2006 Subaru Impreza WRX
Posted on 03/31/2006 1:22:13 PM PST by Cagey
French Gendarmerie Nationale to use Subaru Impreza WRXs for chase vehicles. French cars were too slow.
PARIS (Reuters) - The next time a criminal in a getaway car in France looks in the rear window the chances are that the vehicle in pursuit will be a blue French police Subaru.
The Japanese car brand, part of Fuji Heavy Industries, has sped past French rivals to win a key contract for fast intervention cars for the highway police.
"We have a contract to supply 63 cars to the Gendarmerie Nationale for patrols on the roads," Subaru spokesman Gilles Varmoux said on Thursday. "There was a tender for four-door, four-wheel drive cars that could go faster than 240 km per hour (149 miles per hour) and had a reasonable price," he added.
The Subaru Impreza WRX cars will replace Peugeot's 306 S16 and the Renault Megane Coupe.
The police forces are among the most faithful clients of the local car makers, but this time the French offerings were just too slow.
"These new vehicles will allow the national police to fight the most serious and most dangerous road offences," the Gendarmerie Nationale, part of the defence ministry, said on its Website.
It added that 156 agents would be trained to drive the cars on the Bugatti racing circuit of Le Mans in west France.
The cars are for the rapid intervention brigade (BRI) which previously had vehicles that could not go faster than 190 km per hour, or about 118 miles per hour.
The BRI, spread over the country at 55 stations, will intervene only in case of a crime or serious offence when a driver has to be stopped immediately.
In 2005 there were 53,000 instances of people on the run in cars or refusing to stop at the police's request.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
2006 Subaru Impreza WRX
Say, what about a nice Porsche....
Ahhhhh, Italiano!
yeah, if they catch the criminal, the criminal gets to torch the cop car.
They are alot faster in reverse.
And ze case is sol-ved.
The last person I knew in the US who bought a Peugeot abandoned it on the side of the road before it was six months old. He (along with the dealer) couldn't keep it running and the dealer told him not to come back. Seems to have been a common story. Other mechanics wouldn't work on it.
A friend has a WRX-STI and I was more than impressed when he just about put me through the passenger seat in first gear. A very quick car.
Wow. What's with the gold anodized rims. Pimp my Ride for Cops.
I hope they are fire proof. I hear that the French "youth" may
be protesting again...
I love my old SVX but they're too heavy to race. Sigh!
What was the make of that really ugly police car in the Pink Panther movies?
Excelsior, You Fathead!
That's why they run them in the Finnish rally every year. They're so useless.
Perhaps a driving lesson or two. Snow is different. Throttle is not binary.
Few cars achieved as much fame in the 60's as Peter Sellers wicker painted Mini Cooper used in the Pink Panther film "A Shot in the Dark". Sellers commissioned this car from the Radford company in 1964, specifying every conceivable extra and built to a standard usually reserved for Rolls Royce motor cars. Sellers used the car as his personal transport for a number of years then he sent it to film director Blake Edwards as a gift. The museum was please to acquire this most famous mini for its collection in 1994.
It's so they can get the cars away from restive mobs of Muzzie youts, faster than they can run.
'nee-nah-nee-nah-nee-nah'
Those Fiats have been catching on fire a lot lately!
LOL!
Once a few years back I was cruising along a boulevard around here and this woman came past me in a station wagon WFO! Then she let it totally off. Then she hit WFO. Then off. Then WFO. Then off. All the way thru traffic.
I just shook my head and wondered who the heck taught her how to drive.
OMG.......this is tooo much. This in a country that has stricken any and all non french words from it's lexicon.
Didn't take long before he banged it up some more and we had to junk it.
That would be 1979. I bought an Olds Cutlass with a diesel engine and it was great not having to wait in lines or messing around with odd/even gas days.
There was a downside. Because they were in high demand I paid a thousand dollars over sticker premium. When I traded it it, they deducted fifteen hundred dollars because no one wanted diesels anymore.
Oh yes, it left a trail of black smoke and was noisy too. No more diesels for me, thank you.
French cops getting Subarus? I predict an increase in lesbians applying to be French cops.
Hahahahaha! My daughter calls them "Lesbarus".
I used to have a 1967 Dodge Coronet 440 that ate a couple Crown Vics back in the day. Every now and then, a cop would offer to race...who was I to refuse directions from a police officer?
Dude, you had probably the worst attempt at a diesel car in existence to this day. The new ones like they have all over Europe are clean burning turbodiesels that have plenty of power and don't even make that clickey-clack sound like those old boats GM produced.
The American diesel pickups are pretty cool, too. Although once I had to test drive a diesel Excursion and it was so noisy going down the road it was ridiculous. Who'd want a luxury SUV that makes all that racket? Oh well it wasn't me who wasted 60K on the thing. /rambling mode off
We usually have our cars for at least ten years.
I remember when our esteemed Governor Whitman wanted all cars over ten years old OFF the roads. She was such a lemon of a governor.
Just last year our 13 yr. old Dodge Ram Charger died. We replaced it with a Subaru Forrester. It's a great little car but I miss my monster SUV!
Ever seen those, BTW? The're dang near slicks. Great on pavement although I have seen the STI's smoke all four. Why they insist on running those things in the snow I haven't a clue but my neighbor's sure grateful. He runs the towing service.
Current Hemi Charger in police service: front wheel drive? I would assume that the transaxle is rather stout. I have heard complaints from police departments regarding front wheel drive in pursuit service (at least regarding the Ford Taurus). Biggest complaint next to transxle was motor mounts.
Just thought I'd highlight that little gem in case any progressives are reading.
Keep in mind also that the 1979 Olds Cutlass diesel was really what I call a bastard diesel. A very poor modification of the existing V-8 engine. The design of the modification never fully took into account the increased compression. Cylinder heads, engine block bolts were the most frequent points of failure, since these components were little changed from the gasoline engine design, if at all. One of General Motors worse moves.
The thing was a tank, and was a great car with the only draw back being that we had to get gas at the truck stops, since no station in town stocked diesel. Although, from what I remember, the only advantage with the turbo was in annoying tailgaiters. All he'd have to do was hit the gas, and this massive black cloud would jet out as the car sped forward. The thing smelled like a city bus. Ah... memories.
Ahhh, Das ist deutsche.
no, the charger is rear wheel drive along with it's cousins the magnum and 300c. Thats why the police were initially interested.
I didn't realize most of the French police were gay,
I take it a Peugeot can't outright a crowd of Muslims with matches.
The police need a vehicle that can outrun the young Muzzies in the burbs around Paris. Most of the Renaults were torched in the unrest several months ago...hundreds of dollars worth of damage.
ROFL we we!!
LOL!! Sounds like your dad and me would get along great.
Let's go eat sushi and not pay. :-)
Sometime in the mid eighties Peugeot started selling junk. They finally had to drop out of the US market.
A neighbor had three olds "diesels" in succession but had nothing but engine and transmission problems. There were several businesses here which specialized in converting the olds diesels to gas. As a friend of mine opined "Oldsmobile thought they made a diesel."
Mama mia! Must be in Beverly Hills! ;-)
We love cars tho. Owned an Alpha Romeo Spider Veloce.....lived in the shop. Drove us crazy until we finally traded it in.
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