ok i didnt know that, thought they were trying to replace regular police cars. Replacing the 3 wheeler ticketing machine with this sounds good.

now this is a real police car

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Really, I'm sure that is true.

I like the car. I wish they had the little $2500 - 4 door Indian Tata cars here:



http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/ ... -the-worlds-cheapest-car/

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This is to replace the 3 wheel cars that they use (like the parking authority) which cost $30,000 and run on propane. It is an excellent car for what it is been used.

Great, now they can just drive it inside the mall. lol

wibbit wrote:

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how about the fact that anyone in a full sized car/truck/van trying to escape a policeman in a Smart would be better off simply driving their car straight into the Smart, blasting it to pieces or even knocking the car over on its side and probably seriously injuring/killing the officer, and then getting away without a problem.........

.............till another Smart started chasing after them?

cops got tough jobs, they should drive tough cars.

yeah good idea on paper, but i dont know how practical it really is. Those cars are expensive to maintain and cannot compare to the toughness of a regular chevy/ford cruiser. If they are driven like a police car, it be curious to know how long they last before falling apart.

I'd love to get a picture of Healy and Comey in it - Some how if an ergonomics or occuptional health and safety specialist or Police Union was to check them out, they would fail in every way.

Standby for hip, knee and shoulder injuries getting in and out of them all day and constaint repairs to the door hinges as the cops lean on them to help get out and in.

We had the same problem with those 'mickey mouse' bob-cats and excavators - look good, but caused injuries and weren't any good.

Those smart cars are only good as a second car zipping around NY.

I have a feeling the car has nothing to do with it but rather the $20,000 donation that makes for a good tax claim !

Of course I forgot, maybe they bought the Law Enforcement Interceptor package for it and that's what jacked up the price.

Who does Comey remind me of?

I'm happy that the JCPD is moving in a green direction.

However, how is $14,800 a discount from a car that sells for between $11,990 to $16,990 to start. Ok throw in a few options, but will that really raise the cost to $20K?? I wouldn't think that they went with the high end Cabriolet (the $16K model) and probably went with the Pure ($11K) or Passion Coupe ($13K) model. I don't see a panorama roof so I don't think it's the Passion Coupe. I think the dealer took them to the cleaners or someone has a "friend" at the dealership.

Also, the car does not get 48 mpg. It is not a Prius, . The Smart ForTwo gets 31 mpg city and 44 mpg highway. The only other car that comes close to the Prius 48 mpg is the Honda Civic Hybrid.

Has anyone ever test driven one of these? I did a few weeks ago, and let me tell, they are horrible. The trucks I drive at work have smoother acceleration than the Smart ForTwo. It's step on the gas - wait for it wait for wait for it lunge forward. Not the kind of car I'd want to be used in a parking lot.

And a little impractical too as someone pointed out. It's good for getting bodies to an incident, but that's about it. A truly discounted Prius or Civic Hybrid would have been money better spent - and their use wouldn't be limited to a mall parking lot.

Kudos to the JC Police Foundation for a move in the right direction, but I don't think it was money well spent.

This car would be good for small towns like Hoboken or down the shore.

The cops will drive them like if they stole them and they won't last long.

Good idea, but too small for some of the fat-ass cops or 'big' cops sitting side by side.

so is there a bullet proof divider between the passenger and driver, or do they drag the perp?? looks like the cops in the back have no chance of fitting in that thing..

JCPD gets a Smart car

by The Jersey Journal
Saturday December 06, 2008

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy exits a Smart car that the city police department bought at a deep discount. As a test, it will be used to patrol the Hudson Mall.

The teeny car that's catching second looks wherever it goes has found a home in the Jersey City Police Department.

As described in today's Jersey Journal, the JCPD bought a Smart Fortwo -- usually just called the Smart car -- at a deep discount and will try it out patrolling the Hudson Mall. If the results with the energy-efficient car are good, more will be on the way, officials told the paper.

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'SMART' DONATION
JCPD goes 'green' with 48-mpg car

Saturday, December 06, 2008
By PAUL KOEPP
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The Smart Fortwo is a smart choice for the Jersey City Police Department, officials said yesterday as they unveiled the miniature auto at the Reservoir fire station in the Heights.

The three-cylinder car, made by Mercedes-Benz, gets up to 48 miles per gallon using regular gasoline, Police Chief Tom Comey said.

"We have to start thinking differently" to make police operations more "green," he said, adding that the department is also considering electric cars.

The Jersey City Police Foundation bought the car for $14,800 - a discount offered by Ray Catena of Edison from the normal price of $20,000 - and donated it to the department.

Mike Ryan, chairman of the private foundation, said the group's goal when it was formed three years ago was to bring back the city's mounted police.

"In lieu of horses, we're giving them horsepower," Ryan said.

The car will first go to the West District for patrols at Hudson Mall, Comey said, and the department will evaluate its performance in a few months to determine if more should be added. It could eventually replace the city's fleet of three-wheel interceptors, which cost about $30,000 apiece, he said.

Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy took the fuel-efficient car for a brief spin and said he's pleased it was purchased at no cost to the city.

"Obviously this is a big saver for the Police Department and the taxpayers," he said.