Traffic Cops

[waremark]

As said earlier in order to maintain safety manufactures fit ESP and such like. What we found on the BMW M3 is that in anything other than fast dry conditions the car is continually being restricted by the ESP. You need to remember that the majority of police pursuits don't take place on the Motorway, they are 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear action on confined roads and powerful two wheel drive cars just end up living on their ESP, or generating lots of smoke.....A good pursuit car needs a top speed of around 150mph, but the way it gets between 30 and 90 will make all the difference to safety.

General points completely accepted and understood, but I am disappointed by the results of your tests. My personal experience is that you can use nearly all of the current M3's power even on streaming wet B roads, only breaking traction if you use full-throttle exiting a tight second gear bend when the ESP will rein you in. Some experienced friends and I drove M3, C63 and RS4 in a wet North Wales, and concluded that even with this much power and in those conditions there was little benefit from 4 wheel drive. I would have expected an M3 to be suitable for such duties, though I have no idea about comparative running costs.

[TripleS]

I think there are quite a few people on here fairly well connected and in this day and age most information on police matters is very much in the pubic domain.

Best place for it too....!

Doesn't answer the question though.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[waremark]

I think there are quite a few people on here fairly well connected and in this day and age most information on police matters is very much in the pubic domain.

Best place for it too....!

Doesn't answer the question though.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

Not the first time that Mr RH has declined to give us clues as to his role. If he feels that telling us more about himself would inhibit what he posts on the forums, I for one am happy for him to retain his privacy.

[TripleS]

I think there are quite a few people on here fairly well connected and in this day and age most information on police matters is very much in the pubic domain.

Best place for it too....!

Doesn't answer the question though.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

Not the first time that Mr RH has declined to give us clues as to his role. If he feels that telling us more about himself would inhibit what he posts on the forums, I for one am happy for him to retain his privacy.

Yes, sorry, I don't wish to intrude unduly, but I thought a bit more information could be forthcoming without detriment to his position.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[Red Herring]

Gosh, what have I started........If modesty allows me I think it's probably obvious I know a little about some of the police subjects we discuss, however it's not just about retaining privicy and the ability to be able to slag the job off if i wanted to, it's also that I believe the value of a posting should be taken from it's content and not from whatever qualification/experience it's author may or may not have....Their knowledge should be obvious from the content of the posting (as it appears to have been in this case).

Getting back on thread I do appreciate what Waremark is saying about the M3, it is an awesome car and if I had a personal choice for my own car it would be right up the top of the list, however instead of imagining driving it after the bad guys across fast A roads or even twisting wet B roads imagine yourself in the dark on the outskirts of some busy industrial town. It's December, wet, cold and the roads are the usual unpredictable mixture of salt, diesel and polished overbanding....Would you rather be driving 300bhp+ of four wheel drive ESP/limited diff/Active yaw japanese technology....or 400bhp+ of Bavarian muscle car, even with a very good ESP system....
Throw in the U turn across the central reservation, then the short cut across the park, and you begin to get the picture.
Then finally there is that little matter close to all out hearts (or at least the Transport managers) which Waremark sort of touched on....cost!

[Gareth]

I believe the value of a posting should be taken from it's content and not from whatever qualification/experience it's author may or may not have

Definitely agree. I tend to skip over comments that look as if they are merely repeating comments from a journalist's review; I prefer to read comments that appear to be based on first hand knowledge and experience.

[TripleS]

I believe the value of a posting should be taken from its content and not from whatever qualification/experience it's author may or may not have

Definitely agree. I tend to skip over comments that look as if they are merely repeating comments from a journalist's review; I prefer to read comments that appear to be based on first hand knowledge and experience.

Yes OK, that's fair enough. I was merely being inquisitive. Sorry, RH.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[AnalogueAndy]

Then finally there is that little matter close to all out hearts (or at least the Transport managers) which Waremark sort of touched on....cost!

Which brings us back nicely to the OP, you can guarantee that Mitsubishi are paying for all this "free" advertising in one way or another..

[Red Herring]

I think most police forces get pretty good discounts when it comes to buying vehicles. Some manufactures are more generous than others, but then again some need to be....!
I did hear that if they bought an Evo 9, kept it two years (assuming it lasted that long!) and then sold it on the open market they would actually recover their costs, including the cost of kitting it out and then de-marking it afterwards...

Running costs and safety are also a big issue. The EVO 9 for example only had a 4,000 mile service interval and more importantly didn't have side airbags (The X is now at 10,000 and does have the bags) and these are the sort of thing the "management" have to consider.

[waremark]

Good explanation of what these cars are called on to do. Do you know what version of the 10 they have chosen, eg power and transmission?

Evos are unbelievably capable. This thread reminds me of an episode of a Police Camera Action style program (sorry Gareth, lots of non-first hand experiences from me!), where it was the villains who had the Evo (back then it was an Evo 6). It was a multi-vehicle pursuit, the villains in the Evo got so far ahead they had time to stop and fill up with petrol (a very common experience in a car which did 18 mpg and had a 10 gallon tank) and then set off again as the pursuit vehicles arrived (although one of their number got left behind at the filling station), then they got away again, then they went over a stinger, and still got away with one wheel on the allow rim. Eventually the villains abandoned the car before the pursuit could catch up again. All filmed from above. A great ad for Mitsubishi, particularly as other members of the gang in a Subaru had been caught earlier!!

[zadocbrown]

I think you will find that the Essex ANPR Intercept team (as seen on Channel 5!) have a number of different vehicles on their fleet, including BMW 330, Volvo T5, and Mondeo ST220 in addition to the Evo's and WRX's you see on TV. The officers on the team are not assigned specific vehicles but have to change from one to the other on a daily basis, so I think you will find they are reasonably adept at altering driving styles.

.

Why so many models? Is it to keep the drivers on their toes?

[Red Herring]

More likely that's whatever they can get their hands on at that time. Cars in certain roles tend to have a fairly short shelf life and often you end you with cast offs from other departments. A Traffic T5 with 150,000 miles on it doesn't have a very high resale value, sometimes the vehicle can be better used elsewhere.

[Red Herring]

PS... Dave you need to pay more attention to your TV. The Essex Evo's are white, it's the Scooby's that are blue!

[zadocbrown]

More likely so that the Essex scrotes don't associate a particular car type with a Policemane on board. If they only drove blue Evo's they'd be fairly easy to spot.

Yes, I can understand that with the unmarked cars. But our lot have quite a hotch-potch even on the regular traffic fleet. 3 series 5 series C class E class, estates and saloons, petrol and diesel. Obviously a 4x4 or impreza has a different capability, but I'd have thought a 5 series and an E class would be fairly similar for operational purposes. So why the complication?

[daz6215]

It's all Volvo's where i am!