Volvo T5 buying advice

It's a lot of money for an 8 year old car.

snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk (SteveH) wrote in news:1h0zu17.kccrf26j6l6sN% snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk:

Agreed. Difficult to drop on a manual (which I'd prefer in my heart of hearts) T5 with reasonable mileage, though. Have always fancied one and kept my eye out for a couple of years. Vast majority are autos with high miles. Many are ex-police. I'll probably go for it if the condition's right. Parkers set the value at £3030.

Parkers is never right.

If you can get it for around £2500, I suppose it's not a bad purchase.

snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk (SteveH) wrote in news:1h0zvnt.tlb4g915x8xaxN% snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk:

I've never spotted a decent one that cheap, honest. Look on autotrader. Some ones at same price and 2 years younger but higher miles and obviously ex-police. The next cheapest one in the country is £3500, with same spec and age but higher miles. A decent 5 series of similar age and performance would cost a fair bit more, I'm sure.

Wouldn't worry too much about the mileage, as long as it's been looked after. Opinion is polarised on ex-police vehicles though. Personally I'd buy one if they left the blue lights in, and let me use them :o)

How about an 850 T5? Slightly boxier and less fashionable (probably should be even less fashionable, being a Volvo) precursor to the S/V70. Quite a few knocking round on Auto Trader for under two grand.

"Carl Bowman" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net:

Thanks, Carl. General opinion seems that they're good for high mileages if cared for. Reason I don't want an ex-police one is because of this scenario: Mr Plod is sitting in a layby in his cold engined T5. Sees a car blast past at 120mph. Starts up and sets off in pursuit. Now, as he needs to accelerate bloody quickly if he's gonna catch that car, and as the T5 pursuit car doesn't belong to him anyway, he canes the nuts off the cold engine in order to catch up ASAP Poor engine! That's why I don't want one. Having said that, I bet plenty of privately owned ones have been treated similarly and I'd have no way of knowing unless it displayed obvious signs.

Yes, the 850s come much cheaper but, although the S70 isn't exactly sexy, it's a bit more rounded off and easier on the eye than an 850. Also, I'm going for the newest one I can get, because I'd like to get a good few years out of it.

No, its not bad money for the mileage and more desireable colour, as long as its SE or CD spec. Advert doesnt say.

If its an S, find another.

Tim..

"Tim.." wrote in news:dd8rvn$m1s$ snipped-for-privacy@nwrdmz01.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com:

Not sure but it does have aircon, spoiler, fogs and full leather. That pretty much covers what I want. Heated seats will go nicely with leather, they're standard, aren't they? CD changer too, but that may have been a retrofit, don't know yet. Don't know how much more a CD or SE has to offer, the only thing I'd fancy is cruise, but it's a manual and that's worth more to me than any electrical gadget. Not much oppurtunity to use cruise these days, anyway, with the motorways busy at all times except through the night.

Stu ( snipped-for-privacy@home.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Do you really think that Mr Plod is sat in the layby with a cold engine?

Of course he isn't.

Adrian wrote in news:Xns96AD6112F7CB9adrianachapmanfreeis@204.153.244.170:

That means he's coking it up by leaving it idling all day. I'm sure it gets cold when he's not sat in it, like immediately before he has to jump in and respond to an emergency.

Stu ( snipped-for-privacy@home.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Eh?

They very rarely "sit there". They're usually out patrolling. Besides, it takes a damn sight longer than even half an hour sat for an engine to drop from working temperature to "cold".

Adrian wrote in news:Xns96ADA8FC57768adrianachapmanfreeis@204.153.244.170:

To be fair, that's not really a valid point, as any build up of deposits from long idling periods would soon get burnt away by the hard driving that ensued.

Even so, I'm not convinced that ex-police is the best choice for me. I appreciate your opinion, though ;-)

Stu ( snipped-for-privacy@home.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Don't get me wrong - I wouldn't have an ex-plodmobile if you paid me...

Traffic police rarely do this, a mate of a mate was an ex plod mechanic and said that one of the things to watch out for is suspension damage on all ex plod cars as they get bounced over kerbs and speed humps, down dirt tracks and alike.

How reliable this is I don't know.... All I know is Chinese whispers of don't be and ex plod focus TDCi...

Tom

The message from Stu contains these words:

And anyway, modern fuel injection systems aren't anything like as prone to it as old caburetted engines.

Ex police cars I've seen in the past, have been built to police specifications. Meaning some features std on cars sold to the general public were not fitted in order to make them cheaper. Dunno whether that still applies to more recent ex police cars. Mike.

"Tom Burton" wrote in news:Zd5Ke.1058$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe7-gui.ntli.net:

The thing about it that puts me off is the fact that the only people saying how good and well maintained they are are the people who sell them. Ask one of the actual people who have driven them (i.e. police officers) and they tell you not to touch them with a barge pole!

Well thank you!

Grey in and grey out - bit grey don't you think?

Assuming its a manual just watch for clutch abuse, if it's an auto look and see if the auto fluid has been changed, it needs to be (even though volvo say it doesn't).

it could probably do with a chip and a bigger turbo....

... other than that if the general condition is OK and there's no signs of abuse and neglect then go for it!

Also bear in mind that the far more modern S60 is hitting