Japanese Police Cars You'll Want To Be Pulled Over By

The FD generation RX-7 was chosen as a public relations vehicle by a police department in Japan. Probably because if it put in the number of miles a regular patrol car they would spend a large chunk of budget in oil and apex seals. However, there have been reports of FD RX-7s being used on patrol in Hiroshima, Kyoto, Niigata, and Tochigi.

We have to wonder if the cops that got to drive the rally-bred version of the Impreza as a police car took a few side turnings onto dirt roads as part of their patrols. Our favorite Impreza police car is still the one that showed up in Hot Fuzz, which reminds us that the director Edgar Wright also used an Impreza as the first hero car for Baby Driver.

The R33 Skyline used as a police car here is a rare bird indeed. The limited version built by Autech had four doors which would have made it more useful for picking up miscreants and thieves. It belongs to Kanagawa prefecture and although the name Autech sounds like it may be German, it's a Japanese tuning company based in Chigasaki that specializes in Nissan cars. They also tune Nismo engines for race cars in Super GT racing.

Three 350Z Nismo cars were actually used for working duties in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's High-Speed Patrol Unit. While it makes for a striking and reliable pursuit car, the questions we have is: where do you put them if you actually arrest someone and just how much negative effect on aerodynamics does that light-bar have? Most importantly though, would it be able to actually catch DK?

All-wheel-drive, all-wheel-steering, twin-turbo engine, active suspension. What could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot it turns out, and the 3000GT was also a heavy beast. While it was a big swing and one hell of a car, the idea of it being in service sounds like a costly affair.

The range-topping VR4 trim of the Gallant was in service with the Ibaraki police in Japan. This was the car built for Group A rallying but was superseded almost immediately by the Evolution and became Mitsubishi's showcase car for its new technology instead. VR4 stands for Viscous Realtime 4-wheel-drive and the twin-turbo engine could accelerate the Gallant to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds and, with the regulator disabled, the 8th generation had a top speed over 150 mph. Looks like a smart choice for a police car to us.