Posted on 01/16/2010 6:15:13 AM PST by DogByte6RER
Cops shop for new cars after Ford stops making Crown Victoria
By STEVEN ELBOW
The Capital Times
Thursday, January 14, 2010 5:30 am
In the near future, you may not see that iconic Ford emblem you may have been unlucky enough to glimpse beneath the flashing red and blue lights in your rearview mirror. Local police are getting ready to move to new squad cars.
Ford announced last year that it’s ending production of the ubiquitous Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, which for nearly two decades has dominated the squad car market nationwide. The move will shake up the look of police car fleets as law enforcement agencies scramble to fill the gap.
Madison residents can expect to see several Dodge Chargers hit the road in February as police begin to explore their options. With their sleek design, the Chargers will be in stark contrast to the boxy fleet of Crown Vics.
“They’re definitely a sharp-looking car,” says Sgt. Eric Tripke of Madison’s traffic safety team.
While the department plans to keep an eye on the market and experiment with other models as they become available, there are few options in the short term.
“Right now, the only police package vehicle other than the Crown Victoria that’s out there that we thought would meet our needs is the Dodge Charger,” says Capt. Richard Bach, who heads up traffic services for the Madison Police Department.
That is likely to change as competition for the squad car market heats up.
Ford ended production of the consumer version of the Crown Victoria in 2007, and has been seeing increased competition in the police car market, leading to the decision to replace the aged workhorse with a new, yet-to-be-unveiled Police Interceptor in 2011.
The Dodge Charger is already scooping up market share while Chevrolet readies a revamped Caprice for a 2011 release. And newcomer Carbon Motors Corp. plans to produce the first car designed exclusively for police work, in 2012.
Carbon Motors’ futuristic cop car, now only a prototype, is generating a lot of buzz. It has a 300-horsepower clean diesel engine, an onboard voice-command computer with instant license plate recognition capability, shotgun mounts, an ergonomically designed driver’s seat that accommodates bulky utility belts and gun holsters, and even an option for detecting biological and radioactive weapons. It also reduces the ick factor that comes with transporting intoxicated passengers who tend to vomit or urinate inside the vehicle: it comes with a drain. And it is expected to have twice the estimated lifespan of the average police car.
The downside? The price, which is around $50,000. But Bach says the $21,500 Crown Vic actually costs about $46,000 by the time it’s outfitted with many of the accessories that will come standard with the Carbon Motors police car.
At just over $21,000 for a V-8 engine and $20,000 for a V-6, the prices of the Chargers are comparable with the Crown Victorias. The city has purchased its 10 new cars with a federal grant.
Whatever squad car Madison police officials pick for their entire fleet will be the successor to a long line of vehicles, which have included Ford Fairlanes, Plymouth Gran Furys and Dodge Diplomats as well as Chevy Impalas, Caprices and Novas, not all of them well-received by officers.
“I remember the Dodge Diplomats, and quite honestly they were a piece of junk,” Tripke says.
Bach says the department’s experiment a few years back with Ford Tauruses also was a failure, mainly because they were expensive to maintain. With the beating they took from officers hitting curbs, crossing medians and driving at high speeds, the front-wheel drive made for serious drive-train problems. Now, most law enforcement agencies will buy nothing but rear-wheel-drive squad cars.
Many departments, including those in New York City and Seattle, are experimenting with hybrids, both as patrol vehicles and for non-patrol officers such as command staff or detectives.
Monona Police Chief Walter Ostrenga went that route a year ago, buying a hybrid Toyota Camry for a detective’s use.
At more than $23,000, it was more than a Crown Victoria, but it gets 38 mpg in the city and Ostrenga says he hopes the car will last for 10 years. But he also says it isn’t suitable for patrol work because it’s not effective for high-speed pursuits.
“If we were just in the city and didn’t have to go out on the highway or the Beltline we might be able to pull it off,” he says.
With budget constraints in cities nationwide and uncertainty about the squad car market, many agencies have put off squad car purchases. But they can’t put them off for long.
Bach says the average lifespan of squad cars, which are driven hard and often run 24 hours a day, is three to four years. That means Madison’s entire fleet of about 120 pursuit-rated vehicles will change over by about 2013.
Facing similar circumstances, the Dane County Sheriff’s Office has already put five new Dodge Chargers in the hands of its traffic team, and so far deputies have given them a thumbs-up.
“I think it’s a great platform to work out of,” says Deputy Steve Mueller, who’s driven the model for about 18 months.
He says equipping the car was a challenge. A lot of police equipment, including things like passenger cages, shotgun mounts and radar mounts, were made specifically for Crown Vics, since they account for more than 75 percent of the police vehicle market. But once the equipment was in place, the Charger has performed well, displaying better handling and stability, not to mention comfort.
