Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: theolodian on 07 February 2007, 23:35:59
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Hasn't been too good in the rain, so I guess I should avoid going out tomorrow if it's bad?
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Hasn't been too good in the rain, so I guess I should avoid going out tomorrow if it's bad?
Well my estates a bit twitchy at the back at the best of times so it'll be interesting to find out tomorrow! ::) (when I finally get it back from the garage, that is!!)
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Hasn't been too good in the rain, so I guess I should avoid going out tomorrow if it's bad?
Well my estates a bit twitchy at the back at the best of times so it'll be interesting to find out tomorrow! ::) (when I finally get it back from the garage, that is!!)
I thought you had one for more than a year?
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It's equally about knowing how to drive in the snow as it is about having the right car... of the two I suspect the former is more important! But don't look at me, I'm rubbish in the snow, I'll crash even a snow plough :(
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Driving in snow with little traction is bad in any car
I have driven a meega in heavy heavy snow.... I had to turn TC off believe it or not, may seem strange, but I had to let the wheels spin just a fraction to get any grip. TC wouldn't let me move away (bad snow)
To be honest, when the snow was heavy, I was getting way way way further up the hills than most brand new cars, in my P reg CDX Omega...
It's all about how you drive, and how you apply the gas...
braking techniques are extremely important when descending too... I had to learn fast, when i found myself sliding down a very steep and never ending hill!!! :y
Speaking of heavy snow and steep hills, I'm driving to work at just after 5am, and I expect I will encounter both!!!!!
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Well I made it to work - mostly clear but after pulling off the motorway it was a different story. It was touch and go whether I'd make it up the slip road, and then had a shallow hill to get up to work. The 2.5TD just seems to turn the wheels, irrelevant as to whether you apply very little gas or not.
I went up the hill with the rear of the car stuck out to one side. It was like a 3/4 mile powerslide ;D
First time I've driven the Omega in the snow - and 'twitchy' is about right... Still, at least most the time it's easy to counter. I hate the front end going - that's when I feel more out of control.
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It's no worse than any other big rear wheel drive I've had, just turned traction off & been doing doughnuts (no not the edible variety) in the company carpark :) ::)
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Yeah, I'm worried about the front not responding and not getting up hills. I've driven in snow quite a bit, including high speed drifting, but if the car isn't very good then you are just along for the ride even at 10mph. Most RWD tend to be crummy, and the Miggy seems to be set up like a BMW which is famous for being abandoned at the side of the road in winter in the US.
Several of my mates have called to say they had to turn back after jack knifed Lorries and Lorries stuck on hills. Doesn't matter if you have AWD if the road is shut!
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I find it ok....you need to keep the power on and make sure there is fuel in the tank....
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No problems yet, but the additional weight in the back helps balance things out as Mark said.
Main thing is be smooth, no sudden actions and plan ahead!! ;)
Use the gearbox to aid braking. This applies to autos too (Mark is available for tuition on how to do this very well).
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Managed to get into work this morning great fun (not) nearly stacked my car a couple of times doing right turns in the built up area's but once I was on the main road it was not a problem, abit twitchy but managable.
See a BMW fly past me in the opposite direction and he skidded up the kerb but he managed to control it
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I did a donut on the carpaprk at work....but that was intentional.... ;D
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I made it to work fine. As others have said, it is all about taking care and being easy on the gas and brakes. Found TC to be good - the first opportunity I have had to test it :) Only slid once, and that was at low speed, steered out of it with no problems. Did not manage to detect the change in engine note though, but then again, I did not floor the gas.
At work there is a chap with a two week old Lexus. He spent 20 minutes trying to get up the slope into our car park. In the Omega, I was up the slope with no worries. A nine year old car beating a 2 week old one. Boy did I feel good! Especially as the Lexus driver ALWAYS berates Vauxhall and says my cars are no good!
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Hasn't been too good in the rain, so I guess I should avoid going out tomorrow if it's bad?
