Advice on buying an ex Police V70 T5

[malandh]

Can only reiterate what has been said. There were occasions where you couldn't get into the car and drive then nice and slowly to warm them up. For obvious reasons we would jump into them and drive them hard to get to an incident, however they were very rarely driven like that for a long period of time.
The service etc was very very strict, never allowed to go past the service schedule.
Knowing the way forces work and in particularly Hampshire I would suggest you buy from a wealthy force, Hampshire being one of them, they did not compromise on much when it came to service etc: I'm not saying others did but if costs had to be saved then vehicles were run longer and harder in poorer forces.
Hope you find one of my old ones.
Regards.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by bluetownbarry

Hi,

Just looking for some general advice &/or opinions.

I'm looking for a V70 phase 2 and sadly funds are a bit limited. I've seen a few ex-police V70s up for sale and I know one or two of you have owned ex-police Volvos.

Aside from the usual advice that applies to any used car, is there anything I should be aware of when looking at an ex-police car?

Many thanks in advance

I wouldnt bother , you have little money to spend , you are buying a car which costs more than average money to run even in standard form and also a car which is likely to need more money spending on it than a "normal" volvo ... ! it doesnt make sense to me .
These emergency service cars have a HARD life how ever well they are maintained .

Find a nice V70 D5 2002-4 163 bhp and you wont look back AND have excellent fuel consumption .

[The Hooded Claw]

Originally Posted by Clan

I wouldnt bother , you have little money to spend , you are buying a car which costs more than average money to run even in standard form and also a car which is likely to need more money spending on it than a "normal" volvo ... ! it doesnt make sense to me .
These emergency service cars have a HARD life how ever well they are maintained .

Find a nice V70 D5 2002-4 163 bhp and you wont look back AND have excellent fuel consumption .

Clan .....Go read Post No11 .. Then sit down & re-Consider yer position...

personally I'd rather a fully qualified Mech Employed by Plod Service MY car (than an 18 year old "Volvo" mech "Nose Picker" who can't find his ass with both hands on a clear day !!)

See BOLD above ..Oh yeah 1 thats bin driven to the "shops" all its life seen the inside of a Volvo Garage MAYBE once & done a "low" mileage .. Never having bin over 50MPH ... then when it iS driven "Properly" all manner of Sh!te starts to Fall off & Go wrong .... NO THANKS I'll stick to Ex plod meslf !!!

[bluetownbarry]

Originally Posted by malandh

Can only reiterate what has been said. There were occasions where you couldn't get into the car and drive then nice and slowly to warm them up. For obvious reasons we would jump into them and drive them hard to get to an incident, however they were very rarely driven like that for a long period of time.
The service etc was very very strict, never allowed to go past the service schedule.
Knowing the way forces work and in particularly Hampshire I would suggest you buy from a wealthy force, Hampshire being one of them, they did not compromise on much when it came to service etc: I'm not saying others did but if costs had to be saved then vehicles were run longer and harder in poorer forces.
Hope you find one of my old ones.
Regards.

Strangely enough the one I'm looking at is an ex-Hampshire V70, I've even found a couple of pics of it in its working life.

I've run a couple of high mileage Volvos so this doesn't put me off, I really needed to know about the specs - different brakes possible engine mods etc.

[madmuffet]

Mine is a 2006 from expolicecar.com place, it's an old armed response from York...
bought jan 2006, so far I've had to do...
gearbox, driveshaft, clutch, dmf, rear bearings, front bearings, discs all round,
wiper stalk, and rear wiper.
most of the interior is now falling apart due to being either drilled, picked at or worse still, wrecked when they removed various bits of wiring by pulling til it snapped.
NO reflection on the guys who sold it, it'd been aquired by them 4 days previous, and was waiting for a valet (it stank of urine and dog)
my S80 had been smashed by a nice man in a van so I took it there and then...

I had it valeted and found all the overspray and poor filler work, the poor girl's had a horrible life, loads of stupid things like air filter cover has only 1 screw in, a wheel nut or 2 missing etc etc, the 'maintenance' lot at plodsville, yorktown must be 18 yr old nose pickers!!!
I thought it'd be high miles but like 'new'
my advice?
take a fine tooth comb, there are good and bad wherever you go!!

saying that she took 4 of us (all big lads) to Spa for the grand prix last august, all the camping gear etc, she didn't miss a beat, all the way there on a full tank of overtaxed petrol!!

I'll have her back to being gorgeous again, it'll take time but if you all chip in
£20 each then that'll be a help ha ha ha ha

[Clan]

Originally Posted by The Hooded Claw

Clan .....Go read Post No11 .. Then sit down & re-Consider yer position...

personally I'd rather a fully qualified Mech Employed by Plod Service MY car (than an 18 year old "Volvo" mech "Nose Picker" who can't find his ass with both hands on a clear day !!)

See BOLD above ..Oh yeah 1 thats bin driven to the "shops" all its life seen the inside of a Volvo Garage MAYBE once & done a "low" mileage .. Never having bin over 50MPH ... then when it iS driven "Properly" all manner of Sh!te starts to Fall off & Go wrong .... NO THANKS I'll stick to Ex plod meslf !!!

I'm not basing what i said on one car, i have seen the state of old and current volvo emergency vehicles over the last 20+ years since the old 940 and T5 days . There are some good ones which are used for general puropse running around use with blue lights behind the grille , and others which are flat out a lot doing chases and need gearboxes , turbochargers and manifolds , engines and as said above on later models flywheels etc .
As the post above seems to show , yes some good some bad , but at that mileage expensive things will need doing within the following year ..

[Owyerbin]

Ditto what's been said - having driven them for years (now retired) generally the service is bang on (good mate still works in the garage in Brum and he is a fab mechanic) I've known them be over revved and the engine blown - but then usually it's just replaced with a new Volvo unit. They are serviced on the dot and don't suffer short run syndrome - although if it's ex traffic it will have sat for hours and hours on tickover that won't show on recorded mileage.
Andy

[Ovlovt5]

don't do it. they get thrashed, eaten in, carry incontinent detained persons in, have coffee spilt in them and, despite what's always said, don't get maintained "regardless of cost" it's cheap parts fitted by questionable mechanics. not to mention the holes in the roof, lack of interior parts and questionable history - how do you know if it's been used for one or more TPAC's? (boxing a car in, usually resulting in exterior damage)

don't mean to put a downer on it but that's the reality speaking from someone who knows.

[Owyerbin]

I suspect times have changed a little since I was on traffic - ours were never left in a state - leave a sweet wrapper in it and it would find its way to you on parade the following day... get an ex driving school or specialist unit car and they could be ok.
I'm with you on the incontinent/vomiting passengers although the cars were usually specialist cleaned afterwards. Spilled milk on the other hand...

[LordSVS]

You really need to research before you buy.

Take Hampshire Police for example, they had fantastic looking 2006/07 T5's until they decided that they would be used for TPAC before decommissioning. One minute they looked awesome, the next they had bumps, dents etc

It's fantastic if you have someone in the force who can tell you a bit of history, where it was based, what it was used for, how often it was used etc

It really depends on the police service. My local force for example services their V70 T6's every 6,000 miles! They are very well maintained, well looked after by the officers and very good buys! The same cannot be said about some other forces!

Scott