I'm kinda passively looking for a new "to me" vehicle and ran across a 2012 Caprice PPV (Holden Mornao /G8 ish) vehicle for sale locally which peaks my interest. I am wondering if anyone has experience with a Caprice, G8, SS, Morano, etc. The good the bad the ugly. The car has a 6.0 with a six speed auto and approvx 69k miles. As it was a police car I assume the car was "ridden hard and put away wet." Additionally since it was a cop car it is two tone black and white, so a respray would be required. The center console is a modular thingy meant to mount comouters, long guns etc, so this would need to be replaced. I assume I could drop in one from a G8 or SS without problem.
Any feedback good, bad, or indifferent? Are there any problem ares on these cars?
My only requirements for a new to me car is it must be a 4 door/seat minimum of 5 ( so that includes SUV's and trucks in that mix), it must be a "unique vehicle," the vehicle must serve as a dialy driver, and lastly I don't want a vehicle loaded with technology crap ( infotainment systems yuck!). For the past could of years I have been driving a Honda Accord...I don't have much bad to say about the vehicle in terms of reliabliltiy, my gripe with the Accord is that it is more of an appliance than a unique vehicle; with 273k plus miles I am I just getting the itch to get something else. I know the a Caprice would drink gas....I'm frankly I'm okay with that. Lasly budget wise...I can afford pretty much anything short of an exotic, but I don't want to be stupid with my money.
There was one on craigslist with interior items out of the SS in it. The items did not all fit to well, but depends on what you expect out of it. The SS items probably aren't to common or cheap either.
Also, I believe it is Commodore based. The GTO was Monaro
[This message has been edited by LitebulbwithaFiero (edited 04-27-2018).]
I would think being a police car it would have been fleet maintained. That isn't anything mileage wise for the Crown Victoria our police used to use here. No help otherwise, sorry.
Don't have any specifics about the Caprice but, I do know several folks who have former police cars as personal vehicles. Most are worn out and money pits or, were involved in some kind of accident and have some damage that simply wasn't worth fixing. One particular vehicle I see frequently was wrecked five times and then sent to the auction. The current owner told me he only gets about 10K miles out of a set of tires (even though he rotates the tires). The front suspension/steering is so FUBAR'd it isn't worth fixing. That is not to suggest the one you are looking at is similar but I would be cautious.
Rams
[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 04-28-2018).]
In my experience, fleet vehicles generally get treated like red-headed stepchildren. The fleet maintenance does just enough repairs to keep the vehicle on the road. Routine maintenance isn't so routine, thanks to the "it's not my car" mentality.
That said, if you're looking for a chassis to strip down and build on, or just a beater to play with for a little while, then a fleet vehicle can fit that bill (if you get it super-cheap).
When I first started racing stock cars, I always started with an ex police car. Heavy duty everything and usually high performance motors. I never had any trouble with them except when running into stuff like other cars, walls and guardrails on the track. Replacement body parts were cheap as dirt at junkyard. At least here, when they sell off 200,000 mile police cars, they usually go to private taxi companies who put another few hundred thousand on them, then someone buys them for a daily driver. Maaco behind me prob paints 3or4 a month for private owners. Theyre all Caprices or Crown Vics. One local tiny town near me just replaced their 1967 Caprice police car and 1956 Ford pickup city service vehicle a few years ago.
