New Garda fleet

Old diesel

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

And the standard UK patrol car is an Astra isn't it? The i30 is hardly that different?

Didn't realise we cared so much for the legroom of the typical type of client that the gardai would have in the back seat anyway.

Yes the astra/focus/i30 may be a standard patrol car in the uk

BUT

They use a variety of different cars for various tasks.

you will find in the UK - the likes of Audi A4 Quattros, BMW 530ds, Volvo V70s and other DECENT cars for the likes of motorway work and roads policing and Armed response - and so many more things.

Basically the issue is - the Gardaí will use Hyundais for tasks that actually require a more capable car - so Audi with Quattro, BMWs, Skoda Vrs - that sort of machine.

Yet we managed quite dandy by all accounts with a Ford Mondeo dominated fleet for quite a number of years.

Lots of options were available wit Mondeos - 1.8 petrol, 2.0 tdci, 2.5/3.0 V6s.

A car for most requirements.

there is actually no need to run Hyundai i30s at all

Old diesel

Supergurrier wrote: »

Not a patch on the remapped volvo diesel wagons they use for high speed stuff.

Those insignias are crap for overtaking too. Feck all mid range punch.

Its the twin turbo Insignia they are using - not the normal 130/160 ps chappies.

Are you saying the twin turbos have crap overtaking as well.

Not saying the Insignias the best car - something VAG in the 150 to 184 ps range would possibly be better imo.

But surprised at the idea that a 190 ps twin turbo would lack overtaking punch

Supergurrier

Old diesel wrote: »

Its the twin turbo Insignia they are using - not the normal 130/160 ps chappies.

Are you saying the twin turbos have crap overtaking as well.

Not saying the Insignias the best car - something VAG in the 150 to 184 ps range would possibly be better imo.

But surprised at the idea that a 190 ps twin turbo would lack overtaking punch

The power is fine it's just the way in which its put down

Old diesel

Supergurrier wrote: »

The power is fine it's just the way in which its put down

You mean narrow powerbands/bad gearing????

I know when the Insignia went eco with the Ecoflex models on 130 and 160 ps Opel messed up the cars with ridiculously high gearing by all accounts.

Kind of defeats the point of twin turbos really if the power delivery is crap.

rocky911

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Looks like they all have inbuilt cameras under the rear view mirrors, a great addition if they do for recording dodgy driving.

They are blues that are on the inside, the avensis had em also. Sure they are barely putting ANPR into the Traffic cars anymore, as far as I remember theres 3 132 mondeos in Cork atm, 2 saloon, 1 estate but its the estate that is the only one with ANPR. In order to reduce costs on the fleet back 2/3 years ago they decided on only putting ANPR in selected new cars.

The foresters seem to be in use by the NAS and are a weapon of a yoke! There was a few bought back in 05, similar job to the insignia , ie only a handful were got so I would be surprised if any are left. Same with the ST mondeos, there was a 03 one in the fleet that was actually siezed and given to the fleet ( common occurrence these days)

With regard to the i40s and i30's, IMO and experience they are holding up better than the avensis was, well for the moment but still not up to scratch regardless of the area of use but haven been in both when the boot was being put down I would say the i40 is a lot more stable.

Old diesel

rocky911 wrote: »

They are blues that are on the inside, the avensis had em also. Sure they are barely putting ANPR into the Traffic cars anymore, as far as I remember theres 3 132 mondeos in Cork atm, 2 saloon, 1 estate but its the estate that is the only one with ANPR. In order to reduce costs on the fleet back 2/3 years ago they decided on only putting ANPR in selected new cars.

The foresters seem to be in use by the NAS and are a weapon of a yoke! There was a few bought back in 05, similar job to the insignia , ie only a handful were got so I would be surprised if any are left. Same with the ST mondeos, there was a 03 one in the fleet that was actually siezed and given to the fleet ( common occurrence these days)

With regard to the i40s and i30's, IMO and experience they are holding up better than the avensis was, well for the moment but still not up to scratch regardless of the area of use but haven been in both when the boot was being put down I would say the i40 is a lot more stable.

Is the Estate the 2.2???

Think they bought 2.2 Mondeo Estates - but not sure if any of the Estates were 2.0s

Supergurrier

Old diesel wrote: »

You mean narrow powerbands/bad gearing????

