Anybody any experience with them?

How thirsty are they in reality, considering I do a fair bit of town & motorway driving?

Mates tried to flog me his 2.0 16v cos he knows im on the lookout, but its more expensive to add on to the insurance than the V6 is So if I get one will deffo have to be a V6, just need to know what to expect consumption wise as I dont want it to cripple me

 

I had one for a runabout i got at auction, was a 2000 X reg i paid Ł800, no test, needed a new windscreen, valet etc...i sold it for Ł1750 on ebay, was 2.5 Elite too - it felt a bit slow around town but deceptively, cruising at 90 was a dream too, lot of car for little money.

 

Fantastic motorway cruiser, but you will be lucky to see 30mpg+ out of it.

Where as my A4 Tdi shows me 50+ reguarly and is just as comfy


I personally wouldnt buy one to do the 1000 miles a week that I do, put it that way!

 

Average mileage for me is ~ 400 miles a week average...

Think I might just go pick a cheapy shitter of an N reg one up from the auctions run it about and if its getting too costly shift it on for next to nothing, but if its not too bad I can still shift it and then go get a newer one

 

My guesses:
400 miles in my A4 Tdi would cost 35 quid
400 miles in an omega V6 would cost 55 quid

If its worth 1000 pounds a year more to you to drive than something like an A4 Tdi, then go for it.


If that was the numbers for me then I probably would too, but its more like 2500 a year for me, so thats beyond worthwhile as that pays to run my 3 door for the year!

 

I had one to borrow from a friend after I did his top end rebuild.
VERY nice car to drive, very comfy, not very quick, even for 2.5, around 18mpg around town I got, was running perfect as well.
Best value big car for little money.
They suffer from a host of problems though!!
tabetha

 

water/oil heat exchanger tends to give head gasket failure signs, bit it's not the head gasket

timing chains tend to cost more than the cars

 

doing anything to the engine is a pain in the arse cause you nearly always have to take the inlet manifold off to get at anything. and one of the plugs is buried under the bulkhead.

didn't have to worry about fuel costs too much, because mine was LPG'd. Eats up the miles, but there are cheaper, better cars out there.

 

Stepdad has one with nearly 200k on it (1999 V reg 2.5 V6 Elite Auto Estate), just had the autobox seals done and a full service and its still going strong.

Around town he gets about 22mpg but on a run to Scotland he got 35mpg witch was quite good for a V6.

His is quite nippy when you press the Sport button but it wont set your pants on fire.

 

ive got one, i get about 300 miles from a full tank which is Ł60 to fill
i would go for a 2.5d, i think they are bmw engines

 

Common for headgasket failure and heater matrix failure, which are a proper camel cock to replace.

Other than that a pleasure to drive and comfy on a long journey.

As Chip though, MPG is a little to be desired.

 

Not really too bothered about speed etc,end of day I just want something to get me from A to B without much hassle at an adequate pace (id probably get frustrated with the 2.0 16v as it would be too underpowered)...

Never thought about a diesel tbh, I know they are BMW units, so might just have to have a look

 

Like i just told someone else, get a Volvo S70 T5, safe, fast, cheap, 22 to 35mpg depending on driving, ex police even cheaper too.

 

just dont buy one in white.

 

Doji, I thought they were all belts ?, the one I did certainly was, "M" reg it was.
tabetha

 

can't remember to be honest, i've had loads of people posting up about 2 years ago when they hit rock bottom prices what would go wrong with them and half said it was a chain and half said it was a belt

but they all said it was not worth paing the price to get them changed because you could buy aother car for less

 

There belts not chains mate. I had mine changed at Vauxhall as i needed it doing asap as the tensioner got noisy and crapped myself. Cambelt and tensioner, water pump and aux belt and tensioner came to about Ł400. At the time my S plate was worth Ł4k and the engines went for Ł800+ plus fitting which was expensive due to the work involved. Forget about repairing after a belt/tensioner fail though as your talking a couple of grand to rebuild.

Ive had a few of each, 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0. 2.0 are crap and wouldnt pull the skin off rice pudding. The 2.5 are decent enough and the 3.0 obviously goes quite well once moving. They can keep up with UK subarus once rolling past 60-70 and thats been proven on numerous occasions.

My 2.5 elite would do 40-45mpg on a long motorway run with the cruise control on. Round town and i was lucky to get over 25mpg and was usually around 22-23mpg. The 3.0's are very similar and can very often be better than the 2.5 as the engines dont have to work as hard. Mine was auto which is FAR better than manuals in my opinion, if a little bit thirstier, maybe by 2mpg.

As said, heat exchangers, cambelts (kit), water pumps, worn suspension and bushes (due to weight), worn/snapped drop links, and uneven tyre wear, are the things to look out for. Also check ALL the electrics on the higher models like the elite and cdx as they can be expensive to sort. Check the xenon lights and self leveling suspension works too if its got it.

 

Any experience? I had a V6 blowing my Zafira GSI away on the A13. I was doing pretty well until the speed-limiter cut in.....

 

are these the same v6 as in the 2.5 cavalier? (i presume so)

i'm looking at getting a cav, so i suppose they must go reasonably well in the lighter car. (or at least not be completely tedious to drive!)

 

I test drove an ex traffic cop mv6,tbh i found it very soft, and not as quick as i hoped. at the time i was using my dads Scorpio cossie, the mv6 was nowhere near as good a car.

 

or indeed the same as the vectra sri 2.5 v6 (170bhp) ???

i just got one

 

The cav has the least powerful of the V6 engines, about 170bhp IIRC, where as the omega comes with engine options right up to over 200bhp

 

bloody would do, wouldn't it!
still should be ok for just cruising around though i reckon..

 

Dan,

Headgaskets arent that common.

just the heater matrix and they have a habit of eating coil packs and leaking oil from the cam covers.

coil pack caused by a water leak and the oil leak from blocked breathers.