On my way back from the England game last night in Middlesbrough we happened across a silver vRS with the full biffta stripes, lights you name it.

For a police car it looked pretty good. I wonder whether Skoda UK will offer the stripes as an option in the same style as the Ford RS Zebra stripes in the 90's :)

I also wonder whether the car had been fettled in any way under the bonnet. That's an interesting thought a fully marked up Police car having a re-map on the rolling road at Jabba...

Isn't that the case with every car they have? AFAIK they all undergo some sort of 'souping up', but not at the places where you and I go... Otherwise we would know their little secret

Q.

As far as I know, the Police never use any kind of after-market tuning. It causes too many problems with non-standard parts. All they generally change is the wheels (they don't like alloys, because they break too easily) and the extra lights and stuff.

Any gain in performance comes from

a) blus lights and sirens and

Police class 1 training

Phil

Originally posted by philc in this post

they generally change is the wheels (they don't like alloys, because they break too easily)

I was under the impression they usually opted for alloys, as

the wheel trims from steel wheels tend to come off at high

speeds and cause lots of third party damage.

Which is why Panda cars with steel wheels don't have trims

on them...

Rob.

The Octy definately had a nice set of 17's on it - the first thing I recognised. I remember a few years ago when the police first got their hands on the Volvo T-5 I took my old mans T-5 in for service. The service guy showed me a couple of fully marked police vehicles that they had out back.

He told me that the said cars were mechanically standard apart from bigger brakes and uprated suspension. Which, I imagine is too help with chasing your local neighbourhood tea leaf across fields etc..

The Vauxhall Senator 3.0 CDi 24V the police used for traffic duties was in standard tune.

Theres a white RS, full marked up near Swindon. Not a standard exhaust, looked awfully like my Milltek only it fitted properly

Somewhat unrelated, I recall that a couple of years ago Hampshire Police has to buy a

Ford Galaxy, as one of their police dogs was too big to fit in the back of the Omega estates.

That'd be a bit scary!

Rob.

That's a kin big dog then!

Sure it wasn't a horse?

Probably a cross...

Rob.

Around Beds & Herts, if you see a Galaxy, it'll be a 3 litre V6 -and it's probably an Armed Response Unit. They reckon that the Omegas were on their weight limit with all the guns 'n' stuff on board!

I believe that some forces use Omega MV6's fitted with a close ratio 6-speed box -gives about 110 in third, I'm told. The ultimate Q-car, if you can lay your hands on one!

Phil

Now come on gentlemen please. Back to the topic in question.

LOL at the thought of 'Clifford the big red dog' with his ar5e hanging out of the back of a Ford galaxy.

Yep - as far as I know all standard tune. They do a lorra lorra miles, too, but get well serviced. They are generally a complete shed inside.

Nah, they'd have bought 4x4s if they wanted that level of trim:D

The one near Swindon was not standard.

What were you doing near Swindon?

I have seen a Wilts traffic RS at my local dealer - never looked at the exhaust though. Next time I am in I will ask a few questions about them.

I have been told that the days of the Police tuning and aplying with their cars is over. Days gone by they use to swap the engines when new, so when the car was sold they put the original unused engine back in. Nowadays they dont do anything, just stickers lights and bells etc.

Reminds me of the old Rover 3.5 fastbacks they used to used..... heavy breaking caused them to boil the brake fluid.

As for the cars being silver, they do that here in Kent as its easier to sell the cars on (so make note...dont buy silver used cars!!)

Cheers

ps its not the marked cars I worry about, its the unmarked ones.

Only 203?

AFAIK the only mods to the vRS would be that the speedos are modded to make them 100% accurate. I wonder if they are on variable servicing or what??...lol imagine the state of one after 2 yrs without a service!...and imagine the mess the drivers seats will be in...frays aplenty i betcha!

They dont mod the speedos they have specially callibrated separate speedos on the dash, which they are able to move from motor to motor as reqd.

Cheers

Bet the white insert in the seat don't look too good with coffee and jam donuts stains either.

some forces do tune their cars -

Lancashire for example.. all their ml 270cdi motorway cars are chipped (according the the mb main dealer that didt it/ services them)..

and when my dad still was a copper (not that long ago) the t5 Volvo's were not exactly std - mainly to cope with half a ton of crap in the boot and the aero probs of the light bars....

I can confirm without a shadow of a doubt that the Octavia vRS's (5 or 6) that Cleveland Police have are completely standard.

If anyone wants to know how i know.....i'm not telling nananana