Friday 10th January 2014

Shed of the Week: Vauxhall Omega V6

Low miles, decent history and absolutely no tow bar. Shed's found a Quite Good Omega

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Plenty of space, decent performance and a Made In Britain badge made the Vauxhall Omega a popular choice for our custodians of the law in the 1990s. Not just the BIB, but also senior Government figures up to and including the PM.

Some call it the last good fast Vauxhall...

This week's Shed is a sparkling example of the Omega bloodline. If it was politically acceptable to acknowledge the existence of such a thing as a man's car, this would probably be it. Some say it's the last good Vauxhall, preferring it even over the revered E39 BMW. It was a comical depreciator, but the good ones that are still around are maintaining a quiet reputation for reliable bargery.

As an all-rounder, this late model 2.6 is arguably the ultimate development of the Vauxhall V6 engine. The auto 'box in our Shed makes it a lover not a fighter, but irrespective of its drivetrain the core Omega was a well mannered beast with a good ride and gentle, forgiving handling that garnered it plenty of fans among contemporary road testers.

2.6 V6 was only around for three years

Our Shed is not VIP spec, but the CD model's cloth was good quality schmutter. The shape of the car is certainly of a different age, but the silver paint on this one doesn't date it as badly as some of the Omega's other Saga-inspired hues. The comfy cabin, meaty alloys, fat specification and stonking sound system ramp up its appeal.

Outside town you can expect mpg figures in the mid-30s and high 20s overall, which even by 2014 standards isn't so bad for a big saloon with a massive boot.

This towbar-free specimen looks like it may have dodged the baggy rear suspension fate of caravan-abused Omegas. Watch out for weak cam cover gaskets. Left unattended, they'll oil up the plugs and duff up DIS packs. If in doubt about gasket vintage, adopt best practice and fit new ones. Check also oil coolers, breather pipes and wishbones, and look for tinworm on the door bottoms and wheelarches.

Has anyone sat in the passenger seat?

The recent cambelt change adds value to this car, as you could easily spill £600 on that (quad-cam) job. Or you could save yourself the bother of the next 40k belt change, and simultaneously take a performance step up from adequate to ample, by lobbing in a V8. In 1999 Opel built up some prototype Omegas powered by the 5.7 GM LS1 lump. What could have been a rather tasty European Holden was kiboshed in 2001 following worries about the engine's durability on extended high-speed autobahn runs. Shame. There again, the opportunities for maxing out on motorways are somewhat limited these days, and we did eventually get the Monaro. The Omega was an important link in the chain.

The 2.6 V6 replaced the 2.5 in 2000, but the last Omega disappeared in 2003 after only four years on sale. Not many low-mileage cars remain in the UK. For a grand, or very probably less, this is an appealing combination of effortless mile munching and slow-mo RWD revelry.

Here’s the ad.

2001/Y Vauxhall Omega 2.6 V6 CD. 4 door saloon. Automatic. Metallic Silver with stunning Light Tan complementing luxury cloth interior. ABS brakes, Alarm, Air conditioning, Alloys, Audio remote control. CD Stereo, Colour coded body. Driver airbag, Dual climate control. Electric windows, Electric seats, Electric mirrors. Front armrest, Front fogs. Heated Seats, Heated screens. Immobiliser, Interior wood trim. Multi function steering wheel. Passenger airbag, Power steering. Remote locking, Rear armrest, Rear headrests. Sport & winter mode, Side airbags. Traction control, Trip computer, Tinted glass. All usual refinements. 2 Keys. Only 2 former keepers since new, Last owner since 2007. Only 69,179 miles with a full comprehensive service history. Recent work includes replacement exhaust, timing belt and water pump. This vehicle is in excellent condition for its age and mileage. Looks and drives well.. Superb luxury and value for money. Always maintained. Mot & Taxed. Bargain. £995.

[Johnspex]

I had a W reg MV6. Fantastic car. You could set up home in the boot.

[Nors]

That's a nice car for the money!!

Proper shedding!

[anonymous-user]

Definitive shed.

[NI17]

Lot of car for the money!

[graham22]

My dad had the 2.5 BMW Diesel engined Auto. Met an untimely end as a result of wet roads, budget tyres, kickdown induced oversteer & a Cornish hedge.

Can't really remember any thing else spectacular about it, was a cheap way of getting the BMW 6 cylinder diesel engine to tow his caravan - even though that was a great sucess with the Auto box.


And the US Police liveried one doing power slides around Castle Coombe.

[NI17]

Lot of car for the money!

[off_again]

Had an early 2.5 v6 estate. Wonderful wafter. Smooth, comfy and relatively OK on the drive. A bit too soft for me really, but wow, the estate is massively practical. Even moved sofas and half a house! Great car.

