Finals
Dalluha Road Testing Facility, 2011
The Dalluha Road testing facility was a fairly long drive from the core of the Capital. It was a large compound, with a small test track built within, large flat grounds littered with carefully placed cones, some offroad testing sections and of course, a large garage to maintain, repair and inspect the vehicles going through. It was here much of the police force had done their defensive driving courses, and this would be the place that will test the limits of the new cruisers.
Chief Kader and Deputy Bousaid arrived on the scene, joining up with Mr. Karim, the lead for testing who had the test results on hand.
“Ah, so the tests have completed already. How have they gone, would you say?” Kader asked Karim.
“Certainly some surprises. Some do better than thought, some do expected.” Karim replied, leading the two to the garage. “Testers really like one of them, but it would not be what I recommend.”
“Is that so? Anyways, let us hear the reports.”
“Which would you like to start with sir?”
“Perhaps start with the Honghu there.” Kader pointed, spotting the Honghu 8x8 SWB parked first up on the garage.
“Ah the Honghu.” Karim flipped to its report. “We all wanted to try it, but at the end of the day it actually wasn’t fastest through our course.”
“It was the fastest on paper.” Bousaid pointed out.
“On paper acceleration, yes, but on a technical course it was slower than two others. We think the tires could have pushed it past the second fastest, but as it stands it ended third there.” Karim flipped the page. “But most surprising to me was how it handled its stint offroading.”
“Good or bad surprising?” Kader asked.
“Bad, it struggled with obstacles it easily had the clearance and power to clear. The differential and transmission made it perform… I would say on par with just most of the sedans.”
“So it has performance of what I think a smaller car would have, just with a SUV body.” Kader concluded.
“How about the daily patrols, moving equipment in and out, or people in and out?” Bousaid inquired.
“Stop and go at low speed was a bit hampered by the DCT, but at speed it responded well. Long rides shouldn’t tire out any officers, but there were definitely more comfortable options here. Moving equipment in was not a hassle, nor was moving people in.” Karim answered. “Additionally on inspection it seemed to be one of the more well constructed vehicles, even with the concerns of the DCT.”
“Right, let us move onto this big guy.” Kader sighted the Shromet Levine PIU. Hard to miss really.
“The Shromet… this was the one I was talking about the testers really liking. Its performance on the course is about what you would expect though.” Karim started, flipping to the Shromet’s report.
“It should be the slowest one of the ten.” Kader noted the unit. “It is the biggest one.”
“It is the slowest on the course, not ideal for use in a chase. Not the slowest in acceleration at least. But it does have a very well sorted suspension. Handled the offroad obstacles easily, while being very comfortable.”
“So how it handles daily routine is why your team likes this then?” Bousaid went to the conclusion.
“Oh yes. When you drive this, you really feel powerful. But even with it being so big it is easy to drive, it is easy to maneuver. And it is the nicest to ride. Also it can carry the most, but we could all see that from the outside.” Karim said. “But with its performance on the course, I would not recommend it as a patrol, a transport perhaps?”
“With its price as well, a transport might be the best option for it.” Bousaid agreed.
“I’ll take a look at the reports later and keep that in consideration. How about this one?” Kader pointed over to the FangWeng Liberation.
“Cheap option, it was.” Karim remarked.
“That it was, 25% cheaper than the rest on average.” Bousaid added.
“That 25% does come from somewhere. It was faster than the Shromet around the course, but it should be. Slower than everything else but that’s not the issue with it.”
“We did put this in to satisfy Naaji. What is its issues?” Kader inquired.
“Suspension. If the Shromet had the best suspension setup, this one had the worst. Very stiff ride, it barely even climbed any curbs. We definitely damaged the bumpers and skirts trying.” Karim answered.
“Not very comfortable, but how was it on normal patrols?” Bousaid also asked.
“It is a manual so you expect it to be less easy than an automatic.” Karim started. “But the worst part is how little you can actually put in it. With two officers and our usual equipment, the car would actually bottom out once we put people in the back.”
“Definitely not ideal.” Kader commented.
“It is at least easy enough to fix, and cheap parts.”
“It wouldn’t have been my first choice, and hearing this it won’t be my choice.” Kader then looked over to the next vehicle, the Wallys Commando Interceptor. “How about this one?”
“This one was tough. When we did the inspection after going through our course, it was like we only sprayed some dirt on it and scratched the paint. Nothing else shown any wear or tear.” Karim started, slipping to the Wallys report.
“How was its performance?”
“Fairly adequate, it was among 5 of the other vehicles that had roughly the same times around our course. Slightly faster than average, I would say actually.” Karim quickly glanced at the report again. “On the offroad it did about as expected for a sedan, it can mount curbs but if we go deeper we do anything more you should use one of the SUVs - other than the Honghu.”
“So its bulletproof, figuratively, and decent performance. How about patrols?” Bousaid asked.
“On the road it handled just a bit better than the Fangweng, but for the price difference I would have expected it to be better. A downside to its body on frame construction is that it had poor mechanical grip. Better than the Shromet but not amazing. Loading and unloading equipment was not too bad, certainly had the capacity for it.”
“Sounds like aside from its construction, its not particularly a standout.”
“We also have to remember about its price.” Bousaid added.
“Don’t remind me too much or I’ll start to think you’re Naaji.” Kader laughed. “Let us move on, anyways. How about the Ersatz, I believe.” He pointed over to the Ersatz Queue 5 GT.
“Better than most I would say. Coming in reading what it had equipped we would have thought this would be one of the slower vehicles. It performed about the middle of the pack however, while also having the offroad capability similar to the Shromet.”
“Versatility then. I would think this was pretty comfortable, with it having the nicest interior.” Kader noted.
