Vehicle Gallery - Discussion Thread

medic112

" Saw one of the ARU volvos got smashed up, will be expensive to repair I guess. "

i attended one involved in a RTC back in feb/mar in the midlands, possibly it?

Boaty

Capri's post is a perfect example of why reg plates should be blocked out in this fourm.
That Volvo is a personal vehicle.
My thread requesting that a rule be added to the fourm charter to stop people posting unmarked Garda cars regs and car like that was declined as "it was not needed" this is a perfect example of why it is needed.

Edit: after looking at the other pic that Capri posted, it really does piss me off that he is posting pictures of personal cars of Gardai in the picture gallery for Emergency vehicles

Turner

I have addressed that post, always feel free to report pictures that you believe should not be posted here.

Turner

Capri

fiverfriday wrote: »

Capri's post in main picture thread #1663:

You sure those pictures aren't mules personal cars? I'd suggest you get the reg plates fully covered.

The context was in relation to AGS not having sporty cars in the fleet -

1) The Lotus (and the Volvo) IS parked in a space marked 'OFFICIAL GARDA VEHICLES' so one must assume it is such :cool:

2 It has no front reg plate so the point of blocking out the plate doesn't arise

3) IF it was a member's private vehicle then he's not trying to hide it discreetly anyway is he


Presume posting these sporty police cars comes within the terms of the
thread

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/86952/incredible-dubai-police-cars?_mout=1&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter

Old diesel

Capri wrote: »

The context was in relation to AGS not having sporty cars in the fleet -

1) The Lotus (and the Volvo) IS parked in a space marked 'OFFICIAL GARDA VEHICLES' so one must assume it is such :cool:

2 It has no front reg plate so the point of blocking out the plate doesn't arise

3) IF it was a member's private vehicle then he's not trying to hide it discreetly anyway is he


Presume posting these sporty police cars comes within the terms of the
thread

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/86952/incredible-dubai-police-cars?_mout=1&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter

The cars don't even have to be "sporty" - just very very capable for the work they do.

A 2.2 diesel Mondeo Estate ISN'T sporty in the normal sense of the word - but it is (probably) a much more capable car then a 1.7 diesel Hyundai - IN THE RIGHT properly trained hands

The Hyundai probably has its place - but as part of an operational fleet of police cars - you need to look at what you need in terms of capability from the fleet.

So having Hyundais make up a part of the fleet is fine if they are used for roles they are capable of doing.

But if you insist on the whole fleet been made up of one manufacturer then it makes sense to pick a manufacturer that can meet the operational requirements of ALL the operational roles of that fleet.

Well okay - theres different makes on the fleet - but it seems an order goes in for x amount of cars in one go - and you then have to make do with whatever comes from that order for that year etc.

Rather then say - okay - we need cars for community policing, cars for traffic and cars for armed response.

You should have 3 SEPERATE ORDERS for all 3 roles because the cars will be different - for all 3 roles

POGAN

Old diesel wrote: »

The cars don't even have to be "sporty" - just very very capable for the work they do.

A 2.2 diesel Mondeo Estate ISN'T sporty in the normal sense of the word - but it is (probably) a much more capable car then a 1.7 diesel Hyundai - IN THE RIGHT properly trained hands

The Hyundai probably has its place - but as part of an operational fleet of police cars - you need to look at what you need in terms of capability from the fleet.

So having Hyundais make up a part of the fleet is fine if they are used for roles they are capable of doing.

But if you insist on the whole fleet been made up of one manufacturer then it makes sense to pick a manufacturer that can meet the operational requirements of ALL the operational roles of that fleet.

Well okay - theres different makes on the fleet - but it seems an order goes in for x amount of cars in one go - and you then have to make do with whatever comes from that order for that year etc.

Rather then say - okay - we need cars for community policing, cars for traffic and cars for armed response.

You should have 3 SEPERATE ORDERS for all 3 roles because the cars will be different - for all 3 roles

Hopefully skoda rumours from last year is true for RSU

Let's hope there will be more 2.2 traffic mondeos & i40s this year for traffic

Still think the regular need more than connect van or i30 tourer. Fact that 99.9% of calls are answered by them,I do think there need for bit of refocus on numbers of cars in stations

Hope the review will look at this

Old diesel

POGAN wrote: »

Hopefully skoda rumours from last year is true for RSU

Let's hope there will be more 2.2 traffic mondeos & i40s this year for traffic

Still think the regular need more than connect van or i30 tourer. Fact that 99.9% of calls are answered by them,I do think there need for bit of refocus on numbers of cars in stations

Hope the review will look at this

Do you think i40s would be powerful enough????

