orson,
Thanks for the info. The reason I was asking was because I was considering tuning my TD to eliminate the few (annoying) flat spots (am not interested in +mph or -0-60) and to improve the torque availability. I know that there has been much discussion on the board as the benefits and dangers so I thought that if the police did it to their vehicles then the dangers might be less than dealers like to make out (for obvious reasons).
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I don't know! I guess the police use it for faster accel and higher mph to catch the crims who have nicked an ordinary V70! Let me know what you discover, as I have a Rover 420TDSI which might benefit from a tweak, as it is horrifically slow from 0-15, which can be annoying at a roundabout. I have no complaints about overall speed, or acceleration once the turbo joins the fray.
O
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The service manager at my local Volvo dealership was telling me about some V70 T5s they had recently supplied to the police. I asked him whether they were chipped and he denied it. He said it would invalidate the Volvo warranty.
VD5D
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Well, he would say that, wouldn't he! They are definitely chipped. I would imagine (though I don't know) that Volvo (and any other supplier to the police) has a specific deal whereby they know about the chip and cover it apart from that. I guess that they have uprated brakes etc as well. Your volvo chap would certainly be cross if joe public (no offence intended) were to chip his own motor privately. It would also cause insurance probs (seeing the "help-accident" thread) if you tried to chip privately and didn't tell anyone.
O
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CM
I have been told that the diesels at my old Force are not chipped or tweaked. However I am not on as intimate terms with the black hand gang as I was when I served. Sorry I cannot be more specific.
Midlifecrises you reading????
DVD
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I can't comment about Volvos,but i have bought a lot of ex plod cars in my time and have had to replace various parts on them including ECUs on Senators,Omegas and Vectra SRis and they were always the same as the non-plod car,and when fitted made no difference to the performance.
Often a plod car will feel quicker/really is quicker than the non plod version because from day 1 it has been driven a 'little' harder than a non plod version,and also the non plod version will be heavier than the plod version(once all the extra equipment is removed).I think 'chipped'plod cars is a bit of an urban myth.
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DVD,
I'll ask someone who used to be responsible for purchasing the vehicles for his mob.
I do know that some mods were introduced, eg 2.0 ltr Cavaliers with SRI brakes. Plus there used to be some fairly extensive mods on Met Rovers again on brakes and wheels.
get back to you on this.
FiF
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DVD,
further to the above, you're not going to like this but........
main modifications were
different wiring loom for all the extra kit, lights radios etc
and................
heavy duty seats. ahem.
I'll just head of to the canteen for an all day fry up with jam doughnut for afters. ;-)
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>>Well, he would say that, wouldn't he! They are definitely chipped.
So you have an insight into the West Mercia Polices' policy on the chipping of vehicles - interesting!
VD5D.
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You cant chip a T5 to 400bhp. 300bhp is possible, but i very much doubt a police force would do this since it would significantly effect the life of the engine. I very muhc doubt they are chipped. More than 300bhp on stadard bottom ends is not adviseable with these engines anyway since the rods are none too strong.
But i have noticed police t5 with bigger brakes. A few i have seen looked lowered, but this may be due to all the kit they carry. the office i spoke to at the time of my crash said he thought all the t5's he had driven were standard apart from the brakes, and it wasnt any faster than my mum's 854 series (225bhp) T5 when he pinned it. But that was in gateshead.
Ben
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Police fleet managers are more interested in reliability, mpg, tyre wear than being able to blow off boy racers (which is politically incorrect). That's why all of Hants T5s are automatics. The front tyres last twice as long with an autobox.
HJ
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Any fleet managers I have spoke to all say the same thing that the only modifications are safety , such as Air Bags , ABS , Bigger brakes omit sunroofs as they weaken the structure and restrict location for strobe lights.
Their main arguement is that they have force in numbers now,therefore do not need to outrun every car on the road as they have enough vehicles to track any car. You may be able to outrun the T5 that is behind you but he can have another waiting at the next junction on the motorway.
