My Dad is after a Vauxhall Omega in either 2.5 or 3 litre flavours with auto (I think) can anybody give me some buying & owning tips for these fine cars to pass on to him. Any info much appreciated :D

My dad has a 2.5 auto estate, GLS. I've driven it on many occasions.

Very underrated car, almost as good as the germans, a LOT cheaper (used), smooth, RWD, powerful enough & loads of equipment.

Wrong badge for the 'image over-consious' but if that's not a problem then it's great value for money.

What else do you need to know?

Rightie - a brief rundown of Omegas...

Based on the Senator/Carlton Floorpan, the Omega is an evolution of those fine cars. Using the GM narrow vee V6, and venerable Family 2 DOHC twin cam.

Gearbox is getrag, whilst prop, diff & axle are Holden Commodore / Carlton GSi3000 items.

Very well built - check for rust along the rear arches, cos its double skinned pants.

Avoid smoking or non-history V6s, they're not easy, or cheap to work on. Cambelt change (£14) and Cambelt Tensioners (£80) are recommended (by me) as it could save faaaasaands of paaaands later on.

Its a Vauxhall, and cheap as mess to maintain. Usual stuff really, check all the electrics work, air-con is operative, brakes pull up straight (GM Discs ain't cheap) no sludge in header tank or rocker box.

Pick of the bunch - MV6 3.2 Auto.

They're so good even the cops use em

Thanks for the very prompt reply :D
What are the running costs, what to look out for when buying this model, reliability & any other tips, ideas or recommendations.
Ta :D

of course it is as good as the Germans, it is a German!! (Made in Germany by Opel).

my dads has recently had a new autobox put in, but apart from that it's fine, just normal wear and tear items.
His did break down once (apart from the gearbox incident) something to do with the ECU.

Not to worry too much about the gearbox, his is coming up to 180,000 miles and the gearbox went at 160,000 so it had a good innings. His previous (H reg)Carlton lasted 190,000 before selling it on (company car).

I think they're quite sturdy cars, but even with the best cars, if you don't look after them they can break so make sure full service history etc.

Just check its had Cambelt, Rollers & Tensioner, last thing on your mind is 24 valves touching there toes.

Heated seats tend to stop working, climate control and multi info display bulbs tend to give up.

There is also a 2.5 Turbo diesel unit, built by BMW, cracking engine, 2.5 and 3.0 engine plenty available, will struggle to find a 3.2 as these were supplied in new models as of MY01 I think.

Tips:

1) Get the highest spec you can find
2) Ex-fleet isn't such a bad thing - all the faults should have been rectified within its lease term
3) Don't bother with the 4 cylinder cars
4) Don't bother with manual gearboxes
5) Not in White
6) No ex-police tired rubbish
7) Avoid anything thats had big work by Vauxhall - their work quality ain't great
8) Get one, and as already explained, do the belts and tensioners
9) The V6 is a pretty understressed engine, so there shouldn't be much wrong with it
10) Avoid crash damage (obviously) - but Vauxhalls are easy to spot when they've been crashed. The lightweight outer panels never quite go back the same again
11) Check the front anti-roll bar drop links - cheap job, but indicates 'spirited driving' or repeated curbing if broken
12) There should be no slop or clonks from the Auto trannie

The earliest 3.2 came in mid to late 1999 :)

Thanks again lads :D Heres me telling him to go for a white 2 litre manual in "L" spec with slight front end damage ;)

Was the Auto box expensive to replace compared to a manual? I believe the auto boxes are very smooth changing.

I`d probably sort out an independant inspection before buying.