Merc police cars - why not ?
Discussion
BMW probably offer a better deal than Mercedes.
I do know that BMW also offer fantastic driver training and facilities for their armoured cars and they are all built on the production line as opposed to a normal car being built and then dismantled to be made armoured. A good friend of mine used to work in the Met as a protection officer and had been over to Germany many times to test and evaluate BMW's and to see the facilities.
I do know that BMW also offer fantastic driver training and facilities for their armoured cars and they are all built on the production line as opposed to a normal car being built and then dismantled to be made armoured. A good friend of mine used to work in the Met as a protection officer and had been over to Germany many times to test and evaluate BMW's and to see the facilities.
An unmarked Mercedes E-class... With a 5.5l V8!
But apart from the other poster's picture above I can't recall ever seeing a marked Mercedes police car in the UK...
But apart from the other poster's picture above I can't recall ever seeing a marked Mercedes police car in the UK...
Parts prices and servicing costs probably. Not that BMW is cheap, but cheaper than MB.
I don't know why they stopped with Volvo, well, ok the V60 was quite small, but the current offerings are good. Maybe 'cos they're all 4cyls they're not fast enough!
Keeping with British I'd like to see Jags and Land Rovers. Just don't mention reliability.
I don't know why they stopped with Volvo, well, ok the V60 was quite small, but the current offerings are good. Maybe 'cos they're all 4cyls they're not fast enough!
Keeping with British I'd like to see Jags and Land Rovers. Just don't mention reliability.
Kierkegaard said:
Keeping with British I'd like to see Jags and Land Rovers. Just don't mention reliability.
My mate, the ex Met protection officer who I've mentioned a few posts up told me that the armoured Jags and Range Rovers had awful reliability; they weren't armoured on the production line like the BMW's are, they are built then dismantled, armoured then re built. 
When I worked at a Merc dealer in the early 00s we had a large contract with Lancashire police and supplied them M-Class, unmarked C Class and Sprinters. SImple fact is other manufacturers came in and offered a better deal, not just on the cars but the service packages that go with them.
alabbasi said:
More than likely financial and probably has to to do with the service contract.
They did - about 15 years ago the W203 was the big bobby car of choice up here. They replaced them with E60 5 series which in turn has been replaced by X5's, F10's and 2012 onwards BMW 3 series. Abroad you see plenty of Merc police cars in mainland Europe.
Anecdotally I heard BMW gave dibble a much better deal than Mercedes and that was that.
Edited by st4 on Thursday 7th March 15:15
Edited by st4 on Thursday 7th March 15:15
Edited by st4 on Thursday 7th March 15:16
yellowbentines said:
Ive always wondered why you never see any Lexus police cars - I mean, they're the most reliable, best looking, well built cars on the planet.
Political reasons - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-ca...The real reason for "why not x" will always be money. Some manufacturers offer massive discounts, and some very little. And servicing, warranties and conversion costs need to be taken into account - none of which are really in the public domain, which leads to people moaning that they are using *insert-premium-brand-here* when they don't think they should.
st4 said:
alabbasi said:
More than likely financial and probably has to to do with the service contract.
They did - about 15 years ago the W203 was the big bobby car of choice up here. They replaced them with E60 5 series which in turn has been replaced by X5's, F10's and 2012 onwards BMW 3 series. Abroad you see plenty of Merc police cars in mainland Europe.
Anecdotally I heard BMW gave dibble a much better deal than Mercedes and that was that.
1. BMW were very aggressive with their pricing. They seemed to have a never ending source of run-out E39 cars and could supply a 530d for less than we could supply a C270CDi.
2. MB had only entered the 'bluelight' market a few years earlier and their main offering was the W203 and S203 C-Class. However, pre-facelift models suffered numerous problems (especially electrical) which caused poor reliability and had made them unpopular with buyers.
Jakg said:
Ahh the humberside Lexus IS-f I oftern saw it at Goole McDonald’s, interesting bit about a lot of hunberside fleet being protons.My friend was a humberside copper and said the 1.6 (I think ) petrol engine proton was once up to speed surprisingly good at keeping momentum across the rural back roads this way out.
The astras they had on the other hand big lumps that wondered, so much so Vauxhall’s alloys got purchased and tyres upgraded to try and resolve !
Several of the high-spec police cars have moved away from the premium market as bases and now use Skoda's (armoured Superbs especially). Simply because of the size and parts bin availability.
Maybe in the past, but certainly not any more. All JLR armoured products are built in the production line.
HTP99 said:
Kierkegaard said:
Keeping with British I'd like to see Jags and Land Rovers. Just don't mention reliability.
My mate, the ex Met protection officer who I've mentioned a few posts up told me that the armoured Jags and Range Rovers had awful reliability; they weren't armoured on the production line like the BMW's are, they are built then dismantled, armoured then re built. Gassing Station | Mercedes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff