Garda cars. If you were in charge!

lightening

Taking everything in to account (ferraris are too pricey and smart cars are not good in a chase) What would you choose for our men and women in blue?

The budget per car is 34K Per car. What would be good for all round use, traffic, catching bad people, carting bad people around?

I reckon the Golf GTI. I presume you get a deal if you are buying a load of them. They would probably need bigger tyres.

Speedy, roomy, can be converted to carry dogs, good value and already come in white.

Can we not let this turn in to a row?

rossious

First and foremost, Teach Gardaí how to drive properly, obey the rules of the road and set a good example. Then worry about their cars. :rolleyes:

Marcus.Aurelius

Go second hand and buy some decent cars!

For 34 k, you could buy great stuff. Big Honda Accords with 2.2 CTDI engines for the town units, Opel Vectra V6s/ Mondeo 3.0 V6s/ Mazda 6 2.3 MPS etc for the Traffic Corps.

lightening

rossious wrote: »

First and foremost, Teach Gardaí how to drive properly, obey the rules of the road and set a good example. Then worry about their cars. :rolleyes:

Right.... Any views on what cars you would choose?

lightening

maoleary wrote: »

Go second hand and buy some decent cars!

Good point, is it doable, a whole fleet of second hand cars?

lightening

How much are Suburu Forresters? I see the Gards in Clontarf have one, good fast car, able for a bit of rough as well.

Marcus.Aurelius

lightening wrote: »

Good point, is it doable, a whole fleet of second hand cars?

Yes, hire mechanics and create Regional/Divisional garages for the fleet. No extravagant labour costs and no middlemen for parts.

smcgiff

How about, mmm. Ford Mondeos?

craichoe

No,

The admin involved would be far too great and the would get a better deal buying a fleet in bulk.

C_Breeze

mazda 6 mps

Octavia VRS

Saab turbos

Dont know if these are within the 34k price range but they would tick all the boxes.

The only problem with that is it would make the cars less desirable to the general public. Consider the popularity of the MkV GTI , i reckon it would plummet if every second or third garda veh-ikle was a GTI.

Buying second hand would be very good. (330d beemers would be ideal )

Tabnabs

Saw one of these with GARDA clearly labbled down the side going onto the Holyhead ferry last week. Identical unmarked car parked right behind it in the queue.



They seem popular in the UK (T5 engine and all that)

unkel

lightening wrote: »

The budget per car is 34K Per car

Why such a low budget? To fill one garda car with two gardai 24/7 would have an annual wages bill of nearly a million

Double that budget and take into account garda cars are not liable to VRT or VAT (so double it again to compare to private cars) and you're in M5 territory!

I can already hear the scrotes sh!ttin' themselves at the thought of that

MarkR

Catch me now copper!

Jack Bauer999

unkel wrote: »

Why such a low budget? To fill one garda car with two gardai 24/7 would have an annual wages bill of nearly a million

Double that budget and take into account garda cars are not liable to VRT or VAT (so double it again to compare to private cars) and you're in M5 territory!

I can already hear the scrotes sh!ttin' themselves at the thought of that

by that reckoning each garda would be making circa 110'000 euro a year.
i think i chose the wrong profession!

peasant

The new Subaru diesel (when it finally comes out) implanted in a Legacy estate. Safe, fast, spacious, frugal.

Alternatively Skoda Octavia TDi estates, the 4x4 version.

(4x4 not for offroading, but for safe progress on the ****ty roads we enjoy here)

And the money saved by NOT buying and maintaining BMW M5's could go towards a new heli or two.

dogmatix

Why not second hand Chrysler 300's? Assuming 34K will buy a second hand one - whatever about the car itself, they do look big, intimidating - the dog's boll*x in other words. A lot of it is about "attitude" - would you take a cop seriously in a fiat seicento or a 300!

seamus

Lancer. Modify it to have a strengthened steel snow plough on the front, gull-wing doors for the driver and passenger and a steel cage in the boot for particularly aggressive arrestees.

The newer Garda cars apparently are coming with cameras and inbuilt reg plate detection. Only about ten years behind, but it's about time.

ambro25

peasant wrote: »

The new Subaru diesel (when it finally comes out) implanted in a Legacy estate. Safe, fast, spacious, frugal.

It's been out a short while, but only in 1,5L guise for the time being and only on Imprezas.

