They are generally very well serviced an maintained and usually a good buy.
B3ware the 25mpg on the T5 though
Been looking for an estate car, noticed that there are a couple of Volvo V70 T5's around for more than reasonable prices i.e 56 plate for £4.5K...other than the grommets in holes in the roof, holes in the dash, mileage etc, does anyone know of any other pitfalls?
They always were a little tuned as well...
They are generally very well serviced an maintained and usually a good buy.
B3ware the 25mpg on the T5 though
little bit more than 25 if you're careful.
I used to get 25 in my AWD which is a good bit heavier
quote:
Originally posted by flak monkey
They always were a little tuned as well...
They are generally very well serviced an maintained and usually a good buy.
B3ware the 25mpg on the T5 though
Contrary to urban legend, police cars don't get anything 'tuned'. Forces can barely afford to maintain their fleets / replace old cars
far-less tune the buggers! They get radios, fancy lights and poorly applied livery, but otherwise are very much off-the-shelf.
Ex-traffic cars, bikes and 'specialist-vehicles' get reasonably well looked after and may be worth a punt.
General patrol cars are treated terribly and are absolute buckets at the end of their 'working' life. AVOID!
Also ask yourself... do you really want to drive a car that will undoubtedly have bloodstains in the back and stinks of urine and vomit?
[Edited on 1/6/10 by scootz]
quote:
Originally posted by scootz
Also ask yourself... do you really want to drive a car that will have bloodstains in the back and stinks of urine and vomit?
Lol... true!
Yep, a mondeo v6. It was a fast armed responce vehicle. The best every day car i've ever had.
I painted it imperial blue and put a ST200 body kit on it. The funny thing is i never got stopped for speeding. ( not that i ever do ).
Sad day when i sold it.
I ride a liveried Ex-Police Pan European ST1300 with livery and lights still attached, and although it sounds quite "Experienced" for a
30000 mile ride, it rides perfectly and is quick through traffic too!!
quote:
Originally posted by MakeEverything
I ride a liveried Ex-Police Pan European ST1300 with livery and lights still attached, and although it sounds quite "Experienced" for a 30000 mile ride, it rides perfectly and is quick through traffic too!!
in peterborough at least all the cop cars are run until they breakdown then recovered back to there own service garage on site, the main problem is
the drivers not the cars, we recover them everyday- petrol in derv and derv in petrol ,run with no coolant and a popular one is 'i thought it
meant it needed a service when the oil can light is on' also depends on what cars your local force (or service these days:mad
uses they
normaly buy what ever they get the best discount on skoda superbs in the boro lately
I was thinking of getting an ex-police car, and re-kitting it with bits from Hobbycraft and Maplin. The idea was how long I could ride with blue
lights and an authentic looking "Fake Police" relective strip down the side before I got stopped.
I always thought they were a touch tuned, if only to surprise people when they "know" they can outrun an Astra diesel
forgot to add if you dont fancy a v70 another local force may be getting rid of 5 series bmws, skoda superbs, and dog section mondeos with a bit of
a smell
"It's got a cop engine. Cop shocks. Was built before catalytic converters, so it'll take leaded gas"
sorry but i just had too
Rescued attachment ca95blues-brothers-posters11.jpg
quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
isn't that along the lines of impersonating a copper?
Work mate of mine bought a ST Mondeo. Massive hole in the dash and some screw holes, ripped headling but still a bargain.
It still had the gun cabinet in the back and when we jacked it up to remove the bolts you should have seen the floor pan
Obviously been chasing the scrotes around speeding over speed humps... nee naa, nee naa..
All the chassis legs and sills were bashed in, petrol tank was bashed up and all the floorpan was scraped to death, no paint, or seal, just rust
starting.
Fasted banger I've ever been in
I currently have an ex met police omega (liason not patrol) and it's mechanically sound.. when they remove the lights and radio etc to return it
to standard spec they are not overly careful about trim and putting all the little things back... I did get a 50,000 mile car with a full history
(they change the brake fluid every service!!) for 3K...
in summary mechanically sound body/trim shabby but most cars I own end up that way anyhow....
Depends on the police force whether they 'tune' the cars or not. Probably wont be much, but I've had experience of ex police cars
(omegas/vectras in particular) that have slightly bigger brakes and have specced the optional LSD - that sort of thing. Wouldn't be surprised if
there were some chipped police cars, but certainly wouldn't be common.
