Brett
Premium Member
Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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Yeah, but if the car's on the road as a civilian car then it will have an MOT therefore those items will be ok. Not sure if I'm missing something here.
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Steve
Premium Member
Registered: 30th Mar 02
Location: Worcestershire Drives: Defender
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How much cheaper are they than normal equivalent cars?
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Chris x
Member
Registered: 11th Sep 08
Location: Bexhill
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People who don't work as police officers drive slowly over bumps then? 
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Welsh Dan
Member
Registered: 23rd Mar 00
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Not a bloody chance. I used to work for the Police garages, and until then I thought that they were good cars to buy.
All of the cars were serviced properly, with no expense spared whatsoever. Even when its clearly not cost effective, especially if it was a safety issue.
It obviously depends on the nature of the squad that its come from however. Traffic cars are very well looked after and kept clean, but the response team ones are ragged day in, day out, as well as getting into scrapes quite often.
I'd personally avoid, unless it was significantly cheaper and i'd budget for problems.
[Edited on 22-07-2013 by Welsh Dan]
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Jambo
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Registered: 8th Sep 01
Location: Maidenhead, Drives: VXR Arctic
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quote:
Originally posted by Brett
No offence to anyone involved, but I'm guessing most people putting a downer on it have never actually owned one themself. Just a theory.
None taken, but said person has seen more of a wider variety than the owner of a single car. So likely to have a far better average for understanding the mass of cars out there 
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Brett
Premium Member
Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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Wasn't aimed specifically at you. All I see is friends and friends of friends and assumptions tbh.
[Edited on 22-07-2013 by Brett]
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nathy_87
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Registered: 14th Aug 08
Location: West Mids. Drives: Škoda Fabia VRS 5J
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One of my friends, has was a Peugeot 307, said there was nothing wrong with it what-so-ever. Still got it.
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DansCorsaSXi
Organiser: Yorkshire
Premium Member
Registered: 13th Jan 10
Location: Worksop
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My mate Ash had a white Volvo T5 05 plate. Was in really good condition and looked like it had been maintained well.
Went like the stink too. 300bhp+ I think he said.
Star silver C20XE SXi Project thread
Smoke Grey Corsa GSi Project thread
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Corsa_Sport21
Member
Registered: 13th Apr 08
Location: Leven, Fife. Drives : 205 GTi
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I would. I would also check over it like i would any other car. Just because its ex plod dosn't mean its going to have problems that are hidden. If its got knackered suspension or a fuked engine, you just walk away like you would any other car. If all is fine then no biggy. Things won't just start to break or fall off over night, and the saving over the equivalent non ex plod car, gives you a bit extra to sort stuff if and when it does start to go wrong.
I see no issue with it tbh.
As for the speed bump thing, what a load of pish. I bet average joe in his Ford Focus hits speeds bumps at the same speed on a more regular basis. It's not like these police cars belt around the town centre 24/7 in high speed pursuits.
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DaveyLC
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Registered: 8th Oct 08
Location: Berkshire
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They are pretty good for replacing bits though.. The work-shop is normally a contract job so they just throw the cars in there for the slightest problem.. But as above most are shit spec, the interiors are a wreck and the body work is a mess.
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Welsh Dan
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Registered: 23rd Mar 00
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quote:
Originally posted by Corsa_Sport21
I would. I would also check over it like i would any other car. Just because its ex plod dosn't mean its going to have problems that are hidden. If its got knackered suspension or a fuked engine, you just walk away like you would any other car. If all is fine then no biggy. Things won't just start to break or fall off over night, and the saving over the equivalent non ex plod car, gives you a bit extra to sort stuff if and when it does start to go wrong.
I see no issue with it tbh.
As for the speed bump thing, what a load of pish. I bet average joe in his Ford Focus hits speeds bumps at the same speed on a more regular basis. It's not like these police cars belt around the town centre 24/7 in high speed pursuits.
Actually, on some days we can be doing blue light runs nearly all shift. Maybe not for a quiet county force, but for the busier city forces they certainly get driven hard and for long periods of time.
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Mertin
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Registered: 12th Oct 05
Location: Scotland
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Isnt even any speed bumps in my town, and even the town s where there is whats the chances of a high speed chase taking place down a busy street with speed bumps on a daily basis? 
