VE back to XR8.

[Outbackjack]

Hey all, I have just spent some time with an NT cop here in Alice. It looks like NT gov has retired their VE patrol cars and gone back to ford XR8's and XR6T's. I wonder why???

[Smoke Pursuit]

Probarly cheaper??

Not sure, the SS is far far superior then the XR8 so it seems a little odd.

[Outbackjack]

Originally Posted by LSTerritoryGhia

Probarly cheaper??

Not sure, the SS is far far superior then the XR8 so it seems a little odd.

The Gov always gets full fleet discount on all the cars they buy. Not sure that cost was the issue. The cop thought that it was the car had trouble coping with the extreme cold that we get up here in the winter. But he heard that second hand, so dont treat it as fact.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by LSTerritoryGhia

Probarly cheaper??

Not sure, the SS is far far superior then the XR8 so it seems a little odd.

i would have left out both the 'far's' in that statement. they are superior, yes, but i wouldn't say by a huge margin.

i guess its the difference between getting the donuts fresh out the oven or after they've been sitting for a bit on the tray to cool. can't imagine there'd be too much else to do in the alice

[BLDNUT01]

coz the VE is crap and i heard that in the ve if you do a handbrake turn the car shuts off

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by BLDNUT01

coz the VE is crap and i heard that in the ve if you do a handbrake turn the car shuts off

Thats a positive reply...

The VE is hardly crap, although in V6 form its not that great the V8s are definately a better car...

[5.4 GT]

Originally Posted by BLDNUT01

coz the VE is crap and i heard that in the ve if you do a handbrake turn the car shuts off

Heh funny you should say that because that's exactly what they XR8s would be doing if you did a hardlock turn like when the cops try and do a U-turn to pursue somebody going in the other direction. The reason for it was that the extra load with the car on full lock along with all the police gear would actually stall the car (making them a sitting duck in the middle of the road, you can imagine the police that had experienced this were not too happy).

However i'd prefer the BF XR8 in a pursuit with the premium brake option and a ZF behind it. The VE brakes and transmission are woeful at the best of times.

[Smoke Pursuit]

yes but Ford may do them a better deal, plus its normal for them to alternate brands on big orders, they usually buy a shitload of Holdens then the next round by a shitload of Fords, in QLD we had a shitload of VZ's but now they change them all over for BFII Futuras, which is good, no MORE poverty packs

[Outbackjack]

Originally Posted by LSTerritoryGhia

yes but Ford may do them a better deal, plus its normal for them to alternate brands on big orders, they usually buy a shitload of Holdens then the next round by a shitload of Fords, in QLD we had a shitload of VZ's but now they change them all over for BFII Futuras, which is good, no MORE poverty packs

Too true, but they replaced 8 VE highway cars with 8 XR8's. They only bought the VE's in January to enforce the 130k limits out here, which the cops reckons that they cant enforce anyway.

[Full Spectrum]

I'm still of the beleaf that they shouldn't get these sporty cars anyway, All they need is a base model with V8 option and that's all, Wings huge rims full house electrics leather etc should be left to the public.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Slick_Aussie

I'm still of the beleaf that they shouldn't get these sporty cars anyway, All they need is a base model with V8 option and that's all, Wings huge rims full house electrics leather etc should be left to the public.

Yeah thats good, lets get a V8 without the factory fitted bits to make it hold together...

Reason they by the Sports models is because they get better resale on them and they are safer then dropping a V8 in an Omega / XT with 16 inch wheels, sloppy brakes etc.

[Dazza XLT]

Originally Posted by Slick_Aussie

I'm still of the beleaf that they shouldn't get these sporty cars anyway, All they need is a base model with V8 option and that's all, Wings huge rims full house electrics leather etc should be left to the public.

Hmmm XT V8 or XR8....
I know what I'd rather in a pursuit.

[Full Spectrum]

Originally Posted by LSTerritoryGhia

Yeah thats good, lets get a V8 without the factory fitted bits to make it hold together...

Reason they by the Sports models is because they get better resale on them and they are safer then dropping a V8 in an Omega / XT with 16 inch wheels, sloppy brakes etc.

Well you wouldn't just toss it in a vase model and expect to drive it with stock suspension and brakes.
I said leave out all the sporty stuff they don't need, They don't need the centre screens as they block them off, Leather seats sporty kits 18-19" wheels they really don't need that.. And that is why going back some years the base model with V8 option was great.
My brothers BA Fairmont is a ex police car, 16" rims lowered it did have wider tyres.