Would be good to see VAG products get a foothold - no VAG products aren't perfect no more then other makes of car.

But the advantage of VW/Audi/Skoda - is that you have vehicles to meet most requirements.

You work out what you need a vehicle to do - and they almost certainly have something to suit.

A Golf (for example) can come in anything from a 1.6 tdi right up to the high performance Gti models - or you can have Octavias too - VRS might be a useful tool

Or you can have an Audi with Quattro.

And then you've got Passats too - they've a reputation for been very capable cars normally - how that translates to emergency use I don't know

One thing they don't have is a proper Landcruiser rival (imo) but the solution to that - buy in Landcruisers for roles needing a proper 4 x 4 vehicle

Theanswers

Land Rover make a big push in the UK. Perhaps something similar could happen here?

Discovery would be a nice policing vehicle for certain jobs, like the land cruiser.

Old diesel

Theanswers wrote: »

Land Rover make a big push in the UK. Perhaps something similar could happen here?

Discovery would be a nice policing vehicle for certain jobs, like the land cruiser.

Landcruiser would be more reliable then Land Rover imo - plus - its a handy way of giving Toyota an order if you insist on keeping the door open to all the traditional garda car makes

In saying that though - an Evoque should be a VERY capable CAR - they've a reputation for good handling etc - the big issue is price - and has Land Rover addressed its traditional reliability issues on the Evoque

POGAN

Theanswers wrote: »

Land Rover make a big push in the UK. Perhaps something similar could happen here?

Discovery would be a nice policing vehicle for certain jobs, like the land cruiser.

Please God No...they be in garage more than toyotas

POGAN

Old diesel wrote: »

Do you think i40s would be powerful enough????

Honestly would prefer if they were separate tenders wont happen at the moment so i40 would be good as it get current tender

Old diesel

POGAN wrote: »

Honestly would prefer if they were separate tenders wont happen at the moment so i40 would be good as it get current tender

That's part of the problem - tender goes out for cars (or vans) - manufacturer wins tender - and everything that's needed comes from the fleet supplied under the tender.

Instead the tender should work like this - cars needed for particular roles

So separate tenders

Tender 1 - Community policing

Tender 2 Regular

Tender 3 Public order vans

Tender 4 Traffic Corps

Tender 5 Armed response

Tender 6 4 x 4s

Tender 7 anything not covered under the above

Idea been - you work out what vehicles are needed for a role - and tender for those specifically - rather then have 1.6 tdis for traffic

kub

As a national police service, wouldn't the Gardai's time and resources be better spent on what they do best. The way it is currently is they spend millions on new vehicles, then another few on maintenance and repairs, then sell off what is left of them for not a lot.

Why don't they do a fleet lease scheme whereby the lease company provides the vehicles, they routinely service them and repair them and The Gardai tax and cover accidental damage?

Old diesel

kub wrote: »

As a national police service, wouldn't the Gardai's time and resources be better spent on what they do best. The way it is currently is they spend millions on new vehicles, then another few on maintenance and repairs, then sell off what is left of them for not a lot.

Why don't they do a fleet lease scheme whereby the lease company provides the vehicles, they routinely service them and repair them and The Gardai tax and cover accidental damage?

Buying should be okay as the Gardaí are going to bring a vehicle to the end of its life.

The big issue though - is having a big budget for maintenance - and nothing for replacements.

Should have a system where a vehicle could be written off - and its repair bill put towards the replacement.

Kind of like what normal buyers would do - if repair isn't very economical due to age/mileage - the normal motorist scraps the car - and replaces with another vehicle

kub

Is this that typical budget thing that if they don't spend their allocation of money this year that they get less next year?

ectoraige

I presume the Gardaí don't have in-house mechanics so is the only tangible advantage to having the same marque is being able to haggle for bulk pricing?

Theanswers

Land Rovers Reliability has improved of late. Furthermore in all situations the Land Rover would be a better vehicle to the land cruiser. One needs only to read the reviews and comparison tests on the internet. Road handling, performance, off-road ability is all better in the Land Rover.

They seem to be hungry for Police work so maybe a could deal could be struck.
I'm not recommending Range Rovers, but a Discovery 4 would be a good shout.

Capri

Theanswers wrote: »

Land Rovers Reliability has improved of late. Furthermore in all situations the Land Rover would be a better vehicle to the land cruiser. One needs only to read the reviews and comparison tests on the internet. Road handling, performance, off-road ability is all better in the Land Rover.

They seem to be hungry for Police work so maybe a could deal could be struck.
I'm not recommending Range Rovers, but a Discovery 4 would be a good shout.

