When I was a kid, I always looked forward to a visit from my German relatives. It’s not just that they were gregarious people, it’s also that they would bring gifts. In particular, they’d bring toys that depicted European police cars and chocolate. The chocolate didn’t last long, but I cherished the police cars.
In particular, I remember an E31 850 CSi coupe done up in Polezei green. Did the Bundespolizei ever actually use an E31 as a police car? Probably not, though they did employ various BMWs, including a lot of E39s and E39 wagons.
Police departments sometimes do get one-off police cars for ceremonial duty or, even, some larger batches for highway patrol work. My all-time favorite civil service car is almost certainly the SSP Fox Body Mustang LX in Texas Department of Public Safety livery. A few of those existed when I was a kid and I’d just about snap my neck off turning to get a look at one. I’m not sure the eight-year-old version of me had a great sense that the Czech brand Škoda existed, but I’m sure I’d have loved those wagons then as well.
When I was last in Prague, I managed to get an Octavia vRS sedan out of Škoda for a road trip around Central and Eastern Europe. That car, which was basically a Golf GTI/Jetta GLI under the skin, was everything I’d hoped it would be. Even better, the Czech Republic was unsurprisingly full of Škoda police cars and wagons.
I mention all of this because Škoda cars and SUVs are quite popular in Britain for use by the civil service. The latest police vehicle is the upgraded Octavia vRS (hatch) and vRS Estate (wagon). Both the hatchback vRS and the wagon version have the sharp revised front-end on the civilian version.
Underhood, power has been boosted to 265 metric horsepower from the Volkswagen-sourced 2.0-liter inline-four. These are front-wheel-drive models and power is put down via a seven-speed DSG gearbox. The biggest upgrade here might be the Vorderachsquersperre differential, or VAQ. This is an electrohydraulic diff, as Pistonheads explains:
It acts like an electronically controlled locking differential but is actually entirely independent of the diff cage and, rather, distributes torque across the front axle using a Haldex style electronically controlled clutch system
That sounds way better than the e-diff found on the outgoing version of this car. In addition to the power boost and trick differential, the car sits 15 mm lower than a regular Octavia. This specific model is good for a 0-62 mph run in 6.5 seconds (or 6.4 seconds with the hatch). Given what most Brits drive, that should be plenty fast enough for the bobbies.
Depending on how they’re outfitted, the wagons get a sweet cargo organizer for the rear:
The Metropolitan Police Force isn’t the only user of Škoda wagons. The Italians love them:
The units used by the Polizia here are the older version.
Here’s what a Czech highway patrol wagon looks like, in case you’re blasting down the E55 to Tabor.
The Lithuanian police also use Škoda wagons, though this is the larger Superb.
If you’re ever in Armenia, Škoda is quite popular there as well.
I was once traveling to France with a ton of film gear and we had to get a passport for it (called a carnet) so we wouldn’t get hit with any taxes. My buddy’s cameras, lenses, lights, and everything else arrived on our flight. What didn’t make his connection was a small collapsible cart he used to move it all. We went to French customs, better known as the Douane, and my friend tried to explain he was missing an item listed on the carnet. The customs officer was at first concerned, but when we finally explained what it was, he just laughed and asked us to pretend like we didn’t say that and just leave as fast as possible.
Škoda has been doing this almost since the beginning. Check out this Felicia Combi LX from 1996. The Policie used more than 5,500 of these wagons for police duty.
Do you want one more? Of course you do. Czech out this police wagon from New Zealand:
If you have to get arrested, and I’m not suggesting you’d want to, but if you have to get arrested in Europe I’d hold out for a Škoda estate. It’s gotta be way better than being shoved in the back of a Vauxhall.
As a Wagons Ho! bro, I appreciated this. Thanks.
