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[ted_one]

Re both the Monaro and R8,in general terms most of these cars have been ragged,a quick look on Youtube will confirm this,and it puzzles me that cars that have been abused most of their life are commanding strong prices, these cars are not for the faint hearted performance wise and maintenance wise,because although service parts are a bit more expensive, it's once you need the bigger replacement parts then it's price and availability that becomes an issue.
Body parts from what I understand can be a problem, so if you stack your car then it's going to be a long wait for the body shop to get to it.So in a way although they are a modern car they almost assume a classic status by default due to the general care and running costs,BUT having said that I still get a kick out of it when I turn the key and fire it up...preferably at 6 a.m on a Sunday morning for the benefit of all my miserable bastid up their own arses neighbours 

Gotta feeling Dr G is waiting in the wings to have a go 

[Doctor Gollum]

Knowing how much you love your Neighbours, I would like to see that Sunday ritual

[ted_one]

Missed it this morning...rained off, next start up planned for next Sunday and it's going to be a thorough throat clearing,due to the fact that their builders were cutting up some concrete beams the other day and smothered my car that had been cleaned a few hours earlier.I absolutely loathe them and if I thought I could get away with it..... so  planning to move up to OOF Land as soon as it's possible,or may be a bit further North.

[TheBoy]

so  planning to move up to OOF Land as soon as it's possible,or may be a bit further North.

I thought OOF was one of those online, virtual places

[ted_one]

Exactly what I thought until... the other night when speaking to BG,apparently there is also NOOFland and it's a regional thing,nothing to worry about just one or two members making it their own.So webby is in NOOFland and Serek and BG being further East are in OOFland...confused from W okingham. ::)well sort of

[TheBoy]

Exactly what I thought until... the other night when speaking to BG,apparently there is also NOOFland and it's a regional thing,nothing to worry about just one or two members making it their own.So webby is in NOOFland and Serek and BG being further East are in OOFland...confused from W okingham. ::)well sort of

They are getting close to being fen boys.  That be proper carrot cruncher territory

I think you count as Readingham.

[Pmacca2000]

From my running battles with insurance company's Vauxhalls have to be over 20 years old before they are officially considered classic.
The salt in the wound is that according to how many left there are 14 or so Omega CDs left on the road in the U.K. Of over 2195 registered in the mid 90s.
Even pointing out it's my decoy do car and only comes out in the summer wasn't much help.
Yet if you buy a Jaguar or some Mercedes it's instantly a classic once you take ownership.
My Dad had an MG monte go and that was a classic after 10 years but I'm guessing it had something todo with the fact they tended to rot ?

[Doctor Gollum]

In order for your Omega to even be considered a classic when it's 30 years old, then it, and more importantly the history, should look something like this...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-300-E-Auto-Saloon-W124-/322381880669?hash=item4b0f751d5d:g:0IQAAOSwt5hYb6mW

[Pmacca2000]

I work with people who bleed petrol, one of whom had the first MV6 in the country, after showing him around my CD he suggested showing her at shows because there haven't been any at the shows around us (midlands) and he was surprised there wasn't a police Omega anywhere at the last show he went too.
I hadn't thought about this before despite going to a few shows but she'll be putting in appearances this year.

[anV6]

Interesting and entertaining thread. I could swear I had already posted in it too. But I guess not. Must have been a twin thread.

I won't elaborate why I think the Omega will indeed be a classic. I already did that in the other thread. But it looks good, has a nice design and it's the last RWD Opel. Classic! 

Unless of course Opel wises up and launches a car based on the GM Alpha platform to top the boring and ugly Insignia. Then it will no longer be the last RWD Opel

Yeah right! GM is killing the RWD Commodore. Not a slim chance they would allow Opel to make a RWD saloon. 

[anV6]

Not a classic, but I think the MFL was the pinnacle of Vx/Opel's achievements.

As I seem to be getting a lot of grief over that comment, particularly from someone who thinks a non descript VW shitbox is best thing ever made...


...can anybody suggest a Vx/Opel car that is better than the MFL Omega?  As all I can see they did after was the penny pinched FL, the rather poor Vectra-C/Signum, Insignia.... ?

Never said VW CC was best thing ever made? At what point have I ever stated anything similar? 

You seem to be picking up on each comment like what I said about cruise, about it being better? Just time to face facts and they need replacing, as you know it's a struggle to find anything. I've done the best I can with my budget and requirements. I can't afford an XJ new shape or XF Sport Back or any new decent RWD saloon.

Christ, we're a bit sensitive today, aren't we Mr Tunnie.  Its me FFS .  And if you read what I said about Omega cruise, I was agreeing with you (well, saying Omega cruise was too cumbersome). Blimey.


Anyway, back to my original question, open to all, name a Opel/Vx that's an improvement on the Omega MFL.  There must be an improvement, but everybody was implying its just "TB seems to think MFL is the Pinnacle of Vx/Opel"...

I agree. The MFL is the best Opel has ever been. 

