Issues with Police BMWs

[st13phil]

Sadly, from my time consulting with OEMs, it choice of car for forces is normally determined by the discount that manufacturers will give. They'll have a set of requirements that they put out to tender, looks like BMW like buying in the business.

Hole in one

 

[Deleted member 159894]

Don't do it. I had a 14 plate 3lt diseasle loaner for a week and it was a hateful piece of ****

The 40i, which indicates petrol, are sublime.

 

[AMGeed]

The 40i, which indicates petrol, are sublime.

The engine wasn't the problem. Just didn't enjoy the whole X5 package.

 

[sgregory124]

It may seem unbelievable to some (judging by comments above), but the police in France seem to use Peugeot products quite successfully for motorway patrols. Similarly, the Italians use Lancia (Fiat) and the Spanish use SEAT.

I accept that the UK is unique in that company in that we have only Jaguar as a producer of large, fast, cars and they are a “premium brand” but lots of other countries seem to manage quite well using more mundane products. I wonder why we (think we) can’t?

I'd argue that the French police simply don't need fast traffic cars for pursuits. Why would they? In the event they are called on to chase some miscreant on the motorway, I imagine they just send a few local beat cars to the local toll exit points and wait. Or, if its a regular 'speeder', they simply time people between toll plazas and wait until they're stopped at the barrier to pay.

Very efficient it is too. I saw it coming back from Le Mans a few years ago, two TVR's and an F40 screwing it down North of Rouen, the police simply throttled traffic flow at the next toll plaza and sat the other side of it, fining them and anyone else, with toll tickets where the times were impossibly short between barriers.

In the UK, our infrastructure just doesn't support that kind of tactic (for obvious reasons) - so we'll always need something with a bit of get-up and go.

 

[st13phil]

In the UK, our infrastructure just doesn't support that kind of tactic (for obvious reasons) - so we'll always need something with a bit of get-up and go.

I believe that radio waves travel at the same speed in the UK as they do in France (and Italy, Spain, etc.).

 

[sgregory124]

I believe that radio waves travel at the same speed in the UK as they do in France (and Italy, Spain, etc.).

Yeah.....but radio will only make a difference if the police actually have the physical resources to put on a pursuit in the first place.

Which they don't, so your point is moot really.

 

[Deleted member 159894]

I believe that radio waves travel at the same speed in the UK as they do in France (and Italy, Spain, etc.).

I thought that they were an hour ahead, or behind

 

[SpikyMikey]

I thought that they were an hour ahead, or behind

 

[Deleted member 159894]

I'd argue that the French police simply don't need fast traffic cars for pursuits. Why would they? In the event they are called on to chase some miscreant on the motorway, I imagine they just send a few local beat cars to the local toll exit points and wait. Or, if its a regular 'speeder', they simply time people between toll plazas and wait until they're stopped at the barrier to pay.

Very efficient it is too. I saw it coming back from Le Mans a few years ago, two TVR's and an F40 screwing it down North of Rouen, the police simply throttled traffic flow at the next toll plaza and sat the other side of it, fining them and anyone else, with toll tickets where the times were impossibly short between barriers.

In the UK, our infrastructure just doesn't support that kind of tactic (for obvious reasons) - so we'll always need something with a bit of get-up and go.

I've seen cars pulled at the tolls as well but have been told that the timing between them is a myth.

I guess that the police could record the speed from a bridge or something and radio ahead to their colleagues at the tolls to pull them when the reach there. Pretty clever really, saving all the wasted fuel of a high speed chase.

I saw a fella in a Ferrari get pulled he was puce with anger, shouting a the copper, I'd bet the car was confiscated that day.

 

[st13phil]

I've seen cars pulled at the tolls as well but have been told that the timing between them is a myth.

It is.

I guess that the police could record the speed from a bridge or something and radio ahead to their colleagues at the tolls to pull them when the reach there. Pretty clever really, saving all the wasted fuel of a high speed chase.

That's exactly what they do.

They tend now to hide behind fixed features at the roadside (signage, trees, etc.) with Lidar guns, but they used to use remote radar sensors (they looked like a bean can mounted on a low tripod, around 2ft off the ground) and a radio.

 

[Tonygw]

It may seem unbelievable to some (judging by comments above), but the police in France seem to use Peugeot products quite successfully for motorway patrols. Similarly, the Italians use Lancia (Fiat) and the Spanish use SEAT.

I accept that the UK is unique in that company in that we have only Jaguar as a producer of large, fast, cars and they are a “premium brand” but lots of other countries seem to manage quite well using more mundane products. I wonder why we (think we) can’t?

