A German police force that spent €25 million on new sporty cars found that not only was the visibility rubbish for chases - the fancy seats were so narrow the cops could not get in while wearing their guns, truncheons and other equipment.

The embarrassing mishap came to light in a poll conducted by police union GdP, which showed that many officers in the western German state of Hesse preferred their old wheels – the Opel Zafira.

The Hesse Interior Ministry ordered 800 of the swish new models – Opel's Insignia Sports Tourer – in a long-term deal at the end of 2010. The ministry says that 200 of the cars have been delivered so far, but it is yet to be decided whether the order will be completed.

Update...

The state's interior minister declared yesterday that the police will have to keep these new cars, even if they can't fit into them. Opel's headquarters are in the state of Hesse, so this kind of blind support is unsurprising.

So the Opel's interior is poorly packaged and inefficient, and the high doors and narrow windows make it dangerously difficult to see out of. Wait, did the German police just describe everything wrong with new car design?

More at http://www.thelocal....0416-41971.html

and http://jalopnik.com/...-new-squad-cars

Hmmm...do the German police have pudgy cops as we have in the US? Need to lay off the pastries..

The high door/narrow window design trend seems to be everywhere today... I was sitting next to an Equinox in traffic last week, noticed it had the windows rolled down and how tiny the window openings seemed in comparison to my '00 Jeep..

Edited April 20, 201213 yr by Cubical-aka-Moltar

Yup, seems everything is going small windows, high doors with protection built in to meet 5 star requirement. Yet that same extra protection will be causig accidents when no one can see out the car door or do a proper shoulder check. No wonder I do not have anything newer than 2008.

LAY OFF THE DONUTS.

Can't they shoehorn in the seats from the Caprice PPV? I seem to recall those having been specifically designed to get around this problem.

Donut officer?

Sad.

Well, obviously the truth lies somewhere between tight interiors, (some) larger cops, and a vest/ belt/ gun/holster/ laptop/ equipment..... but yea; let's just call them all 'fat'.

Well, obviously the truth lies somewhere between tight interiors, (some) larger cops, and a vest/ belt/ gun/holster/ laptop/ equipment..... but yea; let's just call them all 'fat'.

I don't know about you Balthy, but 98% of the police officers I have met in Jersey, both locals and troopers are pretty fit, and would have no problem doing a one-on-one unarmed take down on the Internet desk jockeys who's wittiest comments involve donuts.

If they read the article, the previous vehicles were Zafiras... 15 inches shorter and 3 inches narrower... but 6 inches taller. The Zafira's fit the police fine. Sounds like the Insignias are severely ergonomically compromised.

Of course, its typically a good thing to have beefy, tall police. It helps establish authority and helps them take down criminals. One dude I knew in a drug induced jumped off the 3rd floor casino garage, broke both legs, yet still ran another couple blocks and it still took about 15 AC police to finally stop him. He hurt a few of them in the process, too, IIUC.

If the police are expected to shrink with the CAFE-required cars, about 2025 we're going to be hiring only 'little people' to be police officers and crime is going to skyrocket.

Well, obviously the truth lies somewhere between tight interiors, (some) larger cops, and a vest/ belt/ gun/holster/ laptop/ equipment..... but yea; let's just call them all 'fat'.

I don't know about you Balthy, but 98% of the police officers I have met in Jersey, both locals and troopers are pretty fit, and would have no problem doing a one-on-one unarmed take down on the Internet desk jockeys who's wittiest comments involve donuts.

If they read the article, the previous vehicles were Zafiras... 15 inches shorter and 3 inches narrower... but 6 inches taller. The Zafira's fit the police fine. Sounds like the Insignias are severely ergonomically compromised.

Of course, its typically a good thing to have beefy, tall police. It helps establish authority and helps them take down criminals. One dude I knew in a drug induced jumped off the 3rd floor casino garage, broke both legs, yet still ran another couple blocks and it still took about 15 AC police to finally stop him. He hurt a few of them in the process, too, IIUC.

If the police are expected to shrink with the CAFE-required cars, about 2025 we're going to be hiring only 'little people' to be police officers and crime is going to skyrocket.

I checked, you're not due to be here until May 6th.

Well, obviously the truth lies somewhere between tight interiors, (some) larger cops, and a vest/ belt/ gun/holster/ laptop/ equipment..... but yea; let's just call them all 'fat'.

I don't know about you Balthy, but 98% of the police officers I have met in Jersey, both locals and troopers are pretty fit, and would have no problem doing a one-on-one unarmed take down on the Internet desk jockeys who's wittiest comments involve donuts.

If they read the article, the previous vehicles were Zafiras... 15 inches shorter and 3 inches narrower... but 6 inches taller. The Zafira's fit the police fine. Sounds like the Insignias are severely ergonomically compromised.

Of course, its typically a good thing to have beefy, tall police. It helps establish authority and helps them take down criminals. One dude I knew in a drug induced jumped off the 3rd floor casino garage, broke both legs, yet still ran another couple blocks and it still took about 15 AC police to finally stop him. He hurt a few of them in the process, too, IIUC.

If the police are expected to shrink with the CAFE-required cars, about 2025 we're going to be hiring only 'little people' to be police officers and crime is going to skyrocket.

Good points!! Little spindly Cops are a BAD idea! I remember several years ago an older and strong black cop was attempting to train a little 100LB beauty queen to be a fellow cop! It was the silliest thing I had ever seen and I could see the frustration in his face! I am sure he looks forward to retirement so he can leave behind that P.C. crap! Cops need to be imposing to be taken seriously!