150,000 miles ex police motorway patrol car

MikeHiow said:
Yep, and in the roof.

You obviously need to look at each car individually - if it drives ok and everything is straight then I see no reason to consider it, but if you're after a bargain I think you'd be a fool to dismiss it just because it's ex-police.
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That's ok then, more cars for you.
 
re: servicing

a guy on another board is a traffic copper.

the servicing isnt done at the main dealer (like fleets cars etc) its done by the coppers in house and its done to predictably low costs.

the cars are driven hard. can you imagine a copper not driving flat out to a call because his engine was cold?
 
IMO it's a difficult one because the police car, even though it will have been ragged quite a bit, will have had all it's services and maintenance. Also the high mileage is motorway. If I replace the turbo, spark plugs, timing belt/chain, fuel pump, water pump, gaskets and clutch then it cant really throw any massive bills my way and would still be cheaper then the VXR, with more power.

At least that's how I see it & why I am asking the original question. Am I wrong?
 
I think you just need to sit down and spend 3-4k on a nice mondeo and be done with it.

Either that or just keep the car you have if you want the power?

Whats the reason for getting rid of it? Run out of cash?
 
how do you get the car fixed after? it sounds like a funny hybrid, a dealer wont have a clue, parts will be a mare... again, its one of those things that will be silly costs to keep and you have to ask if its worth it
 
I think the problem here isnt the fact that you are looking at ex police cars but that you are looking at getting a Vectra :p
 
no_1_dave said:
IMO it's a difficult one because the police car, even though it will have been ragged quite a bit, will have had all it's services and maintenance. Also the high mileage is motorway. If I replace the turbo, spark plugs, timing belt/chain, fuel pump, water pump, gaskets and clutch then it cant really throw any massive bills my way and would still be cheaper then the VXR, with more power.

At least that's how I see it & why I am asking the original question. Am I wrong?
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See Matt82 post above. Apparently servicing is done in house to a budget, not at a main dealers.
 
no_1_dave said:
IMO it's a difficult one because the police car, even though it will have been ragged quite a bit, will have had all it's services and maintenance. Also the high mileage is motorway. If I replace the turbo, spark plugs, timing belt/chain, fuel pump, water pump, gaskets and clutch then it cant really throw any massive bills my way and would still be cheaper then the VXR, with more power.

At least that's how I see it & why I am asking the original question. Am I wrong?
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Don't forget suspension. It's not like they slow down for speed bumps when on a call/chasing someone.


If you want cheap buy a £2000 mondeo.
 
Philz0r said:
hmmm im sure that ex police has been on auto trader awhile. Just throw a crazy low offer in if u do wana try it.
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Fair comment that, offer £2k and even a few faults that need sorting still make it a reasonable car.
 
Oh no! Not all this again! I wouldnt buy an older ex police car myself, and I certainly wouldnt buy one with a view to spending money replacing parts, this is a crazy idea,

have you test drove the mondeo? as prevoiusly suggested. I am sure youre going to find a cheaper and less molested car this way.
 
[TW]Fox;19227939 said:
Yea, who cares that it's been repeatedly crashed into curbs, over speed ramps at high speed and into other cars for its entire life, its had a regular oil change!
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Lets not be silly here. If it had been crashed repeatedly into curbs enough to cause any sort of damage those components would have been replaced, no ifs, no buts, it just would. While I wouldn't be queuing up for an EX Police car but during their service lives there really would be no compromise when it comes to faults, certainly not on something such as suspension or brakes.

The question you've really got to ask yourself if how much or little work was done to it just before it went out of service, because they properly didn't do the no expense spared stuff knowing that it was going to be punted off to an auction.

Regular oil changes? You crack me up :p.
 
I was looking at ex police volvos and vectras a few month ago and to the extent i went to look at a few examples,

everything i looked at (4 cars) had signs of multiple accident damage and were generally poor examples their cheap for a reason.

BUT if you keep your wits about you and go in to look at one not expecting a top condition car you will be happy. at the end of the day your buying a 250 bhp car for 3 grand (albeit its not a VXR) the police spec vectras are based on SRi trim with VXR running gear ala sri seats andbodykit and wheels with VXR brakes engine box and a base spec dash and audio package

there will be a few bespoke police parts about the car ala pads and certain suspension components(i run police spec topmounts on my taxis for example and they really are much better than stock parts
 
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