Top 3 reviews/report HPC78 ChallengeOut the twenty entries that were submitted to the Californian Highway patrol, many were deemed to be an improvement. All cars were faster, had more acceleration and provided more comfort for the highway patrol officers. However, only one company would get the full fleet order of providing the Californian Highway Patrol with a new batch of patrol vehicles. Three contenders finally stood out from the crowd: The Ignis Stella Contender, the BAM G3800 PRC and the Baltazar Basil Magnum Interceptor.
To ultimately determine the winner, the highway patrol board asked instructors Dave and John to write an extensive report of these three top contenders. Dave and John were respected; they both had over 20 years of in field experience, so if anyone knew what would be important in a patrol car it would be them.
Dave and John started with the Ignis Stella Contender, a Columbian import that proved to be a good consumer car. They started with inspecting the chassis. John walked to the Ignis and started to look under the car. ‘Look Dave, this car has a double wishbone in the front and rear, have you ever seen that in the patrol cars we used to drive?’, John asked. ‘No, I have never seen that before, I only heard many of those European import cars have that fancy stuff’, Dave replied. ‘Do you think this will make a reliable suspension?’, John asked. ‘No, I don’t think so, this is what you get if it ain’t American’, Dave replied. ‘Let’s look at those other cars Dave.’ The both walked towards the BAM G3800 PRC. John shouted: ‘What the hell is that? It looks like a family car! Well at least it should provide plenty of space. The suspension is also just like on the other car! It does look sturdy though’. ‘Again double wishbone suspension. I hate all this European stuff. Where are the leaf springs and Macphersons, like proper cars have!’ Dave shouted. ‘I don’t know Dave, let’s have a look at the third car here and let’s see whether it is any better’. The two grumpy old men now walked to the Baltazar Basil Magnum Interceptor. ‘Now that’s a proper American car’, lots of chrome, just the way I like it’, said Dave. ‘Indeed Dave, but it also have double wishbones on both ends’, John replied. ‘True John, but this one has a proper ladder chassis, I always like it if they keep things nice and simple and sturdy. This car might be Brazilian, but at least it was inspired after proper American cars’.
Baltazar Basil Magnum InterceptorNow Dave and John went forward and opened the hood of the Baltazar. ‘Look Dave, this one has a straight four engine. What a puny engine, this must be bad!’ John now walked towards Dave and observed straight four engine. ‘Where is the V8? This is just for kids!’, John shouted. Dave entered the Baltazar and started the engine. ‘Well, do you hear that! This small engine can rev!’ Dave now put his foot on the gas pedal. ‘It does have some decent torque, this thing might not even be half bad’, John replied. John now walked towards the BAM and opened the hood. ‘Let’s see what this engine can do’, he exclaimed. Dave noticed John was excited about the BAM as John was looking under the hood. ‘This thing has a straight six Dave! No V8, but this will do. At least it has more cylinders than the one that you are playing with.’ John noticed that the engine was using a direct acting overhead cam with two valves per cylinder. John now closed the hood and opened the door and started settling himself behind the wheel. He started the engine and tried to rev the engine while in neutral. ‘This car has some decent torque as well similar to that Baltazar’. ‘Really John?’, Dave replied. ‘Ok, I think it is time to look at that third car again.’ Dave moved away from the Baltazar and walked towards the Ignis. Whilst walking towards the Ignis he constantly turned his head to look at the Baltazar. Dave was now standing in front of the Ignis, whilst John was still sitting inside the BAM. ‘What does the Ignis have for an engine Dave?’, John asked. Dave opened the hood and saw to his amazement that there was no V8 in this car either. ‘Well, it ain’t a V8. I think it is again a straight six.’ He noticed however that this one did have more modern technology than the BAM. ‘It looks like an overhead cam with two valves for each cyclinder.’ Dave now closed the hood and started testing the engine in idle gear, as he had done in the Baltazar. ‘Wow! This engine runs smooth and has a beautiful sound’, Dave exclaimed. Dave clearly noticed that a lot of attention was put in the engine. He also noticed that the seats and the car’s interior were nicely done. Sure it was not the nicest interior he had ever seen, but it did have details he could appreciate. It was for sure a bit nicer than the Baltazar, but only a bit. ‘How does that BAM look from the inside John?’, Dave asked. ‘It looks simple and pretty standard, but nothing to complain about Dave’, John replied. They both agreed that the interior of the Ignis was the best in terms of quality finish, but all three cars did not differ a lot from each other.
