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[Hudson]

I have seen some Omegas for sale at £300 !! Most have a decent mot and look sort of ok ? Can these be run for a year and if they would cost too much to pass the next mot just get £200 scrap and get another  Has anybody done this and simply run them until they drop then scrap them.

[Broomies Mate]

All I'll say is (and I don't know where you are, so apologies if outside the UK);

You'd be lucky to not have to PAY to scrap a car nowadays.  ShiteSteel is at about £15 a tonne.

[05omegav6]

All I'll say is (and I don't know where you are, so apologies if outside the UK);

You'd be lucky to not have to PAY to scrap a car nowadays.  ShiteSteel is at about £15 a tonne.

Neither of my nearest places pay, but will collect for free...

[05omegav6]

I have seen some Omegas for sale at £300 !! Most have a decent mot and look sort of ok ? Can these be run for a year and if they would cost too much to pass the next mot just get £200 scrap and get another  Has anybody done this and simply run them until they drop then scrap them.

Buy one you like the look of and spend the Mot sorting all the bits and you should have a good basis for a keeper

[tunnie]

As per your other thread, you need to do similar work no matter what the initial outlay you spend. I paid a 3 figure sum for my 3.2 Elite, that was 4 years ago 

Look for examples with good body work, as everything else is easily fixable.

[terry paget]

So long as you are able and content to maintain and repair them yourself I reckon it makes excellent sense. I run six Omegas for my family, and we all enjoy luxury motoring at small cost. Access to cheap spares, trade club supplies, and secondhand bits are important, and excellent advice and camaraderie from this forum are paramount.

 I play table tennis with four other old scientists at Culham laboratory every Friday and they all envy me. They pay £400 plus for a service and pay vast sums for repairs. They suffer breakdowns and are without transport not infrequently. They pay £1000 plus to have trivial dents knocked out. They worry about their cars being stolen - it never worries me!
 

[Nick W]

They are cheap for a very simple reason: they have common faults that will, or already do need money spent on them. If you cannot do mechanical work, then these jobs are extremely expensive. If you can do repairs and have the tools to do them, then a well chosen car is viable. One that needs an exhaust system would be a good choice; DIY fitting of the systems recommended here will make big saving. Any Omega that hasn't had front suspension work recently would be a poor choice for a beater, because you are looking at much more than the purchase price just in parts. Unfortunately, even the expensive Omegas fall into that category.

The price of scrap has dropped through the floor, and you would be lucky to get £30 if you weighed in the car yourself.

Unless you need a big car, there are better choices for a beater. Spend your £300 on a scruffy petrol Astra or Focus.

[Andy H]

I have seen some Omegas for sale at £300 !! Most have a decent mot and look sort of ok ? Can these be run for a year and if they would cost too much to pass the next mot just get £200 scrap and get another  Has anybody done this and simply run them until they drop then scrap them.

Omegas are cheap because people are scared that they can be expensive to repair and run. If you are aware of the common fails (inner edge wear on front tyres for example) and if you do your own maintenance (or use one of the excellent travelling mechanics) then they are cheap way to run an executive class car.

If you want seriously cheap motoring then get something with 4 cylinders and front wheel drive (and don't be too fussy about the colour .............)

[TheBoy]

As others have said, if you are prepared to do DIY servicing an repairs, they can be reliable, cheap motoring. If you rely on garages, the Omega may not be your next car.

I bought my first for a whisper over £3k. I didn't care about running costs, as it was bought as a luxury milecruncher for a trip to the South of France, and was intended to be sold as soon as we returned. That was 12yrs and 140k miles ago, and we still have it.

[TheBoy]

£3k back in 2003 for a 5yr old MV6 was definitely "bargain basement" territory back then.

[Nick W]

I bought my first for a whisper over £3k. I didn't care about running costs, as it was bought as a luxury milecruncher for a trip to the South of France, and was intended to be sold as soon as we returned. That was 12yrs and 140k miles ago, and we still have it.

