Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: Varche on 11 November 2010, 19:07:46
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I am thinking next year of the absolutely unthinkable. After over 11 years of running my Omega Imay change it for a 4x4. Heresy I know. Here is the scenario.
90% of our motoring here in Spain is short journeys to the local town or a bit further afield the local Interntional airport.. The rest is very local or off road or towing a small loaded max load 1600lb trailer (unbraked). The latter we do maybe 30 times a year. Currently we use the Omega which is fine on country roads and tarmac roads but is total rubbish in the olive groves (fat tyres , too lowand mud).. One other point is that we live in the middle of nowhere and have miles and miles of stone surface tracks we cannot exlore or use because of the Omegas low slung nature and poor traction.
So next year I am considering a manual one of the following with a budget of say up to £3000 Uk or 4000 euros The difference being the cost of changing onto Spanish plates. Economy, cost of running, reliability are key factors.
Suzuki Vitara diesel manual
Land Rover Discovery Diesel (300 engine 94 onwards)
Vauxhal Frontera diesel
Which and model (or alternative ) would you recomend and why please? Diesel In Spain is still cheaper than unleaded. This really woud be a leap into the total unknown!!
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Discovery you can repair with a bent spoon by all accounts
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Come `join the Disco. club ;D
.....cheap parts, easy to fix and in a dry climate the Disco`s MAJOR issue (rust) would be mostly negated.
They tow well, go excellently off-road and have the comfort for those longer journeys. :y
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my mrs had a grand vitara 2.5 v6 auto for 7 years we only recently sold it and they are a brilliant 4x4 the v6 was a bit thirsty but it never let us down and only had the normal servicing and wear and tear bits
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disco stuff is expensive over there. My old man is over there and it was costing him an arm and a leg for parts. I ended up posting him over alot of things, and even with the postage it was still cheaper.
however as mentioned theres nothing on them that cant be fixed.
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frontera diesel 98 on diesel is ok before that dont bother
suzy diesel seems quite popular here but they are a very bumpy ride, and pumps can sometimes give trouble,
disco? apart from very soft ride (almost sickeningly soft)
and rust ssues the 300tdi is almost unburstable, can suffer with diff whine and heavy on brake pad and discs
but the best of what you have picked here
Got a hyundai galloper exceed 2.5td on spanish plates here for sale !!!
probably hav another nearer your time :y
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I had a shogun for about three months and absolutely loved it.
Comfortable on the roads, and a proper off-road beast.
But they're horrendously expensive on juice (3.0 petrol) - I'm informed the diesel isn't any better. 3.2 24V is cheaper to run supposedly.
Dunno about parts availability, but considering it's rebadged as either the Pajero or Canyonero (?) in pretty much every country in the world, I wouldn't have thought you'd have too much difficulty sourcing parts.
The pajero owner's forum seemed friendly enough (can't find the URL at the moment), and the odd bit of work I did
on it seemed reasonably easy.
If I could get a reliable source of veg oil, or an LPG conversion, I'd buy another tomorrow, but
again - they are HORRIBLY thirsty - like 8mpg towing a horse trailer full of books, or about 15-20 mpg on the motorway, unladen.
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8mpg towing a horse trailer full of books, or about 15-20 mpg on the motorway, unladen
:o Dear Lord!.....and I thought the Disco`s MPG was bad!:o
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Range Rover everytime :y
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Range Rover everytime :y
:P No-longer, Wyatt Twerp....
...you`re now the Lone Rangie! ;D
Just wait `till Tonto finds out what Kimosabe actually means! ::)
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my experience of range rovers and discoverys is simple, i cannot weld fast enough to keep up with there rate of decompostion.
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my experience of range rovers and discoverys is simple, i cannot weld fast enough to keep up with there rate of decompostion.
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Looks like its a Mitsibishi then!
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300 TDi Disco. No real electronics to make it go wrong, unlike the TD5 which has a fair amount of ECU probs.
As said, rust is an issue but relatively easily contained, lots of panels/parts available and an almost unburstable engine.
Been told that if the timing breaks/slips, all that is required, other than a retime, is to remove the rockers/pushrods/whatever and straighten them with a hammer..... ;D
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:) I,ve had 3 Pajeros 1 swb 2lwb fantastic tow vehicles lwb certainly the best sold my 97 2.8 turbo diesel 12 mths ago, too much hassle to get it matriculated because of the french requirements,still miss that truck. Economy certainly not as bad as quoted although I never really counted the miles,felt that the driving experience and confidence it gave were worth the little extra in fuel costs. A go anywhere with anything on the back vehicle ***** Cracking. :y :y :y
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Have a look at the 2.5 diesel jeep cherokee xj,s built to take everything you can chuck at it and do it in leather comfort. only thing to look for are overheating issues and head gaskets issues. Buy one with head issues and repair it yourself. do not fit heads that have been skimmed on the diesels. Or you can go with the 99 m/y 4.0l engined cars but the fuel economy is not good but, will pull a train. Again head gaskets can be an issue but only if the coolant levels and systems have been neglected. 2000 m/y have head cracking problems on 0331 heads but earlier heads go straight on with a matching exh manifold. Jeeps are good value and plenty of info on them on line from numerous owners forums. :y
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no toyota on the list?, how many seats?
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Economy, cost of running, reliability are key factors.
I think that might possibly rule out a Jeep Cherokee. That is a big vehicle. I don't really want anything that will average less than 23mpg even on diesel.
Toyota? ? Only need 4 or 5 seats.