Yes, the Senator was more luxurious for the time and the Gsi 3000 more sporty for the time. But looking at the whole package, the MFL is the pinnacle indeed. FL didn't add any real advantages right? And it was cosmetically compromised because Opel sold out to the corporate demons and made it look like an Astra, which made it banal and mundane looking.

The FL Vauxhall MV6 and Sport at least look a little better with the Prodrive bumper. Not as good still as a PFL/MFL, but better. Because the rest and all the Opel FL cars look so blah IMO. Pity the Prodrive bumper was never available for the Opels even though they were all assembled together in Germany.

And Monaros and VXR8s are not Opels/Vauxhalls. So they don't count. And they are not necessarily better. They are just faster, since they have bigger engines.

[anV6]

Jokes aside - IMO, carltons and senators (of all generations) had more style than omega. However, omega is far more better and rafined car.
Also, PFL was quite nice car in mid 90s. Interior was great. Outside, some parts are not best designed and 'feel' cheap and not sturdy IMO (front bumper, side skirts).
FLs, on the other hand, are too much modifed to keep up with then current design, that it is almost new design (probably that's why many call it Omega C). IMO, it was learning old dog new tricks.

The problem with the FL cars is that they look like every other car out there from that time and the 90's. Nothing original about the front or the rear. It is the definition of ordinary if you ask me.

[anV6]

Interior of the Monaro is better, seats are better too. Looks nicer too, just pity of the tiny boot.

I beg to disagree. It was only in the very latest Commodore/VXR8 that the interior looks any good IMO. Since they started following the U.S. GM style with the separated dials ala Camaro. But up until then and especially the Commodores and Monaros during the Omega's time, they all had 90's Honda Civic dashboards. Just so mundane. The seats, if it's a HSV and not the ones all chaved up with the bright colours, yes. The seats are nicer in the HSV versions. But not the whole interior. Both PFL/MFL and FL dashboards are better looking IMO. They look like a dash should look in a car of that type. Not like a hot hatch dash.

The Monaro is bland in and out. It makes a New Edge Mustang look like a car from the future too. 

[anV6]

They had the market to themselves for budget RWD, now Ford and Rover had gone.

Yes but maybe that can be better explained by the fact that that market had simply disappeared?

Most car owners don't care(if they even know) which end their car drives. Mass market manufacturers stopped making large RWD cars because they had stopped making small and medium sized RWD cars to share parts. The Omega was built on an ancient and obsolete platform that shared nothing with the rest of the range except its engines. Its replacement was always going to be based on a FWD platform, and the ever increasing size of model replacements meant the Insignia did just that. The facelift was a budget way of stretching out a tired looking range until that happened. The original Omega interior has dated really badly, whereas the only thing that a F/L dash is 'missing' to look up to date is a large screen.

I think the FL interior looks more "old man's car" than the PFL/MFL. The PFL/MFL is more sporty.

If we are talking about the cloth versions, the FL has a slight advantage because of the door cards. That is if it's one of the non wood effect versions which look much better. The large phony wood on the middle makes it look even more conservative.

Now with the full leather interiors, the PFL/MFL wins hands down.  Very sporty and still looks great today. It looks like a super saloon interior even if the performance from the engine is not there. Not contemporary looking but still looks great. The FL doesn't look contemporary either. A screen wouldn't make it do. Look at the 2017 Mercs, Audi and BMWs. A screen would just look like an add-on.

At least the full leather MFL/PFL in black and no wood effect looks great even if it doesn't look contemporary.

[anV6]

Oh, and re: the 'Senator problem' indeed, the separate model was a brilliant idea, not forgetting the Senny, aside from sharing underpinnings and engines, also shared stuff like front doors, which many people can't believe, they are so artfully and skillfully styled, they appear much bigger on the road and totally different cars. Anyone who has seen the front end of a Senny grafted on a Carlton will know how close they are.

But clearly for the magic 'cost' reasons, they decided not to pursue a model up above the Carlton/Omega A. Presumably the marketing decision was to make the new Omega move up in the market place, where the Carlton had previously been that slightly bigger than a Cavalier, a bit Antique dealer/Farmer maybe, a slightly workhorse machine, with a bit of comfort. In 1978 when they launched the Carlton, no-one could have imagined just over ten years later there'd be GSi Carltons, super-luxurious ones with full leather, walnut & air-con and then even Lotus turbocharched ones. So perhaps the logical progression was to move the Omega up a notch, meaning that a proposed Senator replacement would itself have to be moved up a notch, meaning directly in the firing line of Merc S-class, which was something they weren't prepared to do/knew it would never wash with customers. (and anyone who said people would pay £40-50k for a Vauxhall would be proven wrong when the Lotus Carlton did not achieve the sales it was hoped to be - the Ferrari F40 outsold it, for instance!)

Of course that's not to say I don't adore the Senny - which I do - and wouldn't have loved to have seen a true replacement - which I would. Look at a Holden Statemsman if you want an idea what it would/could have looked like. 

I was never a big fan of the Senator. Too conservative looking, besides the Irmscher. To me it was always just a Carlton with a larger arse. It was only as I got a bit older that I started to appreciate it for what it was. But give me a Carlton any day.