Reading HJ's auction report, there was a mention of a V plate Octavia TDi estate with 180k on it going for £2200.
In Autotrader, there is a white, W plate hatch with 181k on it. Somebody wants £4995 for it. I thought that was more than a little optimistic when I first saw it, and even if this one is somehow not an ex taxi, there must be an incredible profit margin for a dealer who comes even slightly close to this figure.
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It'll be an ex-police car probably, in which case, the maitenance will have been spot on, and given the shift pattern, will probably have been subject to very few cold starts. So don't be too put off by the mileage. Price still seems plenty high enough though.
I was once very tempted by an ex-police astra, has anyone any experience of running ex police vehicles i wonder??
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I would never buy one of our cars. Yes they get serviced on a regular basis, but they also get hammered every day. The interior trim gets torn from all the belt equipment we wear and things generally fall off. Then again, ours are Divisional response/ARV cars. The motorway cars never have to go around corners, so are a better bet.
Findings:
1. Vectra 2.5 V6, great engines but regular power steering faults, very thirsty.
2. Omega 3.0l, REGULAR climate control failure, generally OK
3. Volvo T5, very disappointing, needs lots of maintainance
4. BMW 53Od, excellent roadholding, seems solid (although only had it on the fleet a short time)
MLC
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I'd be quite surprised if it's an ex-police car. It's too expensive and a little large to be a panda (at least at list prices) and much too slow for traffic or rapid response work. There are police Octavias, but as far as I know they're SLX/Elegance estates (not sure which engine) and of course the legendary vRS.
I personally would have no problems with paying £2500 for a car like this with this mileage, and allow for higher maintenance later on, but £5000 seems way over the money.
(I can imagine that area cars and ARVs get much worse treatment than traffic. A Vectra area car did a handbrake turn in front of me today - my landlord, who works for British Transport Police - was quite surprised).
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I did a handbrake turn in a vectra many moons ago. Completely knackered the rear discs. I cringe every time I see ol' Butler-Henderson doing them now.
MLC
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I did a handbrake turn in a vectra many moons ago. Completely knackered the rear discs.
Er, how? The handbrake doesn't use the discs to stop - it uses shoes inside the rear hub.
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Surely the rear discs are used by the handbrake, I can't imagine a car having drums and discs.
Oh, the C5 and Xantia handbrake use the front discs to stop.
Ben
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The old Volvo 240 family had both drum and disc on the back:
the drum was small, inside the base of the disc, and was hand brake only.
Prsumably with very soft/grippy pads.
I'm sure others must do it this way..
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Surely the rear discs are used by the handbrake, I can't imagine a car having drums and discs.
Er, no. Imagine if you can a set of rear brake drums with discs also attached around the outer circumference. The handbrake uses the drum, the foot brake uses the discs.
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My present A4 & both my previous two 2l primera's all used the parking brake on to the rear discs. Didn't know the Xantia used the front discs, but do remember the early Xantia's handbrakes failing.
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That was why, because the front discs get much hotter in use - so if you applied the parking brake only just enough to hold the car on a hill, and then the discs cooled down and contracted...
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It was taken for a service a few days later and the mechanic said the rear discs were knackered. He mmediately asked if anybody had done a handbrake turn. Being an honest sole, I held up my hand. Was informed in rather a blunt way that it's the easiest way to knacker the discs. If he was spinning me a yarn, I'll go and poke him in the chest.
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Er, how? The handbrake doesn't use the discs to stop - it uses shoes inside the rear hub.
Vectras use discs on the rear and the handbrake pulls the pads onto them - standard procedure in most modern cars these days...
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Vectras use discs on the rear and the handbrake pulls the pads onto them - standard procedure in most modern cars these days...
As I've just mentioned to XsaraBen, imagine if you can a set of rear brake drums with discs attached around the outer circumference. The handbrake uses the drum, the foot brake uses the discs. Just like Vauxhall did with the Cavalier, and probably every other Vauxhall model that has rear disc brakes.
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The Peugeot 406 also uses the dual set-up, so there must be others I'm sure.
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I am also very interested in this, even on wet grass my vectra is not good at locking the rear wheels with the handbrake. I just put it down to the fact that as the shoes inside the disc are only used for the handbrake, the surface they rub against gets rusty/ dirty and does not grab well.
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The Vectra I had over the weekend had exactly the opposite problem - if you applied the handbrake at anything other than an absolute standstill, it grabbed like you would not believe. It's probably a bad habit, but I find myself gently applying the handbrake as I'm just coming to a rest, and with this car I was being yanked to a sharp halt a foot before I intended to stop. I thought at first it might be leading/trailing brake shoes fitted the wrong way round, but it did exactly the same in reverse. Mind you, the car has covered so many miles anything's possible...
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DTD
My old departed Vectra had exactly the problem you describe.
(V reg 2.0DTi est, VRN available on application if you want to avoid buying it ;-) definitely recommended vehicle....not)
The handbrake works by small shoes operating inside a small drum in the hub/disc assembly for want of a better word.
The reason it grabs is because every so often you are supposed to drive the car for a short distance slowly with the parking brake partially applied to clean the surfaces.
If you don't it grabs, which is a beggar if you indulge in your habit, ie pulling on the brake just a gnats before finally stopped.
However on the up side it provides potential for demon handbrake turns, and unlike MLC no disc problem, brake shoes got in a state tho.......
MLC I reckon you should give your spannerman a poke. (are we allowed to say that?)
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FiF -
I'm quite sure that if I'd tried a handbrake turn in that Vectra the outside back wheel would have folded underneath the car... Or else the back axle would have stopped dead and the car body would have swung round on its own!
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VRN available on application if you want to avoid buying it!
Don't worry, I have every intention of avoiding buying any Vectra. We also run a 51 plate 2.0DTi, it's off the road more than on.
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However on the up side it provides potential for demon handbrake turns....
It also confuses the hell out of the ABS system when you apply the foot brake while the back wheels are locked up with the handbrake on ;o)
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Big Vern,
When was your Vectra last serviced? On the major service interval (every 2 yrs) the rear brakes should be stripped down and any dust cleaned out of the rear hubs.
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On my Carlton, which also had the rear disc / drum thing, the user manual actually stated you should drive for a few yards with the handbrake lightly applied,; every few months. This did seem to give the handbrake a bit more 'bite'.
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