“Under performance situations, the car handles so well that it’s much easier to drive so we can concentrate more on the law enforcement duties we have to do and less on the driving,” he says. “It keeps us safer in that way.”
Despite the extra power of the hemi V-8 engine, Mueller says he’s seen about a 10 percent increase in fuel efficiency over the Crown Vic due to the fact that the hemi engines automatically shut down four cylinders when the car is idling, which is often.
But there are a couple of negatives. The passenger seat is cramped because police equipment situated in the center of the cab encroaches on it. It’s also more difficult to lock the car with the engine running. And there’s a delay when the car is put in reverse as the gears catch up, making it more time-consuming to make a Y-turn, which officers have to perform more often because the car has a wider turning radius than the Crown Vic.
Madison plans to put five Chargers on the road with V-6 engines and five with hemi V-8s. Tripke says that while he’s had the chance to drive one of the new cars, the traffic safety team is not included in the pilot project. The vehicles are being given to regular patrol officers because the department considers that a better indicator of how they will perform during typical use.
The V-8s are expected to have better durability and speed, which Tripke says is making some of his colleagues wish they were in the pilot project.
“There’s a lot of officers just itching to get behind the wheel of those Chargers, especially the hemis,” he says. “They’re going to be a good short-sprint vehicle.”
They used a severely modified Aussie-issue version of the Ford Falcon.
Haven’t been made in decades and nearly impossible to find.
[yes, I’ve looked]....:))
Here’s “The Story Of...”
http://www.madmaxmovies.com/cars/mad-max-interceptor/index.html
>There are a lot of older LEO’s out here who swear by their pre-’72 Mopars, but time tends to give a rosy tint toa lot of things. I can recall that a sheriff’s department from my youth had some hot - by the standards of the time - Plymouth Fury interceptors that seemed to be bulletproof (mechanically).<
I remember those cars. They had a sound like no other when the cop turned on his lights and punched them, opening up that 4-barrel and taking off after some hapless speeder.
Naw, I didn’t like coffee and donuts in the car. I made it a point to walk the 15 steps to the donut shop to stay in shape. :)
Best ever were the 75-79 Nova 9C1 cars ... 350/turbo400/12bolt , excellent handling , same big brakes as the Caprice/Impala police(or towing) package and not too big ,, big city departments HATED the big 90’s Caprice ,, a perp could lose them just by going down an alley where they couldn’t follow and they all knew it.
Smart choice... not a model that is a relic of the agricultural era so many others seem to relish...
But we can’t have the cops enjoy the driving more than doing their jobs!
I do too. In 1975, as an incoming freshman at the University of Wisconsin, a friend (fellow about-to-be student) and I went to one of the finer adult entertainment extablishments that were once housed on King Street in Madison, just a couple of blocks from the State Capitol. After being the victims of over-service for a number of hours, we stumbled around the Capitol square, unwisely choosing to tip over the trash cans as we headed back for campus. On the Mifflin Street Side we tipped one over only to realize that the Dodge Diplomat at the curb was occupied by two of Madison's finest. We ran back to Wisconsin Avenue, and headed down the street only to find that the cops had circled the block and were now staring right at us. The rest was a mixture of the leniency of the Madison Police and a concession to the fact that it was incoming student week (and students will get drunk), but after we righted all the trash cans the officers took us for a ride which seemed in the direction of the police station. We thought we were done for, cooked, about to be arrested even before registering for our first semester of classes. But they were just instilling fear in us and turned off one block before the station, instead depositing us at our dormitory with the directive not to do it again.
In the back of the Diplomat you felt like you were in a bad cab. I think they had the mighty 318 cubic inch V8, and were unreliable slugs, not to mention cramped.
Oh no! What ever will the gangstas put 22” rims on now?
Thanks for your testimonial, but it doesn’t address the claim that most law enforcement professionals thought the “94-”96 Caprice was the BEST police package ever made.
It’s good to see that Ford wised up. What would be their chances in bidding against Hussein motors (formerly GM) for the Police car contract??!!
Lose the business? It seems as if Ford has decided to walk away from the business!
And, if they planned on a replacement for the Crown Vic to be available in 2011, why would Ford stop production now and let some other car company gain market share?
Geez!
First, what the hell could that guy in the back be sooooo interested in taking a picture of???
Second, if you “right click” this mouse, do you get a little click, or a squeek???
You know, that car looks very comfortable on a golf course...
Payne Stewart would be proud!!!
I thought they decided on the Charger.
Believe it or not, Dodge has made some really fast muscle cars over the years.
LOL. I didn’t see the guy in the back. Good eye! Since the accelerator is on the right and the brake on the left I think if you “right click” this mouse you’re more likely to get a drop down menu:
slow,
slower,
slowest,
that hill is too steep!
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