I would never think i would say that but this Skoda is the best-looking….BMW wagon I have seen in a while
It makes perfect sense that Skoda has replaced Volvo as the wagon of choice for police these days. I loved the old Volvo 850 wagon, and if I can ever find a latest generation V90 in the US (the regular V90 was available by special order in the US for a few years) I’d have one, but I feel like if VW ever gets their reliability in order, launching Skoda in the US to go after the sort of folks who used to buy Volvos would be a good way to get to folks who are wary of VW.
This post was a real bobby dazzler. Thanks Matt.
Can someone explain why Montgomery County Texas police cruisers are emblazoned with “In God We Trust”?
What if I believe in Toth?
They neglected to include the second half: “All others must pay cash.”
On the subject of Armenian police cars, the most interesting has to be the ICKO Samand that I saw while visiting. First time in my life I’ve been stumped by a car only to find out it was Iranian.
https://imgur.com/a/XDQjmRW
“Škoda has been doing this almost since the beginning. Check out this Felicia Combi LX from 1996.”
1996, that’s definitely only a few years after the beginning, in 1925.
Research is difficult, mate xD
I know the piece is about Euro police cars, but my district station in Singapore had a fifteen year old Impreza (1.5 on 14 inch wheels), two Corollas – maybe a couple of gen old – and some strange Daewoo/Chevy thing. There isn’t much call for high-speed car chases in such a compliant country.
I grew up in a country that had Alfa wagons, and I’m used to them. But when I was in Italy, what really caught my eye were the 5-series carabinieri wagons. I often catch myself dreaming driving one of them down i-90, much to everyone’s surprise.
In Germany, the police departments often order the vehicles that are manufactured in their states. Hessen: Opel Insignia wagons; Baden-Württemberg: Mercedes-Benz; Bavaria: mostly BMW 3-Series Touring and some Audi; etc.
Berlin had lot of Opel Corsa (as the leftist city is very seriously strapped for cash).
Bundespolizei (federal police) used to have Porsche 911 in its fleet for catching the bandits on the Autobahnen.
Perfect timing I was shopping superb 206 wagons earlier today.
I’ve been to London a couple of times from the States and between the first trip and the second, the police went from the classic two-tone siren to something I can hear in any city in the US, and it made me unreasonably sad. “Blues and twos” was synonymous with “Code 3” here. And if memory serves, London used 3-series wagons, at least for some purposes. I remember Helen Mirren drove a nice Saab as DCI Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect.
The Alfa sedans the Carabinieri used in Italy were pretty cool too. They had a distinctive “siren” as well… a set of syncopated two-tone air horns. I think only ambulances there use them now.
The police and ambulances where I live have electronic sirens and it amuses me to hear when they use the two-tone mode occasionally. While I hope the best for whatever or whoever they are rushing to
As I understand it, the two-tone European siren originally was often just a variation on the then-common European two-tone electrically-driven air horns that were fairly popular. The siren function used mechanical or solenoid-operated valve which cycled each horn individually — but with the right plumbing, they could be the same horns that sounded together when the regular horn button was pressed. The sound was later replicated in transistorized electronic units to various degrees. Eventually, it seems globally-standardized ones that use the common North American sounds (at least as the default sound; there are usually multiple selections which often include the European two-tone sound) have taken over in most places.
American sirens from an earlier era are “weird” to people today, too, once you know how they worked. The rise/fall tone was created by connecting the unregulated DC output from the generator or from alternator’s diodes. It simply increased or decreased based on engine RPMs. The siren itself was an electric motor and fan spinning in a “cage” that was really a set of tuned air passages. Some fire trucks still use that kind of siren today, although usually with a modern electronic siren as well. The rise/fall tone wasn’t consistent; it just followed what the driver’s foot was doing. The electronic ones were the first to make a regular-tempo rise/fall sound.
Notice how each of these vehicles is brightly marked for easy identification. A shame some US departments are getting away with totally ghosted graphics.
I wonder if it’s partially a macho thing, too, especially with police culture in the US.
