Suzuki Kizashis used as unmarked police cars in Japan

~tc~ · Fri Feb 28, 2014 4:46 am

What's the deal on the hood? I thought the side view mirrors had to be mounted on the fenders (so they can be viewed through the swept area on the windshield)

murcod · Fri Feb 28, 2014 5:15 am

I was wondering if it's some sort of aero device to help deflect wind over the roof mounted lights? (I've read reports where similar roof lights severely hamper the top speed on local police cars.)

Fri Feb 28, 2014 6:27 pm

murcod wrote:I was wondering if it's some sort of aero device to help deflect wind over the roof mounted lights? (I've read reports where similar roof lights severely hamper the top speed on local police cars.)

This is my guess as well. I think it's for the aerodynamics of the roof-mounted police lights.
These days, many police departments are going to sleeker LED police lights. There are even some designs that don't have any of the light protrude from the car's body to maximize aerodynamics.
Many of the unmarked police cars and gov't vehicles in DC have LEDs mounted in the grill, windows, and fenders and have nothing on the roof. There are even some marked police cars following this layout.

SamirD · Sat Mar 01, 2014 2:55 am

bootymac wrote:Haven't you guys seen Tokyo Drift? Police cars here are only factory tuned. If you can do better than 180K they can't catch you, so they don't even try.

Yep. They use the radio instead.

I once saw 168mph on the speedometer on the Corvette and saw a 'Speed Limit 65' board go by. It took about me about 1000' to realize that 100mph+ over the speed limit would be a really bad ticket. I've heard of local 'highway run' street races get the road spikes to stop the cars. The story goes that the STI just hit the grassy median and went around while the s2000 tried the same and spun out. The STI wasn't caught by the state troopers, but later turned himself in.

KuroNekko wrote:This is why the Japanese police enlisted the help of Godzilla.

I WANT THIS CAR. I would love to be driving that all over the streets of the USA. It would be so fun delivering mail for a living.

KuroNekko wrote:This is my guess as well. I think it's for the aerodynamics of the roof-mounted police lights.
These days, many police departments are going to sleeker LED police lights. There are even some designs that don't have any of the light protrude from the car's body to maximize aerodynamics.
Many of the unmarked police cars and gov't vehicles in DC have LEDs mounted in the grill, windows, and fenders and have nothing on the roof. There are even some marked police cars following this layout.

There's actually a manufacturer of just dedicated police vehicles that has really great integrated lights. They have integrated everything and the car is just MEAN. And they're around the same prices as a comparably equipped 'police package' car.

I've seen unmarked cars of all sorts. The best was the Ford Taurus that had some suspicious extra vents on the front hood. He also had lights mounted on the passenger sunvisor that came on when flipped down.

The worst part about undercover is when you pass them at speed (ie they're going 80 in a 55 and you pass them)--nothing you can do when those lights go on.

Sun Mar 09, 2014 7:43 am

Some news on the Kizashi as it relates to Japanese police duty.
http://www.kizashiclub.com/forum/viewto ... =13&t=2926

Sun Jul 27, 2014 4:10 am

Looks like the Kizashi now got the full "Panda" treatment as marked police cars are black and white in Japan.

[youtube][/youtube]

paininthenuts · Sun Jul 27, 2014 11:43 am

murcod wrote:I bet they don't use them for Police chases - because that would be a bit embarrassing!

You live in a country where a Kizi isn't a particularly fast car. In most other countries a car with a 2.4 engine and 180 BHP is classed as rather quick. Other than very expensive sports cars and M3's, in the Uk there isn't much to touch it.

Sun Jul 27, 2014 9:46 pm

KuroNekko wrote:Looks like the Kizashi now got the full "Panda" treatment as marked police cars are black and white in Japan.

[youtube][/youtube]

Someone needs to copy that vinyl treatment here! But what's up with the top hat?

Knightstruth · Mon Jul 28, 2014 5:34 am

bootymac wrote:
KuroNekko wrote:Looks like the Kizashi now got the full "Panda" treatment as marked police cars are black and white in Japan.

[youtube][/youtube]
Someone needs to copy that vinyl treatment here! But what's up with the top hat?

The top is used for intimidation tactics. It is to scare away would be evil do-ers.

Seriously I don't know, maybe a storage unit. Looks silly though.

murcod · Mon Jul 28, 2014 6:20 am

paininthenuts wrote:
murcod wrote:I bet they don't use them for Police chases - because that would be a bit embarrassing!
You live in a country where a Kizi isn't a particularly fast car. In most other countries a car with a 2.4 engine and 180 BHP is classed as rather quick. Other than very expensive sports cars and M3's, in the Uk there isn't much to touch it.

You can't be serious? You've got plethora of midsize models to choose from in the UK with a lot better performance. A lot of them feature smaller turbo charged engines.