What happened to the Omega's?

[bezzabsa]

They used to be everywhere, was a gorgeous estate with the BMW 2.5td engine in close to me, in a deep metallic aubergine colour ..

Honestly see more Senators and Carltons then Omega ....which is saying summat!!

when did you last see one?

[Lord Sterling]

Erm, might not exactly be what your looking for given as this is a 2.2 petrol. But...er... yeah, I spotted this near Rednal/M5. Not in use though. 

[Brigsy]

Thats prob one of the last ones on 53 reg iirc. Old cars now, age/rust/chuckaway money will have culled most of them.

[FakeConcern]

In Worthing last April

I have seen a couple since then, but not got a photo

[Bradders59]

Still have my 3.2 Elite and plan on keeping it forever.

I often get people come up to me now to talk about it. " Lovely old cars, dont see many of them these days" type of thing.

Even had someone knock on my door last summer asking if I would sell it.

It seems that decent ones are becoming a bit collectable now, and one or two people have said mine might be worth a couple of grand.

Dont know dont care as I have no plans to sell it.

Its like a comfortable old pair of slippers that I could drive the length of GB and get out feeling fresh.

It has enough grunt for me in most situations, and handles very nicely for a big old barge.

They do rust (Vauxhall, of course they do) but not as badly as Senators did. I scrapped my 24V Senator at about 14 years old because it had eaten itself alive from the back, forwards.

I have kept on top of corrosion on the Omega, but this summer I had to chop out some areas around the back end of the sills and n/s/r wheelarch and weld new metal in.

It is over 23 years old though, so cant complain about that.

[Schaefft]

Rust and neglect killed them as they were cheap for too long.

[eddyramrod]

Inevitably...

Here's Desmond just before he left me before Christmas.  I'll see him again, I know where he is and I may even get to drive him again.

There was a time I would have turned up my nose at a mere 2.2, but I'm older and wiser now, and have had several four-pot Volvos, among others.  In practice I never really felt an urgent need for more power; the comfy seating and wafty auto box were excellent compensation.  

Desmond does have a few scars here and there.  Each one tells a story, and because my friend Mike has known this car since it was one year old, he can translate every one of them into human English.  He's delighted to have the car back in his hands; if it ever leaves him again, it'll most likely be coming back to me.  And from here, back to Mike again.  This one will survive.

I found it interesting that from taking on Desmond ten months ago, I didn't see another Omega at all until the weekend of Chumley in September.  There were none at the show but I found two (both estates) at the roadside on the way there and back.  And I haven't come across another one since that weekend.

[sierraman]

Occasionally you see them but as above they stopped making them 22 years ago, that probably your answer there! 

[Mr Laurence]

Can’t even remember the last time I saw one! As @Schaefft mentioned they were cheap for a very long time. Don’t they have a bit of a following in NI now too? I think quite a few survivors have ended up over there

[24vdiamond]

For some reason the facelifts seem to rot more, saw one a while back that looked great on top but boy it was rotten underneath, the V6 killed a lot as they weren't looked after once cheaper owners were involved 

[comfortablynumb]

I knew someone who was into the drift scene, likes an omega, and he wasn't the only one.

Probably quite a few ended up in the armco 😕

[tooSavvy]

Well.... 🎶'Im still rolling along!'🎶

👍

🚙💨

[Bradders59]

Neglecting to clean the breathers on V6 causes leaky cam covers which fill the plug wells with oil, which causes misfires and kills coil packs.

Not changing cambelt & tensioners will at some point wreck the engine.

Neglecting to change the coolant every two years rots the oil cooler / heat exchanger (which sits in the coolant), and then the oil leaks into the coolant and the whole coolant system gets blocked with a thick mayo sludge which is a hell of a job to clean out, once the oil cooler has been replaced.

Easy cars to kill if regular maintenance isnt adhered to.

fifteen years ago, I used to buy them with these problems, for peanuts, and break them for parts, which was reasonably lucrative at the time. 

The few that are left are likely to be the ones that have been well looked after.

Mine has 203,000 on the clock and drives like an almost new car because thanks to the brilliant owners forum, I learned how to look after them properly, when the first one I bought had many of the common problems and I found the forum when looking how to fix it. 

