Bought another Car

[cavalier1990]

Hi All

Was due to have trip down to SE England last weekend, a couple of weeks ago I spotted an Omega Elite that looked pretty good, based in Great Yarmouth, of all places, so decided to take a bit of diversion on the way down and go and see it. I've been hankering after one for a while, so when i spotted it, couldn't miss the opportunity to go and see it.

It was in a 2nd hand car place and below the listing is still there:

http://buckworthsgarage.co.uk/cars/vaux ... r-auto-lt/

Not content with already having an Omega, 2 cavaliers, a senator and a ford granada, I decided to go and get this! I've just got about enough space on my driveway for this but means probably more musical cars when I have to take one from the back to go out.

Drive up was nail biting, I didn't know the car, the guy said he knows the belt was done 5 Years ago but hadn't any receipt to prove it as it was a cash in hand job, last proper record of it being done was 2011, so even more nail biting. There was the usual dealer record up to about 58k so partial history and a couple of bills and last 5 Years MOTs. got the car code/security pass as well so that's good. MOT up to May.

I really was in a rush to get to my original destination, not a good frame of mind to go looking at a car but managed to get a good look over it, there are some things that will need some work, there is the usual small spat of corrosion starting on the rear arches, same as my other omega, not terminal, so will have that done, few bits underneath where it's been jacked up on the chassis leg, slightly bent, AC not working, headlights a bit yellowed. There is a clunking on the F/O/S which sounds like the roll bar link, and the tracking needs done as the handling a bit twitchy. No doubt the front bushes need changed as my other omega was exactly the same. Paint on F/N/S wing looks to have been done - poorly at some point as there is slight blistering on it. Got 89K miles on it. Not done very many miles in the last MOTs so that made me a bit twitchy on the drive too in case the tyres couldn't handle it or something like the aux belt snapped due to lack of use then getting a long drive, but behaved impeccably.

All in all though I got up the road and with cruise control this was a godsend travelling 400 Miles back up to Scotland. I couldn't reset the Average MPG so it was basing the value on the last hundreds if not thousands of miles that will have been town mainly, as the guy that owned it was disabled and only drove around the area. It was at 24mpg when I got it, then slowly but surely started creeping up in 0.1 increments to 25mpg, but working out the fuel I used and miles back home, gave me about 37mpg.


Got it for 1800, going by the parkers book price is £1550 for a 200k miler elite, maybe paid a wee bit more than I should but not really bothered as the guy came down quite a bit from the original price. I also got a wee extra of a hibernating wasp in the back door rubber seal so I'll just leave that just now!

[Robsey]

Looks a very nice car -
I have always had a liking for these, sadly not for the running costs. And a big V6 will make it even more out of my league.

I see it comes with the NCDC2013 sat nav unit.
Sadly not the colour map display though.
Just the half-height multi-function display.

Still - once you have sorted those minor suspension / drop-link niggles it should be a sweet little beastie to drive.

[Mk3alan]

Nice, always liked these big Vauxhall's.
When these first came out my first experience of them was as an Airport Transfer car to Heathrow being transported from Southend - luxury travel!

Alan

[cavalier1990]

Looks a very nice car -
I have always had a liking for these, sadly not for the running costs. And a big V6 will make it even more out of my league.

I see it comes with the NCDC2013 sat nav unit.
Sadly not the colour map display though.
Just the half-height multi-function display.

Still - once you have sorted those minor suspension / drop-link niggles it should be a sweet little beastie to drive.

Robsey, you're more on the ball than me regarding the sat nav and electrical gubbins! I did notice it had some GPS thing on the Multi-function display, on the drive up I managed to sort of work out how to use computer thing to see MPG, not GPS, although the display is totally different to my other omega, this one you can use both steering wheel buttons,either side, to scroll up and down the menus and do things, but also control the radio.

According to this it is a graphical information display as shown on page 35 of this link, but as you said not the colour thing:

http://images.omegaowners.com/documents ... ct2002.pdf

I'll need to get a proper bugger about with it when I've got some more time to do it.

It's also not got the manual level adjusters for the lights, I think it said somewhere in that document that they are self-levelling or something, and xenon type lights which are about 300 a pop new!

Finally, it's got the self-levelling suspension, so something else to go wrong

[cavalier1990]

Nice, always liked these big Vauxhall's.
When these first came out my first experience of them was as an Airport Transfer car to Heathrow being transported from Southend - luxury travel!

Alan

This one is a proper barge Alan, heated rear seats and one of those electric blinds for the back window.

[Robsey]

If they are Xenon's then they have to be automatic self-levelling and have head lamp washers.

As for the colour display and NCDC2013, I have a Vectra-C / Signum version in my collection. (No clock buttons on the display bezel).

[ilovedmymantas]

That does look nice. I can see why you bought it

[cavalier1990]

If they are Xenon's then they have to be automatic self-levelling and have head lamp washers.

As for the colour display and NCDC2013, I have a Vectra-C / Signum version in my collection. (No clock buttons on the display bezel).

The colour display does look swish, that'd be interesting to have, not sure if you can retro fit it, something to look at in due course I suppose.

[cavalier1990]

That does look nice. I can see why you bought it

I think it was more ruled by my heart than my head (or wallet) as usual! But still glad I did, might not make financial sense - what car really does - but there you go!

[Robsey]

The colour display can be retro-fitted, but it is definitely a Tech 2 job to program in.
OpCom will set the display to the black (night) back ground. Only Tech 2 has the option to have the light-grey day-time back ground setting.

Also - it is a bugger to get the steering wheel controls to work on a retro fit colour display. The mono-chrome graphic display seems to be a thousand times easier to retro fit.
So unless you really need maps, I would probably leave well alone.

I think we can all say that any car will not be a cost effective purchase. Unless you deal with buying and selling popular classics, rather than running one as a daily hack.

[cavalier1990]

The colour display can be retro-fitted, but it is definitely a Tech 2 job to program in.
OpCom will set the display to the black (night) back ground. Only Tech 2 has the option to have the light-grey day-time back ground setting.

Also - it is a bugger to get the steering wheel controls to work on a retro fit colour display. The mono-chrome graphic display seems to be a thousand times easier to retro fit.
So unless you really need maps, I would probably leave well alone.

I think we can all say that any car will not be a cost effective purchase. Unless you deal with buying and selling popular classics, rather than running one as a daily hack.

Yeah I think I'll defo leave well alone, not into tampering with original set up where I can help it, just causes more issues than any potential benefits.

[vexorg]

If they are Xenon's then they have to be automatic self-levelling and have head lamp washers.

Depends on the car and age, a friend had a BMW with factory HIDs and no washers.