‘I think we need to take these cars for a spin together to see how the respond and drive Dave. After all that is what counts the most for us’, John said. ‘I agree John. Ok, let’s start with the Baltazar.’ They now both walked away from the BAM and the Ignis. Dave settled himself behind the wheel, while John moved to the seat next to him. Dave started the engine and put the car into drive. ‘Always nice to have an automatic, ok, here we go’, Dave said. The Baltazar now drove from the compound to the test track that was just in front of them. Dave and John noticed that the Baltazar was a bit slow, but on the other hand it was definitely fast enough and it was quite comfortable too. ‘I like these seats and the suspension does its job very well’, John remarked. ‘Yes, the seats are nice, in fact the suspension works indeed very well’, Dave replied. Dave now started to put his foot down on the throttle. The engine clearly had some difficulty getting up to speed, but in the end it got there. ‘Decent performance’, Dave remarked. ‘I wish it would have been a bit more responsive though.’ They now moved towards one of the first corners of the track. It was a fast corner, so the car should have no difficulties there. Dave now clearly had difficulty to keep the car on the track and had to slow down a bit to keep it on the tarmac. ‘That was close’, Dave said. He now started pushing the engine again. ‘Also this car rolls quite a lot I must say Dave’, John replied. ‘Well, it ain’t that much different from the cars I’m used to, so wouldn’t say it is worst at that’, Dave responded. Dave now started to test the car on high speed with fast and slow corners. The Baltazar struggled, but Dave didn’t seem to have difficulties in controlling the car. In fact, the car constantly responded quite predictable. ‘Driving this thing isn’t so exciting, but at least it is easy’, Dave remarked. ‘It is very important that the car is indeed not difficult to control. Otherwise we lose more cars due to damage and bad handling than due to age’, John replied. Dave was starting to like the car more and more, the engine was still a concern, as was the performance, but provided an easy and comfortable ride. ‘Now for testing the brakes!’, Dave mentioned vividly. Dave started to drive around 60 mph and suddenly pushed in the brakes. The brakes made neither a sound nor fuss. The car stopped well within 40 meters. ‘Well, that is good’, John remarked. ‘Yes, it is much better than the car I am driving myself at home. I think we have seen enough of this car for now’, Dave replied. Dave drove the car back to the compound. They both agreed that the car was good enough performance wise, but it would have been nicer if it would have been a bit faster and more responsive. There were things that they both did like very much. The amount of comfort was good and the amount of gas used was also less than expected. Furthermore, the car was quite forgiving if a mistake was made. Good brakes and easy handling made up for the lackluster performance the straight four gave.
Ignis Stella ContenderThey now walked towards the next car they would be driving, the Ignis. John was going to drive and ran towards the car. ‘Okay, let’s get this show on the road’, John exclaimed whilst opening the door as if he wanted to beat Dave to the car. John started the engine and put the manual gearbox into first gear. ‘Rather like that this one has a manual gearbox, but it could become rather annoying whilst driving through town’, Dave said. John drove the Ignis off the compound and to the test track. John started slowly and increased the speed to 60 mph. ‘Ok, first corner. Let’s see whether this one handles corners a bit better’, John remarked. The wheels screamed as they went through the corner, just like the Baltazar, the Ignis had troubles getting through corners at high and low speed. ‘That’s a bummer’, Dave said. ‘I hoped this one would fare better than the previous car, but doesn’t seem to be the case’. John was slightly disappointed, but still convinced that he would find some spots were the Ignis would fare well. ‘Let’s see how fast this baby will go from 0-60 mph.’ John put all his weight on the gas throttle and the car screamed as it went forward. Wheels were spinning, and into first gear, then into second and over 60 mph in 9.1 seconds. ‘That’s much faster than the Baltazar’, John said. However, when John was talking to Dave about the speed of the car, he suddenly had difficulty in keeping it on track when doing high speeds. ‘It’s a powerful car, but a bit difficult to control. I have to keep correcting the wheel’, John remarked. ‘That is not good, indeed you seem to struggle. The Baltazar seemed tamer than this one. It is nice though that we have all these extra safety features on the car though, that is also worth something’, Dave replied. John continued to a stable speed of 60 mph for the brake test. The car stopped barely within 41 meters. ‘A bit worse than the Baltazar, but again it does slightly outperform in terms of raw speed’, John mentioned. John and Dave now decided to go back to the compound. They had seen enough of the Ignis. It performed well when accelerating and provided sufficient top speed. Cornering behavior was just as bad as with the Baltazar and also fuel consumption proved to be much higher with this car. On the other hand the additional safety precautions were welcome and it provided enough comfort.
