Lotus Exige NSW Police Car
February 16, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
I thought the FPV Typhoon police cars were enough, but no, Lotus of all manufacturers, has donated a Lotus Exige to the NSW Police department (are they hiring? Cause I’d love to drive around in an Exige all day).
The Lotus Exige, a lightweight, high performance car will be used by Bankstown Local Area Command for a number of community policing roles over the next six months, including most importantly, helping to build better relations between police and local performance car enthusiasts and youth.
“There is no doubt that the Lotus will be highly visible and generate public interest, it will assist us operationally by promoting our road safety crime prevention messages to a targeted group of offenders.”
“Giving youth the chance to realise that police are real people and have a job to do is an important part of our work, and if the Lotus can help us achieve that then it will be an asset during its time with us,” Superintendent Dave Darcy
Good on the police for trying to bridge the relationship gap between the young car lovers and the police. Lotus is quick to point out that the Exige has far better fuel economy than conventional V8 and turbocharged six cylinder Highway Patrol cars and will bring a new green image to the vehicle fleet.
But just how much less fuel does the Exige use? On average around five litres less fuel per 100km while still being able to accelerate from 0 to 100km/h up to 30 percent faster than the big V8s! So much for that Big V8 power when it can easily be out dragged by Lotus’ supercharged 1.8 litre four cylinder engine.
The important thing here is, power to weight ratio! Superintendent Dave Darcy accepted the keys to the Lotus Exige from Lotus Cars Australia’s national sales and marketing manager Jon Stretton and thanked the company for its contribution to policing in the Bankstown area.
“The Lotus Exige will help break down barriers between our officers and youth in the area, it gives them a discussion point and a way of breaking the ice. We have a large proportion of car enthusiasts in the area and it is a challenge to influence them to drive safely.
Whilst its easy to give this group tickets to slow them down we would prefer to influence young drivers to take care on the roads. I see that the use of the new Lotus Exige police vehicle will break down barriers allowing us to get our safety messages through.” said Superintendent Darcy.
Bankstown Local Area Command will use the Lotus for the next six months under long term loan from the manufacturer.
According to Jon Stretton from Lotus Cars Australia the precedent for this co-operation with the police was set in the UK where the company forged a similar relationship with the Norfolk Constabulary lending the force a Lotus Elise to achieve similar goals.
“Following the success of the co-operation with Norfolk Police we saw the chance to link up with NSW Police to help it achieve similar goals. The Norfolk Police had similar challenges to Bankstown Local Area Command with performance car enthusiasts and in establishing stronger relations to help prevent unacceptable behaviour,” he said.
“The Lotus gave the Norfolk Police credibility with the performance car enthusiasts and I expect the Lotus Exige will do the same for Bankstown officers. We are also very conscious of environmental issues and keen to demonstrate ways of using less fuel with more economical performance cars.
“Just because the police have always used conventional cars with large engines doesn’t mean they can’t look at alternatives that can reduce fuel consumption and be kinder on the environment,” Jon Stretton added.
This is no toy car, the The police Lotus Exige features full NSW Police livery and is equipped with a removable emergency light system that can be used when it is at particular operations such as random breath test and radar sites throughout the Bankstown Local Area Command.
Getting a speeding ticket become just a little more fun!
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Wow! I would seriously become a cop just to drive that car. That is definitely THE best cop car I’ve ever seen! Great article.
I saw that car driving past on Friday, did not realise it was a police car until it overtook me. Nice car for the lucky patrol officer driving it.
Exige, like the Elise before it are both on the dream sports car list!!
I still like the V8 F100s from the 70s. Great General Duty cars (trucks). HWP getting far too flashy these days.
Still a nice looking cars they are using. Never been stopped by one in my 50 years of driving. Please don’t be the first even in the Lotus.
Well done to Lotus Australia and the Bankstown LAC. This is the start of a new age of Policing i believe that its a great way to show the broader community that Police are not as bad as some people make out. Infact they are normal people with a Job to do.
Well done once again.
Reminds me of when oneof the UK Police forces used to use a Lotus Esprit V8 as a highway patrol car! That one was yellow too.
It is good to see our Police force trying out different cars. Although it’s not a very practical car as a police car. Off the mark it’s quick. I believe it wouldve been more practical to use WRX STi’s. I have just come back from Victoria (F1) and they have impressive cars, the new Holden’s look cool.
I agree,
the STis would be a far better choice,
but Police officers always have problems fitting into Recaro seats, due to their rather large… umm.. amount of equipment :D
^haha
I’m sure they’d find it more comfortable then hopping into a Lotus
The Exige would only be good for the Highway Patrol. There is no room to stick an arrested person. And the seats arn’t adjustable, only the leg room.
DEAR SIR/ MADAM
COULD I ASKING ABOUT MY CAR WAS HIT BY THE OTHER CAR AND THEIR INSURANCE DIDNT FIX FOR ME THE CAR. THAT HAPPEN WAS 6 MONTHS AGO . COULD YOU SHOW ME WHAT I WOULD DO IN THIS CASE.
THANK FOR YOUR HELP
YEN
5 SEPTEMPER 2007
WTF?!?
Yen,you would have had to report to your insurance company too{if you have one}If their insurance doesn’t cover it yours will and your company will TRY getting the money from them. 6 months is a long time after the accident so good luck trying.If neither of you are insured you would have to take the other driver to court ,contact your local magistrates office and inform them what you need to do.Good Luck
i think that the australian police should stick the to the normal aussie V8’s none of this imported stuuf they are just so buzz boxie an if you come to think of it any kinda of car would out run it (depends on what they have done to it)..
an it goes to show that they are just beening stuiped now i beat that car hasnt been taken out of 4th gear
how cute is that mini cop car
aww how cute
Are you Blonde? Thats not a Mini its a Lotus! lol
Back to Mattel for you ,and get a new head when your there!
LOL…. Hmmmmmm, yes, oh, aah huh, I see one of those put comment up; interesting and well yes!
Bit of a NOT SO SQUEEZY CAR… wouldnt go well if cops like eating donuts heaps whilst on duties, would have to drop a sunroof in it and put a hiab crane on side of car to get coppers in and out of little MINI car. DAM………..
Why Lotus, they not that fast and hard to get in and out of if you too tall when a criminal is on foot. It may handle well, but Just because the car looks like a super car doen’t mean it is.
An F6 Typhoon(allready using), Coup’e GTO, Monaro CV8Z(allready using), STi WRX & Lancer EV0 would be a better car for that job.
yeah, cars gud enough for tha job , since wen did u ever c a crim with a better car thn a lotus….. never, luks gud to
having owned an elise in the uk, I would love to see ‘old bill’ trying to climb out of a lotus in a hurry. Maybe a few less donuts might help in an emergency. :-]
its great to see revesby police with the car but i must agree with the others aussie police to me shoul and only have v8s if they want faster cars they should modify the cars
and the decision to go with toyotos is a poor choice they should stick with hsv commodores or the ford falcons xr8s of gts
why would the police want a V8 holden or ford when even the XR6 turbo is faster than them! the new typhoon will destroy them.