Had an interesting bank holiday.Was talking to one of the traffic police who drives (amongst other things) an unmarked octavia vRS .I must stress it was purely a social chat!

Reading behind the lines (and not wanting to say too much!) the suggestion was 140 mph every day is not doing the car much good.Was suggested the engine is a bit small for the kind of motorway work and the preference was for the volvos (2.3T's?).It was described as a 'little' engine

I was hoping to hear him lavish praise on it :( .He didn't say anything derogatory otherwise though).He did confirm what others have said about them being tweaked.They certainly are not!.They are stock standard vRS's

I was tempted to mention that there is the Evo with 400bhp squeezed out of a 2.0 ltr that will probably never break down so whats wrong with a bloomin 180 bhp out of a 1.8T!.I just felt after that conversation that my engine might not be as bomb proof as I thought.Oh well

makes sence to me... i feel its quite revvy at 'normal' motorway speeds never mind how revvy it woudl be at 140 all day, espcially when comapired to a 2.3ltr engine...

Joel

Mine is happy at those sort of speeds, although I admittedly don't do it every day. Also don't forget that Stuart_J did the Cannonball in his without problems.

Yes, they are very weak. Mine was so weak it only lasted a meagre 133,000 miles of gentle driving before it went bang. :grumpy:

It was first modded at 5,000 miles and kept having various upgrades done throughout its life.

It was driven very very gently on numerous trackdays and on copious Ring trips. In all pf the 12,000 track miles I did in it in 30 months of ownership, I never once thrashed the bolleaux off it, oh no, not me, honest govenor :D :D

Police car are put under alot of stress, highspeed cold starts, lots of miles etc. Any engine can give up under that sort of abuse

Weak, to ways to read this....weak as in physical strength...it's not. In fact it's often refered to as one of the best and strongest of all VAG engines.

Or weak as in 140 near top end does not have much left or is sounding like it's suffering.

I suspect the latter is what he truely meant, it's how I would describe it..not that I've ever been over 130, but it had a lot of pull left...but then I'm not standard, they should chip them, perfectly ok on the continent. For this alone and only this European Onion would be a benefit.

I doubt very much that they are doing 140mph every day. If they need to be doing that speed i would think they are doing something wrong. As for the engines not being strong, well what is he basing that on?

I doubt very much that they are doing 140mph every day. If they need to be doing that speed i would think they are doing something wrong. As for the engines not being strong, well what is he basing that on?

They shouldn't need to do that speed but I often see traffic cars speeding without lights or sirens and quite clearly not following anybody.

Mine is happy at those sort of speeds, although I admittedly don't do it every day. Also don't forget that Stuart_J did the Cannonball in his without problems.

Twice ! Finished 16th & 19th, not bad for a little car

I know my T5 could sit at 140mph for long periods of time without too much hassle, and could reach 150mph (on the clock) @ 5250rpm - lol

He was a genuinely nice chap and from what he said it is like Mike says.Thrash the cars from cold.No babying them and yes he reckons they would be zinging up to 140 most of the time :eek: Suppose thats a test for any engine that sort of battering.

Sure he said problems after about 30000 miles.Other cars must have the same treatment,just seems like the volvos took it better.He wasn't justifying just making a general comment.As I say,he didn't have a go at the car ,just thought the engine was a bit small.Which reminds me,John I think you need a six ltr Hummer .850 laps of the ring picking up fares is no good for a cars life

As long as he didn't say it was as slow as a slow thing I don't care Obviously they will catch you (unless they are after a chipped vRS then they might need the helicopter )

I think a stock T5 would still keep pace with a remapped Octy vRS.

Volvo's are silly quick 100 - 150/160 ??? but my car was standard for about 2 weeks of ownership.......

225 hp Volvo T5 performance:

0-60 = 8 seconds

0-100 = 20 seconds

1/4 mile = 16 seconds @ 90-95

MAX = 145

304 hp rica'd Volvo T5 performance:

0-60 = 7 seconds

0-100 = 16 seconds

1/4 mile = 14.5 seconds @ 95-100

MAX = 160

310 hp rica'd Volvo C70 T5 performance:

0-60 = 6 seconds

0-100 = 15 seconds

1/4 mile = 14 seconds @ 99

MAX = 170

A friend of mine had a C70 T5 Auto chipped to 310bhp and I could gradualy pull away upto high speeds until he'd finally catch up and pull past at around an indicated 155.

its obvious the T5 would be happier at 140mph, bigger engine with more power

The police Octy's are rechipped to 225bhp IIRC, maybe thats why?

The police Octy's are rechipped to 225bhp IIRC, maybe thats why?

erm...apparently not

..He did confirm what others have said about them being tweaked.They certainly are not!.They are stock standard vRS's ...

when i was doing work on thames valley HQ i chatted to the mechanica few times and they told me the cars are standard performance wise. maybe he was lying :confused:

maybe they are not allowed to tell? my source told me different, it may be a regional thing I don't know.

Cop cars take a lot of abuse. Specially if they are shift cars. guys ride the crap out of them, not your vehicle so what the hell hammer it. We had 6 turbo astra`s as flying squad cars.They last all of 3 months before everyone of them either blew a turbo or engine crocked. That they even use skoda is a testament to the car.

maybe they are not allowed to tell? .

think that is the case.ive heard the the volvo traffic cars have in the area of 300bhp.if they were only running 180bhp vRS theres still a few cars out there that could out run it

Those T5s are strong cars though, and they appear to be made for that kinda job.

if they were only running 180bhp vRS theres still a few cars out there that could out run it

But I suspect there are very few drivers out there who could. And at the sort of speeds where it's going to be making a noticeable difference, a police vehicle probably wouldn't be trying to outrun the car anyway - they'd just use a helicopter to guide some more police vehicles in front of the offender...

Rob.

Volvo's are silly quick 100 - 150/160 ??? but my car was standard for about 2 weeks of ownership.......

225 hp Volvo T5 performance:

0-60 = 8 seconds

0-100 = 20 seconds

1/4 mile = 16 seconds @ 90-95

MAX = 145

304 hp rica'd Volvo T5 performance:

0-60 = 7 seconds

0-100 = 16 seconds

1/4 mile = 14.5 seconds @ 95-100

MAX = 160

310 hp rica'd Volvo C70 T5 performance:

0-60 = 6 seconds

0-100 = 15 seconds

1/4 mile = 14 seconds @ 99

MAX = 170

you used to have a s60 t5, the book stats for that were

0-60 6.5secs

0-100 16secs

top 155mph

We have a few Traffic police registered on here.... Maverick i think hes called..

he also says that the cars are unmodified