Best Police Car

Ventura6

Active Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2006
Messages
332
Location
San Antonio, TX
One subject I would like to see on Top Gear is police cars. Which countries have the best and worst police cars? Which looks the scariest in your rear view mirror? Which is the fastest and what corners well? Maybe they would get cars from around the world and run them on the track. What cars are best for arrestees? I know the one I rode in had (during a "ride-along", not an arrest) had plastic back seats with cutouts for your arms which are supposed to be handcuffed behind you.

Personally I have always preferred the classic American police car. The Ford Interceptor.

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What police cars do you guys prefer?

Viper007Bond said:
See also:

Previous cop car discussion: http://forum.finalgear.com/viewtopic.php?t=4032
Dodge Charger cop car discussion: http://forum.finalgear.com/viewtopic.php?t=10985
 
Let's not get into the exotics here, people. Let's stick to the standard cop cars. ;)
 
The Crown Vic looks mean as hell. Even the civilian models looks government.
 
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I've seen Camaros as well.
 
py2e said:
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I've seen Camaros as well.
Those are just interceptors though. No one actually uses them as a standard cop car.
 
bigdoofus said:
Viper007Bond said:
Let's not get into the exotics here, people. Let's stick to the standard cop cars. ;)
{Too late.. :p}

Besides, the Lambo is utter useless as a police car, it would be good for busting people speeding, but when you pull someone over you need to keep the possibility that the person behind the wheel might try to attack the officer, therefore even police cars used purely for that use must have room for extra equipment and so on.

The best police car? The scariest police car I've ever seen is last model Ford Mondeo, Civilian, while I was driving at 90kmh in an 80 sone. And I was driving with me dad to learn, had no extra mirrors and no L. So could've gotten a really heavy fine if I got stopped. Might even be banned from getting a driving licence. Scary.

But I have to say, those big Fords are pretty intimidating, allthough they are pretty useless for anything but going fast down a highway and banging other cars of the road.

But then again, that's the American Dream, isn't it? :p
Best police car would in my view be an RS6 Avant. Would be terrifyingly fast, work on ice, have a cappacious boot and would simply work very well.
 
:p I didn't see Viper's post when I posted it. As for the best? Ford Police Interceptor I guess, since that's all I've ever had to deal with other than SUVs and Impalas. The new Dodge Charger models look pretty damm scary with those huge grills though.

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Usual sort of UK Police car (Ford Focus) - low profile colours?

http://img509.imageshack.**/img509/9069/britishpolicecar1arp750pixqb0.th.jpg

An older model : Ford Anglia

http://img172.imageshack.**/img172/2367/upe3233eo0.th.jpg

Austins from a time when Police cars rang a bell to let you know they were coming, not a good one amoungst them.

http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/index.htm?policeaustinf.htm
 
Yeah, the Charger gets my vote. What a beast and it looks great too! :thumbsup:
 
There's some pretty cool ones around in the UK. (Past and Present)
XC70
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XJ6
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Range Rover
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Rover SD1
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PT Cruiser
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Mercedes E-Class Estate
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Rover Vitesse
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Humberside has an Impreza and T5's and the panda cars are Protons. :evil:
 
In sheffield all we get are Volvo's and peugeot 307's :( I like the range rover police cars(purely because I like the range rover) but I've never seen one.
 
+4983217432 for the Charger

although here they're lowered a bit and dont have that huge ram bar, just that intimidating front end, scares the shit out of you when you're doing twice the speed limit :shock:

I also think it would be a great idea for TopGear, even though no American car would win :roll:
 
heheee.....I suppose this falls into an exotic kinda.......

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but as a subbie lover I had to put it in. It is a real car, though it now has no decals. It was for a photo shoot for an anti street racing add, and a buddy of mine had his STI done up like a Colorado State Patrol car. I still think that it would be a badass chase car, and would beat the crap out of the Camaro's they use right now for that.

As for actual ones, I saw my first Dodge Charger police car in person the other day and must say its by the far the coolest everyday po-po car. The ones in Vail, CO use Sabbs, and the Breckenridge, CO cops use Landrovers (yes the whole fleet) complete with rear sunroof. Nothin better then getting arrested in style I suppose.

JH
 
Prost264 said:
+4983217432 for the Charger

although here they're lowered a bit and dont have that huge ram bar, just that intimidating front end, scares the shit out of you when you're doing twice the speed limit :shock:

I also think it would be a great idea for TopGear, even though no American car would win :roll:

I agree. The Crown Victoria would be clobbered by the 5 Series BMW's of Germany. But so what, thats a luxury car with lights on the roof; the police interceptor is so much more utilitarian.
 
The question here is not just what is the best for the suspect and officer, but what about the motor pool that has to maintain these cars? The Ford Interceptor is a rugged simple design that is one of the easiest cars to repair and maintain - fleet operators love the interceptor. The parts are heavy duty and designed for 24/7 operation. Many police departments don't have the money for every officer to have his own car, so cars are traded from shift to shift, literally running 24 hours a day. The back has plenty of room for a suspect, the security divider, and still leave the officer room to be comfortable up front. The large cab provides space for the laptop, radios, shotgun, radar gun and other bulky equipment that officers require. The huge boot can easily fit shotguns or rifles along with emergency equipment, spare fuel and anything else the officer requires. It's rear wheel drive, has plenty of mass for bullying even the biggest SUVs and trucks off the road. It's only drawback is the chance of fire in a rear-end collision, however I believe that has been addressed and most Interceptors have been retrofitted with different gas tanks - easily done on the Ford.

For cost, space, effectiveness, presence and ease of maintenance I have to go with the Ford.

All these exotics for running down speeders are a bit silly. First of all, in the US many major cities, and even many counties have helicopter support - good luck outrunning one of those. Secondly, in the words of Jake Blues, "You can't outrun a Motorola" With modern communications equipment it's much easier to coordinate units ahead of a chase to capture the suspect.
 
You know what is scarier than a Ford Police Interceptor?

A Crown Vic Interceptor going 100 km/h+ at 4 o'clock in the morning in the city. Those things woke me up. They didn't have sirens on but sounded like a damn train was moving. Those things punch a serious hole in the air. :lol:

Man if the Crown Vic ever came with a manual transmission....damn....
 
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