Thankfully I have only ever admired a police car from the outside and for my young driver's insurance sake; I hope to keep it that way! However there is something about the police car that instantly turns my head. Perhaps it is some underlying guilt from having done 35mph in a 30mph zone or maybe it's because police cars have suddenly got a little bit snazzy!
The Jaguar XF has been unveiled as the latest in a long line of police super cars to go on patrol across the country. Capable of 0-60mph in less than 6 seconds, boy racers in souped up hatchbacks will be no match for this beast of a car. Any driver could be forgiven for feeling a little bit intimidated with one of these coming up behind them with its lights flashing and sirens blaring.
With retail prices from £33,900, the Jaguar doesn't
come cheap and one does wonder for a moment if that money
would have been better spent elsewhere. However having a super
car like the Jag out on the prowl will be deterrent enough
for some road offenders and it will certainly have no troubles
keeping up with speeders or those hoping to evade the police.
Although police officials are saying they chose the Jag for its superior fuel economy and low CO2 emissions, ultimately it is because it looks cool and even cooler covered in all the police paraphernalia.
The big cat is only perhaps surpassed in police car looks by the Italian police's Lamborghini Gallardo which is capable of an amazing 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. The lucky Italian cops who drive the Lambo on the Salerno-Reggio Calabria highway outside Rome can reach top speeds of 193mph flat out with its 5.0-litre V10 engine. Also doubling up as a super-fast response car, the car has life saving medical equipment on board such as a defibrillator to revive car crash victims, and is used as a high-speed shuttle to transport organs between hospitals.
Perhaps jealous of their Italian counterparts, the Met police recently had a Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 on display at a road show covered in full police livery and the Met. police sticker on the side. However, disappointingly (or perhaps reassuringly for the tax payer) the £180,000 Lambo was for display purposes only. In the eight miles the super car was driven for, it was stopped twice by two curious bobbies and the road show had to brcut short for fear of the spectacle causing traffic collisions.
So for now at least, the British police will have to be content with their Jaguars and the Subaru Impreza used by the Essex police. I certainly will be watching my driving with such high performance police cars on the loose, much to the relief of my young driver's insurance company.