Originally Posted by Darran

Hmmm XT V8 or XR8....
I know what I'd rather in a pursuit.

The lighter XT that goes faster??

[ED Classic]

Originally Posted by Slick_Aussie

I'm still of the beleaf that they shouldn't get these sporty cars anyway, All they need is a base model with V8 option and that's all, Wings huge rims full house electrics leather etc should be left to the public.

Amen...But Id take it one step further and limit 2 High performance cars to all Big city stations and leave the High Performance models to country areas. They dont need 5+ (taxpayer funded) fuel sucking V8s per staion in city areas. Chases are very very minimal,..... they have feautures like road spikes these days,.... the next big station is only 10 mins drive away,.... The std 6s are that fast now they can do huge speeds now perhaps just give them some sports brakes and thats about it.

[bodes-sh]

^^well i bet if you were a cop, you wouldn't be saying that

[GS608]

Originally Posted by Outbackjack

Hey all, I have just spent some time with an NT cop here in Alice. It looks like NT gov has retired their VE patrol cars and gone back to ford XR8's and XR6T's. I wonder why???

i thought i heard from somewhere that the VE's were in the dealerships every odd week being fixed, they were always breaking down or had some sort of troubles with all the police gear.

probably not true though

the BF MK2 XT/Futuras look tons better in police trim than the VE i reckon anyway

[gtfpv]

i wish someone knew the answer to the 1st post, rather than all this crap about leather seats !!!!!!!!!

[MRJUCY]

We've had some pretty patchy quality with the VEs in our fleet at work some have been back numerous times with collapsed suspension, loose brake parts & dodgy wiring. It's still sadly quite common for all new models to have these sorts of problems I'm sure when the update model comes out they'll be on top of most of these.

[schnoods]

Does the NT still have XR6T pursuit cars? The ones in gunmetal grey with orange stripes?

[TUF_302]

Maybe the NT has the smartest officers and they all demanded the best cars they can have!

[genebaby]

Originally Posted by MRJUCY

We've had some pretty patchy quality with the VEs in our fleet at work some have been back numerous times with collapsed suspension, loose brake parts & dodgy wiring. It's still sadly quite common for all new models to have these sorts of problems I'm sure when the update model comes out they'll be on top of most of these.

The suspension in my mates GTS crapped out on him. MRC is not good at all when it fails. Said it was really like driving a boat, literally dangerous. Took the dealer a few goes to get it finally sorted.

[sleekism]

We had a VE taken back with complaints of "funny engine noise".

Turns out it was just the crappy sound of the Alloytec V6

[S3SR]

no more of this if i was a cop....because if i was youd already be in hospital with bullet wounds

i think itd be more that the xr8 were better suited to the environment, straight line power means nothing in a pursuit your always gonna be behind the suspect anyways

[banarcus]

Issue with the cost of tyres perhaps?? Exactly the reason why VZ SS had the 17' ute wheels. Hopefully Ford will rectify the issue it has with the XR8 and its constant electrical issues that dont seem to plague the turbos. The eights smell as though they are over-fuelling too....

[SpoolMan]

Cost of the car along with running costs, even tyre replacement size is a issue.
They would rather spent money on 17's than 18''..

[jdg]

the BF MK2 XT/Futuras look tons better in police trim than the VE i reckon anyway

Yeh mate, its all about the looks. :P

As other people have said, of course they dont "need" the spoiler, bodykit etc. I would guess that they would like the additional ride/handling over the base models, and that the XR's and SS's have significantly better resale value over the base models. Its all about the resale, sure they could get cheaper XT's and Omegas but theyd loose more money on them.

[ReVd_uP]

Just to shed a little more light on the BA xr8 cop cars stalling due to electrical load,... Ford actually has a PCM reflash that we only put into cop cars that sets their idle speed just a couple hundred RPM higher to cope with the extra gizmos, seems to cure the problem

[FPV70]

Hmm, if it's about resale then why do QLD police drive red F6's as hiway patrol cars and not just XR6's and XR8's?
I'm sure an F6 will depreciate more in reguards to resale than an XR6/8
mind you, I don't mind that they have these F6's cause they dook so damn cool.
QLD police have 8 of them I believe, the lucky bums.

[Van D]

Originally Posted by FPV70

I'm sure an F6 will depreciate more in reguards to resale than an XR6/8

Have you seen XR6/8 prices lately?

Plus, even if it WAS just looks, it's better for Ford.

[Zed7fiddy]

Im surprised to hear that the NT Police have finally started using V8's!