A department near where I live literally has murdered out police cars—matte black with black lettering. It screams “I’m tough” or “I want to look cool.”
In contrast, hi-viz says community minded, accessible, and here for safety.
Maybe someone not from the US can comment: what are your feelings when you see a police vehicle in your country?
I’m in the UK.
When driving my first thought is “shit, what speed am I doing”, followed by a mild panic that I might have a light out or something.
When not driving I have no feelings at all about police cars.
Whether it’s because they are in high viz, or only armed with a stick I couldn’t say.
I got pulled over by cops in an X5 once, and they made me sit in the back, next to a sort of fitted box that took up the entire middle of the back seat. It wasn’t until I saw one of the cops kneel down to check my tires that I realised he had a pistol strapped to his leg, and suddenly twigged that the box I was leaning on must be full of guns. Yep, I’d been dumb enough to undertake someone, in full view of an armed response unit.
Outside of London, seeing cops with guns is somewhat unusual in the UK.
Undertaking requires some dick not to keep to the left hand lane when not overtaking. So if it’s an illegal manoeuvre it takes at least two drivers working together to make it possible.
Arguably (although not with actual cops, because they don’t like it) someone in the right hand lane who isn’t pulling over to the left is a queue of traffic, in which case you can pass them on the left, as long as you aren’t speeding.
Not sure it is macho so much as the desire to blend in. Police department budgets over here are boosted by speeding ticket revenue, so there is a priority placed on handing tickets out. Easier to catch speeders if they don’t realize the car they are passing is 5-0. In other words, cops don’t want to stop speeding, just stop speeders.
If they really wanted to blend in, they could drive white Nissan Rogues, not blacked out chargers.
Eh, blacked out Chargers blend in more around me than Rogues. In any case, around here (central TX), most police and sheriff’s cars are Explorers and Tahoes, and those really blend in with the sea of F150’s and Silverados.
I’ve started seeing Police F150 occasionally, those really blend in, and in Indiana along the I90 toll way they use unmarked black Jeep grand Cherokees. I’m surprised that the Grand Cherokee hasn’t been used more for Police work, it seems like the natural choice in a lot of ways.
I’ve seen a few cop F150s too, but I don’t recall seeing one on traffic duty, at least not yet.
The only time I was genuinely surprised by a police was an unmarked car.
Other cop cars are tend to stand out because of their light bars, graphics, and the general shape created by the extra hardware attached to them.
I wonder if it varies from area to area—not all police departments focus on ticket revenue.
Not to mention the “pretext stop”, which attempts to bootstrap a stop for a traffic law violation into a fishing expedition for evidence of more serious crime, usually possession of drugs. I gather that this is not as much of a thing outside the USA.
I bet your right; punisher skulls seem to be a pretty popular adornment for police officers.
Those just make me think “Tell me you haven’t read the comic without telling me you haven’t read the comic.”
I’m in France.
if it comes from behind at high speed (and is either an Impreza or an Alpine), I just make sure I’m not in the way, I know Im not their target.
If it comes from behind at some speed in a convoy with all the lights, I just make sure I’m not in the way, I know they have something else to do than bother me.
if it comes slowly from behind first reaction is to check the speed, then think of what I did for the last few kms, after that *shrug*. If they want to check me, they’ll signal it.
If I come upon the police car and it’s moving slower than me, I check my speed and if I’m not overspeeding, I just treat it as anybody’s car.
If it’s parked, *shrug*
If they are actually stopping people ( they do that from time to time, park several ars at a round about and do alcohol, license & insurance checks ) *shrug* If they want to check me, I have nothing to hide. It’s drive exclusive or drink, I have all my points on my driving license, and the car is insured since it’s a rented car ( and if there’s an issue like worn tires I’d have had the car swapped when I checked it at the car rental agency ).