I'd reckon they'd be good cars if picked up at an auction for bargain price. Dont see much attraction for a 1.7 diesel panda car, more likely the vectra's, omegas, volvos and nowadays a4's and bmw's. Undercovers will likely have mainly motorway miles with minimal marks / holes where stuff has been.
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Corsa_Sport21
Member
Registered: 13th Apr 08
Location: Leven, Fife. Drives : 205 GTi
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Yes but these busier city forces will be driving in a busy city. Not like they are going to have a clear run at 70mph+ all the way. Probably going to weaving in and out of traffic at a more realistic 40mph ish.
Or is it like when Ben G used to do 0-60 runs in stop start traffic.
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Welsh Dan
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Registered: 23rd Mar 00
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quote:
Originally posted by Mertin
Isnt even any speed bumps in my town, and even the town s where there is whats the chances of a high speed chase taking place down a busy street with speed bumps on a daily basis?
I'd reckon they'd be good cars if picked up at an auction for bargain price. Dont see much attraction for a 1.7 diesel panda car, more likely the vectra's, omegas, volvos and nowadays a4's and bmw's. Undercovers will likely have mainly motorway miles with minimal marks / holes where stuff has been.
What about going to normal calls? Still have to get there quickly, and very rarely get pursuits where I work. And the unmarked cars with us get driven on the same roads, to the same calls, with the same drivers. The vast majority are no better driven than the marked units. And as mentioned, interiors don't last as long as they would with a normal car, got knows why.
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Corsa_Sport21
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Registered: 13th Apr 08
Location: Leven, Fife. Drives : 205 GTi
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As for the interiors being shitter spec, how is that possible if its a VRS to start with?? Can't see them ripping it out and replacing it with lower spec stuff.
Take for instance the Vectra's. They are just SRi's iirc with the VXR engine. The Octavia is an actual VRS, not just a lower spec model with a VRS engine.
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Welsh Dan
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Registered: 23rd Mar 00
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We've just had two new Octavia VRS to replace the 3 series BMWs we had. They have the standard interiors, but I know on other cars that they sometimes replace the leather interiors with cloth seats from lesser models, particularly the bigger engine BMWs/Audis. Mainly to do with the seats being cheaper to replace if the airbags go off i'd imagine.
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am4nf
Member
Registered: 27th Jul 08
Location: South Ayrshire Drives: Corsa Sport
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I would tbh you can get a 2.8 t v6 vectra which is effectively a vxr underneath for about 2k, compared to some leathers and bumpers costing you at least double for a car a few years older, given they might have slightly less miles, but at the end of the day you never really know what life a cars had, until the problems start arrising
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morpheus22
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Registered: 10th Oct 05
Location: sheffield
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quote:
Originally posted by Tomnova16
a mate bought a V6 vectra, was a pile of shite
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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quote:
Originally posted by Corsa_Sport21
Yes but these busier city forces will be driving in a busy city. Not like they are going to have a clear run at 70mph+ all the way. Probably going to weaving in and out of traffic at a more realistic 40mph ish.
Or is it like when Ben G used to do 0-60 runs in stop start traffic.
Here we go. Name dropping and talking crap yet again.
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Skylined
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Registered: 27th Sep 05
Location: Sideways, Surrey
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My evo was a police car for the first year of its life, seems to be in great condition, regularly serviced and not had a problem with it.
Wouldn't put me off.
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Graham88
Member
Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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Mates got a Skoda vRS 1.8t, over 100k miles, few small dents and a hole in the roof from the aerial (been plugged) but it's been good as gold, still quick too
Would have to be significantly cheaper though
[Edited on 23-07-2013 by Graham88]
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Pete_vxl
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Registered: 24th Nov 06
Location: Lochgelly, Fife
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My brother had a petrol v6 vectra B. Amazing car. It had just over 100k and he ran it untill 170k.
In that time the car needed brakes and a xenon went pop. Other than that it was perfect.
Fife police even let him go into headquarters to get photos of it with it's sister car which was still in service.
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Tiger
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Registered: 12th Jun 01
Location: Leicestershire Drives:Astra VXR
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I'd buy one if I could keep the lights on top!
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chris_uk
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Jul 03
User status: Offline
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My dad had a granada cosworth which was an ex-police car, 350bhp or something daft and was bullet proof in the time we had it.
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