Sold Omega 2 litre pez - £220

[RobT]

It's not obscure nor that interesting, but the two motivating factors were want and cheapness (even by my mingebag standards).

 

So I'm on my usual train for a Monday morning. Normally it's rammed, not today...

 

[Guest Breadvan72]

May the Farce be with you!

[Guest Breadvan72]

A mark 1 Astra with purulent seat fabric.

[Twiggy]

Good luck - and it`s a Mk 2 Zafira 1.6 petrol.

[RobT]

Moar desertedness.

 

 

I'm the only bod going to Ealing Broadway to collect a Vauxhall then.

[Guest Breadvan72]

I lived in Ealing once long ago.  IT was OK, but fooken miles from London.  Do they have cars there now?

[Skizzer]

Can't see you in a Zafira, it's not nearly executive enough. I'm guessing Omega. Good luck sir!

[RobT]

I lived in Ealing once long ago.  IT was OK, but fooken miles from London.  Do they have cars there now?

I've seen several so far, and buses too. They even have amusing* chod related shop names.

 

 

[HMC]

An early Vauxhall omega, velour, badermatic.

[HMC]

M/N/P plate for the classic insurance, and some London parking damage to make it cheap and bargainous says mystic meg.

[Dave_Q]

Our ebay stalkometer sez:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VAUXHALL-OMEGA-2-0-16VGLS-AUTO-1997-/201900476702?hash=item2f0234c91e:g:n5kAAOSwpkFY6~NZ

[HMC]

Good detective work!!!! Gotta be it

 

My reasoning was talk of bargain/cheapness= lots of metal for the money, and Carltons/ senators aren't that cheap anymore. Plus this is rob- connoisseur of velour and auto gearboxes.

[spartacus]

Oo, I'm going to have an educated guess at this, having had a brief but car related meeting with you.

I'm sure I remember you saying you liked autos, and I have a feeling you prefer bigger cars. Working on them isn't so easy though, so it's not got to be so old and rusty​that it needs constant attention...

 

 

 

Hang on, that rules out any Vauxhall over warrantee age!

 

 

No, I'm guessing an auto Omega, of the smallest available petrol engine variety?

 

Edit, I did start writing this post before the E bay stalk-o-meter spoiler!

[billyboy406v6]

Ford Transit with Vauxhall 1.6 engine swap ?

[RobT]

 

 

Collection successful, now just a 30 miles or so drive home. Interior is a bit whiffy but everything seems to work which is a good start.

[RobT]

Our ebay stalkometer sez:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VAUXHALL-OMEGA-2-0-16VGLS-AUTO-1997-/201900476702?hash=item2f0234c91e:g:n5kAAOSwpkFY6~NZ

That's the beast. Mid-spec GLS with the smallest engine, hence cheap!

[JohnK]

Well bought Rob. I do like Omega's, never had an early one though all of mine have been facelifts.

 

Chuck the keys in the Safrane if you don't mind mate I'm

Happy to bring both of them back north 😆

[RobT]

My reasoning was talk of bargain/cheapness= lots of metal for the money, and Carltons/ senators aren't that cheap anymore. Plus this is rob- connoisseur of velour and auto gearboxes.

Nail on the head there! The last Senator I had in my watch list went for over 2k, albeit a nice 3.0 24v.

 

Made it home via much waft. As the saying goes, is a silent is as a fish, and it pulls like a great. I'm glad I didn't push the boat out and get a V6, as this will do nicely.

 

 

Interior stinks and needs a good Vulgalouring, but is otherwise fine with no trim rattles. Plenty of beige too!

 

 

The ride is superb, even better than the Safrane which has a tendency to be a bit crashy over really bad surfaces. These balloon like tyres probably help.

 

 

Note the giffer scrape and self-tapper holding trim in place. It's a case of one old boy owner since 1998, and the guy selling it was his mechanic so it's been looked after (apart from when it needed a new engine in 2002 at 49,000 miles). He made the point that he didn't know the car back then....so the current engine has done just 53,000.

