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[Grumpy]

SWMBO and I went to 'Fords of Winsford' car
supermarket this weekend. For those that don't
know it, it's one of the biggest in the Northwest
and has circa 1200 cars for sale.

We were thinking of looking for a 3 year old car
that was more compact and fuel efficient than an
Omega and 3 years old would mean that it had
lost circa 60% of it's value and would have had
any faults sorted out on its first mot.

I was offered £400 part ex on mine that would be
valid for 10 days against any of their cars.
For reference, my Omega is a 99V 2.0l GLS auto
with 57,000 miles on the clock. It's good condition
with a few of the usual rust bubbles on the door
edges.
Not a lot, is it?

Anyway, we looked around at some cars
and I'm afraid that we were singularly unimpressed
with modern day medium sized cars.

They all look and feel as if they've been designed
down to a price by the same computer.

We thought maybe a Corsa or an Astra of 'Design'
spec would maybe be nice with the leather seats
with cloth inserts for your bum and back.
Good grief! The leather looked more like pimply
plastic that had got a dose of goose bumps. 

At least I've managed to cure SWMBO of her desire
for a C class Merc.
'Where's the handbrake?' she asked, about to drive
the machine.
'Doesn't have one, dear,' I replied, 'you have to lift
your left foot up and press down on that pedal
next to the brake, and when you want to release it
you have to pull that lever under the dashboard with
your right hand.'
'How bloody stupid,' says SWMBO, switching off and
walking away, 'I can't be doing with that.'

The salesman said that was the second sale he'd
lost today, for the same reason, with the wife walking
away in disgust in each case.

We hadn't realized how spoilt we'd become in owning
the Omega for the past 5 years. All the medium sized
cars we sat in felt like cramped shoe boxes with
dull plasticky interiors. The only cars that seemed to
have decent comfy interiors were the Peugeot 207's,
but they didn't have any autos and I'm not entirely
happy with the reliability record of their new BMW
shared engines with the VVTI and chain tensioners
that keep failing.

We were quite relieved to drive off in our roomy,
comfy, reliable, 'Grumpy' maintained Omega.

Might go back and check out a Saab 9-3 auto
when they get a petrol version one in at a price that
I'm willing to pay. The seats and interior didn't look
too bad in them, but I did not fancy the diesel versions
that they had in stock.

[Jimbob]

that "what next" is not an easy decision when your coming from an Omega

[Sixstring]

Did the same thing down here nearly a year ago. Tried everything the "Car Shop" had in within our meagre budget (£3k) and thought I would get at least £1000 for my Elite saloon against a £4k car, and the rest cash.
Salesman was very nice, allowed me to test out over 10 cars that day, couldn't really find anything with the same comfort, refinement or power. The robbing sods said they would give me £450 for my 98 3.0 elite with 92k on the clock against a Volvo S60 with 121k on the clock at £4k, or a Saab 9-3 estate 1.9d with 130-odd on the clock at £4300.
Left after 3 hours totally dissapointed, and next weekend bought my 99 elite 3.0 estate  with 140k on the clock, fsh, tax and mot for £700. Was chuffed to golfballs driving home, sold the saloon for £800, and apart from petrol to SLady bitshorpe to buy it, spent only £200 more for a year newer and an estate. RESULT.
OK, the new cam belt, aux belt, etc etc etc I've spent on it so far DOUBLES that figure, but what else is there out there that really compares like-for-like??
Want a 3.2 elite estate auto in black next...............

[MickAP]

Well after doing the exact same thing, trawling a few local car dealers, some big some small and didn't find anything to replace our TD estate.
Had a look at Volvo estates, BMW estates, Vectra estates and all manners of small to medium hatchbacks. All were either rejected on, can't afford or just didn't like them when I saw them in the flesh.

Each time I got back into the Omega I kept saying to myself, why are you selling this great car. Well the only reason I guess is it's getting on a bit now, 10 years old, but still loads of life left in it.
So what have I gone for, well another Vauxhall anyway.
I'm sure I'll let you all see it when I've finally got it. Waiting on the DVLA to transfer the original reg plates back onto to it.

Mick

[Martin_1962]

Since mine is 2001 there are not many newer than mine - so I am just going to have to run it into the ground

[geoffr70]

I thought an Omega is for life, not just for Christmas. I will keep mine at all costs, rather than get a crappy little modern fwd runaround that is absolutely awful to drive.

[05omegav6]

had been offered £600 to part-ex my '54' plate estate with 156k. :-/ being a cat c write off probably didn't help any. they then felt that it was worthless once they had driven it coz of the front suspension issues. good news though, for the price of a pair of miggy wishbones i now drive a '55' vectra c for work. even better news is that now i am suddenly doing 10mpg more , which in turn means that i'll be able to save a bit faster to buy the bits to sort the front end out on the mig. this is good because i'll then be able to drive it sooner and that has to be good. 8-)

[OMEEEGAH]

fords of winsford eh 

we used to buy from there when they were in holmes chapple. they used to sell high miler fleet stuff and now sell row after row of mainly bland dbm or silver euro boxes.
they have a trade sale there to shift the swapper cars and tbh i reckon they wil make about 500 quid onnthe car they sell you and a drink on the omega because they don't do a lot v reg and 2.0 now. They probably know it will deffo sell for 4 ton.

My Mrs went there after a vectra sri a few years ago that was 8 grand and they offered her 1100 quid for her vectra.We sold the car for nearly 2 grand and the motto is always sell your car privately unless the deal is so good or your not arsed about saving money.
Always try to ask the cash price with no px and tell them you have seen one for less with a slightly better spec.
That always gets car salesmen twitching that does 

[Mr Hagon]

Well I guess I got lucky, in a sense, in that writing off the old Omega meant I didn't have to worry about p/x or anything, especially as the insurer paid out market rate.

But I couldn't think of anything else better to replace it with, so having run around in a Fiesta for a while I sourced an Omega estate, which I will run into the ground before I change it...unless I get tired of running a 3.2 V6  .

[omegadti]

Bought my 52 plate Dti from FOW in 2003 for £12995 - in 2005 they offered me £6k in p/x.   I'm still driving the Omega and it still puts a smile on my face occassionally and there is nothing else so big and so comfortable that will return 40mpg without spending a fortune on a BMW or Mercedes.

[OMEEEGAH]

Bought my 52 plate Dti from FOW in 2003 for £12995 - in 2005 they offered me £6k in p/x.   I'm still driving the Omega and it still puts a smile on my face occassionally and there is nothing else so big and so comfortable that will return 40mpg without spending a fortune on a BMW or Mercedes.

try a new shape avensis d4d or dad as i call them,they will do nearly 60mpg and tbh theres not a lot in it interior space wise. They are one of the best toughest most reliable comfortable turbo diesels out there. 

i have one and can directly compare it to a omega dti