Piston Slap: 38,000 Impala Police Cars Recalled, Chevrolet Claims Victory?

TTAC commentator Sinistermisterman writes:

Why isn’t Sajeev all over this one like a rash? GM recalls 38,000 cop cars.

Sajeev answers:

Well, I do have a job outside of TTAC! But you have a good point. To wit: OMG SON PANTHER LOVE FTW!

The obvious “niche” rant about the need for a proper American sedan with a proper frame aside, there could be a bad batch of parts and not a failure of the entire platform. Cop-spec Impalas have unique control arms, since the civilian version is just fine. But this shows the value (or lack thereof) in a wrong-wheel drive, fleet specific application. Time is money, and the Impala just wasted a lot of time for fleet managers around the country. But the Impala is history, there’s no more FWD in GM’s cop car coffers.

So who is the real loser? Ford. The Crown Vic killers are the only folks offering a wrong-wheel drive cop car, so the writing is on the wall: spindles, ball joints, half-shafts and control arms in a FWD platform are a big threat to Law Enforcement. No matter how you beef ’em up!

And who is the winner? Chevy. But not the Caprice, the Tahoe. When the dust settles on Panther Love in the next 2-3 years, there will be another clear winner in Cop Car land: a durable, versatile, comfortable and fuel-efficient body-on-frame Chevrolet Tahoe.

Don’t buy the fuel efficiency comment? I suspect many fleets are used to budgeting for 4-speed automatic Panther levels of gas suckage, so a lateral move to the 6-speed Tahoe won’t raise eyebrows in their communities.

And if they do? Well, have a look at the alternative’s lack of control (arm). Off to you, Best and Brightest!