The Reason the French use their own brands is simple, they have two production lines in every French car plant. One for the French where every component is lovingly assembled with great care and attention to detail.

One for the Uk where they chuck the left over crap together for us English pig dogs... Hence the cars we get are a bit .. say no more..

 

[ChipChop]

It may seem unbelievable to some (judging by comments above), but the police in France seem to use Peugeot products quite successfully for motorway patrols. Similarly, the Italians use Lancia (Fiat) and the Spanish use SEAT.

I accept that the UK is unique in that company in that we have only Jaguar as a producer of large, fast, cars and they are a “premium brand” but lots of other countries seem to manage quite well using more mundane products. I wonder why we (think we) can’t?

The French cars are rubbish notion is a bit of a myth imho. French cars are generally tough as old boots because they are designed to be used by the French domestic market where people buy cars with their own money, keep them for a long time and treat them as functional workhorses.

Arguably the French have also made some of the most interesting cars made such as the DS, CX, GS, XM, C6 etc etc. The list is a long one. Germany? The Beetle and that is about it.

 

[sgregory124]

The French cars are rubbish notion is a bit of a myth imho. French cars are generally tough as old boots because they are designed to be used by the French domestic market where people buy cars with their own money, keep them for a long time and treat them as functional workhorses.

Arguably the French have also made some of the most interesting cars made such as the DS, CX, GS, XM, C6 etc etc. The list is a long one. Germany? The Beetle and that is about it.

No they really are utterly terrible, just own one and experience the horror for yourself.

The French just have lower expectations of build quality and reliability than the English. Perfect example, brand new 508 estate owned by a friend of mine a few years back, drive it over a speed hump - all the electrics go off for a few seconds - fonctionnalité intéressante non?

 

[ChipChop]

No they really are utterly terrible, just own one and experience the horror for yourself.

The French just have lower expectations of build quality and reliability than the English. Perfect example, brand new 508 estate owned by a friend of mine a few years back, drive it over a speed hump - all the electrics go off for a few seconds - fonctionnalité intéressante non?

All modern cars are terrible. The difference is a French car in France can be fixed easily at any local garage because all they deal with is there own domestic brands.

For example apparently modern Peugeots will turn off the electric power steering pump when they sense a difference in tyre pressures on that axle. Solution fix the puncture or pump up the tyres to the same pressure.

 

[sgregory124]

All modern cars are terrible. The difference is a French car in France can be fixed easily at any local garage because all they deal with is there own domestic brands.

For example apparently modern Peugeots will turn off the electric power steering pump when they sense a difference in tyre pressures on that axle. Solution fix the puncture or pump up the tyres to the same pressure.

I don't buy into generalisations and that's a whopper. My current 'modern' car isn't terrible - my previous 'modern' cars weren't terrible? Its no coincidence that my last really awful car I owned was a Peugeot.....

 

[st13phil]

No they really are utterly terrible, just own one and experience the horror for yourself.

All joking aside, some are. But not all.

An old friend of mine used to be responsible for Renault retail over the south of England. As he said, Renault were great at making functional, bread-and-butter, 2-box cars. The ones that gave trouble were the "luxury" versions of their bigger cars and even then it was a minority, not a majority. He used to say that if you had a good one you fell in love with it; if you had a bad one, the only solution was to set fire to it.

 

[st13phil]

One for the Uk where they chuck the left over crap together for us English pig dogs...

Clarkson once commented, "Why would I want to buy a car assembled in a factory with a dirt floor, by disinterested Algerians?"

 

[ChipChop]

I don't buy into generalisations and that's a whopper. My current 'modern' car isn't terrible - my previous 'modern' cars weren't terrible? Its no coincidence that my last really awful car I owned was a Peugeot.....

Fair comment. The worst car i ever owned was a VW polo 1.6, the one with the boot. Made by Seat in Spain badged a VW. Garbage. P/ex'd quickly for a nearly new Subaru Forester which was perfect for over 4 years. No issues bar terrible mpg (petrol turbo).

My dad always had Citroens and never had any issues at all and they were all hydropneumatic suspension ones.

 

[DaveE320CDI]

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[Doodle]

While the Italians definitely like to buy local, when it comes to motorway patrols the Polizia Stradale are far more likely to be found in something German or Swedish. Most of the stuff I would see around the Parma and Bologna area would be either A4s, 3 series or V50 T5s. The warm versions of the Guilia (280hp 2.0 turbo) have started to appear in the recent years also

But never a Fiat or Lancia - that's for the town bobby (Polizia Locale). The Carabinieri seemed favour an Alfa Guilietta because they have to look fabulous