Shifty Disco

Looking for some advice on these. Been keeping an eye on a ex-police 56 plate Focus 1.8 TDCi estate local to me. Saw it on auto trader, and I clocked it on ebay and it didn't meet the reserve or sell there either. Anything I should be checking for/common problems with these? It's done 115k.

I've got a 1.6 petrol Focus so know most of the areas to look but not too clued up on diseasels. Any help much appreciated!

PeterRST

iTrader: (1)

I can only think of the dual mass flywheel at the moment as these were a weak spot of the old model with the same engine.

1.6 TDCis eat turbochargers if not meticulously maintained but the 1.8 is a really good and reliable engine. Shame they traded it in for the PSA crap...

timrud

If it has a VVT turbo then listen for whining, personally if it is ex-police I would AVOID, it will of had a very hard life in every way possible.

Sp3no

iTrader: (1)

But at the same time it would have been maintained regardless of cost surely?

nugnah

all police cars are maintained in accordance with manufacturers recommendations and always use oem parts.

jas

1.9 xr2 on 40's

they may service em but they treat em like shit (i used to recover police vehicles)
and when they are ready to ship out they will lag on whats needed
money is an issue in every walk of life

they prefer borrowed, we used to drag in their big bikes that were borrowed from local bike dealers, once just to help the cop lift it back onto its wheels lol (was a 1200 or summet)

JK12

iTrader: (1)

look for damage repair from any crashes etc?

nick8saff

I repair police cars for a living and I wouldn't recommend buying one. There all accident damaged, thrashed, abused interiors and just generally pieces of shit. If stay clear but completely upto you mate.

Darylc.

iTrader: (1)

are they cheaper than non-ex-police?

Omawarisan

Don't touch Police cars atall. They are regularly maintained which is good but they are on the road 24/7. They are driven hard and normally have electrical problems after the Police engineers have fitted the necessary blue lights etc.....

More importantly, they transport their regular customers in the rear seats and you never know what they may have left behind !

Graceland

We've got a 58 plate unmarked TDCI Focus estate at my station - Gets the living daylights screwed out of it all the time right from cold too.

I wouldn't buy it if it ever came up for sale

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

I'd think the motorway plod cars would be alright as they've just been sat on the motorway all day but plod cars, the ones that are always being thrashed round town, crashing over speedbumps and up and down kerbs, I probably wouldn't touch!

nick8saff

No mate they are not any better we have 2 or 3 motorway cars in a week at least all 330ds marked and unmarked got one in at the moment that we gotta reshell. They are all wrecks aswell 10 plates and 60 plates that have already been through our work once or twice.

tommytwotanks

just goes to show what shit drivers the police are, if anyone else drives like an idiot you get pulled, it's the old "don't do as i do, do as i say"

tommytwotanks

i see that the road policing unit in Devon are using focus st's, one in black and one in silver, so may be in the auto trader soon when totally shagged

James

i've seen ex focus st's (ex police) for as little as 6k with about 80k miles iirc.

Would i buy an ex police car? if it was cheap enough then why not. theres loads of ex police cars around here soooo if people are driving them they must be ok? i know of atleast 10-15 ex-police cars on the road in my town (all devon and cornwall police incidently) maybe it depends how well its maintained depending on area?

tommytwotanks

they cant be that bad because a trader i know used to buy them as personal transport, one that he bought many years a go was a granny 2.8, back in the day of basic police motors, the normal 2.8 granny had all the toys, but police ones had clothe seats, no sunroof, steel wheels, so very easy to spot ex plod cars

Escow-Van

You're not kidding they get thrashed!
How come it wasn't a write-off?

RS20004x4

That has to be the best bit of advise! Ive seen loads of police motors through work and they are all absolutely abused, I wouldnt touch one with a barge pole!!!!!

nick8saff

Not enough money in the pot to replace it so its got to be repaired. 10 plate 330d, not often we do shell changes anymore due to labour charges and the fact second hand cars are not worth anything. We write off at least 1 a month normally astras though.

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

I had an ex filth cavvy v6,was faultless to be fair,went well too!!!!it was years out of service too,I suppose its all down to the car itself?

carlfiesta999

i had a mk2 mondeo 2.0 Si ex police, went like shit off a shovel, all the wiring for everyting was in the headlining and that, just cut off at the light and switch ends

Shifty Disco

Cheers for the replies. Still not sure. Been offered something else now too

PeterRST

iTrader: (1)

I see it the other way round... If a car has stood up well to years of abuse, at least it's got no production faults!

And to be fair... being thrashed from cold is something that modern cars can take rather well. Also, it will only have one cold start a day or so while the typical nanny's car get's nothing but cold starts till the oil turns into petrol...

I doubt that it would be any more unreliable than a normally used car as to my experience, most breakdowns/faults are down to ageing or production errors and not down to wear. Saying that, I'd rather have a rather new ex-Police-slag with astronomical mileage than an older car with reasonable mileage.

Adam31

I drive these for a living....and to be honest I would avoid at all cost, get one that hasn't been owned by the police. They do get good mechanical repairs done etc, etc but the interiors get abused rarely cleaned etc. The only police cars I would buy would be traffic cars BMW', Volvo's etc.

We drive 1.6TDCI models, whilst they are good patrol cars people generally dont have time to keep them clean, the cars at my office do 350 miles each in a 24hr period sometimes. We just got rid of a 58 plate....118K, ruined.

tommytwotanks

i came across this german police st, i think it's german, i wouldnt mind driving around in that myself

i dont know what happened to the photo

1300gt

iTrader: (2)

DON'T BUY EX POLICE VEHICLES . . BAD NEWS ! !

1300gt

iTrader: (2)

Nuff said. I work on them also. Get a nice