Consider that there’s permanent speed traps all over France, and all of them have a road sign between 100m and 3km before to signal it. ( and people still get caught regularly by them )
The Carabinieri in Italy used to use the Alfa Romeo 159 that looked impressive. Being near the alps in Turin I also saw numerous police Fiat Panda 4wds and Subaru Foresters used in the more mountainous areas.
Having been in scotland a few years ago, they had plenty of neat wagons roaming around, some were bmw, some volvo, some Peugeot, easy to see which would be nice if we made our road pirates so bright and colorful to see.
Weirdest one was a mitsubishi miev that id gander was for parking duty.
The Dutch Police had thesehttps://hagerty.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/img_7-scaled-1.jpg
The skota and Volvo euro cop cars are neat looking. I’m not so big on the euro GM or French. I think the itilaians used fiats at one point kinda weird looking. There are a few police departments in the US that have used Volvo at various times but not with the crazy euro markings.
Coolness varies, the British used to use Volvo 850 T5 wagons and still use Subaru WRX cop cars. Based on MHZ Choice shows, the French drive Ford Focus wagons and Dacia Dusters
UK Police used V70 and V90 wagons after the 850 ceased production. https://www.motoringresearch.com/features/volvo-v90-police-car-driven/
I want to start a European retired police car rental service called Skoda Octavia Spenser, for Hire
Sorry, that was way too much setup for such an obscure compound pun. But I’m going with it.
“…toys that depicted European police cars and chocolate.”
I definitely ready that second part as “police chocolate” because my brain replaces modifiers in strange ways.
No apologies needed – I still love that show; it holds up really well. But to be autopian about it, Hawk’s succession of BMW 635s (+ a Ferrari 308 in the pilot!) and Spenser’s not-hip-at-the-time vintage Mustang were pretty sweet.
Not an E31:
https://www.motortrend.com/news/ac-schnitzer-bmw-8-series-tuner-car-polizei/
Not German police:
https://9gag.com/gag/aMERvZW
Do they still use colors? ‘Cuz American departments have forgotten what colors are. Plain black Exploder PIs with slightly glossier black lettering. Total stealth, you can’t tell if it’s a civilian model or a bubble gum machine until you’re right up close to it.
Why deter people from speeding when you can sneak up on them and impose a hefty fine?
Exactly! How else is Middle of Bumfuck Nowhere, Texas supposed to line the mayor’s pockets?
Yeah, most countries still have well-marked police cars because they’re not trying to sneak around people to give out tickets as a form of revenue generation like in the US.
We have plenty of unmarked police cars in New Zealand. It used to be easy – is that a base model Commodore with an antenna? Yup cop. Now its, “Is that a Skoda Octavia or a Superb? Shit is a Superb, did it have two little antennas on its roof? No ? Good. Phew”
So much – you see an Explorer in your mirror you jump! Are those hidden lights next to the rearview? It’s like seeing a Crown Vic behind you 30 years ago!.
At night sometimes, a low profile light bar can sure look like roof rails with the cross plank.
Sometimes when I see one of those Exploders behind me on a 2 lane road, and then realize it’s not a cop, I keep right at the speed limit for a while, just to give its driver the time needed to contemplate their poor life choices
Or a Dodge Diplomat/Plymouth Gran Fury back in the ’80s. Those had very distinctive headlamp profiles and almost zero sales on the non-police market.
UK police cars do use bright colours, What the photos don’t show is they are also reflective, So they are visible in the day and are extremely visible at night. I guess the idea is to let you know they are there, We do have unmarked cars but I don’t think they are used for normal police type work.
Partly I think it’s that the coppers in unmarked cars don’t want to have to deal with the hassle of doing people for normal motoring offences, so they tend to turn a blind eye to things like speeding unless it’s really egregious.
WATCH FOR ROOF RAILS. It’s the ONLY way to tell “fleet” explorers, because they don’t have them.
Yup, and steelies with dog dish hub caps. Unless your local constabulary springs for alloys.
exactly. but steelies can be bought by people trying to look like cop cars. Wasn’t there a term for that?