I don’t think I’m making a controversial statement when I say that nobody likes being pulled over by the police: a burst of red and blue lights lighting up the inside of your car, feeling as though you’ve just swallowed an anvil as you pull off to the side of the road, and the infinitely long pause while you wait for an officer to walk over to your window, leaving you to marinate in a singularly characteristic miasma of anger, fear, shame, and maybe even flat-out denial. Honestly, even as a car enthusiast first and foremost, I’m not sure I could say that I’d care what kind of car pulled me over: that feeling would remain regardless of whether the strobe light was on the roof of a Taurus or a Bugatti.
I suppose my point is that examining cool cop cars is only fun from far away. Anybody could write an article about awesome pursuit vehicles and just fill it with Dubai’s fleet. So let’s set one very simple ground rule: four-door cars only. I mean, that’s just common sense; officers aren’t going to fold down their front seat to shove a perp in a cramped second row. For a police car to be somewhat useful as an all-around service vehicle, it has to be practical, durable, and somewhat reasonably priced, the definition of which can change from country to country or even state to state. So, without further ado, in (roughly) ascending order of speediness, here are 20 police cars that you probably won’t be able to get away from.
20 Chevrolet Caprice PPV
With the end of both theth Pontiac G8 and Chevrolet SS, the Caprice PPV is a welcome if scarce reminder of the time Australia sent some muscle our way. It’s based on the long-wheelbase WM-chassis Holden Caprice, rather than the shorter platform used by the aforementioned civilian models and the Holden Commodore.
Still, as it’s based on GM’s venerable Zeta platform, that added size isn’t much of a problem, especially when you’ve got a 6.0 liter small block under the hood. That engine gets some added functionality with the addition of E85 fuel capability. It’s rated at a very healthy 348 hp and 382 lb ft of torque.
19 Ford Taurus Interceptor
The Taurus Interceptor is such a common sight on our roads that it’s easy to forget just how formidable it is. In high-proof 3.7 liter Ecoboost trim, they’re a SHO with none of the show, courtesy of blacked-out trim, steel wheels, and a total absence of interior niceties.
So if you’re a Luddite looking for a brand-new sedan with near 400 hp, you’re in luck: factory fresh Interceptors can be found on sites like Autotrader for less than $25,000.
Taurus interceptors also come with beefed-up suspension components, improved cooling capacity, and an uprated electrical system, meant to power all manner of police-specific gadgets and gizmos.
18 Subaru Impreza WRX STI
This uniquely-livered WRX STI was put into service by the Greenfield, Wisconsin Police Department as an all-terrain capable interceptor, capable of chasing even the most fleet-footed of criminals through muddy terrain. While the car, leased from Schlossmann’s Subaru City of Milwaukee, might not quite be as robust as a Ford Crown Victoria, it's certainly far more agile, thanks to a symmetrical, full time AWD system, adjustable centre differential, and grunty turbocharged flat-four powerplant.
Those three components don’t seem to differ from civilian models, which means that officers won’t be indulging their Fast and the Furious fantasies with a hidden NOS tank or eleventy-million gear transmission.
17 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution
Romania probably isn’t the first place you think of when it comes to natural homes for rally-bred police interceptors, but the country’s winding mountain roads are ideal hunting grounds for machinery like the 295 hp Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.
Before the beleaguered Japanese automaker sullies that name with an FWD hybrid crossover with a CVT, let’s take a minute to appreciate the 10th-generation Evolution: at the time of its release in late 2007, it was absolutely bleeding edge (though heavily criticized for being a couple of hundreds pounds heavier than its predecessors), with an optional semi-automatic dual-clutch transmission, all-aluminium turbocharged engine, and torque-vectoring S-AWC (Super All Wheel Control) AWD system.
16 Kia Stinger
With the recent announcement that both GM and Ford would be closing up shop on Australia-specific offerings, relegating stuff like high-performance Commodores and Falcons have already been to the history books, police departments found themselves in urgent need of something speedy and reasonably-priced to patrol the wide-open expanses of Australia’s road network.
The state of Queensland made a seemingly unlikely choice by settling on the decidedly not-Australian Kia Stinger to pick up the slack.
Mind you, it doesn’t give anything up in terms of performance to its V8-powered predecessors. Under the rakish sheet metal lies a primarily high-strength steel chassis, Brembo brakes, and a 365 hp twin-turbo V6 capable of hauling the Stinger to 60 MPH from a dead stop in just 4.4 seconds.
15 Ford Focus RS
Any would-be speeders in the land of tea and crumpets would be remiss to try and run from this Battenburg-liveried Ford Focus RS. Thanks to a turbocharged 2.3 liter inline four cranking out 350 HP and 325 lb ft (going up to 350 lb ft on overboost), it can it hurl itself to 60 MPH in 4.5 seconds.
