London police evaluate diesel Mitsubishi Lancer
Here in the good ol' U.S. of A., police cars are usually the largest vehicles available, with full frames and big V8 engines. It seems that something smaller and more economical will do for London's Metropolitan Police. According to their tests, the newest Lancer with the 2.0 liter DI-D diesel engine would perform admirably for police duty, earning a "Class 1 Pass for performance, brake pad wear, handling and localised component durability," according to the report.
While we recognize that American roads are quite different from those in the U.K., we also believe that a more modern vehicle could serve our police just as well as their standard-fare Crown Vic. It's worked out pretty well for taxi drivers so far.
[Source: Mitsubishi]
NEW MITSUBISHI LANCER'S 'CLASS 1' METROPOLITAN POLICE PERFORMANCE, BRAKE AND HANDLING TEST
- London's Metropolitan Police put the new Mitsubishi Lancer 2.0 DI-D GS4 through it's paces
- Lancer achieves a Class 1 Pass for performance, brake pad wear, handling and localised component durability
The new Mitsubishi Lancer was recently rigorously put through its paces by some of the Metropolitan Police's top test drivers at the Millbrook Proving Grounds, Bedfordshire as it was evaluated for potential police use on the UK's streets.
The Metropolitan Police, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer 2.0 litre DI-D GS4, carried out a number of performance, handling and brake tests in order to evaluate the suitability of the vehicle.
On a damp and overcast day, the Metropolitan Police pushed the Mitsubishi Lancer to the limits, with a full tank of fuel and loaded to maximum gross vehicle weight.
Speed & Acceleration Tests
Speed tests found the Lancer's 0 to 30 mph acceleration time to be 4.45 seconds, going on to achieve an impressive terminal speed of 125.3 mph. The Lancer was able to achieve and maintain this speed in a highly stable condition, even at maximum gross vehicle weight.
Handling Tests
On the handling track, the Lancer was driven to speeds where the expert driver felt the vehicle was at its handling limits.
Compared with the previous Mitsubishi Lancer, the new Lancer was found to be "vastly improved", giving the driver "a firm ride from the low profile tires fitted as standard to the GS4 model range". Steering was "light and responsive" commented the driver, whilst braking on and through a bend caused little effect to the overall handling performance of the car.
Brake Tests
Finally, the new Lancer successfully completed the 50-stop brake test, where fifty 0.5G stops are made as quickly as possible from 50 mph to 0 mph in neutral.
The Lancer completed this incredibly tough test in just 13 minutes, 59 seconds, reaching a maximum brake disc temperature of 746 Celsius. This test resulted in the Lancer achieving a Metropolitan Police Service, Class 1 Pass for brake pad wear and localised component durability.
An Impressive Conclusion
Overall, the new Lancer gave an improvement in internal space for both driver and passengers, front and rear, without compromising the external dimensions of the vehicle. The dash board layout was described as "ergonomically designed, allowing good sighting of various types of police equipment" and the boot area was found to be "generous, allowing space for the fitment of additional equipment used by the police force".
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1985 Gripen 10:31PM (3/19/2008)
New cop car with turbodiesel V6 is 40% more fuel efficient than the normally-aspirated V8 Crown Victoria it hopes to displace:
http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/magazine/16-03/pl_motor
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Ray 12:38PM (3/20/2008)
Yikes, there really ARE a lot of blogs out there that copy ABG posts verbatim, such as this one...
http://auto.blogforward.com/other/6867/london-police-evaluate-diesel-mitsubishi-lancer.html
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dygituljunky 2:31AM (3/21/2008)
For most US departments, the Holden Commodore family of vehicles would make fine beasts-of-burden.
The Commodore would be ideal for urban departments that don't need to carry a ton in the trunk and don't feel the need to provide a ton of room for the cage.
The Commodore SportWagon would provide an excellent vehicle for both standard patrol units and some specialized units such as K9, Highway Patrol, supervisors, detectives/CSI, and other units that might require slightly more cargo room than the sedan.
The Holden Ute would provide a nice basis for a multitude of special duty functions requiring mostly cargo room: traffic control units, CSI units, K9 units, paddy-wagons (with a paddy-wagon camper shell in the bed).
The Holden Stateman would provide an excellent vehicle for units requiring decent trunk space and ample rear seat room such as standard patrol for taller-than-usual officers, Highway Patrol and rural county units, supervisors, departmental executives required to transport VIPs, detectives, and etcetera.
If I were designing a cop-car family from the ground up, it would be much like the Holden Commodore family in terms of available models and handling. One of the available powertrains would be either a series hybrid (a generator charges batteries which supplies electricity to an electric motor which spins the wheels; no gas is used to spin the wheels through direct mechanical links) or a range-extended electric vehicle (REEV) (a series hybrid with a larger battery pack for about 40 miles of electric-only travel plus a generator under the hood to extend the range).
I would include the series hybrid or (REEV) for torquier acceleration, smoother and more even acceleration curves, more efficient use of required gasoline, easier maintenance, and etc. Gasoline is a huge part of police fleet budgets.
Bill
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