[EyesWeldedShut]

Ran a badermatic, four pot estate for about 6 months as an emergency  stopgap in 2010.
£750, one coil pack + oil service. Flogged it to move to Wales - got £750 - fairy nuff.  Better  car than the Laguna estate it replaced for sure.

Saw it in Torquay about three years later.  No MOT on that one since 2015 so, I guess, it's dead Jim.

I think low prices on the four pots meant that they became the emergency stopgap/cheap motoring for a year weapon of choice for more than just me? Certainly the ones that FB Marketplace chuck up around here are all V6 (and I had a go in one of those a while back and, boy, comfy front seats or what)
 

 

[HMC]

I paid well under a grand for a perfectly nice 3.2 estate a few years ago with near full mot. It was perfectly nice- but not perfect IIRC the rear arches were dissolving a bit. Sad to say but essentially disposable. (nb i didnt chuck it away- i swapped for for a 406 v6 coupe)

 

[sierraman]

2.5td was hot property back in the day, most left will have done a stint taxiing. 

[Schaefft]

Id still want a pre-facelift 3.0l manual, MV6. The facelift cars always looked a bit like an afterthought to me.

[Dayno]

I had this nice low mileage one a couple of years back, was such a smooth and comfortable car to drive and one of my favourites, didn't feel slow either despite being only the 2 litre. Ended up selling to a film company and it was used on the Netflix series 'The Crown'.

[Bradders59]

1 hour ago, Schaefft said:

Id still want a pre-facelift 3.0l manual, MV6. The facelift cars always looked a bit like an afterthought to me.

Omega anoraks swear the 3.0 was the best engine out of all the possible variations, and many also say the prefacelift was a better car for various reasons.

I actually considered doing a manual conversion on mine at one point, but decided it was too much hassle.

[omegod]

Mini facelift 3.0 was the sweetspot, I've owned 12 Omegas, the best ones have been taken over to Ireland by the drift boys but one or two keep them in good order 

I will have another one day, likely a pfl 3.0 MV6 manual 

My last one which I recommissioned and resides in a collection , was without doubt the best one in existence with only 17k 

[Bradders59]

I remember when you got that. Must be a few years ago now.

Its a thing of beauty. 

[omegod]

11 minutes ago, Bradders59 said:

I remember when you got that. Must be a few years ago now.

Its a thing of beauty. 

It was a while ago, regret selling but needed the cash and did very well out of it 

[Bradders59]

If only we could all have back the cars we sold when we needed the cash. 

I would have a very nice collection of cars indeed, and I imagine so would most other people on here.

We gotta do what we gotta do, at times though.

[omegod]

28 minutes ago, Bradders59 said:

If only we could all have back the cars we sold when we needed the cash. 

I would have a very nice collection of cars indeed, and I imagine so would most other people on here.

We gotta do what we gotta do, at times though.

Indeed, I got to  take my wife and daughter to New York on the proceeds which made memories that don't fade (or rust 😀)  

[Lord Sterling]

Gonna be honest here.

I love my Vectra B Estate V6, but if I was either given a last-of-the-line Omega Estate V6 or an E34 Touring straight-6, I'd happily exchange the Vectra for them. But thankfully, it isn't something that will likely be happening.

[Gompo]

They're definitely still about but they're well liked for numerous reasons; which aided their downfall to an extent.

There's a property in Doncaster with two laid up on the driveway, and a 3rd still out and about in use. 

 

[bezzabsa]

lovely to see so many are still about...

always had a soft spot for them -especially the estate I think they looked gorgeous

[quicksilver]

This one turned up at a local show in the summer. X-reg 2.5 V6 CD in that metallic green. The owner bought it off his dad and loves it.

 

[Scott Chegg]

Someone near me is clearly a fan

[KWhite]

I've always had a soft spot for an Omega. There's still a 53 Plate saloon near me, but I can't recall the last time I saw another one on the road

I took a photo of this pre-facelift in 2014 and it's still on the Omega wikipedia page and still Taxed and MOT'd.  Would love it if it ever came up for sale