I know when the Insignia went eco with the Ecoflex models on 130 and 160 ps Opel messed up the cars with ridiculously high gearing by all accounts.

Kind of defeats the point of twin turbos really if the power delivery is crap.

More poke than ecoflex but not a patch on the XC70 which is insanely fast 30-70mph

rocky911

Old diesel wrote: »

Is the Estate the 2.2???

Think they bought 2.2 Mondeo Estates - but not sure if any of the Estates were 2.0s

Ya as far as I know shes 2.2, lovely looking bus in fairness! you could be right about the 2 estates, I haven seen em in a while, since they got the opel it seems to be the only one out. I think Traffic are the only unit in the job that have more cars the people ha

Old diesel

rocky911 wrote: »

Ya as far as I know shes 2.2, lovely looking bus in fairness! you could be right about the 2 estates, I haven seen em in a while, since they got the opel it seems to be the only one out. I think Traffic are the only unit in the job that have more cars the people ha

my apologies - never said there was 2 - I meant I wasn't sure if the gardai bought 2.0 diesel Mondeos in the estates.

All ive heard and seen off - were 2.0 diesel Saloons and 2.2 diesel estates

rocky911

Old diesel wrote: »

my apologies - never said there was 2 - I meant I wasn't sure if the gardai bought 2.0 diesel Mondeos in the estates.

All ive heard and seen off - were 2.0 diesel Saloons and 2.2 diesel estates

Think your on the money with that one!

sully2010

Why are all the new Garda cars estates now, are they cheaper, better at handling? I would have thought saloons were easier to handle at higher speeds.

rocky911

sully2010 wrote: »

Why are all the new Garda cars estates now, are they cheaper, better at handling? I would have thought saloons were easier to handle at higher speeds.

Space but knowing how things go, prob money ? but would always thought they cost more.

IsaacWunder

sully2010 wrote: »

Why are all the new Garda cars estates now, are they cheaper, better at handling? I would have thought saloons were easier to handle at higher speeds.

I think it's because they can get more kit in the back.

Special Circumstances

sully2010 wrote: »

Why are all the new Garda cars estates now, are they cheaper, better at handling? I would have thought saloons were easier to handle at higher speeds.

It's psychological.

Irish people have an unnatural fear of estates. The thought of travelling in one is enough to make many people think twice about acting the maggot.

Infracted

Special Circumstances wrote: »

It's psychological.

Irish people have an unnatural fear of estates. The thought of travelling in one is enough to make many people think twice about acting the maggot.

One of the stupidest things I've ever read.

Jesus.

What's your favourite Cop car you've seen?

I like Alfas

Special Circumstances

Infracted wrote: »

One of the stupidest things I've ever read.

You try suggesting an estate to the next friend ( well, work colleague or something) who mentions looking for a new car...

billie1b

There was a Focus ST added to the fleet last week, just finished being kitted out, unmarked yoke

coylemj

Infracted wrote: »

One of the stupidest things I've ever read.

That 'stupid' poster has 30x more posts than your grand total of 41, try to develop a sense of humour and maybe you'll think before accusing someone of being stupid.

coylemj

sully2010 wrote: »

Why are all the new Garda cars estates now, are they cheaper, better at handling? I would have thought saloons were easier to handle at higher speeds.

Space for cones and various signs needed to deal with temporary lane closures associated with multi-vehicle motorway accidents?

ironclaw

coylemj wrote: »

Space for cones and various signs needed to deal with temporary lane closures associated with multi-vehicle motorway accidents?

3-Series can take a good deal of kit. A little messy here but you can get some very clever rack mounts.

Terrontress

There is a Ford Mondeo for every police role. Small engined, high performance, 4x4, 2x4, saloon, estate, diesel, petrol.

Keep a stock of parts, serviced centrally, training is easier.

That's what they need.

Henry Ford III

coylemj wrote: »

That 'stupid' poster has 30x more posts than your grand total of 41, try to develop a sense of humour and maybe you'll think before accusing someone of being stupid.

A high post count is no guarantee of high quality either I'd suggest.

Special Circumstances

Henry Ford III wrote: »

A high post count is no guarantee of high quality either I'd suggest.

How very dare you... lol ;-)


FWIW think the 50 post threshold before you can post links has led to a lot of low level spamming.

Sofiztikated

I've already seen people whinging about the price of these, and the "Irish Water payin 4 deze"

I still don't understand why people think that we need a police force in vehicles capable of achieving Mach 1. We don't have a billion miles of motorway. Not every police interaction results in a chase.

