Avensis Police Car, New Nissan Leaf And Mystery Toyota Mini Mpv

[Red diesel]

Last year the Gardai (irish police) purchased a whole load of Avensises as garda patrol cars, i got to see one at the weekend as

our local Garda station has been allocated a new Avensis. Didn't really get a chance to get a really good luck at it - but it looked well,

time will tell how well the new Avensis will hold up to the abuse of Garda work.

Having seen the new Avensis garda car - i took a walk into the local Toyota garage and i noticed a new type of Verso - it was badged as a Verso S, had 5 seats and looked not much bigger than a Yaris. Funny front wiper set up on it too - single wiper with a similar design to the back wiper on a hatchback. Has anyone heard anything about it (it was Sunday so couldn't ask a salesman).

Finally - Nissan are busy promoting their new Leaf and they had one on show at the local shopping centre and test drives at the local dealer - so i sat into one at the shopping centre. Quite an interesting car as modern cars go - however at 30 000 euros - i really can't see what you get over a Prius, yes the leaf does have the option

of fast charging, but realistically you can't use this all the time as its bad for the Battery. So really you are restricted to 150 kms range - and since that was a

Nissan reps claimed figure - i guess it won't always achieve this in the real world lol. Having said that however... Nissan are claiming that you can do the 150 kms for

2.50 worth of electricity (charge up). Judging from what people were saying yesterday (which was when i saw the car) people are buying the whole Leaf message thing, i don't however. I just think that for a car thats not really for long journeys (range too low) 30 grand is too dear. So i walk into Nissan dealer - can i have a brochure for the Micra please lol.

Im going to have to keep an eye out for early reports on the K13 (new Micra - original 83 model was K10, bubble shape 92 model was K11 and the last Renaultised model was K12)fuel economy - if it does the mileage that Nissan claim for it 53 mpg or close to it - then diesel starts looking silly with DPFs and other stuff to go wrong lol.

Red diesel

[Heidfirst]

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/toyota/verso-s-2011

[Parts-King]

Yes the Verso S is HERE As you rightly say it is a yaris sized people carrier that can maximise the space available, prices from £13995 in the UK

West Mercia Police used to run an Avensis, it was unmarked. When it came in for service they used to remove all the radio gear, it apparantly had covert radio and monitoring equipment in it, it also had firearms boxes fitted from the centre console back, plus all the usual hidden blue lights and sirens. Of course the techcys had to try them out With all the extra electronics on board, extra fuse boxes and uprated battery/charging system has to be fitted, it was interesting to see it in detail

As for the leaf, it will have a fantastic market for small business and for people doing limited journeys. I do average mileage every year, but from mon-fri I only do about 30 miles a day, there must be millions of others doing a similar journey, the only downside I see is the cost when electic cars come down in price they will sell like hot cakes, provided they dont look like a Sinclair C5

Kingo

[Jan&tone]

I seem to remember my bro-in-law had a yaris verso many years ago... Ugly blood6 thing it was too!

[Red diesel]

Yes the Verso S is HERE As you rightly say it is a yaris sized people carrier that can maximise the space available, prices from £13995 in the UK

West Mercia Police used to run an Avensis, it was unmarked. When it came in for service they used to remove all the radio gear, it apparantly had covert radio and monitoring equipment in it, it also had firearms boxes fitted from the centre console back, plus all the usual hidden blue lights and sirens. Of course the techcys had to try them out With all the extra electronics on board, extra fuse boxes and uprated battery/charging system has to be fitted, it was interesting to see it in detail

As for the leaf, it will have a fantastic market for small business and for people doing limited journeys. I do average mileage every year, but from mon-fri I only do about 30 miles a day, there must be millions of others doing a similar journey, the only downside I see is the cost when electic cars come down in price they will sell like hot cakes, provided they dont look like a Sinclair C5

Kingo

I hear what your saying about the Leaf - but my downer on the Leaf is that they expect you to pay 30 000 euros (in Ireland) - for a car thats meant for short

journeys. I do admire Nissan for what theyve achieved (and was a Nissan fan for years) but i do feel that the Prius or Chevy Volt is a better solution. In saying

from what i can see Chevy know how to charge for the extra convienience of the petrol back up engine lol. As you say though - as price comes down they will sell better

for now though - i think id rather work away with a Micra at 15 or 16 000 euros lol.

Thanks for the Verso S information by the way - i hadn't seen any mention of it anywhere in UK magazines and was wondering if it was

some wierd thing that Toyota were only selling on a selected few European Markets in the way that Nissan sell the Tiida in Ireland and a few other countries in Europe but not in the majority like the UK market.

Red diesel