A brother recently moved from California to Tennessee. He knew that his taxes would be much lower. Now he knows why.
Perhaps some of our readers from the Volunteer State can enlighten the rest of us on whether these Beetle Intercepters are really a thing. I know that VW has an assembly plant in Chattanooga, so is this a modern analogue to all of those Studebaker police cars in South Bend Indiana all those years ago? Maybe there are some Nissan Jukes in the fleet too. Or matybe there was just a Bug in their fleet order system.
LOL maybe they got a good deal on some VW diesels.
According to someone on Reddit four years ago:
“This is actually a one-off P.R. stunt. It’s the Highway Patrol “Litter Bug” that they mostly bring to county fairs and such to raise awareness of roadside littering.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/1lcnpg/tn_has_new_state_trooper_cars/
Cops do this kind of crap all the time. They obtain something out-of-the-ordinary via the great civil forfeiture laws now sweeping the country and paint it up with police livery to draw attention to themselves.
In the states, it’s a lame publicity stunt. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see this in actual practice in, say, Germany, although I’d be more inclined to think they’d just use rudimentary Jettas or Passats.
The Munich Police had a new Mini a couple of years ago, and I also saw a BMW i3 Fire Chief car recently.
I hope they at least sprang for the Turbo Beetle.
Mmmmmmmm, Turbonium! 😉
(Anyone remember those commercials?)
I approve! The results from a search for “vw beetle police car” appears like it will consume the rest of the afternoon…
Reminds me of the Smart cars in full Phoenix Police livery that were used for meters patrol and other parking violations.
There have been other compact police car as well used for that type of duty. (Note the Metro is right-hand-drive so parked cars can be chalked without having to get out.)
That’s not even the only VW Beetle police car in Tennessee: https://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/25/volkswagen-beetle-police-cruiser-the-bug-erceptor/
Reminds me of the VW Rabbit cop car commercial
Well actually. The New Beetle turbo of that vintage (2012-2013?) had 200 HP, a zero-60 time of 6.3 and a top speed, governor limited, of 124. And I’m betting the governor can be overrode. So, could conceivably be a cop car. I have read that Crown Victoria police interceptors of yore only topped out at 125 mph!
truth, the CVPI was governed at 128 due to the driveshaft and tires till about 2008?2009? the last few years got a revised driveshaft and were governed at 140….. the civilian versions were governed at 108…. or so a friend tells me….. 😉
Meter patrol vehicle?
This would be the car to put the rookie on the force in. It’s pretty hard to get a boosted ego driving this.
Years ago, as a freshly minted nurse I worked at Louisville Ky Metro Corrections, Once, while catching a smoke (yeah, I know 🙂 didn’t know any better at the time!) with other staff in the “sallyport” where the Police bring in arrestee’s or come in to conduct business, A Louisville Metro PD unmarked car came in. It was a shade of color that could only be described as pink. We all stared. The detective got out of the car and noticed our stare, and Said “yeah, I know, it’s PINK!” I asked if he did something to piss off the brass, and they assigned him the Pink car. He just smiled.
C-segment cars *should* be more than adequate for police use, maybe with some sort of anti-curb-jumping device (a piece of angle iron parallel to and under the bumper would probably work).
Yeah, I lived in suburban metro NYC from ’79 to ’84. NYPD used 6 cyl Darts, Valients, and Fairmonts, and Novas for street patrol. No need for fire breathing gas guzzlers as high speed chases where rare. Now for their highway patrols of course the “fire breathers” where necessary.
My son and I openly laughed hysterical at the Smart car police cars that patrol the parking meters in Phx the first time we saw one. The police woman aka meter maid glared at us. Evidently she was not amused. 🙂
Was there a policewoman driving this VW ??
Volkswagens are very cool cars. I’ve worked around and have owned VW’s for the last 52 years and with some models having some shortcomings, they’re basically damn good, no, damn great cars.
That Beetle could way out accelerate any current police car except maybe a Charger. And the Beetle can stop, steer, ride and handle WAAAAY better, not to mention a Turbo Beetle would last longer in service than a Explorer, Charger, Tahoe, Taurus could ever hope to.
Michigan State troopers have a lot of equipment to carry around. Tahoe’s have the room. Beetles do not.
No mention yet of the 100 LAPD BMW i3’s?
HEY!! I’m over here now…
Lifelong Tennessean here. As mentioned, it is a Tennessee Highway Patrol Litter Bug, a promotional vehicle as part of the THP’s outreach and educational mission. It is also not a new concept, just brought back when the New Beetle debuted in 1998. What will they use in the future now that VW will cease making the Beetle (again)?
Thanks for weighing in, Rex. I wondered if this was the sort of thing that might eventually make it to the Lane Motor Museum. 🙂