Turns Out The Kia Stinger Makes A Good Police Cruiser

Police motor pools tend to favor rear-drive, V8 sedans. But those are a dying breed, at least outside of luxury offerings typically beyond the scope of public budgets. But the Kia Stinger could be the next best thing – or even better, as one police department in Australia has discovered.

The Queensland Police Service is in the midst of rolling out a fleet of Stingers converted for law-enforcement duty, replacing many of its Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons (now that those have been discontinued). We first caught wind of the program back in December. But with evaluations now complete, the Queensland constables are pressing 50 of them into service between now and the end of this year.

“This is a very important day for us,” Commissioner Ian Stewart said. “We needed a special product to do a job for us, and that is what we have here. A wonderful product.”

“It was not a big step at all once we had begun the investigation process,” added Queensland Police Minister Mark Ryan. “You often hear Police Ministers talking about providing the best equipment for those at the coal face. In this case I truly believe we have been able to do that.”

Queensland’s new patrol cars are based on the V6 Stinger, which packs a 3.3-liter twin-turbo engine kicking out 365 horsepower (272 kW) to all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission for a 0-60 time reported at 4.9 seconds. For police duty, they’re being fitted with all manner of extra equipment, from strobe lights and sirens to communication radios.

“This level of public exposure and endorsement from a high profile government utility is something which wouldn’t have been on the radar just a few years ago,” said Kia’s Aussie COO Damien Meredith. “It is just a beginning, but a very important one for us.” Other police departments across Australia are similarly evaluating the Stinger for deployment in their motor pools, along with other models like the Sorento SUV.