Your crims car of choice.

[Leigh Harrington]

I was wondering what local differences there are in the types of cars peoples local low life drive. Here in London BMWs are very popular, the age and model largely dependant on the financial acumen of the freelance pharmaceutical supplier driving it! Lexus are getting popular as well which probably goes down as well back in Tokyo as it does with BMW in Bavaria!
Are there stil any pink Caddies out there? :p

[Sgt Lobster]

Leigh,

Old BMW saloons seem to be a motor of choice for our customers up North as well. For the less well off, the old standbys the Ford Escort and the Vauxhall Nova are still proving very popular. Perhaps you have more affluent customers in the Smoke ?



Lobster. :D

[Marky-Mark]

In the states, one dead giveaway is that regardless of car make, the custom wheels are worth more than the car!:D

[Wonga]

Although I'm not in the job that long I remember when the choice of motor for your good quality CRO's / lifestyle crims was the Ford Cosworth , either Escort or Sierra.Went like a bat out of hell - top speed 150ish.The only people who could afford to insure them were rock stars or crims.

Now the motor for the top blaggers and dealers is either a Subaru Impreza Turbo or the Mitsubishi Evolution VII - or is it VIII ? Either way sh1t quick and capable of topping 150 mph.

And how many cop cars can do that kind of speed this side of the pond ? :eek:

[skwashie]

im going to look for a pink caddie for ya... and myself, that must be a sight :D

what cars are you using on your sid eof the pond patrol? Renaults? I know in spain they were using Ibiza Seat's

[NSWCop]

In NSW the Subaru WRX sports coupe is probably the most stolen/carjacked vehicle.

It is the car of choice for all manner of alternate income types from ram-raiders to armed robbers to bag snatchers!

Thank you Subaru for this little beauty!! 210kw of power in a compact car the size of a VW Beetle (old style).

For the international pharmaceutical entreperaneur who has every-thing, no-thing really says "you've made it" like a Holden Monaro V8 in fire-engine red, with black leather car-bra.

Failing that, (after all there is a waiting list), how about a large American "pick-up" like a Dodge Ram or maybe a Chevvy Suburban.

[ron9572]

That's pretty interesting NSWCop, over here in the West we have found that the most stolen vehicles are now Holden Commodores of the VH-VL type cos they are about the last of the really easy cars to get into plus the V8 ones still have a bit of power in them.

However, due to the compulsory fitting of immobilisers we are getting an increase in burglaries by people breaking into your house to steal the keys for your car.

So even though, immbolisers have had an affect on cars being stolen off the street, they have caused an upsurge in another area.

I guess you cant have your cake and eat it too.

[NSWCop]

Ron:
Yeah, the Commodores are pretty popular over here too, but only 'cos there's so many of them available.
Funnily enough, we recently had a spate of Hyundai Excels being knocked off in my area. Yep Hyundai's 1.5 litres of unadulerated grunt was an irresistable target among the younger, up-coming members of the criminal fraternity.
No co-incidence that they first started to go missing not long after one of the ring leaders returned from an extended vacation at a JDC!
But, the WRX remains the most popular, despite the anti-theft devices fitted.

[Sgt Lobster]

As security measures improve car thieves have to come up with new ideas. What they did last winter was target expensive cars de-icing on the driveway. The well healed ownwers couldn't be bothered with a can of de-icer, they simply left their unlocked pride and joys running on the driveway whilst they went for a brew. The organized gangs simply climbed into the car and drove off, and were lost on the motorway network within minutes. This was well publicised in the media last year, I wonder how many will get caught out this winter ?



Lobster.

[Cockney Corner]

Well, for those s***s who aren't doing to well in their chosen career, it tends to be whatever they can nick. Though Novas seem to get used as pool cars quite a bit. For those slightly up the food chain, well, you can't go wrong with a Beemer or Jeep.

As for what they nick to transfer on - we've had shed loads of Audi TT's disappearing off drives.

[Leigh Harrington]

I was more interested in what cars the crims liked to own rather than steal.
The Police cars here which can do 150mph are the Volvo V70 (850T as was)and the Mets 5 Series BMW can do that even if it is a diesel.
Some Forces here use Peugeots, the Met uses Vauxhall(GM) Astras and Vectras, Ford Focus and BMW 5 Series mainly.
I went shopping in France on Wednesday and saw a nice looking Renault Megage.
In Spain they seem to use a huge variety, SEAT Toledo, Citroen Picasso, Ford Focus, Nissan Terrano, Nissan Almera.
My wife has a SEAT Ibiza but she is chopping that in for a Mini one and I have a SEAT Leon which I wouldnt mind chopping in for a Leon Cupra!:)

[Sleuth]

Have you been foloowing the problems with the Ford Crown Victoria Crusiers. Seems they have a habit of bursting into flames when they get rear ended, killing the officer inside. Seems the gas tanks are not well sited to survive a crash.

Here in the Western US, closer to the border, low riders are the choice of the Hispanic dopers. Nice, cause they can't take the chase off road with 1.5 inches of ground clearence.