Ford has long had the police interceptor market on lock with its tried-and-true Panther platform spawning the nearly indestructible Ford Crown Victoria, a favorite of police departments across the United States, and a staple police cruiser throughout the last two decades.
The latest testing found Ford once again has stolen the show, according to our sister publication Ford Authority, with both its Taurus-based interceptor and Explorer-based patrol vehicle. The Michigan State Police and Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department both concluded Ford’s offerings outperformed the Chevrolet Caprice and Tahoe PPVs and the Dodge Charger PPV.
The Ford Police Sedan demonstrated dominance in nearly all areas, with the LASD recording a 0-60 time of 5.8 seconds for the six-cylinder EcoBoost sedan. That’s versus 6.6 seconds in the police-outfitted Dodge Charger, and 6.7 seconds for the equivalent Chevrolet Caprice.
Mum is the word on what will happen once the Holden Caprice, which becomes our Chevrolet Caprice, finishes its production run at the end of 2017. A stretched Chevrolet Impala, following in the footsteps of the 2017 Buick LaCrosse, is a possibility, just don’t expect a V8 and rear-wheel drive in Chevrolet’s next police sedan.
Comments
If it is not rear drive or All wheel drive, I recommend for (Gm) Chevy to let Ford have it all to them self’s. We will see what happens with their reliability .
The truth is the reliability has been fine. We have all three makes here and the departments with the Ford have down well with them even to my surprise. Even the older Impala FWD did well too.
The leading model here is for most departments to go to the Explorer. They have been popular and durable with the officers. GM needs to really focus any new mid size SUV on this segment and leave the sedan out. Something smaller than a Tahoe and larger than a Nox would really fit the bill. Blazer?
What is really key for most departments today is power but also economy. Gas savings is king as departments need to stretch a dollar today and better MPG is what they really consider anymore.
Also my neighbor said the department took one of their new Ford to a dyno. The Shop wants to tune it for them and they said they could reliably get 650 HP out of the V6. The Department is not interested at this time bit it gives you an idea what is possible.
Doesn’t ford also have the expedition as the police version?
Ford offers the Expedition as a Special Service Vehicle (SSV)
That is not a Pursuit Rated vehicle, so many Agencies don’t buy it for legal reasons.
Rumor is we may see a Pursuit Rated version in the next gen Expedition as a 2017/18 model year.
If Ford offers this they will take away Tahoe sales significantly.
Our local sheriffs office(Pinellas County Fl) is actually replacing all crown Vics with 2014 and 2015+ tahoes. After all the Crown Vics are gone It’ll just be Tahoes and Impalas. How do I know this? Mother works there.
Part of the problem for GM is that the Tahoe and Explorer are not really in the same class of SUV. We had some friends who had an Explorer and it is more like my wife’s Acadia that a Tahoe (smaller, more nimble, IRS). Plus, with the efficiency of an Ecoboost why not? GM would be smart to develop a PPV based on the C1XX platform. I would also like to see them develop a longitudinally based drivetrains for these vehicles. They are all nose heavy in transverse configuration.
Yes the Tahoe is bigger and more expensive to buy and drive.
The Explorer is popular as they have room, Efficent and cheap to buy [note most are not turbo engines] cheap on gas.
This is where a mid range SUV under the Tahoe or smaller than the Acadia would really play well.
As for nose heavy they drive very balanced today and not much like a FWD as they used to. Also most are AWD now too.
There’s are reason why Ford owns 65% of the Police market. The Charger is a sleek Police vehicle but build quality, brakes, and engine issues have plagued its reputation. DOdge doesn’t have a “Pursuit Rated” SUV, the Durango is only Special Service Vehicle (SSV).
GM has a great Pursuit rated SUV in the Tahoe but the issue with the Tahoe is usually price, in North America it’s significantly more than a Ford PI Utility. The other issue is handling, if you have ever driven both the PI Utility handles like a race car and has the acceleration to back it up.
A lot of times the Agency who chooses Tahoe over Utility is doing so for reasons like brand loyalty or personal preference. Its very difficult to justify Tahoe over Utility when you drill down to the actual performance of the vehicle.
Why doesn’t Chevy use the same platform as the CTS to make a police car version. Throw in a 5.3 liter or 6.2 LT1 V8 with an 8 spd auto, 3.42 rear end. It would out perform the Ford and literally beat out the Dodge.
This is one of the reasons I think the new Impala should move to this platform. It would provide a different car than the Malibu. It also would provide a new SS [Camaro 4 door in a way] and it would provide a police package.
The real key would be cost. Could they price it competitively?