“I would actually say its only about average. The interior is nice, yes, but with the solid rear you can still really feel the bumps. That being said, its still easy to drive thanks to its automatic. Also has decent mechanical grip, much better than you would think for a SUV ”
“This one is sounding like a good option from what I’m hearing.” Kader remarked.
“Definitely performed better than expected in the areas we didn’t expect, and met them where we expected it.” Bousaid added.
“We do have 5 more cars to see however, let us move on.”
Karim lead Kader and Bousaid to another wing of the garage, where the last 5 being tested were. The first of which, was the Albatross PPV.
“The Albatross, very american cruiser. How was this?” Kader asked.
“In terms of performance, it was about average on our course time. Just slightly slower than the Ersatz, surprisingly. Had some issues with finding grip like the Wallys, but did not have the power to make up for it as much as the Wallys.” Karim answered, flipping and glancing down at his report.
“I did feel this had a very similar philosophy as the Wallys when we first looked at it. Just from a different continent.” Kader remarked.
“But it is a lot cheaper than the Wallys. I assume roughly the same for offroad?” Bousaid added, then continued.
“Yes, that is the case. Where it does do better than the Wallys was daily patrols, as well as usability for transporting equipment. It had a surprising amount of space in its boot for transport, and certainly the load capacity to make use of it.”
“Also sounds like a decent option, though not as versatile as the Ersatz overall.” Kader noted. “How about our lifted wagon option over here?” He looked over to the BT Motors Pantera.
“An interesting one this. Very capable in a few aspects, but has to make a few sacrifices to do so.” Karim started, slipping to the BT Motors report.
“It is very much lifted.” Kader said.
“And that did, we believe, is what hindered its performance slightly. That being said, its not too far behind the Albatross on the course time.”
“I would assume it did well offroad?”
“Yes, the lifted nature of it had it perform excellent offroad. Not as well as the Ersatz or Shromet, but very well regardless. But the main sacrifice was in its comfort. It had the most body roll of the 10, even more than the Shromet. Easy to drive however.”
“So its one that’s capable, but with some small sacrifices.” Kader noted. He then looked over to the next vehicle. The Mondo EB10 Enforcer.
“This one. This was the actual fast SUV. It actually blew everything else out of the water in terms of course times, while matching the Honghu’s straightline acceleration.” Karim said, flipping the the Mondo’s report. “Its road holding grip is unmatched by any other, even if we put the same compounds on any of the other 9.”
“Impressive.” Kader looked over on Karim’s report.
“Not much sacrifices to offroad capability with this either, performing as well as BT Motors. Not as easy as the Ersatz or Shromet but even still, more than enough for our line of work.”
“Sounds very impressive on the performance front, but how about it on daily use?” Bousaid asked.
“It is a high powered manual, so less easy than the automatics for sure but something we can definitely live with. Ride is very well tuned as well, so no way of fatigue on longer patrols. Storage capacity and load capacity matches the other SUVs - save for the Shromet.” Karim ansered.
“Sounds like an impressive piece of work, this Mondo. But we should cover the next two before making a decision just yet.” Kader looked over to the Hawker Constantine PPI.
“Ah yes. The Hawker is behind the Mondo on our performance course, but has nearly as much of a gap from the Mondo to this to the Honghu. That V8 is very impressive indeed.” Karim started.
“So would be the be the top dog had the Mondo not been here.”
“That is correct. It does about as well offroad as the rest of the sedans, no surprises there. However, this is a very nice cruiser indeed. Driving it about is easy, pretty close to the Shromet I would say, but with performance as well. Also a very comfortable ride.”
“That is sounding good.” Bousaid started. “But how about its storage, it is one of the smallest here.”
“Its adequate, obviously not as much as one of the SUVs, but it has enough for our equipment. And has way more load capacity that you would ever need to fear it bottoming out.” Karim replied.
“Right, let’s move onto our last car here.” Kader walked over to the Grehet Skyhold.
“The Grehet. I’ll admit we did test this last, and perhaps that will show in what I say.” Karim admitted.
“That could either be good or bad.” Bousaid said.
“Yes. Of the 5 average performing cars, this was the fastest of the 5. That however is still a good ways off from the Mondo or Hawker.” Karim started. “Along with that, it performed about average offroad as well.”
“Sounding like its the middle of the pack from what you’re saying.” Kader said.
“Yes. And that theme runs along with the rest of the results as well. Regular driving, it was decent but not a standout, same with storage capacity. Load capacity was on the lower side, but still adequate.”
“Price wise it is around the middle of the pack here as well.” Bousaid noted.”
“So, its good, but doesn’t particularly stand out in any of our tests.”
“Exactly, and that’s why I say testing it last might have been bad for it.”
“Either way, we need to make a decision at this point.” Kader put his hand out for the reports. Karim handed them over, and Kader picked out the one he knew was the best of the ten. He handed Mondo’s file over to Bousaid.
“Get this contract approved, we might as well try to get this machine in our fleet as soon as possible.”
“Yessir.”
The Mondo EB10 Enforcer became the official Dalluha police cruiser in 2011. Though through the years some of the other top ten (as well as a few other models) had been added to the fleet for one reason or another, it had made up for a large amount of its fleet in a few years time.
Congratulations @Ezdmn!
Final results:
2. Hawker Constantine PPI @USDMFTW
3. Ersatz Queue 5 GT @ElMenduko
4. Albatross PPV @ZSCHMEEZ
5. BT Motors Panthera Police @EddyBT
6. Grehet Skyhold @koolkei
7. Shromet Levine PIU @DoctorNarfy
8. Honghu 8x8 SWB @yangx2
9. Wallys Commando Interceptor @VMO
10. FangWeng Liberation @Flamers