The other thing to look at is the reliability issue where most are covering 100 to 200k before disposal. Even when sold they are still expected to run for a few years.
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Two years ago I spoke to a company in the Crowthorne area that chips vehicles and carry's out other mods and I mentioned I was considering buying an ex plod T5. Could you do something with it I enquired. The lady replied, "That if it was genuinly ex police, it has probably been through here already!"
Regards.
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Police vehicles are NOT chipped. They may occasionally be used to test equipment due to the extreme circumstances they often operate under and the maintenance they receive is far more safety biased than most other vehicles on the road. For example, two brake calipers will be replaced when perhaps only one is faulty.
Uprated brakes and suspension are the main improvements to be found on police spec high performance vehicles. For instance, most police Volvo T5`s do not have a luxury interior but will have larger brake discs due to the nature of their work.
Manufacturers and police fleet mangers work closely together. One well known manufacturer is at risk of losing the order to supply one of the largest police forces in the country due to continual automatic gearbox problems and a second generation high performance model performing nowhere near as well as its first generation equivalent.
Remember, only a fraction of a police fleet is used for fast response work. Most of the vehicles are used solely for getting from A to B, a large percentage of the vehicles are not identifiable as police vehicles and the public purse does NOT stretch to wasting money on chipping vehicles. But, if you want to believe that it does, go ahead, but I can assure you the police have better things to spend their ever dwindling budgets on.
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North Wales Police don't tinker with any of their motors I am reliably informed. Are they in the minority?!
The TDdi Focus pandas around here seem to fly when they need to though, god help us if they let them have TDCi's in future! ;-)
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Their main arguement is that they have force in numbers now,therefore do not need to outrun every car on the road as they have enough vehicles to track any car. You may be able to outrun the T5 that is behind you but he can have another waiting at the next junction on the motorway.
That above was from Darrens post.....
Dont know what County you are from, but I do not know one county that the above statement applies too, the scenario really should read something like....
Due to massive recruitment problems within the Service, they are very stretched, so you will often find Traffic departments sometimes running 1 car covering a massive radius, or no cars at all.
Round here we usually have 1 traffic car on until 1am (handy that seens most joyriders come out after 1am), that traffic car, often single crewed, is covering a huge area, including 1 busy motorway. Apart from that its down to the shift in there TD Focus estates (probably 1 or 2 in a busy town) or if we are lucky a Mondeo on demonstration from Ford. Oh must not forget the Dog man also covering a HUGE area as well. Of course we have the chopper if it is not windy/raining/snowing/or in for a service.
So the little sh**heads round here quite often get away.
Cant answer the chipping question, spend most of my time in a carrier.
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Agree about the 'huge areas' Clarky:
A year ago, our office was burgled at midnight on a Sunday.
Now we know why we had a number of false alarms earlier in the night. Each time the alarm sounded, the police response was almost certainly being timed.
Anyway, the Boys in Blue turned up in their Astra 1.7 turbo diesel, just as the crims were loading the last stolen computer in to the boot of their getaway car... An Austin Maestro!
A chase ensued, on deserted roads. Crims got away from our Boys in a straight drag race down the main road and on to the motorway. Rusty old Maestro found abandoned the next morning, minus all the computer equipment of course.
Whilst taking a statement the next day, the policewoman was asked where a 'proper' high performance police car is when you need one. We then found out just how much 'area' an 'area car' has to cover. More than quite a lot, actually, and even our local force's Omegas (MV6s?) can't cover ground that quickly!
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A colleague of mine used to buy ex plod regularly. Don't know which force, but he has had a senator Manual. Fast wouldn't adequately describe it and recently an Omega which nothing and I mean nothing could touch, (except perhaps the £100,000. exotica), to 110 MPH. They were both ex armed response vehicles. How did we know. Believe it or not, they came with gun racks still fitted.
Regards.
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