I've done that, but it was a Capri that cost £25 for the fuel that was in it. Fitted a £75 Cortina engine the weekend before we left and did 2000 miles in a fortnight. I scrapped it 5 years later with another 130,000 miles and at least 200 1/4mile passes on it. I still think it was a good buy. But that was a simple car, and complex modern cars are much less suitable for this sort of use/abuse.

[Sir Tigger KC]

I bought my first for a whisper over £3k. I didn't care about running costs, as it was bought as a luxury milecruncher for a trip to the South of France, and was intended to be sold as soon as we returned. That was 12yrs and 140k miles ago, and we still have it.

That's funny, as that's exactly how I bought my Omega and like you I fully intended to sell it on when I got home.    10 years on I still have it! 

[EMD]

I paid £175 for a 2.5 manual saloon a few months back , fixed the smoking cam cover gaskets and sold it for £400  Once you know what the common problems are they are easily fixed . Could have kept the manual and ran it but it had too many pedals 

[deviator]

Mine cost me less than 300, flew through the MOT. Since then it's had an oil change, it's due to the next one. I've only just had to spend some money on it, front brake pads and a pair of tyres. Both of which are wear and tear items.

However I will add, I feel mine is losing GB oil and I need to get it on ASAP. I've even bought a runaround so I can take my time. Granted this wasn't the only reason to buy the runaround.

For me, I call that amazingly cheap motoring. If I have to scrap it tomorrow, then I won't have lost on it. My mate said, 'You paid less for a car than my monthly instalment on my new car'.

[Hudson]

Cheers guys, i was looking at the one below and thought it was cheap for what it appears to be -

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201512319740839?search-target=usedcars&make=vauxhall&model=omega&quicksearch=true&page=1&radius=1500&sort=default&onesearchad=used&postcode=m34hh&logcode=p

Not much service history and some bits of poor bodywork.

[EMD]

Cheers guys, i was looking at the one below and thought it was cheap for what it appears to be -

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201512319740839?search-target=usedcars&make=vauxhall&model=omega&quicksearch=true&page=1&radius=1500&sort=default&onesearchad=used&postcode=m34hh&logcode=p

Not much service history and some bits of poor bodywork.

Have you bought it as the garage thats selling it have put sold on the ad 

[05omegav6]

Not my cup of tea, but for the money you could certainly do alot worse

[Nick W]

Cheers guys, i was looking at the one below and thought it was cheap for what it appears to be -

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201512319740839?search-target=usedcars&make=vauxhall&model=omega&quicksearch=true&page=1&radius=1500&sort=default&onesearchad=used&postcode=m34hh&logcode=p

Not much service history and some bits of poor bodywork.

From the ad I wouldn't call it cheap, but reasonably  fairly priced. I would expect to haggle. I would also expect the usual front suspension work and a cambelt(probably why anyservice history is missing). Which makes it more of a £600 car. And then it certainly isn't cheap.

[05omegav6]

True enough, but buy as a keeper and accept that it will take time and money to bring upto scratch...

Which brings us back to the beginning... Even an apparently mint £1800 1 owner 40K Omega will probably swallow £600 in the first year, so might as well start with a tidy £2-400 car and get stuck in

[BazaJT]

I bought mine in 2011 for £400, I've since put[or had put ]on various bits-crank sensor,cam covers and gaskets among them.It is way overdue a cam belt swap and possibly an oil cooler.The only front suspension work[if you want to call it that]that's been done is a new lower ball joint for its last mot.car drives and brakes in a straight line and goes round corners as well as I can expect a near 2 ton car to do,so I see no need to fix anything in that area,although I must add that I have receipts for wishbones dated in 2010,from memory the then owners paid £25 each for them.

[Terbs]

HKT is right....whatever the price you pay, unless you have absolute proof on cambelt renewal, that will be the first bill. Probably followed by wishbone bushes.
Personally, I do not count, standard service parts, plugs, filters, oil, or exhausts and tyres etc,, because if you look after your car, at some point you will need all of these, no matter what make of car you purchase.