 

 

The only immediate issue is the fugger likes pulling to the left, with the NS front tyre showing excessive wear on the outside edge. Will check the pressures and get the tracking done. The steering wheel is on the piss which indicates something is up.

 

It's more spacious than I expected, with loads of head room (no sunroof which is good) and plenty of rear legroom. Dollywobbler's estate seemed to have much less, but I suppose they were chiefly meant as a load lugger.

 

 

I'm itching to take it for a motorway run down to the coast, so will see if I can persuade Mrs T it'll be fine!

[JohnK]

With it pulling to the left, my 2.6 MV6 did this before i took it off road and also my 3.2 MV6 which is now New PODS did it. Bottom arms were the solution for him I seem to recall and are a common issue

[Rusty_Rocket]

Nice buy Rob!

 

They have quite an 'involved' steering setup don't they?  I seem to remember drag links with numerous balljoints?

I think odd tyre wear is common on the front, there always seems to be a lot of negative camber.  My one never pulled to either direction though.

Bottom arm bushes are a good shout though, worn ones make them feel awful.

 

Looks like a good one as far as the rust is concerned!

[Skizzer]

Two-tone velour - tick.

 

Self-tapper holding the bumper trim on - tick.

 

No satanroof - tick.

 

 

Verdict: The boy done excellent.

[CreepingJesus]

Very nice, it's a 'just enough' spec in my book. Not too flash, not too dull. Just enough.

Bonus bank holiday travellage too!

[RobT]

^^Think I've been lucky with this Skizz, time will tell!

 

Thanks for the information John, I'll get my friendly mechanic to take a look.

 

Rust wise, it had advisories at the last MoT for rear rot and 'unable to access outer sills as they are covered'. I'll leave all that alone until September when the MoT runs out. Top of the rear doors have a bit too but nothing too serious.

 

The documents contained these, which might go some way to explaining the knackered engine.

 

[Bren]

I prefer the earlier ones - facelift cars just look like they have a cheap bodykit fitted.

 

I would imagine timing belt issues killed the old engine.

[Rusty_Rocket]

The X20XEV in the Omega does seem to die sooner than if fitted to smaller cars.  I'm not sure why, but suppose the extra weigh and stresses of the RWD driveline don't help.

 

For maximum shite points, a 'Select' model was available.. with the C20NE (8v) engine!

[Cavcraft]

A bit like saying grass is green and the sky is blue, but here goes anyway:  YOU'RE A WINNER.

[Liggle]

I had an X20XEV Astra G, bought off a lad at where I worked at the time with a random misfire on cylinder 2. Local Vauxhall dealer were terrible, just kept plugging it in and eventually tried to persuade him it needed a new engine loom at £900 after several trips and various repairs including a new injector. After some proper diagnosis without a laptop it turns out injector plug/clip wouldn't hold still so a few cable ties and a set of spark plugs later it was as good as new. I also gave the throttle body and ICV a good going over with carb cleaner as it was quite lumpy on idle, a common problem iirc.  

TL;DR - if you get a misfire at all examine the injector plugs. If you get a lumpy idle clean the throttle body and ICV with carb cleaner. 

[Guest Breadvan72]

The great PJ O'Rourke says that the best car in the World is ALWAYS a rental car.  A car that you can parallel park at 60 mph.  A car in which you can shift from top gear direct into reverse.  A car that you can park by Braille.  

 

The only thing better than renting a rental car may be owning a rental car.    It's like marrying the World's Greatest Prostitute .  This is what puts the WIN in (autobox) whine.

[holbeck]

Nice car Rob. Omega's have never even been on may radar.

 

However now......

[Hendry]

Much prefer the interior on the pre facelifts.

 

Pals mums ex partner had an N reg 2.5 V6 GLS auto estate in white, about 170,000 miles on it, ex traffic cop car, still went well and was a nice place to sit. I remember thinking the omission of rear electric windows was weird on a big car aimed at the sorta executive market but other than that the spec was spot on, this one even had wheel trims.