The world’s coolest police cars

Slide of Imagine how much more interesting it would be if the roads were patrolled by Porsche 911s, or Audi R8s, or Honda NSXs? Or a sports car like the Alpine A110, pictured, which recently went into service in France? Well, the police in one part of the world or other have used all these cars, and a whole lot more, so take a look at these: Slide of 60: BMW i3 (USA) Compact, agile and very eco, the BMW i3 has been adopted by numerous police forces around the globe for panda car work in urban environments. This is one of 100 electric i3s ordered by the Los Angeles Police Department, for urban patrols, at a cost of $2.9 million. While the deal has done much for LA’s green credentials, the sand in the ointment is that Los Angeles is a large, sprawling conurbation, as you’d have thought someone might have noticed. It seems officers have found the 80-100 mile single-charge range a challenge, and so the i3s are not used as much as the department’s more conventional vehicles. Slide of 59: Nissan Fairlady Z Nismo (Japan) The Fairlady Z is better known as the 370Z in most places outside Japan, and was the car that marked the company’s revival as maker of interesting cars after a near-death experience in the late 1990s. But this particular model is more notable still, as it’s the tuned up Nismo version. A significant number of them were placed into the service of the Tochigi Prefecture police force in central Japan in 2008. This Nismo version not only boosted the 330BHP 3.7-liter V6 up to 350BHP, but added delectable goodies including a sharper chassis, uprated suspension, a new traction control system, a NISMO aerodynamics package, and bigger Brembo brakes. Slide of 58: Dodge Coronet Police Car (USA) Dodge’s first official police package was offered on the Coronet from 1956. The 1959 model, shown here, came with a 314 HP Hemi V8, push-button TorqueFlite automatic transmission and the distinctive, be-finned ‘Forward Look’ styling pioneered by its designer Virgil Exner. “They go from standstill to highest pursuit speeds in a flash,” crowed an advertisement, “handle, corner and stop like no other car you’ve ever seen or driven.” The Coronet was one of many contemporary police models to feature in the popular TV series Highway Patrol. Slide of 57: Hummer H2 (USA) A Texan sheriff didn’t want to have to drive a regular Hummer H2; he wanted something a whole lot meaner. So he commissioned German tuning company Geiger to uprate things by supercharging the 7.0-liter V8 to produce 710 HP and 667 lb-ft of torque – and to fit 28-inch wheels to make sure the car was as uncomfortable as it was fast. Slide of 56: BMW 501 (Germany) Only Germany’s most highly trained traffic cops got to drive one of these ‘Baroque Angels’, with its 2.6-liter V8 (later a 3.2-liter V8). BMW did all of the work in-house, building each car specifically for Polizei use. Slide of 55: Prisoner barge (Italy) OK, OK, we know it’s not a car. But we’re talking about Venice here, where police cars aren’t much use. This barge is used to cart the local police’s prisoners around. Slide of 54: Aurus Senat Guard sedan (Russia) Back in Soviet times Russian leaders rolled around in enormous ZIL limousines. Unfortunately ZIL made its last car back in 2012, and Russia’s present leader Vladimir Putin in recent years had to face the ignominy of travelling around in a Mercedes-Benz made in Germany, a geopolitical rival. Fortunately Moscow-based NAMI has come to the rescue with its new Senat limousine, which put in a first appearance at Mr Putin’s inuguration ceremony in 2018. But it has a short wheelbase sedan version, which serves to carry his police presidential bodyguards. Mr Putin can’t quite escape the Germans – both versions are powered by a 4.4-liter engine adapted from a Porsche V8. Slide of 53: Rover P6 3500S (Britain) Rover offered 2.0- and 2.2-liter four-cylinder P6s, but it was the 3.5-liter V8, especially in 3500 S manual form, that was the perfect traffic car with its effortless highway performance. It was normally painted white, but the odd Zircon Blue car featured. What’s interesting about this particular car? We drove it a few years ago and discovered that it’s armour plated, weighs 2200kg (4400 lb), and between 1973 and 1987 ferried around VIPs including members of the British royal family and then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Much of the trunk was taken up with high-powered radio equipment. Slide of 52: Lamborghini Huracán (Italy) The Italian traffic police were well known for their two Lamborghini Gallardos, one of which was wrecked in a high-speed pursuit. Undeterred by this small setback, the Carabinieri has replaced the remaining Gallardo with a Huracán, used for carrying urgent human organ donations in a refrigerated compartment in the nose. Slide of 51: Dodge Charger (Canada) While North Amer