Vauxhall Omega V6 | Shed of the Week

Bob the Binman has two shared interests with Shed: football, and Mrs Shed. They’re very much in that order as far as Shed is concerned, so when Bob made tentative inquiries about the possibility of a threesome Shed said he wasn’t against the idea as long as he was allowed to sub himself off in the first minute and immediately leave the field of play. Unsurprisingly, Bob had no issue with that. Negotiations are ongoing and doubtless there’ll be more developments over the next few weeks, not to mention a fair bit of shouting and pan-twirling when Mrs Shed gets to hear about it. In the meantime though, it’s hard to imagine the need for much in the way of negotiation on the price of this week’s shed, a trouser-untroubling £1250 for what looks like a very nice Vauxhall Omega.

Anyone under 50 who is for whatever mad reason reading this won’t have a clue about the Omega, or possibly even Vauxhall given that the days of first-time car buyers defaulting to that marque are long gone. What do the young ‘uns aim at nowadays when they’re stepping out for their first motor? Whatever, we’re talking Omegas here. What’s the appeal? 

Well, speaking as an old dude well past his 50s, Shed would say that the pleasures of Omega motoring are many and various. With the state of his rear end these days comfort is paramount. He knows his posterior would thank him (if posteriors could speak) for this CDX’s deeply cushioned velour seats. It would be a pleasant thing to pilot too thanks to its rear-wheel drive, 4-speed slushbox and decent engine.

What engine is that then? The last Omega featured in the back end of 2021 was a late (2003) 2.2 petrol CD auto. Without the benefits of turbocharging it could only muster 142hp, 150lb ft and mpg figures in the 20s. Today’s shed is a different kettle of herrings, boasting (if cars could boast) a 2.6-litre V6 with 176hp, 177lb ft and mpg figures in the 20s. Fuel consumption aside, the 2.6 had enough bant about it to propel this 1,670kg saloon through the 0-60mph test in a relaxed 9.2 seconds, going on to a maximum speed of 139mph. 

As noted by Shed at the time, the British bobby of the early 21st century very much liked grunty 3.0 versions of the Omega for their mobile policing, but a bit like Shed they struggled to find somewhere to put their helmets, so these Vauxhall jam sandwiches were eventually supplanted by Volvo estates. In fairness, the Omega boot was very spacious at 530 litres. It just wasn’t quite big enough to accommodate all the tracklements of modern crimestopping.

Our 85,000-mile shed is a couple of years older than that 2.2, but you’d never guess it from the condition, which visually at least seems excellent. Last September’s MOT picked up on worn tyres and non-excessive engine oil and trans fluid leakages, both of which were common on this engine. Misfires weren’t unusual either. They were usually down to faulty coil packs and wonky MAF sensors. 

Some nearside rear wheel arch corrosion was sorted between the 2018 and 2018 tests. Nothing more has come up on that front since. The vendors say ‘new MOT’ in the blurb, which suggests it could have been languishing on their forecourt since September. The ad also says it’s got a new Motsunroof. That’s not something Shed is familiar with. He has been excitedly toying with the notion that this car might once have been owned by the sadly departed footy commentator and sheepskin coat model John Motson, the vendors having accidentally typed in a ‘u’ instead of an ‘o’. It wouldn’t be the first spelling mistake in a classified car ad after all. 

Today’s Omega was first registered in September 2001, a few months too late for it to benefit from the £230 annual rate that applies to pre-March 2001 cars over 1,549cc. Its 276g/km figure should then drag it into the dreaded £760pa bracket, a ludicrous jump for the sake of seven months. Fortunately, it was registered before 23 March 2006 and therefore falls into the shadowy Band K, bringing the annual bill back down to £430 or £415, depending on what part of the internet you choose to believe. Is it any wonder a confused old duffer like Shed gets this stuff wrong? Whatever way you look at it, it’s still a not insignificant amount of cash to be throwing away, and almost certainly pivotal to this car’s ongoing unsold status. 

Shed regularly gets Vauxhall spec levels wrong too so he won’t be doing anything more than venturing the vague opinion that a CDX might perhaps be nearer the top end of the Omega range than the bottom. Again he is pleading brain fog and the frazzling multiplicity of Omega types to choose from, including Sport, GLS, Reflection, CD, CDX, MV6, Elite and a few dozen more that even Vauxhall has forgotten about. The selection of engines was even more boggling. Eeeh, crazy times, but somehow good ones too.