Even worse, you won’t be getting away even if the pursuing officer is a complete novice behind the wheel: a Top Gear first drive deemed the car to be simple to operate “to the point where you can toss it into corners and execute big drifts with consummate ease.”
14 Dodge Charger Enforcer
The fact that the so-called Charger Enforcer is so common does nothing to diminish its menacing lighting signature when it appears in your rear-view mirror. While Dodge offers the Enforcer with their 3.6 liter Pentastar V6 with an eminently reasonable 300 HP, that isn’t the one you should be afraid of: also available is the venerable 5.7 liter Hemi V8 with a much healthier 370 HP.
Now, you might say that doesn’t sound like a lot, given the astronomical power figures of some of the other entries on this list, but its more than sufficient considering the fact that police departments can option AWD with the V8, making it an efficient means of doling out some road-going justice in Snowbelt states.
13 Brabus B25
In stock form, the Mercedes-Benz A250 BlueEfficiency is a refined, compact, practical way of covering distance. It is not, however, the quickest thing on the road. After being worked on by the power-mad speed merchants at Brabus however, it goes from being merely “brisk” to “pretty fast.”
Revealed at the 2012 Essen Motor Show, the so-called B25 was part of the company’s “Tune it! Safe!” campaign, an initiative established in partnership with German Federal Traffic Ministry.
This snazzily-liveried hatch features a stout 245 horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque, enough for an Autobahn-worthy top speed of 155 MPH.
12 Brabus 700 Widestar
There are few places that make a 700 hp brick seem like a natural choice for law enforcement: Dubai is most certainly one of them.
The Brabus-tuned G63’s multifaceted capabilities make it an ideally suited to the realities of an immensely wealthy city surrounded by desert and inhabited by Sheiks with success to immensely fast supercars.
While I wouldn’t necessarily feel confident weaving my way down a winding road in a vehicle with the handling characteristics and aerodynamic properties of an apartment building, the sight of a widebody Geländewagen with flashing lights in your rear-view mirror would give pause to even the most jaded driver.
11 Porsche Panamera
Judged from a distance, Porsche’s first attempt at a four-door luxury sedan was an ungainly, misshapen mess. A shame, considering the depth of the engineering rigor going on beneath its skin. That said, I doubt you’ll have time to contemplate the intricacies of its exterior design if you were to see one, lights flashing, in your rear-view mirror.
In the company of Dubai’s ludicrously over-the-top law-enforcement fleet, the Panamera looks about as practical as a Ford F-150, thanks to its cargo-swallowing hatchback and four-door design.
They also happen to be one of the most eco-friendly vehicles in the police parking lot, as Dubai PD ordered S Hybrid models (with an electrically-assisted V6) instead of the furiously fast Turbo S trim.
10 Mercedes-AMG GLE63 Coupe
I have my own personal misgivings concerning the ongoing crossover coupe trend, but when it results in gloriously insane stuff like the GLE63 Coupe, I’m all for it. AMG’s been making bricks fly for over two decades now, so perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised that they’ve managed to turn an overpriced, impractical vanity-mobile into a sports car-shaming bruiser.
Under the hood is a hand-built 5.5 liter turbocharged V8 cranking out a colossal, and quite possibly underrated, 577 hp and 560 lb ft of torque. No doubt officers on the Victoria police department in Australia will be as happy with the GLE’s leather-lined cabin as its kidney-bruising capacity for 4.2 second 0-60 runs.
9 Lexus IS-F
The Lexus IS-F was the luxury brand’s first attempts in breaking into the hotly contested performance sports sedan, an M3-rivalling backroad burner with an 8400 RPM redline and an acoustic signature finessed by Yamaha.
This police-modified version is owned and operated by Humberside Police in the North of England, and comes bundled with a suite of computer and communication equipment worth £30,000 (that’s about $41,000 for us Yanks).
While the idea of a 417 HP hot-rod sliding around Britain’s often slippery roadways is immensely appealing, I’m not sure if the police will be able to exploit the IS-F’s near-170 MPH top speed on their twisting, narrow roads.
8 Audi RS4
Audi has a fast-wagon pedigree few manufacturers can match. Its genesis was the Audi RS2 of the early 1990s, co-developed by Porsche and capable of out-accelerating a McLaren F1 to 30 MPH. The family-hauling hot-rods that have been released since then have only built on that legacy of supercar-shaming pace mated to furniture-ferrying practicality.
Despite being one of the cheapest ways to buy your way into the RS-wagon dynasty, the RS4’s performance is anything but thrifty. This B8-chassis model, on loan from Audi to the Lake Illawarra Local Area Command of the New South Wales police department in Australia, is powered by a naturally aspirated V8 sending its 444 horses to all four wheels via a quick-shifting seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.