Had another look at a locals SWB Mitsibushi Pajero today. It isn't for sale but has done 140k miles. After a clean up it would be a good buy!!
Funnily enough just towed a ton of sand home tonight in a trailer up and down the 1 in 5 hills and my neighbour who came with me was mega impressed with the Omega (well it wasn't in one of its periodic fault modes). ;D
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no toyota on the list?, how many seats?
Valid point. They are indestructible, as seen on top gear. We have a HiLux 2.4D pickup at the gliding club that has spent the last 10 years towing cables across the airfield at 30 MPH in 2nd gear. My first memory of it was that it had about 40 or 50k on the clock. It's now up to about 260k. It's not road legal so that's the only task it's done. It has been through a few clutches, has about 10 degrees of play in the steering wheel in the straight ahead position and looks a shed but the mechanical bits still work fine, despite the fact that it gets driven by anyone who happens to get collared to do the job, and many 'ain't that mechanically sympathetic. ;D
Kevin
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Economy, cost of running, reliability are key factors.
I think that might possibly rule out a Jeep Cherokee. That is a big vehicle. I don't really want anything that will average less than 23mpg even on diesel.
Toyota? ? Only need 4 or 5 seats.
Had another look at a locals SWB Mitsibushi Pajero today. It isn't for sale but has done 140k miles. After a clean up it would be a good buy!!
Funnily enough just towed a ton of sand home tonight in a trailer up and down the 1 in 5 hills and my neighbour who came with me was mega impressed with the Omega (well it wasn't in one of its periodic fault modes). ;D
The car that my mig replaced was a grand cherokee 2.5td,that averaged around 27.5mpg on its american trip computer (4.0lt us gallons).
I quite liked it and it was epic off road but not that great on road,I much prefer the mig but will miss four wheel drive come winter if it snows again
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Come `join the Disco. club ;D
.....cheap parts, easy to fix and in a dry climate the Disco`s MAJOR issue (rust) would be mostly negated.
They tow well, go excellently off-road and have the comfort for those longer journeys. :y
I agree.
I've had my 1996 300tdi for around four years now. Very comfortable on long journeys, and if it wasn't for the rust, (lots and lots of rust), it would have cost peanuts to run, (erm, excluding fuel).
(http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn85/TVRMoneypit/16032008020aa.jpg)
I've had a Frontera in the past. A 2.8td. I know this is a VX website, but frankly it was crap.
Cant comment on the Vitara much. The only thing that I could say about them is that many years ago when I used to work at a Citroen / Suzuki main dealers, the Spanish built Vitaras had a reputation for poor build quality compared to the Japanese built ones.
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As Harry Hill might say:
"Dirty boy!" ;D
(http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn85/TVRMoneypit/16032008020aa.jpg)
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Economy, cost of running, reliability are key factors.
In your warm climate; year`round veggie oil (SVO) fuelling of a 'suitable' diesel would be possible, without needing fuel pre-heaters or having two-tanks etc.
Not sure about running any of the Japanese diesels on veggie; but the 200/300 tdi`s certainly can. :y
I wonder if Spanish veggie oil would cost less than it does here?.......TBH, our U.K oil often isn`t too costly: e.g recently, ASDA rapeseed oil- 6 litres for £2.....and 'BOGOF' too!:y
(http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj241/CleverCollies/DSCF7670Small.jpg)
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I quite like the idea of something that can run on veg oil. My brother runs 2 vehicles on it exclusively after processing.
Veg oil shot up in price here to not much less than 1 euro a litre, diesel is about 1.15. Ostensibly it rose following the introduction of new rules pertaining to how it was produced i.e. only controlled chemicals. That ruled out most of the cheap imported East European stuff. Very little in the way of offers here like UK BOGOF's but I know plenty of places that would be only too keen to let me remove their used oil for free. ;D
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[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7dVFY5CxT0&feature=related[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIvAnlc6Qlk&feature=related[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSKKvf5keh0[/media]
so my vote is obvious ;D
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As Harry Hill might say:
"Dirty boy!" ;D
After cleaning the lights, glass and underneath I drove round with it like that for a few more days untill the local police stopped me and suggested that I get it washed :'(
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I am not joking when I say my Omega has looked like that on a number of occasions since living here.
Mud is a real problem when it rains heavily, as it just gets washed onto the local roads in vast quantities. Soon gets cleared though by contract JCB drivers. Bit like snow in the UK really, though we get that here as well. Been snowed in twice in five years!
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:) I,ve had 3 Pajeros 1 swb 2lwb fantastic tow vehicles lwb certainly the best sold my 97 2.8 turbo diesel 12 mths ago, too much hassle to get it matriculated because of the french requirements,still miss that truck. Economy certainly not as bad as quoted although I never really counted the miles,felt that the driving experience and confidence it gave were worth the little extra in fuel costs. A go anywhere with anything on the back vehicle ***** Cracking. :y :y :y
To be fair - mine did blow it's head gasket, which may have contributed to the lack of economy...
BUT:
I went from spending £30 PER DAY on fuel to about £10 a day, when I swapped the shogun (3.0 LWB) to a 2.5Di transit - doing the same trips. (albeit no trailer, everything in the van).
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From that list, Discovery all the way.
My Dad has a V8 Discovery, its quite a hoot to drive!!
Been for a play in a few 'modified' (see below) and un-modified RangeRovers and am amazed what they can do if you are not bothered about re-arranging the vegitation with the body work
Amazed no one has mentioed either a 90 or 110 as an option.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v508/Stoneshed/Image006.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v508/Stoneshed/Image011.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v508/Stoneshed/Image010.jpg)