You will probably get a calibrated speedo - oooooh! And a load of holes/blanks where police equipment has been taken out. They are almost all
absolute poverty spec apart from having the hotest engine of the model range with a manual gearbox, making them basic but in theory as fast as that
model can be. Sometimes, an unmarked car, or something that wasn't just a general patrol workhorse might have a reasonable interior spec.
quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
quote:
Originally posted by MakeEverything
I ride a liveried Ex-Police Pan European ST1300 with livery and lights still attached, and although it sounds quite "Experienced" for a 30000 mile ride, it rides perfectly and is quick through traffic too!!
are you allowed to still have lights on it? isn't that along the lines of impersonating a copper?
My dad has owned a selection of cars that used to be police cars and taxi's and he always says that its the cheapest way to get a car that's
been mechanically looked after (Only bought from large Fleets) as they have in house servicing.
A policeman friend said in the old days they used to tune the cars but now they tend to buy specially speced cars (Highest engine spec with lowest
interior and trim). He had alot of cars with blood on the headliners, never bothered him, he also drove most of them into the ground so resale
wasn't an issue.
I bought an ex army cavalier at 80k miles at auction and it lasted another 50k miles without any trouble.
My father inlaw ran an ex police Vauxhall senator for a years. Didnt have much trouble with it. 3 litre 24v which was remapped and had carlton gsi
suspension special for the police, that was ex persuit car. Only got rid as the head gasket went and cracked the head. Then he bought a police focus
tddi last year. Sack of shit. As said i think an ex traffic car wouldnt be too bad. But i wouldnt buy one. You know theyl have been thrashed.
[Edited on 2/6/10 by Danozeman]
I had a mk2 granada v6 in white and you could see the marks down the side where the stripes used to be a few holes pluged in the roof and a huge zip
in the head lining, and holes in the dash.
The air horns were still under the bonnet but could never get them in tune, was quick the brake discs were warpped when i got it.
I knew someone who bought an ex Army Allegro that was used for plain clothes work in NI. It was armour plated, but before they sold it on they put the old engine back in (it had had something tasty to cope with the extra weight). If it had been a dog, it would have been on a one way trip to the vet.
it was 7 or more years ago now. it was a omega 2.5 it had damage to the back doors.seats and dash had more holes than a maggot filled apple.
anywho.
i was brilliant.
they are services alot and looked after so well.
down side it drunk fuel till it got it untuned.
was funny to see though cos it killed most cars off the lights. and handed ok.
now the down sides.
bushes went all the time due to age and hammer it had had.
resale value for me was poo so i ended up giving it away.
the car needed a new dash which was not cheap or easy to find.
and insurance was bad cos it has had alot of mods to the engine etc.
i was warned to ensure the insurance knew it was ex police as they mod them and they may not pay out if you kill it.
Be careful of the Armed Response T5's as they are "plated" and weigh a lot but with std brakes.
Durham had a near miss on a pursuit and had a big rowe with Volvo about it. My mate who was the driver involved had to go to Croft and try and prove
it to Volvo ! Nice work if you can get it.
The brakes were not upgraded to cope with the extra weight and if used hard can fade.
They also take the limiter off.
........Neil
I learnt to drive in an ex police rover P6 3.5 from Cheshire police force in the 80s. It was allegedly unmodified but had a sticker 'serviced by
TWR engineering' in the engine bay and gave 220 bhp at the back wheels! It had 169K on when I got it (for £50!) and 279K when my dad crashed it a
few years later. It was mehanically good but tatty
Hugh
I also had a couple of V6 3.0 Ltr ex-police Omega's.
One I ran for a couple of years on LPG, absolutely great 45 miles per gallon equivelant to petrol prices, 15 of the 205 horses had dissappeared by the
time it got to 250k, but it held the road like "sh*t to a blanket"
The second one has been stripped and the V6 will be in my Robin Hood later this year.
Martin
Don't know about Ex police cars but 2 years ago, i send an Ex police car engine to my brother in Greece after an accident he had and cracked the
engine block.
The engine was out from a Skoda 1.8T that had the roof chopped off due to an accident.
That engine clocked at 96K miles was miles better than the original engine in my brother's car which was clocked at 64K miles.
Sounded a bit tappety but otherwise better than expected.
I knew that most of the time they tune the engines a bit obviously rechipped etc but i believe that the engine we got was not only chipped but thy had
done something else to it as well.
BTW it was just the engine i send (block and head) with no anchiliaries whatsoever