7 BMW M5
The F10-chassis BMW M5 wasn’t quite as wonderfully idiosyncratic as its edgier predecessor. Considering the former was powered by a turbocharged V8 that put out somewhere close to 600 hp, it's telling just how unhinged the older car’s motorsport-inspired V10 really was.
Still, the F10’s more relaxed power delivery probably makes it better-suited for police duty, as officers will likely be spending more time in the middle section of the RPM range (where turbocharged engines excel) rather than constantly chasing redline. Resplendent in the traditional German silver and green police livery, this special M5 was revealed as a concept at the Welt Museum in Munich.
6 Alfa Romeo Giulia
The snappily-dressed officers of Italy’s Carabinieri (the country’s national gendarmerie) aren’t strangers to high performance vehicles. While their fleet isn’t quite as ostentatious as that of Dubai’s Police Force, it does include mid-engined exotics such as the Lotus Evora. However, you can’t carry much inside a 2+2 sports car, irrespective of the fact that the Evora is Lotus’s most practical offering.
That’s where this Giulia steps in, delivered to the Carabinieri in full-fat Quadrifoglio spec, complete with a 2.9 liter Ferrari-derived twin-turbo V6 cranking out 505 hp. While I doubt officers exploit all of the Quadrifoglio’s 7:39-at-the- Nürburgring potential, especially not in the congested urban centers of Milan or Rome, they get some serious cool points by opting for the six-speed manual transmission.
5 Tesla Model S
The furiously fast Tesla Model S is probably one of the more important cars of the 21st century. It almost singlehandedly showed the world that electric cars didn’t have to be bizarrely-styled penalty boxes with double-digit driving ranges and acceleration on par with Continental drift.
Denver’s police department intends to capitalize on that public goodwill by using their Model S as a community outreach tool rather than an out-and-out pursuit vehicle. That’s probably a good thing: as a general rule, police departments like their patrol vehicles nice and cheap so that a totaled vehicle doesn’t result in bankruptcy.
4 Audi RS7
In the church of fast four-doors, few are saintlier than the Audi RS7. This quattro-equipped bruiser features a 4.0 liter V8 with a pair of turbochargers nestled within the vee between the two cylinder banks.
This arrangement is referred to as a “hot vee”, and along with making for a more compact powerplant, this setup cuts turbo lag by reducing the amount of necessary exhaust plumbing.
The net result is an immediately-accessible 560 hp and 516 lb-ft, the latter of which is available from a bedrock-low 1,750 RPM. We should all be thankful then that this lightbar-equipped model, shown off at the Autosport International show in Birmingham, England, is just a show car on loan from Audi to the West Midlands Police.
3 Ford Falcon GT F 351
The Ford Falcon is one of the most potent cars that Ford of Australia has ever made available to the general buying public: under the bulging hood lies a 5.0 liter supercharged V8 pumping out 470 hp (or 351 kW in metric, an homage to the Bathurst-winning Falcons with 351 ci engines).
That’s without mentioning a temporary overboost function that’ll up output to somewhere around 540 hp, accessible in 15-20 second bursts.
This particular example has been retrofitted for highway patrol duty for the New South Wales police department, and has been pushed further into the realms of lunacy courtesy of Aussie racing legend Dick Johnson: not only does it pump out 800 hp, it also features a high-tech police computer that can scan license plates from a kilometer away.
2 Brabus Rocket
Brabus is a household name in the decidedly non-household Benz-modifying business: their creations are rigorously engineered, luxuriously appointed, and most importantly, stupid fast. None more so than the appropriately-named Rocket, based on a first-generation Mercedes-Benz CLS. A police-liveried version of the car was unveiled as part of a joint project between Brabus and the German Federal Traffic Ministry to promote safe modifying practices.
Under the hood is a 5.5 liter M275 V12 engine fitted with uprated turbochargers and fortified internals. Total output is 720 HP and an Earth-shattering 970 lb ft of torque, enough to bring this two-ton-plus beast to 60 MPH in just 3.2 seconds.
1 Mazda RX-8
Japan’s national police livery is refreshing in its simplicity: black and white with a cheery red roof-mounted siren. It suits damn near anything, from cutesy Kei cars to more exotic machinery like this Mazda RX-8. This rotary-powered quasi-sedan (everyone seems to forget that RX-8s came with a pair of reverse-hinged half-doors) isn’t the most fondly-remembered sports car from Mazda’s history.
Much of that can be blamed on its, shall we say, temperamental RENESIS engine, which also guzzled oil like a bachelorette party guzzles box wine while also putting out the same amount of torque as a particularly energetic pencil sharpener. However, it redeemed itself in some people’s eyes thanks to the Wankel's glassy-smooth power delivery, an effective companion when paired to the RX-8's razor-sharp, perfectly-balanced chassis.
Sources: motor1.com, autocar.co.uk, topgear.com, caranddriver.com