There's a Discovery 4 going around D2 on it's bump stops - looks like the air suspension's ****ed !!

IMO Land Rover have 'lost their way', going hi-tech when you need reliability and heavy duty capability like the original 71 Range Rover - remember the Sahara beige one up in the Depot , with the big floodlight unit on the roof, same colour as this one
http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/cars/range-rover/drive-story-range-rover-classic-early-vs-late/
IF LandRover made a basic suspension,basic trim model of the RR/Discovery like Toyota do with the LC then they might get some sales back ??

Bit of history from GMP http://www.policecaruk.com/40YearsOfGMPRangeRovers/40YearsOfGMPRangeRovers.html

Such was the relationship between GMP and Land Rover that prototype Range Rovers were regularly given to the Motorway Group. One of the first four door cars was fitted with a fuel injection system and L470 YAC was fitted with air suspension. The request was always the same, please put as many miles as possible on the cars and see if the new system fails. The cars were passed on to the troops and used 24 hours a day and must have save Land Rover huge amounts of money in testing. In 1995 the force purchased its last order of ten Range Rover Classics, and a decision was made to remain with Range Rover as the primary motorway patrol vehicle for GMP. In 1996 ten new Range Rover P38A’s arrived starting with N461VVM, all being equipped with Federal Vision light bars. When these cars appeared on patrol the pleas from Divisional Traffic Units for the new light bars was deafening and very soon they were being fitted to Divisional Traffic Cars and Beat Cars. The P38’s were fabulous cars, but had again moved more ‘up market’ and the load carrying space had been reduced, so more kit had to go. In 1997 GMP purchased a second batch of ten P38’s further reducing the Classic fleet.

I retired from GMP Motorway Group in June 1997, and the writing was already on the wall. Officers with no Traffic experience were being put in charge of the Department and vehicles and equipment, which had been hard fought to obtain was being dismissed as irrelevant and obsolete. GMP stuck with Range Rover until 2001 when a decision was taken to purchase Mercedes ML’s for the Motorway, on the basis that they were more reliable. They weren’t and the load carrying capacity was nowhere near that of a Range Rover. They also didn’t have any ‘presence’ looking like a toy car alongside a Range Rover. Unfortunately, the damage was done and, although in 2004 a small number of 3rd Generation Range Rovers were bought by GMP, there would be no return to the size of Range Rover fleet previously seen on the Motorway Group.

I have always thought that the Traffic Department was the “shop window” of any Police Force. The motoring public would look at what the Police were using and, if the cops use it, it must be good. So why did Land Rover allow the demise of the Police Range Rover. They were basically free advertising for “the best 4x4 by far” and I would have thought that to keep the lions share of the Police market they could have been sold to Forces at cost price, but it was not to be. In my time on the Motorway Group we evaluated Isuzu Troopers, Nissan Patrols, Jeep Cherokee, Toyota Land Cruisers and several others. None of them could beat the Range Rover as an “all round” motorway car. Yes, they could do the job if restrictions were imposed on the car, like no towing of disabled vehicles, but they couldn’t do everything a Range Rover could do.

The job of patrolling the motorway network has now been given to the Highways Agency. They drive ‘full size’ 4x4’s as they carry the kit the Police used to carry.

The motorway patrol car of choice for the Police now is the BMW X5 and they attend incidents on the strip as and when required to do so. As I drive up and down the motorway network of this country I rarely see a Police Motorway Patrol. As I said earlier, GMP had a fleet of 30 Range Rovers dedicated to Motorway Patrol. How many Range Rovers do GMP now have within their fleet of 1750 vehicles these days – 3! Two ARV’s and a shiny black one for use by VIP’s and the Chief. I suppose that’s what you call progress!

Toyota seem to get the majority of the world's heavy duty work - this crowd supply most of the Toyotas to aid agencies /governments
http://toyota-gib.com/English/VehicleList.aspx

Pajero size - http://toyota-gib.com/English/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=1862283
L-Cruiser - http://toyota-gib.com/English/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=1862260

Theanswers

Capri wrote: »

There's a Discovery 4 going around D2 on it's bump stops - looks like the air suspension's ****ed !!

IMO Land Rover have 'lost their way', going hi-tech when you need reliability and heavy duty capability like the original 71 Range Rover - remember the Sahara beige one up in the Depot , with the big floodlight unit on the roof, same colour as this one
http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/cars/range-rover/drive-story-range-rover-classic-early-vs-late/
IF LandRover made a basic suspension,basic trim model of the RR/Discovery like Toyota do with the LC then they might get some sales back ??

