Ford Focus Mark 2 Police Car

The second generation of the Ford Focus was launched in 2004 (and had a mild face-lift in 2008 - which you can see in the picture above) and featured the same "control blade" multi link rear suspension so still featured the trademark great handling of the mark one Focus. This generation is a fair bit longer and heavier than the first car - its nearly 6 inches longer, and as a result has plenty of legroom.

Most of the engines from the first model were carried over, and the car has 1.4, 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 petrol engine and also a 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 litre diesels. The 2.5 litre 5 cylinder petrol engine is also available, in the top spec Focus ST which has been used occasionally by the police (and can be seen above) and the rally spec RS - which is a bit of a rarity.

Ford Mondeo Mark 4 Police Car

The most recent Mondeo is the Mark 4 version, launched in the UK in 2007. The above picture shows the mildly facelifted version of this car, noticeably in silver, which forces have been switching to as once the stickers come off and the car needs selling, the residual values are better than the traditional white.

The mk4 Mondeo shared the same platform as the new Galaxy and S Max models, and has Fords modular range of engines, with the usual 2.0 litre petrol and diesels, and a new 2.2 diesel engine that is popular. The 2.5 and 3.0 V6 engines were dropped however, and replaced with a 5 cylinder 2.5 litre turbo engine taken from Volvo.

Ford Mondeo Mark 3 Police Car

The Mark 3 Ford Mondeo was launched in 2000, and was a complete redesign, following some of the angular styling clues set down by the Focus and the rest of the Ford range. It was a great deal bigger than previous generation models. The Mondeo still used the revolutionary suspension design which won its predecessors awards for class leading handling, but moved the levels of quality up to match rival German offerings such as the VW Passat, with more expensive feeling materials and switchgear.

The Mondeo was again popular with the UK police, and was used for both traffic / pursuit work with more powerful versions of the car, and a range topping ST220 with ~(as the name suggests) 220 horsepower from a 3.0 litre V6 engine was a regular sight on UK motorways, particularly in Estate guise as there was plenty of room in the boot for all the necessary equipment. Most of the Police range tended to use the new 2.0 turbo diesel engine which had a great reputation.