And late 20's on the economy? Mmm, maybe but on the older 2.5 you should aim for mid-20's as a good number on a mixture of driving. They were great, but they were far from the most economical at the time. 2.6 version might be better though.

[mikeyr]

Strangely the only two cars I've ever seen spin on the road were both Vauxhall Omegas. Both at the same roundabout too. Was this just a strange coincidence or were they inclined to swap ends?

[Martin 480 Turbo]

Yawn,

my neighbours granny had one. After her passing they could
not sell it at all. (dark blue with beige leather). So they
kept it as the company hack (stand in).

Don't ask how the beige interior looks by now.

Very oldfashioned barge even for the time. Deeply rooted
on a 70ies Opel chassis. How exactly do you compare it
to the E39?

Next.

[Dracoro]

OK to drive if you get a good one, nice ride quality and a decent enough workhorse. However, simply not particularly well built or engineered (tried simply changing spark plugs? have to take loads of gubbins out the way to get to them!).

rocker gaskets, HBV, rust, suspension arms/springs/shocks all going where other manufacturers ones would last a lot longer. If all done then a good purchase, if not you could be looking at something destined for the scrappers as they'd be uneconomical to repair.

I've had two (both 2.5 V6) and wouldn't touch another one with a bargepole, Vauxhalls are certainly built down to a price.

[LeoZwalf]

Shed said:

The auto 'box in our Shed makes it a lover not a fighter

LOVE that phrase, nice one

[moskvich427]

Lovely cars... but I'd search out a manual, they do exist.

This one is a tad outside Shed budget, but looks alright...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2013...

[TheAngryDog]

I had an N reg (pre facelift) 3.0 V6 Elite Auto. Was a cracking car really for the money. I had it chipped and it would do nigh on 30mpg brim to brim on a careful motorway journey. Used to be able to slide the back end out nicely too

Also used my dads S reg 2.5TD BMW Engine one as well. I managed 600 miles from a tank out of that going from Hull to Swansea and back in a day. Would cruise all day in comfort, and only ever sounded dieselish at tick over, and that was only after it had done over 140k miles. It would still be in use today if the bodywork and steering box hadnt let it down. Was just too uneconomical to repair. Shame as I'd still have it now as a second car.

I found they handled ok, Vauxhall sat the engine over the front wheels back in the bulk head, gave me confidence when doing some spirited A road driving.

[TooMany2cvs]

Definitely the missing link in the Monaro chain - the Holden Commodore VT was just an Omega with bigger engine - the "ickle one" was a 3.8 v6, then 3.8 s/c, then 5.0 v8, then 5.7 v8... I rented a 3.8 in Oz one time, and went round the Yarra Valley wineries for a day. Plenty of opposite lock fun on the dirt roads...

[Morningside]

I had the Carlton and always wanted to upgrade to the Omega. You see them a lot at car auctions, perhaps I will pick one up one day.

[StefanVXR8]

A lot of car for the money, but my shed money would go on a Rover 75 (which I did).

I picked up a 2001 Connossieur SE 2.5 V6 Auto in light metallic blue with special order blue leather seats with cream piping that are heated with memory, it also has alloys, climate control, cruise control, sat nav, 6 CD changer, Harmon Kardon sound upgrade, electric windows all round, powerfold heated mirrors, electric sunroof, ABS, traction control, electric rear blind, electrochromactive rear view mirror, heated washer jets, headlamp washers. The only thing it missed out on by being a couple of months older than the update was auto wipers!

The price I paid for this shed with 142k on the clock? £500

It handles OK, has a comfortable wafty ride, brakes well, goes well, it's quiet inside and makes a fantastic motorway cruiser, I can even get 35MPG out of it too.

Granted the KV6 has a few things to look out for, much as the Omega, cambelt, intake motor failure, traction control if fitted can fail causing the light to come on (normally a broken tooth on the motor gear causing it to jam (5 minute fix)).

They seem to be fairly corrosion resistant though, not sure how the Omega fairs there?

Parts are still cheap too, picked up a pair of xenon headlamps on eBay for £80, a brand new speedo assembly for £30 (the hi-line LCD instrument panel is prone to loosing lines).

So I'd take a serious look at the R75 as an alternative shed to the Omega too.

Stef

Edited by StefanVXR8 on Friday 10th January 10:45

[rallycross]

These make great tow cars (as an estate), great value, nice to drive, robust old things, drives a bit like a 5 series only much cheaper.
Have owned a few over the years including a 2.2 4 cyl then 2.5, 3.0 and currently a 2003 2.6 V6 estate.

[spencermit]

Great shed. Looks very tidy....

[tobinen]

Underrated cars. Made in Germany though, not Britain.

[Madkat]

I can't get past the coffin dodger ex rozzer image but wow how much car for the price!