VOLKSWAGEN SCIROCCO POLICE CAR, RATHER; POLIZEI

Historically, one of the most actively read posts at GoodCarBadCar.net revolves around police cars. Strange as it may seem for a site full of auto enthusiast reading material for people who probably prefer to avoid police cars, the cars The Good Car Guy recommended to police departments seem to attract attention. 

Check out numerous police links from GoodCarBadCar.net and enjoy the pictures of this Volkswagen Scirocco Polizei, a vehicle that was put together for the Essen Motor Show and the TUNE IT! SAFE! program.

DODGE CHARGER AND MAGNUM COP CARS RECALLED

Upon posting the Top 5 Vehicles the Police Should be Driving, The Good Car Guy quickly discovered that regular consumers are quite interested in the choices police departments make. It's true that the Dodge Charger and Dodge Magnum weren't included in that Top 5, but that's only because cops had already taken a liking to their benefits above and beyond those offered by Ford's Crown Victoria. 

More recently, Chrysler announced that Kuwaiti officials would be purchasing 150 Dodge Chargers for their police service. That's basically a drop in the puddle - Dodge is recalling 20283 Chargers and Magnums that had been outfitted with the police package and column shifter. 

These Recalled vehicles are from model years 2006-2009. Column shifters, not a feature associated with regular Chargers and Magnums, "may become disengaged from the steering column mounting bracket and cause an incorrect transmission gearshift position display". Obviously the danger revolves around inadvertent vehicle movement. 

Dealers, NHTSA says, will add a locking mechanism to the gearshift cable to "ensure proper retention and shift linkage function". Apart from added weight and the (sometimes) lack of a V8, the Dodge Charger driven by The Good Car Guy was, to say the least,a  decent value. Check out that review here.

OTHER EXOTIC POLICE CARS

Don't take any of these as a serious part of your local police force's method for tracking you down next time you crack 100 in a 60. The Caparo T1 police-edition inspired me to find some other great "paint-and-lights" jobs, most of which are publicity stunts to one degree or another.

500+ bhp Lamborghini Gallardo's do a fantastic job of transporting kidneys and livers down the autostrada. All-wheel drive helps the driver ignore the rain, too.


High horsepower numbers is not a part of the Lotus Exige game. Granted, the S version isn't exactly a weakling. But for crossing the Yorkshire Moors behind too-fast Mitsu Evo's and Subie STi's, nothing will work as well as Lotus' racer for the road.



Brabus is a renowned Mercedes-Benz tuner, probably the most famous aftermarket Benz manufacturer now that AMG is in-house. The Brabus Rocket truly shares characteristics with a high-powered space machine - humanity has never moved so fast (730 horsepower, 360km/h) in a sedan before. Oh... forgot, Mercedes calls it a coupe. Sorry, Benz. It ranked #1 in yesterday's Top 5 Cars Bought for Beauty. You won't see Brabus CLS Rocket's cruising by your 330d on the autobahn but you will see it used as a German tool (like the Techart 911 below) to encourage safe tuning of automobiles.


More than the CLS or Exige - but perhaps less than the Gallardo or Caparo - this 911 really handles the polizei livery quite nicely. I'm not a 911 drooler; but I am a Porsche respecter. And this 911 looks about as good as any.

I'm curious to know why the car enthusiast world gets so enthusiastic over a fast police car, whether it reaches your local constabulary or not. Drop a line to goodcarbadcar@gmail.com or share your thoughts with the GCBC Nation by clicking the Comments button below.

"DON'T EVEN TRY IT, MISTER"

You've seen the Caparo T1 on GoodCarBadCar before. The Good Car Guy entitled it the combination of an insect and supercar. That which is lacking is that which makes it beautiful.

The British highway police seem to agree. They certainly understand its capability: amazing acceleration, fearsome top speed, and roadholding unlike any non-racer in history. And I dare say, the police livery may suit it better than any other paint scheme seen thus far. A total recant of the Top 5 Cars Police Should Be Driving is written here. Our roads should be full of Caparo T1's, not least because their identification in rearview mirrors and windshields would be easy as pie.

LAMBORGHINI GALLARDO LP560-4 FOR ITALIAN POLIZIA - 20 PICTURES

I know exactly what you're thinking: apparently the Italian troopers were insatiable. The regular Gallardo wasn't good enough? In 2004, a Lamborghini Gallardo began a stint in the police service with tasks that - generally speaking - weren't related to tracking down high-octane speeders. Transporting organs for transplants was one of the Gallardo's more likely tasks, in theory. 

That first Gallardo has almost 88,000 miles on its odometer. A second Gallardo used in more northern areas since '05 has almost clocked almost 70,000 miles.

