American Police Cars

[jbi]

The performance and fuel economy of the current list of police cars available to the Yanks has been released



Slightly off beat I know, but thought it might be of interest to some folks on here

My personal pick would be the caprice 6.0 V8. It just looks so unassuming, but packs that V8 punch.

[GnuBee]

How do they manage to obtain a combination of huge engine, appalling MPG and poor performance?

Ford Crown Victoria, 4.6L V8 does 14MPG in town and still takes 9 seconds to 60?

Things get slightly "better" with the Caprice V8 which manages a 6.28 seconds to 60 whilst drinking 1 gallon every 15 miles requiring a 6.0L V8.

[jbi]

The crown vic v8 is ancient and now out of production. Its performance is similar to other engines of its era... e.g ls400

The slow 0-60 times and mpg is due to the huge amount of police equipment on board

[PumpkinSteve]

I guess you don't need decent fuel consumption when your petrol costs pennies.

[wst]

Pretty appalling figures, yeah. Surely there's some better cars available for the job? OR at least, better cars could be made for it... I know they like their body-on-chassis construction for cop cars so they can use the PIT manoeuvre without twisting everything up, but considering that life isn't actually like Grand Theft Auto most of the time, I'd have thought the 'average' Police Cruiser could be something a bit more modern, maybe have a few V8 Interceptors of the Crown Vic. sort lying around if they need to stop someone more violently...

[jbi]

wst said:

Pretty appalling figures, yeah. Surely there's some better cars available for the job?

Can you suggest any?

[davepoth]

wst said:

Pretty appalling figures, yeah. Surely there's some better cars available for the job? OR at least, better cars could be made for it... I know they like their body-on-chassis construction for cop cars so they can use the PIT manoeuvre without twisting everything up, but considering that life isn't actually like Grand Theft Auto most of the time, I'd have thought the 'average' Police Cruiser could be something a bit more modern, maybe have a few V8 Interceptors of the Crown Vic. sort lying around if they need to stop someone more violently...

You'd be amazed how much life is actually like Grand Theft Auto in America. The Crown Vic, with a massive and specially beefed up frame, meant that most pursuits would be ended in ramming because they knew it wouldn't wreck the car too badly. The engine, gearbox, and axle were all very understressed for the power and will last for moon mileages, and it's a very easy car to work on due to the construction.

[bakerstreet]

jbi said:

The crown vic v8 is ancient and now out of production. Its performance is similar to other engines of its era... e.g ls400

The slow 0-60 times and mpg is due to the huge amount of police equipment on board

Don't think so. The body on frame construction will mean the cars like the interceptor will weigh close to 2T. ALso I'm guessing the transmission will a low tech auto which won't be the quickest thing on the planet. I'd be amazed if some of the older ones have 5 gears.

We went to New York in January and we saw a lot of interceptors and quite a few Prius too.

[AnotherClarkey]

I think finding a decent replacement for the Crown Vic is not as easy as it looks. I think that they were absurdly cheap and police garages liked them because after a shunt they could just put them on s straightening jig and bend the chassis back in to shape - not so easy with unitary construction..

[wst]

jbi said:

Can you suggest any?

1974 Dodge Monaco. "It's got a cop motor, a 440-cubic-inch plant. It's got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas."

In reality though I don't think anything is made body-on-chassis, so an alternative would only be built if the cops asked around for a fuel efficient and fast crash'em smash'em cop car. (Or they could use second hand cars until they're knackered, then Mad Max some box section onto the bodywork and use it some more. That'd be fun.)

[jbi]

Just to clarify... the only body on frame car now used by the US police is the chevrolet tahoe SUV.

All of those other cars listed are unibody (apart from the now discontinued crown vic)

[g3org3y]

jbi said:

wst said:

Pretty appalling figures, yeah. Surely there's some better cars available for the job?

Can you suggest any?

And it might even go round a few corners.

[fozzymandeus]

g3org3y said:

And it might even go round a few corners.

Yeah but it's not cool.

[jbi]

g3org3y said:

jbi said:

wst said:

Pretty appalling figures, yeah. Surely there's some better cars available for the job?

Can you suggest any?

And it might even go round a few corners.

Much too expensive to buy and maintain. Volvo donated a bunch of V70's for police work in the states a couple years ago. The consensus was they were "okay" but too unreliable and expensive to fix when they went wrong.

[Number 5]

jbi said:

g3org3y said:

jbi said:

wst said:

Pretty appalling figures, yeah. Surely there's some better cars available for the job?

Can you suggest any?

And it might even go round a few corners.

Much too expensive to buy and maintain. .

But in answer to your original question they are better.

[jbi]

Better for police work or a better car?

Police work would be something with lots of interior room for equipment, cheap to buy/maintain, take extreme amounts of abuse and run for many many miles without batting an eyelid.

Since everything is beefed up on the US spec police cars, I would imagine that they are much better suited to the task, unless BMW was perhaps to offer a stripped out heavy duty police spec version of it's 5 series at a comparable price.

[SuperHangOn]

The Crown Vic is a tank. They have a separate frame and body (like a Defender) and very tough, unstressed mechanicals. No turbos, ruinous acronyms or limp home modes.

Police aren't social workers over there

[David87]

At least they're all American. Around here, rather than use British-built Astras, all the new panda cars seem to be bloody Hyundai i30s. I say we should support British manufacturing and supply all forces with lots of Jaguar XFRs and supercharged Range Rovers.

[davepoth]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFwPXEeJ3aI

I would like to see a 5 series do this.

[jbi]

Okay... here is a list of changes ford made to the standard Taurus to create the Taurus interceptor for police work

75mph Rear Impact certified
Beefed up subframes
Larger radiator/beefed up cooling system
200amp alternator
Redesigned interior (vinyl rear seats/ steering column shifter/ anti-stab seat inserts/ redesigned dash/centre console
Steel wheels
Custom Law Enforcement SYNC system mapped for police use
Redesigned seats with extra bolstering for utility belt
Revised rear door hinges for 10 degrees extra travel allows for easier loading/unloading of perps
Push bars
A-pillar spotlight