Monday 1st December 2014

Ford Interceptors: Fastest cop cars in the US

Ain't no replacement? V6 Ecoboost beating V8 in police tests suggests different!

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As any motorsport pundit worth their salt will tell you, a real champion retains their title and proves their success at least a second time round. Congratulations then to Ford and its Ecoboost Police Interceptors, quickest accelerating pursuit vehicle in both Michigan and LA once more.

So this is your Interceptor Utility...

How do you get a job figuring police cars? Anyway, the testers found the Sedan and Utility Police Interceptors fitted with Ford's 3.5-litre V6 Ecoboost were quicker than comparable V8s both in a straight line and round a circuit. The numbers? For Michigan State Police the all-wheel drive Sedan recorded a 0-60mph time of 5.85 seconds against 6.31 for 'a competing 5.7-litre V8 sedan with all-wheel drive'. This is actually the Dodge Charger Pursuit, in case you were wondering. It was faster too a 6.0-litre V8 rival (Chevy Caprice PPV) as that recorded 6.17 seconds. To 100mph the Ford extended its lead, 14.19 seconds against 14.69 for the Caprice and 15.63 for the Charger. So there is a replacement for displacement. It's a really big turbo.

For the Interceptor Utility with the same engine, Michigan recorded 0-60 and 0-100 times of 6.55 seconds and 16.13 seconds. The listed 5.3-litre V8 rival (possibly the Chevy Tahoe)could only manage 7.31 seconds and 18.99.

... and the Sedan. Both quite quick it seems

For the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department the tests were conducted at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Again the Sedan was fastest overall and the Utility was in fact quicker than all V6 saloons.

Hopefully because of this swiftness, Ford Interceptor vehicles are apparently the most popular across US forces. Chief Engineer of the Interceptor vehicles Arie Groeneveld said of the results: "Quickly closing the distance between an officer and a target vehicle is key to safely avoiding high-speed pursuits. Our police vehicles are built around officer safety, and outstanding performance is yet another demonstration of that commitment". See, this is all important stuff for stopping the bad guys. And you thought it was an excuse to lark around in a police cars...

[N.B Because police cars are cool here's the link to each manufacturer's range of pursuit vehicles: Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge. Law enforcement never looked so good. Apart from those police Lamborghinis...]

[TheAllSeeingPie]

I don't know why, but I quite like the Explorer the Utility is based off. Shame the original Explorer flopped so we can't have the new one in the UK anymore.

Edited by TheAllSeeingPie on Monday 1st December 11:42