BAM G3800 PRCJohn and Dave parked the Ignis and looked at the German BAM further down the parking lot. ‘I can’t stand the looks of that car. Why would we need a station wagon?’, Dave remarked. ‘I don’t know Dave. However it is for sure handy when it comes to bringing more equipment to set up speed cameras. We for sure do not need an additional van now’, John replied. John and Dave now left the Ignis and walked towards the BAM. Dave refused to drive, but John was happy to give the car a try. ‘Don’t ignore this car Dave, you might not like the looks, but all that matters is that it offers the best total package’, John told Dave. John settled himself behind the wheel and started the engine. Dave was still clearly annoyed, but his duty was to make sure all the cars were tested so he had to get in. John put the car into first gear and drove off the compound towards the test track. Once there, he started pushing the throttle all the way down to see how fast it would accelerate. The BAM didn’t protest at all, there was no wheelspin and the gearshifts went smooth and achieved 60mph in just 10.1 seconds. ‘I like this car already’, John said. Dave didn’t say a word; he was clearly impressed but would not want to admit that he could be wrong about the BAM. John now started to drive towards the first high and low speed corners to test the handling. With over 100 mph he went through the first high speed corner, though the BAM had some issues in handling the force, it managed to do quite well. Then the low speed corner arrived. John braked and took the corner beautifully. ‘Well, after driving those other cars, I must say that this one does better in the corners and still provides enough speed’, John said. ‘It is still ugly’, Dave remarked. However Dave was clearly impressed by the cornering performance of the BAM. Then all the sudden John pushed the brakes as hard as he could and under the noise of screaming tires the BAM halted just within 38.4 meters. ‘Now those are some brakes!’, John exclaimed. Dave was however with his hands against the dashboard. He never expected the unannounced brake test and was clearly shocked the BAM could brake that well. ‘You can notice this car has ABS’, Dave said after recovering from John’s sudden action. ‘This car has all the nice safety features just like the Ignis has and still handles well too!’, John said whilst returning to the compound. John and Dave now got out of the BAM and started talking about the BAM. Dave started to reconsider his early biased opinion: ‘Even though I do not like its appearance, as a wagon, I cannot argue that it handled the best out of all the cars test and still provides decent fuel mileage’. ‘I agree Dave. Furthermore, it also showed to consider just as much safety as did the Ignis and provides the same comfort as the Baltazar’, John replied. ‘I think I need to reconsider my earlier impression John’, Dave confessed. ‘I still do not like the looks, but I think this is the best car out of the lot we tested. We should start recommending this one’. ‘Agreed’, John replied.
The final report from Dave and John was clear. The Ignis was the fastest, but handled badly. The Baltazar handled very well, but was just a bit too slow and didn’t consider safety as much as the other two. The BAM was on the other hand clearly the best middle of the road car, it handled well, had good performance in the corners, albeit a bit slower in acceleration than the Ignis and it provided good safety and decent fuel mileage. Out of all the contenders they decided to recommend the BAM G3800 PRC as the upcoming patrol car for the Californian Highway Patrol. Congratulations to BAM and Der Bayer for winning the HPC78 challenge.
Any comments/remarks concerning the review? Please post them. This is the first time I tried a narrative report/review, just to do something else for a change. Please tell me whether you liked it or whether you prefer a more traditional review next time.
Anyway I hoped you all like the challenge and had as much fun participating as I had organizing it.
Mon Aug 03, 2015 8:13 pm 
. I gave it my all.
The people at BAM will celebrate the successful introduction of the model on the American market with some beers!