What happened to the Omega's?

[vtec-e]

I was lucky enough to drive a couple of very low mileage examples back in the day. Beautifully balanced, on and off the power, I can see why they are used for drifting.

I still have a soft spot for them.

 

 

[eddyramrod]

1 hour ago, Scott Chegg said:

Someone near me is clearly a fan

That looks awfully familiar, Scott; where are you?

[Lord Sterling]

There's one by me. This is a 2.6, so same engine as in my Vectra. This chap used to have two Omegas at one point. The other was a Burgundy colour. Its on Streetview but very badly rendered so I won't include it here. I *may* have a picture somewhere.

[Scott Chegg]

1 hour ago, eddyramrod said:

That looks awfully familiar, Scott; where are you?

Southport 👍🏻

[eddyramrod]

Yes I thought so.  Leyland Road?  Albany Road?  I'm from Southport, I lived in two flats in that web of streets  

[Brigsy]

I can remember borrowing the ex's dads old 3.2 elite omega for a few days whilst my old xantia hdi was off the road. Drove it fast ish everywhere so fuel economy was poor and recall feeling a bit sick filling the tank to return it. Decent drive for a big old bus, reminded me of a modern senator. Fully loaded with electronic rear blind which was good but broke on 2nd press in AVAS style.

Seems like yesterday but was actually 17 years ago, how time flys.

[Billy - Medhurst]

The old a.v.a.s syndrome and the fact these were not held in as high regard as the Carlton would have lead to no interest in them generally.  As they got cheaper and needing work off they went. Was offered a 2.2 saloon last summer and thought rare beast these days.

2003 VAUXHALL OMEGA 2200 CDX 2198cc DV53UYW by Jonathan, on Flickr

But I remember when they were being dumped in the street  /  Estates

2000 VAUXHALL OMEGA 2000 GLS 1998cc X968JBF by Jonathan, on Flickr

SEPTEMBER 1998 VAUXHALL OMEGA V6 2498cc CDX S566CTM by Jonathan, on Flickr

[stuboy]

always liked an mv6 automatic estate few years ago,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Richard_FM]

My Dad had 2 as company cars, he though the first was a step down from the Carltons he had before, & considered the second good enough to consider buying it when he took early retirement but the asking price was too much.

[Wibble]

9 minutes ago, Richard_FM said:

My Dad had 2 as company cars, he though the first was a step down from the Carltons he had before, & considered the second good enough to consider buying it when he took early retirement but the asking price was too much.

My Dad bought his company Carlton when he took early retirement. It was only a 1.8L auto saloon but he had always been good to the transport manager. 
Just before he retired, he was told his car needed to be taken away for some re-call work and was given a Rover 800 replacement. The Carlton was returned, after he’d paid £1700 for it, with a full respray, new tyres and shocks, with the former shocks and tyres in the boot for spares. I think he was well liked.

[Wibble]

I forgot to add that the replacement Rover had to be recovered, as it failed to start and he asked for his Carlton back, not knowing the work that was being done on it for his send off.

[riek]

A fair few would've gone sideways into trading estate lamp posts because rwd and cheap too.

[worldofceri]

On 31/12/2025 at 22:10, omegod said:

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

I remember picking that up for you. It was parked nose into the drive but the house was vacant so nobody around to help me push it into the road for loading. The brakes were dragging so it was a bit* of a struggle! Amazingly clean though.

In 2017 I bought a ‘99 2.6 auto with plenty of mot for £400. It was a bereavement sale and the chap had owned it for 14 years prior. Still had the CAVCRAFT CARCRAFT sticker in the back window!  Lovely car, I only sold it due to starting a business. Well, I roffled it on here. Didn’t seem last much longer though sadly, as the last mot expired in Nov 2019 and is no longer on the DVLA database so presume scrapped.

The only photo I have to hand is one the roffle winner, @gigglepin posted.  Not sure if he is still about but @Christine knows him off-forum I believe, so might know what happened to the Omega?

[TheIsleofShite]

This looks a nice one just come up for sale. Always fancied one, I think the pre facelift is a very good looking car 

https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1994113

[delux]

I had an Ex-Police 3 litre. My first non-Mini after passing my test (really!).

Way too nice a car for me. 

I worked at a Vauxhall dealer at the time, bought it with a snapped timing belt (crank damper had collapsed and cut thru the cover and belt!) fixed it up and used it for about 6 months. Managed to get electric window motors, a new display and a few Irmscher luckies from work as they were 'obsolete stock'!

Decision to sell it was made one Sunday after I'd spent all day cleaning it. Saw my reflection in a shop window, I looked like I was roadtesting someone elses car! 

