To start, for anyone not aware of the fact, I drive an Omega.
The Omega came second last in JD Power about three years ago. The odd thing is that I know three other people who own them, and the four of us all rant and rave (to the point of utter boredom) about what a superb car it is.
Now, the only difference between my survey and JD Power's is the size of sample, but I find it a bit odd that our results should be so out of kilter. Could it be that the people responding to JD Power, being self selected, are those who have a particular mindset?
Sililarly with the Consumer's Association "Second most unreliable car on the road" comment mentioned in the Frozen Doorlocks thread. Another smug, self-satisfied, self-selected sample, perhaps?
Any comments?
V
PS, just remembered a fifth owner I know, who is on his third Omega. He's a fleet manager, so he's got the choice of the fleet.
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I agree this JD power test does not seem to follow any logic,I also owned a Omega 2.0 did over 150000km no problems.I think its another case of somebody setting up a poorly adviced company and passing it of as some sort of bible.I would love to know where they get their info and in what volume.It does not come from the dealers and I know of nobody who has been asked to fill a survey form in .
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Andy,
I often suspect that many of these people just take the views of a tiny section of the population - in this case esther rantzen, Mel C's boyfriend, and the other talking heads on television...
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We had an Omega on our car fleet, and as a direct result I now have all our cars on full maintenance contract hire. I tried to ban Vauxhalls altogether, but one of our managers insisted on a Vectra and I gave in. The day it was delivered, the power steering failed, and when it came back from being repaired, the electric door mirrors had stopped working. A good Omega is a lovely car to drive, but the quality control is patchy. From what I can gather, most of the serious problems are with V6 automatics - lower spec cars, being simpler, are much better.
You're right about these samples tending to be self-selecting though - people who are happy with a car are less likely to say anything than people who aren't. Personally I reckon that if you pay £18K plus for a car, it should be perfect on delivery and stay that way for at least the first 3 years of ownership. The Morris Marina days are over. If I had bought our fleet Omega with my own money, I would have been seriously unhappy with the faults and Vauxhall's fumbling attempts to fix them, and would have complained to JD Power, the Consumers Association and anyone else I could get hold of.
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Richard Hall wrote:
> If I had bought
> our fleet Omega with my own money, I would have been
> seriously unhappy with the faults and Vauxhall's fumbling
> attempts to fix them, and would have complained to JD Power,
> the Consumers Association and anyone else I could get hold of.
Exactly!
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In my humble opinion, I think the reason for the very low rating of Vauxhalls (Fords have often not been rated highly either) is because most of the people who drive these cars and respond to surveys such as the JD Power survey have an axe to grind.
I reckon your average Vectra or Omega owner didn't participate in the JD Power survey (without wanting to appear rude Vin, did you join in the survey and rate the car highly?). Those who did are the ones whose cambelt snapped or had some horrific engine failure, particular owners as opposed to leased cars. Because Vauxhalls are popular cars there are plenty of them which means however good the cars are, there will always be a larger quantity of ones which do go wrong.
I've seen this in Which? before where a popular car gets a "bad" consumer rating when the only people who responded did so because of problems. You then get a car like a Hyundai Accent which whilst a perfectly good car is no better than something like an Astra for the money but gets a fantastic rating but the small print says only three people responded to the survey.
Personally, I'd take the JD Power survey with a pinch of salt. There is nothing like word of mouth for recommendations...
Dan
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I think all of the GM range available in the UK is pretty dire.Reliability is often below average,dealer service depts are often hopeless and parts dept worse than average in my experince.Maybe that most GM dealers are very big outfits they are perhaps not managed very well so poor service is the norm.The list of faults with Vauxhall cars is usually the same things on the cheap Corsas thru to the most expensive Omega,sensors,displays,coarse engines,oil leaks and very average paintwork.If a big leasing co would release their data it would make interesting reading,and make some manufacturers squirm.
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i had a vectra a liked it
the cam belt snapped and vauxhall fixed it for free with no fussing, so i was till happy
wouldnt keep one long term though in case belt snapped again
youre right quantities of cars sold should be taken into account (ie more sold, more people to comment about them)
i am aware of lots of crap vectras out there, but am also aware of some crap mondeos
depends wot u want i suppose
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I've had many new cars and always respond to the JD survey , it is a satisfaction survey and broadly shows the true satisfaction with a car.
the last four cars have all been praised by myself but where they were short coming i always state the case, the survey forces manufactures to try harder in the end we benefit, what owner is going to go out of is way to slag a car and devalue it resale?