Bio Mech

Infracted wrote: »

One of the stupidest things I've ever read.

I think its bang on actually.

TrailerBob

How many actual high speed pursuits are there on a weekly basis though? A few high performance units on the motorway patrols would definitely be useful. Other than that a high speed pursuit on Irish roads would be a very dangerous thing.

At least they don't have the equivalent of a Renault 4 like our local had back in the day

Toyotafanboi

sully2010 wrote: »

Why are all the new Garda cars estates now, are they cheaper, better at handling? I would have thought saloons were easier to handle at higher speeds.

what would make the saloon better handling?

IsaacWunder wrote: »

I think it's because they can get more kit in the back.

i would imagine so. we can argue it until the cows come home, but it's basic motoring knowledge that an estate has a larger, easier to access boot area than a similar saloon.

Terrontress wrote: »

There is a Ford Mondeo for every police role. Small engined, high performance, 4x4, 2x4, saloon, estate, diesel, petrol.

Keep a stock of parts, serviced centrally, training is easier.

That's what they need.

what makes the mondeo the pinnacle vehicle for law enforcement though? the basic mondeo new costs €5k more than an i30 touring, which makes a fair difference (almost €2 million) when you are buying 370 of them. that's probably saving equivalent to the wages budget of an average town sized garda station for a year. i know you probably get a deal when you buy 370 of them, bud i'd say the price gap remains firm. i know they are giving away the old shape mondeo now, but as good as the gards are, they don't have a crystal ball, so they wouldn't have known this when they signed a (3 year?) contract with hyundai.

i have no idea what engines the gardai went with but hyundai offer the 1.6td engine with 125bhp whereas the fatter mondeo only offers 115, which is worth noting for the "get there faster" crew.

rocky911

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

what would make the saloon better handling?



i would imagine so. we can argue it until the cows come home, but it's basic motoring knowledge that an estate has a larger, easier to access boot area than a similar saloon.



what makes the mondeo the pinnacle vehicle for law enforcement though? the basic mondeo new costs €5k more than an i30 touring, which makes a fair difference (almost €2 million) when you are buying 370 of them. that's probably saving equivalent to the wages budget of an average town sized garda station for a year. i know you probably get a deal when you buy 370 of them, bud i'd say the price gap remains firm. i know they are giving away the old shape mondeo now, but as good as the gards are, they don't have a crystal ball, so they wouldn't have known this when they signed a (3 year?) contract with hyundai.

i have no idea what engines the gardai went with but hyundai offer the 1.6td engine with 125bhp whereas the fatter mondeo only offers 115, which is worth noting for the "get there faster" crew.

The i40 has 1.7 cdti engines in them, estate and salon AFAIK and the i30 has the 1.6. To be honest the days off going to all calls with the bells and whistles on are gone for two reasons :

1. Lack of Official drivers which means those driving on "cheifs" which is a written permission from the Chief super of the division to allow regular members drive. They have no advanced training and actually sign an agreement to say that they wont use blues when responding.

2. If you pursue someone, you would want to have a good reason as upper management will nail you to the wall if anything happens the car, others or you so alot of lads see it as not worth it unless there is a genuine reason to do so.

So in theroy unless driver training standards change dishing out high performance cars to the regular units would be like having tits on a bull

H3llR4iser

The reality is, most chases are about keeping pressure on the runner until he/she does something silly and puts it into a wall - or other patrols can close in from ahead and set up roadblocks. It might sound odd, but it's actually the least dangerous approach.

Getting close to the chased vehicle is possibly a very silly idea - all it takes is from the fugitive to slam on the brakes: The patrol car smashes in the back of it, radiator wrecked. Engine blown in minutes, the fugitive escapes.

This is what happens when a Carabinieri Alfa 155 2.0Ts with 150hp (a few of which very likely "escaped" in years and years of abuse) chases a heavily modded, ~200 hp Passat that was smuggling weapons:

As a matter of fact, around 1:18, when they get really close to the VW, you can hear the driver clearly holding the throttle to allow the chased car to build up a bit of a gap. From the beginning, you can hear the other officer saying "just keep up, he's gonna crash" ("tanto si schianta"), while he's calling for roadblocks on the radio.

And indeed it's exactly what happened - the Passat crashed.