Check out the older Gallardo along with other wild police vehicles here 

and here along with police vehicle suggestions here

Apparently Lamborghini and the polizia believed more everything was required. The upgraded LP560-4 features 59 more horses than the original Gallardo with fewer pounds to propel. Thirty officers are trained in driving the Gallardo as well as in the use of its medical equipment. Thus, police personnel accustomed to Fiat Bravos won't be seen steering the LP560-4 off a cliff at 200mph.

TOYOTA CAMRY BACKS UP OVER POLICE CAR IN ILLINOIS

Here on GoodCarBadCar.net, The Good Car Guy makes a lot of recommendations. Most of them can be easily summed up in The Good 12. Some are listed in a Top 5 article on ugliness. More recommendations come amidst the daily run-of-the-mill posting completed in this very space.

Unfortunately, one Toyota Camry driver in Buffalo Grove, Illinois dismissed almost all advice ever offered to him or her in his or her entire life. GoodCarBadCar.net can accept some blame. One recommendation we failed to offer was the obligatory "Don't put your car in reverse and drive over a police car". Sorry, I missed that one.

Watch the video below from CNN.com. There's no need to rewind multiple times to check if that's what you really are seeing, because the video does it for you. Over and over.

CARBON MOTORS RELEASES DATA ON ITS POLICE CAR

She ain't pretty, but in relative comparison with the Dodge Charger and Ford Crown Victoria, pretty doesn't top the list of desirable characteristics. Carbon Motors has attacked this large segment of the automotive marketplace with a completely new approach.

With help from Lotus, says Carbon Motors, "this special purpose vehicle will provide a superior performing product with a much safer and more efficient operating environment for law enforcement officers, and offer a significantly lower total cost-of-ownership. A significant reduction in CO2 emissions is targeted in addition to a 30% - 50% fuel economy improvement."

The Carbon Motors police car should use a diesel engine that makes 300 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque. Helped by a six-speed automatic, acceleration to 60mph should be brisk: around 6.5 seconds. Fuel economy of 29mpg would be a big help to every police department on the continent. On the inside, everything will be geared towards absolute usability, perfectly geared toward the clientele. 360-degree surveillance capability, video and audio surveillance of the rear seat area, fully-fitted law enforcement equipment up front, shotgun mounts, head-up display, backup camera - it all sounds great. It sounds terrific when you realize that all of that is integrated; a car designed from the outset to work with these systems.

Carbon Motors Corp. will develope, manufacture, distribute, and service these purpose-built patrol cars. Their mission goes as far as to offer a 24/7 call centre and a predictable end-of-life process. The Carbon Motors vehicle will be geared towards fleets, quite obviously, but most clearly to the public sector.

Find out more at www.carbonmotors.com.

KUWAIT BUYS 150 DODGE CHARGER POLICE CARS

During a four-day trip to Michigan, a Kuwaiti delegation experienced the performance of the Dodge Charger at a ride-and-drive at Chrysler's proving grounds in Chelsea. Apparently, the experience was a good one. Kuwait will be ordering 150 Chargers to be upfitted as police vehicles and delivered before the end of 2008.

Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep aren't the biggest players in the Middle East automotive market, but the Charger is already Chrysler LLC's best-seller in the region. The Deputy Minister of the Interior, Musaed S. Al-Guwainem, believes the Charger portrays "an image of strength and power". He ain't lying. The Charger has a brutally aggressive front end.

For more on police vehicles, check out The Good Car Guy's Top 5 Vehicles The Police Should Be Driving and make sure you also check out the recent Dodge Charger Driven post.

TOP 5 CARS THE POLICE SHOULD BE DRIVING

We started with the mafia, moved to government leaders, and are now somewhere in between.Top 5 week continues with the polizia. The politi. The policia. Why, in North America at least, are Ford Crown Victoria's the default choice? Why is it special when a police force realizes that Dodge Chargers/Magnums make a much better vehicle?

Cops want space (especially in the front passenger area and the trunk), low-down torque, and maneuverability. The car needs to be safe. And it will be helpful, although not completely necessary, to have a front bumper capable of pushing lame-duck Dodge Neon's off the I-10 in Houston. So, what have we?


#5- FBI AGENTS WOULD LOVE GMC'S ACADIA: The FBI never wants to stand out too much in public. (Although lunching beside them in D.C. down the street from the Hoover Building saw plenty of badge flashes.) A Crown Vic may be bland enough, but it makes agents look like any other cop. Man, you ain't just a cop. You're an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Drive something with a bit of swagger. General Motors is once again on the upswing. They've got great new crossovers. The Acadia can be equipped with all-wheel drive, so it's already a step ahead of the Crown Victoria. You guys always look tougher in big numbers, and the Acadia can take three-rows worth of y'all. More horsepower (275) and only a slight loss of torque. Similar fuel economy. A zippy little 7 and a half seconds to 60mph. This looks like the new vehicle of the FBI. General Motors is apt to give you a fleet deal, especially on the GMC version of the trio. The Buick Enclave is too good-looking and, besides, rolling up to a NYPD-controlled hostage situations in a Saturn wouldn't be tough. At all.