Second the Soob choice: 4x4, yet saloon/estate-sized and bomb-proof (no pun intended). Imprezas for cities, Forresters for motorway/more rural areas.

When the French Gendarmerie, for the first time in absolute decades, starts joining the UK/NZ/etc. fray and buys WRX (not a French car :eek: Sacrilege, I tell ya!) as intercepts, you know you're onto a good thing, as it's gotta have been cost/benefit -analysed to within an inch of its life, for the decision to buy Jap to have been taken

smcgiff

seamus wrote: »

The newer Garda cars apparently are coming with cameras and inbuilt reg plate detection. Only about ten years behind, but it's about time.

Not looking forward to the Irish version of Road Wars.

'Here we see Sergeant O'Toole about to arrest Mikey for parking his Ford Fiesta on the double yella lines.'

layke

http://www.gasolinealleyantiques.com/transportation/images/Auto%20Toy%20page/273-309.jpg

mvpr

Do the Gardai have to pay VRT, being a Government vehicle...?

Skoda VRS estate for motorway patrol, to go with their BMW's/Saabs/Subaru's.

TBH I think whoever's in charge of buying the cars for the Gardai is doing a pretty good job. Mondeo/Focus are grand for around town, and are nice and easy to spot.

lightening

unkel wrote: »

Why such a low budget?

I just came up with it off the top of my head. I thought it was more than they pay for the mondeos. Its only a bit of a mess....

lightening

peasant wrote: »

And the money saved by NOT buying and maintaining BMW M5's could go towards a new heli or two.

Agreed.

unkel

peasant wrote: »

And the money saved by NOT buying and maintaining BMW M5's could go towards a new heli or two.

My point is there is very little money to be saved (compared to the wage bill) by not buying M5s

Perhaps we should put it to the GRA: if you skip one round of benchmarking, you can all drive M5s for the rest of your careers. What say you?

ambro25 wrote: »

Imprezas for cities, Forresters for motorway/more rural areas.

When the French Gendarmerie, for the first time in absolute decades, starts joining the UK/NZ/etc. fray and buys WRX (not a French car :eek: Sacrilege, I tell ya!) as intercepts, you know you're onto a good thing, as it's gotta have been cost/benefit -analysed to within an inch of its life, for the decision to buy Jap to have been taken

That is impressive alright

peasant

600 (or so) rear wheel driven horses on mucky boreens ?

I can just see it now ...a write off a day

drdre

who says the budget is around 30k.I seen a undercover guard in a gs300 lexus today and it had the lights changed in the front and back and had a light on the dash board.When i seen the car i smiled and pointed it out to my friend and the guard saw me pointing and just smiled back at me.I seen it near harolds cross.

Del2005

Their huge and last forever, been in taxi's with half a millon miles up and still going strong. I'm sure the goverment can get them cheap and since the Gardai can't drive anyway LHD won't make any difference.

lightening

drdre wrote: »

who says the budget is around 30k.I seen a

Nobody, I just thought 34K per car would be a nice number if all the cars were to be the same...

Marcus.Aurelius

Del2005 wrote: »

Their huge and last forever, been in taxi's with half a millon miles up and still going strong. I'm sure the goverment can get them cheap and since the Gardai can't drive anyway LHD won't make any difference.

Except they drive like sofas on wheels and break down more often than an alfa running on orange juice. Not to mention the fuel costs.

lightening

Del2005 wrote: »

Their huge and last forever, been in taxi's with half a millon miles up and still going strong. I'm sure the goverment can get them cheap and since the Gardai can't drive anyway LHD won't make any difference.

Can they go around corners? Tight European corners?

drdre

lightening wrote: »

Nobody, I just thought 34K per car would be a nice number if all the cars were to be the same...

Ah ok.

C_Breeze

maoleary wrote: »

break down more often than an alfa running on orange juice

:D HAHA good one

Think i'll use that one myself from now one !!*






* (i may also pass it off as my own gag)

Marcus.Aurelius

C_Breeze wrote: »

* (i may also pass it off as my own gag)

ah crap. Ah........(c) Maoleary's Brilliant Idea #0000001. All Rights Reserved.