Well my estates a bit twitchy at the back at the best of times so it'll be interesting to find out tomorrow! ::) (when I finally get it back from the garage, that is!!)
I thought you had one for more than a year?
Correct, I have but never had to drive it in heavy snow - we don't get much snow down here in the south. 8-) Have driven in heavy snow many times in previous cars but they've all been front wheel drive.
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I've found Omega to be better than most RWD cars, certainly better than BMWs.
Its all about how you drive in snow - not dissimilar to off-road driving...
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I made it to work fine. As others have said, it is all about taking care and being easy on the gas and brakes. Found TC to be good - the first opportunity I have had to test it :) Only slid once, and that was at low speed, steered out of it with no problems. Did not manage to detect the change in engine note though, but then again, I did not floor the gas.
At work there is a chap with a two week old Lexus. He spent 20 minutes trying to get up the slope into our car park. In the Omega, I was up the slope with no worries. A nine year old car beating a 2 week old one. Boy did I feel good! Especially as the Lexus driver ALWAYS berates Vauxhall and says my cars are no good!
Yeesh! My TC was going off every day for the last week!
A lot of it is the tires. Mine are well above the legal min, but def not all-season. With the right tires you can run around in any car. They don't even need to be fancy or expensive. That Lexus is almost certainly on high-perf tires, which are no good today!
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Hasn't been too good in the rain, so I guess I should avoid going out tomorrow if it's bad?
Well my estates a bit twitchy at the back at the best of times so it'll be interesting to find out tomorrow! ::) (when I finally get it back from the garage, that is!!)
Im surprised you find yours twitching...i recently had to get home quickly (wife was bleeding heavy) and found my estate even at very high speeds and getting chucked around alot to be perfectly stable on damp roads,i do have nankangs fitted so that's probably why ;D
Today in the snow was a different matter but to be fair its very think here and quite compounded.
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Hasn't been too good in the rain, so I guess I should avoid going out tomorrow if it's bad?
Well my estates a bit twitchy at the back at the best of times so it'll be interesting to find out tomorrow! ::) (when I finally get it back from the garage, that is!!)
Im surprised you find yours twitching...i recently had to get home quickly (wife was bleeding heavy) and found my estate even at very high speeds and getting chucked around alot to be perfectly stable on damp roads,i do have nankangs fitted so that's probably why ;D
Today in the snow was a different matter but to be fair its very think here and quite compounded.
It's possibly twitchy because one of rear tyres was worn (just been replaced), also apart from when it's loaded up with disco equipment, I don't carry anything in the back so it's quite light. In the dry it's fine, but the roads have been very damp and slippery for a few days round here. Hopefully it should be better now new tyre is on.
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having been out and about in it today, I have to say my Elitie estate SUCKS in the snow..... mind you now is the time for me to discover that the winter mode button seems to be non-functional , the light on it stays on all the time, and no beahvioural difference is noticable no matter how many times i try and press it.... anyone got a replacement kicking about?? (this is the first "real snow" we've had in a couple of years.
My Sintra on the other hand is excellent in the snow... perhaps something to do with having the V6 sat above the wheels it's driving might be the reason :y
AND the winter mode button actually works !
(and it has more ground clearance... not sure if it makes much odds, but it does deal with deep puddles and drifts and slush banking rather easily)
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It's equally about knowing how to drive in the snow as it is about having the right car... of the two I suspect the former is more important! But don't look at me, I'm rubbish in the snow, I'll crash even a snow plough :(
How to drive in snow ......
Tell me about it.....
Learning a new "country "route today and the guy driving was going down a country hill and a coach appeared coming the other way :o the coach slammed his brakes on and slid back down the hill the guy driving our bus STAMPED on the brakes and slid down the hill a bit ....... and i unashamadley ran to the back of our bus 8-)
then 3 of us spent 20 mins pushing our mini bus back up the hill >:(