Michigan State Police Testing Not Kind to the New Ford Taurus Interceptor
09-20-2010, 09:55 PM
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Michigan State Police Testing Not Kind to the New Ford Taurus Interceptor New models show how they handle, Ford faces skeptics at police car testing event
BY BRENT SNAVELY
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
Posted: 2:07 p.m. Sept. 18, 2010
A crop of all-new police cars drew more than 400 law enforcement officials to Chrysler’s proving grounds in Chelsea today to see the Michigan State Police put the cars through acceleration, braking, high-speed handling and other tests.
While rain forced the police to suspend testing this morning, Ford, which has long dominated the police car market with its rear-wheel drive Crown Victoria, was working hard to overcome skeptics as it introduced a new front-wheel drive Police Interceptor based on the Ford Taurus.
“They will have a tough time,” said Terry Sweezey, public safety officer from Leoni Township. “It is a whole different driving system.”
Ford has long dominated the police car market with about 70% of the 75,000 police cars sold annually. However, the Dearborn automaker will stop producing the Crown Victoria next August and is replacing it with the far more modern Police Interceptor. The new car has a 3.5-liter V6 engine with an estimated 280 horsepower or a turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 engine with an estimated 365 horsepower.
Ford faced competition today from a newly redesigned Dodge Charger Pursuit police car and the return of the General Motors’ legendary Chevrolet Caprice police car.
Both the Charger and Caprice are rear-wheel drive cars and the Caprice was the market leader before GM discontinued it in 1996. Rear-wheel drive cars are preferred by police departments because they tend to be more durable, perform better, are cheaper to repair and make it easier to perform high-speed handling maneuvers.
“We drove Caprices for many, many years…so with Chevy coming back in with the rear wheel-drive Caprice, we are definitely very interested,” said Marlyn Dietz, a captain with the Wilmington, Police Department.
The Caprice’s 6.0-liter V8 is rated at an estimated 355 horsepower. Dietz said his department also likes the extra space provided by the Caprice. The Caprice also has 122 cubic feet of interior space, which GM says is more than any of its competitors.
“That’s a big deal. When you have two big guys in a car, with a laptop, and you need to have room for them to move around and function,” Dietz said.
Space and comfort are also important because officers spend hours inside their cars every day, he said.
Tony Gratson, sales manager for Ford’s government fleet vehicles, said the performance through curves and in bad weather of the all-wheel drive version of the Police Interceptor is actually better than rear-wheel drive vehicles. Still, he conceded many officers will need additional training to make the transition if departments purchase the cars.
“And we will be prepared for that. We will help them train as we launch our vehicles next year,” Gratson said.
Eugene Mitchell, senior manager of government fleet sales for Chrysler, said the 2011 Dodge Charger Pursuit has 15% more visibility than the outgoing version because of an adjustment to the angle of the windshield. It also has the most powerful engine lineup with a 3.6-liter V6 engine with 305 horsepower and a 5.7-liter V8 engine with 380 horsepower.
Jerry Newbury, fleet operations manager for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Ford’s decision to end production of the Crown Victoria is ushering in a wave of new police cars was long overdue.
“They were very stale, very outdated and technology had not kept up,” Newbury said of the previous Crown Victorias. “I think there are some things coming in the next two or three years that are really going to change the police business.”
Preliminary results from three-day tests hosted by the Michigan State Police are expected in several weeks and final results are scheduled to be published in December.
BY BRENT SNAVELY
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
Posted: 2:07 p.m. Sept. 18, 2010
A crop of all-new police cars drew more than 400 law enforcement officials to Chrysler’s proving grounds in Chelsea today to see the Michigan State Police put the cars through acceleration, braking, high-speed handling and other tests.
While rain forced the police to suspend testing this morning, Ford, which has long dominated the police car market with its rear-wheel drive Crown Victoria, was working hard to overcome skeptics as it introduced a new front-wheel drive Police Interceptor based on the Ford Taurus.
“They will have a tough time,” said Terry Sweezey, public safety officer from Leoni Township. “It is a whole different driving system.”
Ford has long dominated the police car market with about 70% of the 75,000 police cars sold annually. However, the Dearborn automaker will stop producing the Crown Victoria next August and is replacing it with the far more modern Police Interceptor. The new car has a 3.5-liter V6 engine with an estimated 280 horsepower or a turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 engine with an estimated 365 horsepower.
