. Could certainly handle more power. Know real tuning potential for the GM lump (whatever people may say about their "chipped" cars). Opel did look into making a V8 model (LS1) which would have been great. They failed the TUV approval due to cooling issues at prolonged high speed running (autobahn). So it was shelved. I reckon a LS1 engined model would be great and I know of at least one running this conversion. Doesn't really make economic sense when you could just buy a Holden if you want a big LS1 saloon (different cars I admittedly).

Some people have looked into fitting Saab turbos as the engine mates to the gearbox, as Saab were GM owned at the time. Other options available for track/drift cars (depending upon your skill, money and imagination). Sadly no simple engine swaps for shed daily's.

[VolvoT5]

Great shed. I actually learned to drive in an manual Ex-plod (white) one of these. They are not the quickest off the line but once they get going they really shift.... I seem to remember getting the back end out doing 20mph in the wet as well (bad tyres?), so I guess they could be a bit of fun too.

I would find 66k miles hard to believe unless they have concrete history.... but for 1k who cares. A similar 5 series would be at least twice the price.

[Baryonyx]

These are great sheds, though finding a decent one is harder than ever now even with the prices as rock bottom as they are. I guess thats the sad fate they have suffered as they get older and many are not being given the respect they deserve. My local police force never used these as active duty cars but they do still have one that I know of, I believe it's used for VIP driver courses and skid pan work. Much like the Mondeo ST200, the force got some models as demo cars but never bought them in large numbers or used them on the roads, they were buying Volvo at the time.

I don't even expect there are any left in 'active' police service now, though I've no doubt forces around the country have some sat around. If you're looking for a manual model you could do worse than ringing your local force's fleet manager and asking him if he would sell you one, and if they're not selling right away leave your details for them.

I have always loved these though, and they do stack up very well against the competition of the time. Mercedes lower end model quality was in decline so really it was just BMW that Vauxhall/Opel were competing with and these models measure up nicely against the BMW's of the day. These days, with Mercedes coming back to form I doubt Opel could repeat such a feat though they may be able to challenge BMW once more at a push - but I don't think they will! For me, the Omega is the last of dying breed. A large saloon from a car company with a range of engine choices going from big to bigger! It reminds me of days long gone, when every manufacturer wanted to have a big saloon on their books. Ford with the Granada, Vauxhall with the Senators, Carltons and Omegas, Renault with the Safrane etc etc. Slowly these big cars started to die out and it was really only the Germans left making saloons in any sort of number. I miss those days.

[nobrakes]

Top Shed. Good barge. Kak colours still put some folk off = better value for those not bothered = even better shed value.