Toyota seem to get the majority of the world's heavy duty work - this crowd supply most of the Toyotas to aid agencies /governments
http://toyota-gib.com/English/VehicleList.aspx

Pajero size - http://toyota-gib.com/English/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=1862283
L-Cruiser - http://toyota-gib.com/English/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=1862260

The reviews of the toyota Land cruiser even the new one state that it's very agricultural. Head on Head off road the Land Rover leaves the toyota wanting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkzJ18FHgac
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V05uNdqXqqU

I've had both Land Rovers and Toyotas. The Land Rover is more capable in every regard to the Toyota except reliability. However, they're really not as bad as one is implying.

I've had a Land Cruiser break down - leaving me stranded before.

Regarding the basic models, One can order a Discovery without air suspension however it's not recommended as it destroys the ride and limits off road ability.

For Policing work the land rover would be better as it's engines are more powerful than the toyota. Also I seem to note Toyota is very busy with the recalls these days. The new Toyota are not like toyota's of old. Different beast all together. But sure what car is?

Theanswers

The reasons the motorway patrol are dropping the RR is due to budget factors. Police forces in the UK heavily use Discovery 3s and 4s. Likewise individual forces do have RRs. One has only to drive around Northern Ireland to see that. The reduction in RRs has been on the motorway patrols section.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjcPzmqQpvA

Capri

Regarding the basic models, One can order a Discovery without air suspension however it's not recommended as it destroys the ride and limits off road ability.

The ride/off-road are f'd altogether if the air susp fails :P

For Policing work the land rover would be better as it's engines are more powerful than the toyota. Also I seem to note Toyota is very busy with the recalls these days. The new Toyota are not like toyota's of old. Different beast all together. But sure what car is?

It used to be 'built-in obsolescence' , now it seems to be 'built-in failure' (= workshop repair $$$$$$$ time :mad: )

These cars are supposed to be 'tested to their limits' but look at any forum and you'll see regular faults occuring on every vehicle

sdanseo

Looks very lucky that no-one was killed in that DFB crash, tender hit the driver's door

Stupid motorists need to stop doing silly things behind the wheel and be alert to sirens, lights, etc. Tht's presuming of course that DFB weren't at fault.

On a side note - why do fire engines not have two-tone airhorn any more? You would NEVER miss that in a million years.

flazio

Capri wrote: »

Recycling lightbars off 1980's stuff ? Can't help the topspeed, nevermind the comedown from a 2.2Mondeo as well

I'm guessing that this vehicle is meant for Airport work (not sure if I can make out a yellow beacon) anyway you need a large blue light bar for there to make sure pilots can see it from their high vantage point.

Mr Simpson

flazio wrote: »

I'm guessing that this vehicle is meant for Airport work (not sure if I can make out a yellow beacon) anyway you need a large blue light bar for there to make sure pilots can see it from their high vantage point.

Its not.

Its so big because it has a scrolling text screen on the back of it. Theres a few of them with those lightbars, they look absolutely cack

Mr Simpson

Mr Simpson wrote: »

Its not.

Its so big because it has a scrolling text screen on the back of it. Theres a few of them with those lightbars, they look absolutely cack

The text board is sh1t during daylight too.

sdanseo

Could they not put the LED board in the rear window like normal people?

sdeire

sdeire wrote: »

Could they not put the LED board in the rear window like normal people?

To hold a position of power or responsibility in AGS you are required to relinquish all common sense.

Boaty

KKV just like to say I really enjoy all your photos in the ES gallery you do a great job.

Most Gardai couldn't give a crap about you wanting to take a picture, more than likely they are thinking that you'll use the pictures against them in some way.

"Is there an 'inside ruling' of sorts that photography is frowned upon?"

That's the case at my local station after pictures of cars appeared on this fourm.

carzony

Boaty wrote: »

KKV just like to say I really enjoy all your photos in the ES gallery you do a great job.

Most Gardai couldn't give a crap about you wanting to take a picture, more than likely they are thinking that you'll use the pictures against them in some way.

"Is there an 'inside ruling' of sorts that photography is frowned upon?"

That's the case at my local station after pictures of cars appeared on this fourm.

I'v often been down the courts in park gate street looking at the patrol cars parked up. It doesnt take long to get guards looking at ya thinking your up to somthing.. I'd imagine if you had a camera they wouldnt be to pleased.

KVV, the difference between the light bars on the RSU and the traffic cars is the RSU are just info boards, the traffic ones are used for lane closures. Came across one in the outside lane on the M50 on day. Couldn't see it until I was practically on top of it. Plus the blues were crap compared to the new Avensis ones.