Ford faced competition today from a newly redesigned Dodge Charger Pursuit police car and the return of the General Motors’ legendary Chevrolet Caprice police car.
Both the Charger and Caprice are rear-wheel drive cars and the Caprice was the market leader before GM discontinued it in 1996. Rear-wheel drive cars are preferred by police departments because they tend to be more durable, perform better, are cheaper to repair and make it easier to perform high-speed handling maneuvers.
“We drove Caprices for many, many years…so with Chevy coming back in with the rear wheel-drive Caprice, we are definitely very interested,” said Marlyn Dietz, a captain with the Wilmington, Police Department.
The Caprice’s 6.0-liter V8 is rated at an estimated 355 horsepower. Dietz said his department also likes the extra space provided by the Caprice. The Caprice also has 122 cubic feet of interior space, which GM says is more than any of its competitors.
“That’s a big deal. When you have two big guys in a car, with a laptop, and you need to have room for them to move around and function,” Dietz said.
Space and comfort are also important because officers spend hours inside their cars every day, he said.
Tony Gratson, sales manager for Ford’s government fleet vehicles, said the performance through curves and in bad weather of the all-wheel drive version of the Police Interceptor is actually better than rear-wheel drive vehicles. Still, he conceded many officers will need additional training to make the transition if departments purchase the cars.
“And we will be prepared for that. We will help them train as we launch our vehicles next year,” Gratson said.
Eugene Mitchell, senior manager of government fleet sales for Chrysler, said the 2011 Dodge Charger Pursuit has 15% more visibility than the outgoing version because of an adjustment to the angle of the windshield. It also has the most powerful engine lineup with a 3.6-liter V6 engine with 305 horsepower and a 5.7-liter V8 engine with 380 horsepower.
Jerry Newbury, fleet operations manager for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Ford’s decision to end production of the Crown Victoria is ushering in a wave of new police cars was long overdue.
“They were very stale, very outdated and technology had not kept up,” Newbury said of the previous Crown Victorias. “I think there are some things coming in the next two or three years that are really going to change the police business.”
Preliminary results from three-day tests hosted by the Michigan State Police are expected in several weeks and final results are scheduled to be published in December.
09-21-2010, 07:24 PM
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMc_wd2CnT4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be0oURsxjJU
Overall results of the testing were very favorable for the Caprice and Charger. The top-level Taurus AWD turbo nudged a win in the handling and braking over it's RWD rivals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be0oURsxjJU
Overall results of the testing were very favorable for the Caprice and Charger. The top-level Taurus AWD turbo nudged a win in the handling and braking over it's RWD rivals.
09-26-2010, 11:13 AM
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Do any of these cars have frames? OR are they all uni-body stamped steel construction? Id hate to see one of those push bars get used to hard and destroy a weak uni-body link.
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10-06-2010, 06:17 AM
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Those mid 90 Caprices sure had a lot of room. I can remember looking at the trunk space of my Impala thinking I could fit 10 bodies back there. Haha. It was a boat with a big, big engine for 1996. Now it's 2010 and I doubt I could bring myself to sit in an Impala for a test drive 
10-08-2010, 04:51 PM
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MI State Police: Caprice Cruiser Creams Competition
Chevrolet’s new Australian-imported Caprice PPV killed the field at the Michigan State Police trials for 2011 models, winning 0-60, 0-100 and top-speed comparisons, the braking competition and turning in the fastest average lap time. Dodge’s Charger nipped at the Caprice’s heels, but the day belonged to Holden.
Chevrolet’s new Australian-imported Caprice PPV killed the field at the Michigan State Police trials for 2011 models, winning 0-60, 0-100 and top-speed comparisons, the braking competition and turning in the fastest average lap time. Dodge’s Charger nipped at the Caprice’s heels, but the day belonged to Holden.
10-08-2010, 06:13 PM
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That's great for the Caprice, but the Ford they used is also not the same Taurus that the police over here are using. I'd like to see the same test using a Taurus.
10-10-2010, 03:35 AM
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Gotta say, performance aside, Charger wins in the looks department. I'd be more intimidated by an officer driving a Charger than the other two import looking cars on steelies... I think Caprice and Taurus missed the boat on that one.
10-20-2010, 12:49 AM
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I don't get why they are against FWD cop cars, to me that seems like a better option as they go through more stuff and will get the cops into less trouble.