#4- NEW RCMP COMMISSIONER NEEDS TO BE SEEN IN A HONDA RIDGELINE: He's a different kind of commissioner, so he needs a different kind of vehicle. How 'bout a truck that isn't a truck, but is certainly no Crown Victoria? William Elliott isn't a cop, he's a bureaucrat. So, drive a Canadian-built vehicle which can take you and your aides to the rough roads of northern Ontario but still cruise cross-country in comfort. Cargo capacity is limited, but then again, Elliott doesn't have a uniform. And hey, there is a trunk underneath the cargo bed. The Ridgeline has some getaway power (247 bhp), in case any detachments ever run you out of town. But this is just a small V6-engined truck, so nobody will accuse you of excess via corruption. Ridgeline's aren't cheap, but this is most assuredly not the Prime Minister's new Acura MDX.


#3- 'MANHATTAN SOUTH' NYPD PATROLMEN - SCION xB: Hold on a second, don't get fidgety. How do you park big American boats in the downtown core? Remember after 9/11, cop cars were especially disorganized as the officers arrived at the WTC Towers, creating problems for the next batch to get close. Were the cops to blame? Of course not. The massive Ford's, with their decades-old engineering, took up too much space. The new Scion xB is, granted, not quite as cool as the original. That's ok. Cop cars aren't all about 'cool', ya know. This is a serious matter, can't you tell? The Scion offers bucketloads of interior capacity, amazing fuel economy, and spectacular maneuverability. We couldn't suggest the new smart fortwo, after much deliberation, because there's no back seat. Sometimes cops, even in good ol' Manhattan, make arrests. And the felons are placed in the rear compartment. Put your bulletproof barrier in between the Scion's front and rear, and you've got yourself a cop car. With 158 horsepower and seven extra miles for every gallon in the city - compared with the old Ford - patrol personnel will still cruise to the scene of the crime in haste, but the hundreds of of them won't be contributing quite so heavily to the smog above us. Scion's are ripe for customizing. In fact, that is Toyota's intention. Imagine each new recruit heading to the Scion dealer to pick out their new lights and wheels - that's what GCBC calls 'making your work your own'.


#2- UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE STICKS WITH SUBURBANS: Who ever said this article was meant to change everything? Top 5 Cars Police Should Be Driving. It just so happens that the Secret Service has already made a good choice. Sure, Suburbans are large and lumbering. As far as people miles per gallon, the Secret Service makes Suburbans efficient. Economical even. General Motors has such a variety on offer: Chevrolet Suburbans and Tahoes; GMC Yukon and Yukon XL, Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV. The engine and trim level of your choosing. Followed by the kind of healthy up-armoring the troops in Iraq could only wish for. From 320 horsepower up to 380 - and more in the Cadillac - the 'Burban can haul. Better yet, it's an oddly pleasurable vehicle to drive. Even a compact car can make itself drive big, and it is that fact which enlightens us to the Suburban's best quality: it shrinks. Not visually, and not on Chevrolet's spec chart. The Suburban drives like a much smaller vehicle. Many thousands of pounds, a few hundred horsepower, perhaps 8 individuals on board, and yet it feels more like a TrailBlazer than the TrailBlazer itself. Decent visibility, relatively sharp steering, plenty of go-power. The Suburban/Yukon/Escalade is where it's at. Restricted to specific needs though this last may be, the Suburban still ranks as the second best choice.


#1- WATCH FOR CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL IN PONTIAC G8's: The G8, nee Holden Commodore, is the genuine Aussie Rules automobile. Rear-wheel drive with an optional V8 and a conservate but handsome design. It may give Pontiac it's groove back. And that groove disappeared long before I appeared. The G8 isn't here yet, I realize, but when it arrives, expect the Pontiac to run down most any criminal in most any vehicle. The Scion and Pontiac both offer manual transmissions, despite the level of disdain copper-tops would have toward such gearboxes. Even the V6 G8 will likely have 300 horsepower, expect the biggest bruiser to equip itself with over 400 bhp. There'll be tighter handling and sharper steering than normal General Motors sedans, although not matching the standard of the best Euro sports sedans. Holden is GM's Australian subsidiary and the developer of the defunct Pontiac GTO. What came to North America as a GTO was basically the run-out editions of the long-serving Commodore coupe. What we will see in the Pontiac G8 is Holden's new Commodore - which basically means new hardware, rather than recycled. Cops could apply 'Intelligence' to their name if and when they stick red and blue lights in the windshields and on the roofs of the newest Pontiac. This would cause us to fear the G8 even as we gather our excitement over GM's decision to harness its Aussie connections.