If you’ve been faithfully following our fledgling magazine, you’d know that the Opel Vectra has been thrashing the Japanese in the 2.0-2.5 class. (See last month’s Car Review in the Archive section.) What to make of its bigger brother, the Omega? Can it use the same formula of reasonable price and plentiful features, this time to outsell its fellow Europeans?
As with the Vectra, the main attention-grabber for the Omega is price. The CD sedan sells for P1.8 million, while the wagon goes for P1.85 million. Certainly reasonable when compared to Volvo’s 2.5-liter S70 A/T at P2.175M, and 2.5-liter V70 A/T at P2.245M. As for fellow Germans, the BMW 523i goes for P2.6M and the Mercedes-Benz E230 for a whopping P2.8M.
In this stratospheric segment of car shopping, though, price won’t be everything. It’s good to know then that even disregarding the price difference, the Omega is a capable of holding its own among its competitors.
The Omega may not look as stately as the E-class and lacks the 5-series ready-to-pounce look, but its styling has character. The sedan has a smooth, modern profile from the front bumper to the C-pillar, with a crease running the length of the car, just above the door handles. The face looks interesting, with its grille pushed down into the bumper, and the Opel blitz logo stretching across the grille. The rectangular foglamps punctuate the grille’s bottom end. The tail end, though, looks generic. As with the Vectra, the wagon looks better than the sedan.
From the inside, the view of the road is expansive in all directions, but the seating position could be higher; the front edges of the car are hidden from view, making parking and close maneuvering difficult until one gets used to the car’s dimensions. The leather-covered seats have generous room for front and rear passengers. Five can fit with no trouble at all. The electric front seats are very comfortable, but lack side support for spirited cornering. As a bonus, the rear seats even have their own vent outlets mounted behind the front armrest.
Controls for the Omega’s various electronic features are mounted on the lower dash, including the effective climate control system. The wood paneling looks at odds with the numerous buttons, though. The buttons themselves are spaced closely together and are similar in shape, so familiarity with their operation takes some time with the owner’s manual. The instrument panel houses some generic gauges and Opel’s Multi-info display which incorporates trip computer, stopwatch and radio controls for the Bose sound system.
The Omega’s powerplant is a brawny 2.5 liter 24-valve V6, which produces 170 bhp and 232 Nm of torque. It makes quick work of accelerating the 1530-kg car to highway speeds. The sedan can go from 0-100 km/h in a fraction less than 9 seconds, the wagon a fraction more. The 4-speed automatic transmission shifts smoothly and quickly responds with a downshift if you press hard on the accelerator. Keep in Sport mode though if you want that response. Strong midrange torque makes passing other cars almost effortless.
The steering is precise but doesn’t offer much feedback. Bumps are absorbed quite well and ride on the 205/65 R 15 tires is quite comfortable. The 4-disc ABS brakes are strong but also lack feedback.
It is, overall, an admirable and well-though-out effort. It is yet another car that has arrived belatedly and deserves to find a local audience. The Omega may be a stranger to Philippine streets, but it has been soldiering on successfully in Europe for the past four years. This means that a new one will soon be introduced. However, it remains the best-selling executive car in Europe: 115,000 were sold last year alone.
General Motors has also imported the sedan into the U.S. wearing Cadillac badges. As the Cadillac Catera, only the 3.0-liter engine with the four-speed automatic is available. The engine has been retuned for better low-end torque, as American driving habits favor rapid acceleration over top-speed cruising. Sadly, the ad campaign introducing the Catera has been less than successful. Ads replete with animated ducks portray the Catera as the “Caddy that zigs” (instead of zags, supposedly), and compare its brakes to large pizzas. Not the best of comparisons, and the campaign soon became the laughingstock of the American ad industry.
There probably lies the greatest difficulty of the Omega here as well-being taken seriously. Opel is known as a competent maker of small and midsize sedans, and its “German engineering with Japanese value” approach has been successful for the Vectra even after Opel’s long absence.
This time, however, it’s taking on bigger fish-the BMW 523i, Mercedes E230, and, slightly down the range, Volvo S70 and V70. The Omega has the engine, the chassis and the equipment to solidly trounce the S70 and V70, at P300,000 less. However, the BMW and the Benz still have the edge, because even when standing still, each stands for a distinct driving and ownership experience. The BMW looks admirably lithe and agile, while the Merc speaks of impressive luxury and engineering. When driving them, they respond true to the promise of their appearances. If you’re not very sensitive to these distinctions, and are looking to drive all the way to the bank with your savings, then the Omega is certainly a worthy alternative.
Text By Redline | Photos courtesy of Opel Motors Japan
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