..Volvo V70 AWD. Trouble is they usually have starship mileages on them.
If it has high mileage and its white then that may be a good thing, it may be a bad thing.
There's a very good chance that it's ex police force. To identify an ex rozzers motor look very carefully for little holes and the self tapping screw marks that are left all over the place by the fixings for police radar, equipment, radios etc.
Why is this good / bad ?
There are two types of rozzers volvos (and other cars generally).
Every day motors doing every day A and B road **** around the housing estates day in and day out, + huge mileage. Shagged. Avoid.
But.... every tenth one is a special. Fitted out with engine tuning enhancements, higher rated springs, better quality shock absorbers, bigger than standard brakes, all sort of trick little bits all over the place. All of which have then been maintained to the highest standard and replaced frequently and often, always before the manufacturer's recommended mileages for replacement. And almost all of their mileage done on the motorways at steady state speeds, where, as we all know, almost no engine wear results.
Same huge mileage, but effectively almost only just run in in terms of engine and gearbox wear, and a fantastically good buy.
Why the difference ?
Every day motor = every day fat arsed cops and shagged out car maintained as cheap as the local authority budget can manage.
Special motor = high speed armed response units, motorway airport periphery armed patrol cops and armed diplomatic / close quarters personal and royal protection officers, all maintained for maximum effectiveness and efficiency out of central government's much deeper pockets.
So off you go, now you know. Only one problem, being able to sort out the sheep from the goats.... and finding the few and rare auctions where they sell the specials. If you know someone in the know then bite their arm off for a hint !
Now
---------- Post added at 22:05 ---------- Previous post was at 22:01 ----------
Back to original topic, it's hard to beat a Mondeo Diesel Estate car.
As Jeremy Clarkson pointed out when the Mongol wiped the floor with the competition in a car comparison test, including handling, cost and feel, but still lost out to the more expensive but less capable and efficient BMW, Saab and Audi equivalents, it's all about the badge and fashion perception.
But for cheap and effective miles upon reliable miles + cheap spare parts prices (build a million and the unit cost of everything goes down) they are hard to beat.