HA HA HA its all mine again!!!

timmywex

seamus wrote: »

The newer Garda cars apparently are coming with cameras and inbuilt reg plate detection. Only about ten years behind, but it's about time.

yeh, they are actualy, and run locks on them and the headlights are premently on when the engine is, the camera footage can be kinda cool, only watched it the other day and hapened to be in one of the cars with it (beemer 3series)

Max_Damage

I'd go for a Crown Vic too.

maoleary wrote: »

break down more often than an alfa running on orange juice.

Incorrect. They are actually very relaible cars (big underpowered V8). When the police forces in America are done with them, many are then bought up as taxi's. I've seen many Crown Vics go over 250,000 miles with little to no problems.

Tipsy Mac

mvpr wrote: »

Do the Gardai have to pay VRT, being a Government vehicle...?

Yes and no, basically they pay the VRT to themselves

vengeance52

maoleary wrote: »

For 34 k, you could buy great stuff. Big Honda Accords with 2.2 CTDI engines for the town units, Opel Vectra V6s/ Mondeo 3.0 V6s/ Mazda 6 2.3 MPS etc for the Traffic Corps.

Totall agree here, esp with the accord since i got one Monedo V6 would be excellent.

DublinWriter

lightening wrote: »

The budget per car is 34K Per car. What would be good for all round use, traffic, catching bad people, carting bad people around?

The auld Mondeo is a reliable enough bus for them.

A friend of a friend told me that BMW were over in the park last week demoing some of their heavily modified marked 3Ms currently in use with the German version of the ERU.

Zonda999

I know for a fact that the guards have some octavia vrs's but there unmarked..

yayamark

their actually bringing in the new mondeos as well in the 1.6 version, most of the fleet now have had now run lock for a while very handy.

The volvo t5 is been brought in as well, an unmarked version will be used for a new rapid response unit been set up.

Seth Brundle

Would this be over budget?

mac500

kbannon wrote: »

Would this be over budget?

mad max???

Seth Brundle

Yup!
1973 Ford XB GT Falcon Hardtop (XB GT Falcon Coupe)
Build your own...

Marcus.Aurelius

What is RUN LOCK anyway? I've seen it on some of the new machines coming down from Dublin to replace the older patrol cars.

pa990

RUN LOCK

Allows engine to keep running, even if you remove the key from the ignition. so you can lock the car and keep the lights going without running down the battery.


The Car will cut out if you take the handbrake off or put it in gear, theis prevents it from being driven without the key.

yayamark

pa990 wrote: »

RUN LOCK

Allows engine to keep running, even if you remove the key from the ignition. so you can lock the car and keep the lights going without running down the battery.


The Car will cut out if you take the handbrake off or put it in gear, theis prevents it from being driven without the key.

yes as above its handy if u have to leave the car a distance away and need the lights on. The run lock button is usually on the 999 dials just press it and take the key out. The gougers cant "wob" it then.

Mr.Boots

Definetly not a secondhand...imagine what the general public would say??
also, i dont think speed is the key here, there are many other factors to take into acount first.

Not a golf gti ...suspension to low. vw's questionable reliabilty
not a VRS for same reasons as golf
Mondeo v6??...Would a Tdci not make more sense?
saabs, bm's ect would be a waste of tax payers money (huge premium just for a badge and image that the cops dont need)

in my opinion a Subaru Forester....its fast enough, automatic, very reliable, high suspension, good visibilty, big boot, chunky tyres, good image, good resale.

BTW Ive seen a 07 "beige" BMW pulling cars on the N11 around the gorey area.

Potential-Monke

Maybe we should be like the:

Japanese Police
Italian Police
Australian Police
Austrian Police
Spanish Police?

unkel

Dutch Police

1. BMW M3

http://static.autoblog.nl/images/wp2007/BMW%20M3%20Politie1.jpg

2. Porsche 911 Targa

http://static.autoblog.nl/images/wp2007/reviews/porsche_targa-4s/porsche_911_964_targa_klpd_politie.jpg


3. Spyker C8 Spyder

Marcus.Aurelius

Ford Falcon XR6

4.0 V6 Turbo

Spotted in Sydney, NSW last year. Traffic Police have the V8 version. XR8 is the spec I think.

Seth Brundle

unkel wrote: »

Dutch Police

2. Porsche 911 Targa

http://static.autoblog.nl/images/wp2007/reviews/porsche_targa-4s/porsche_911_964_targa_klpd_politie.jpg


3. Spyker C8 Spyder

What benefit are soft tops to the police?