My last four cars 1/carina, 2/ primera1 ,primera11 , A4 Avant
Were the survey falls short i feel is that all models from basic to top model are all grouped together, but take it from someone who has driven Japanese for 12years until year 2000 the top ten cars are generally Japanese because they deserve to be.
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It doesn't seem to matter where you buy your Vectra. Here are some unhappy Australians:
www.reviewcentre.com/reviews273.html
Perhaps Australian Vectras (badged as Holdens) are built in the same factory as UK market ones...
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Dan wrote:
>without wanting to appear rude Vin, did you join in the survey and rate the car highly?
No, it's not rude and no I didn't. Life's too short and working days too long for me to want to add another form to my life. So, the JD Power survey misses another satisfied customer.
In answer to the question of Vauxhall servicing, I get mine serviced by a good local garage (found in the good garages list on this site) and I love them to bits. It gets an oil change every month and a bit and a minor service every two months and a double bit.
Oh, and it's the V6 auto.
V
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I did a survey specifically of Omegas via The Telegraph a few years ago. There were some very bad examples out there in readers hands, but a lot more drivers were happy with their cars than weren't.
HJ
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I view these surveys with suspicion. They are not an unbiased full factual report but are based on information supplied by owners who can reduce or increase the importance of problems at will.
It has long been my opinion many fiercly loyal owners (Golf/Honda for example) would be less likely to supply a negative response.
Take a typical set of thoughts (a genuine case) about a 1993 ZX TD from the car's owner.
..............It has now done some 95K miles but the performance, the ride quality and the economy seem as good as ever. More remarkable, there is no rust on the bodywork and the exhaust system is still the original.
Faults? Very few really. From new the speedometer needle has always quivered up to about 50 mph, despite two attempts by the dealer to fix it. The rear discs tend to corrode unless the brakes are used hard. Other work needed has come under normal wear and tear ? cam belts, glow-plugs, front suspension bushes and minor problems with the tail-gate lock.......
Now the reality is the service and repair costs for this vehicle during 2001 were about £800! That for around 12,000mls gentle motoring.
Many folks buying a ZX for £1250 (about the value of this one) and then having to spend £800+ in maintenance over the next year would think it an absolute disaster.
So if the owner had completed a survey form with his original comments you would have a totally distorted view of the car's reliability and costs.
This is where Which/JD Power fall down. As was mentioned above a report sheet from a large fleet user would be far more use.
David
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large fleet users will only have copies of bills for stuff they have PAID for
stuff like a snapped cam belt will most often (for a fleet car less than 3 years old, regardless of guarantees made available to ordinary punters) be done free to the lease company and car company will pay
so lease company data isnt a perfect source of info either
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I dont think its the Omega's that are a bad car, I think its due to the vauxhall muppets that fix and service them.
My brother has had various problems with his Ecotec Cav over the past few months. I have never come across such a collection of idiots under one roof and fail to understand how some of their employees have the qualifications they claim to have.
Even though I own a Vauxhall myself, it is of sufficient age that if anything on it were to break I would be able to fix it myself or take it anywhere but a vauxhall garage to have it repaired. I would never even consider buying a new vauxhall.
With what I have seen of Omegas they look like really nice cars. Its such a shame they were made by Vauxhall...
rant over :-)
Mark.
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The blokes working in the Vauxhall place were working at the Peugeot place 2 weeks ago then b4 that the Rover place and b4 that the Fiat place and so it goes on.
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As a (former) Vectra 1.6 owner for 5 years, I can only agree with that model's lowly place in JD Power. I will remember it as the garage queen which couldn't stay out of the workshop.
Whether this reflects on the designers , the builders or the dealer support doesn't concern me - as a consumer I have to judge the entire package and Vauxhall are on their last chance with me in the shape of the Zafira.
As I understand it, the 2002 results are (or will be) compiled with the support of the DVLA who will ensure that the survey results reflect the proportions of the marques concerned.
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Has anyone seen the Harry Potter movie? Guess what the horrible Dursleys drive? (No, not an Omega.)
HJ
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