[deviator]

As said, if you are willing to do the work yourself then go and make a silly offer. Start at 100-150. Explain you don't want a warranty, as dealers have to factor in a 3 months warranty minimum.

Just for future reference, you may not care, but if you shorten the AT link down to just after the number like http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201512319740839 you don't advertise your postcode.

[STEMO]

As said, if you are willing to do the work yourself then go and make a silly offer. Start at 100-150. Explain you don't want a warranty, as dealers have to factor in a 3 months warranty minimum.

Just for future reference, you may not care, but if you shorten the AT link down to just after the number like http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201512319740839 you don't advertise your postcode.

Tried your link and still shows postcode?

[deviator]

As said, if you are willing to do the work yourself then go and make a silly offer. Start at 100-150. Explain you don't want a warranty, as dealers have to factor in a 3 months warranty minimum.

Just for future reference, you may not care, but if you shorten the AT link down to just after the number like http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201512319740839 you don't advertise your postcode.

Tried your link and still shows postcode?

Because it's now stored in your cookies for AT and everyone else who has clicked the link 

[STEMO]

As said, if you are willing to do the work yourself then go and make a silly offer. Start at 100-150. Explain you don't want a warranty, as dealers have to factor in a 3 months warranty minimum.

Just for future reference, you may not care, but if you shorten the AT link down to just after the number like http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201512319740839 you don't advertise your postcode.

Tried your link and still shows postcode?

Because it's now stored in your cookies for AT and everyone else who has clicked the link 

Clever little cookies 

[ted_one]

I was in a mind to get rid of my blue Elite in the very near future,just to make a bit of room for the VXR8,but reading through  this post as to peoples expectations regarding what they would want for almost peanuts, then I think it would be more sensible to keep what is a well sorted delight of a car to drive, I think I can cope with the earache that I'm experiencing at the moment as to my car hoarding I know that I can get a better price for the car on an auction site rather than putting it on here for a fixed price......it's a no brainer and of course that's if I do decide to get rid

[Hudson]

I was in a mind to get rid of my blue Elite in the very near future,just to make a bit of room for the VXR8,but reading through  this post as to peoples expectations regarding what they would want for almost peanuts, then I think it would be more sensible to keep what is a well sorted delight of a car to drive, I think I can cope with the earache that I'm experiencing at the moment as to my car hoarding I know that I can get a better price for the car on an auction site rather than putting it on here for a fixed price......it's a no brainer and of course that's if I do decide to get rid

I think we are talking about cars which are known to have lots of issues for junk change, if your car is sorted and been looked after with no rot then i see this forum as good a place as any to sell it, you could also put it onto the usual auction sites at the same time, good and decent cars will always sell wherever they are put up for sale.

[Diamond Black Geezer]

One day people will look at an Omega and be amazed at it's petrol-powered 24v 6 cylinder, rear-drive saloon-ness. I've already started getting the admiring glances/mechanics chatting to me about them and the 'don't see these much anymore' conversations. That will only increase with time.

Big, comfy, spacious, saloon boots swallow almost anything, estates swallow anything, spec which embarrasses most modern cars, still. Bit thirsty, but cars are always getting more mpg, so that's always going to be true of a 20+yr old car vs a brand new one. Very pretty, solidly built, lovely engineering, parts still plentiful, lots of modifications possible.

Sub-£1k will cover you for the car, timing, suspension, new tyres and a few other niggles and see you right for several years, which can't be said for most few hundred quid bangers. £1000-2000 over a few years if you want to do things fastidious and properly, however, at the end you'll have a mint modern classic car. 

[Steve B]

You missed it   

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=134047.0

[dbr]

Back in 1999 we bought a 1997 2.5 cd for £7.5k. Or splash out at the time. We still have it and it has never let us down. Now run in 146k miles but getting the odd rust spots in the usual places. Passed the MoT last week. It's part of the family. Last year the insurance value was £10, this year they said £120......they are rising in value. Brilliant cars.