Sold it and bought a P6 Rover which some guy bought off me in Tesco car park 2 days later then crashed it thru his ex's house! (took a bit of explaining to the local Gendarmes!)

Then bought an RS Turbo. To date, the worst car I've ever owned!

[24vdiamond]

After running Carltons I upgraded to a 6 month old 2.0 ecotech estate, it was in the dealership more than I drove it, heater fan exploded, glove box lock/latch disintegrated, the ecu had the wrong program so it reved up and down when you were stationary amongst other things, part ex it for another Carlton estate that I still own 😁

[Lonestar]

5 hours ago, TheIsleofShite said:

This looks a nice one just come up for sale. Always fancied one, I think the pre facelift is a very good looking car 

https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1994113

Pre-facelifts are much nicer looking than facelift, IMO.

Lovely shade of green. I've always liked green cars. Used to have an Astra mk5 in a not too dissimilar shade to this.

[High Jetter]

On 31/12/2025 at 22:31, 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.

Amen, brother.

[Schaefft]

7 hours ago, worldofceri said:

I remember picking that up for you. It was parked nose into the drive but the house was vacant so nobody around to help me push it into the road for loading. The brakes were dragging so it was a bit* of a struggle! Amazingly clean though.

In 2017 I bought a ‘99 2.6 auto with plenty of mot for £400. It was a bereavement sale and the chap had owned it for 14 years prior. Still had the CAVCRAFT CARCRAFT sticker in the back window!  Lovely car, I only sold it due to starting a business. Well, I roffled it on here. Didn’t seem last much longer though sadly, as the last mot expired in Nov 2019 and is no longer on the DVLA database so presume scrapped.

The only photo I have to hand is one the roffle winner, @gigglepin posted.  Not sure if he is still about but @Christine knows him off-forum I believe, so might know what happened to the Omega?

I somewhat regret not buying it considering the low mileage, you'd never find a better one again.

6 hours ago, TheIsleofShite said:

This looks a nice one just come up for sale. Always fancied one, I think the pre facelift is a very good looking car 

https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1994113

Perfect color for it, needs the 3.0 and leather though.

[New POD]

There's a gold 2.6 Elite saloon in my local town.  Appears to be run by a 75 year old woman, who uses it for local trips to Waitrose. 

[ETCHY]

I saw a nice silver one in Preston yesterday, only caught a brief glimpse whilst I was in traffic. I wondered if it was someone on here.

Good looking cars, a mate of mine had two back in the day, good mile-eaters.

[green200b]

This one lives near me. It's a 2.2 CD according to the badges, with an automatic transmission. I've been seeing it for several years, I only noticed it because it is the same body that was used for the VT and VX Holden Commodores in Australia.

[R Lutz]

On 31/12/2025 at 22:31, 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.

Better to have loved and lost than never loved at all. 

[R Lutz]

As a Rover salesman, the Omega felt like the future compared to the dear old 800-series. I only really experienced the facelift 2.2s as we started to stock ex-Vauxhall fleet (read ex-Avis and the like) examples to try and retain Rover 800 customers. Brilliant cars, but left down by cheap, shit Vauxhall bits which forever threw-up a warning light. It felt like an expensive, body/chassis but with cheap electrics.  Really, these were so cheap at the closed Vauxhall auctions, but 800s were even cheaper. And even less reliable. 

[gigglepin]

On 02/01/2026 at 17:17, worldofceri said:

I remember picking that up for you. It was parked nose into the drive but the house was vacant so nobody around to help me push it into the road for loading. The brakes were dragging so it was a bit* of a struggle! Amazingly clean though.

In 2017 I bought a ‘99 2.6 auto with plenty of mot for £400. It was a bereavement sale and the chap had owned it for 14 years prior. Still had the CAVCRAFT CARCRAFT sticker in the back window!  Lovely car, I only sold it due to starting a business. Well, I roffled it on here. Didn’t seem last much longer though sadly, as the last mot expired in Nov 2019 and is no longer on the DVLA database so presume scrapped.

The only photo I have to hand is one the roffle winner, @gigglepin posted.  Not sure if he is still about but @Christine knows him off-forum I believe, so might know what happened to the Omega?

unfortunately no longer with us , was a great car and had lots of fun with it

[Bradders59]

[Bradders59]

My old bus above. 

[jim89]

Blimey! Ohmeegas.. 🫨

I had a black 2.5 v6 Tourer estate as a company car for a couple years in late 90s

Unfortunately it was Manuel 😬 

Made a lovely noise when given the beans (when working properly 😀)

 

[Bradders59]

Haveent had a manuel version, but Ive seen the gearchange described as being very similar to an Edwardian signal box.