Other than the Crown Vic, which has the lion’s share of the police market practically due to default, I’ve been seeing some Impalas, most notably in New York City. I don’t know how these FWD models stand up to heavy use but heard that they’re liked because they can move a bit better in snow conditions…

And personally (I love the Crown Vic) I think if dodge gets the cop contracts, tisk tisk, shame on ford and chevy for not advancing there cars over the years.

FYI with all the police equipment (incl installation) most cars are around 30-34K

In fact, if Chrysler had really wanted to come up with a new Super Bee that was faithful to the original, they would have just put the Super Bee decals on a $24k V8 Charger cop car instead of on one that was so loaded it jacked the price up to 40 large.

Don’t get me wrong, I love that car!

Your memory of the Caprice 9C1 platform is very accurate – the Arlington plant was converted to truck based SUVs, and most who drove the 9C1 daily (or reviewed them in the proper context) considered the 9C1 to be the best police car – ever. I drove more than one Caprice – and won a 36 department driving course shoot-out with one. And that one had the anemic 5.0 liter V8 – but it out handled the more powerful Crown Vics of the day. I loved it so much I bought a 1996 Impala SS (which I sold in 2003 with 40k miles).

CeeDragon -

Best practices would indicate that uniformity of training, repair (and parts) consolidation, and other budgetary considerations suggest you should buy only ONE type of standard marked patrol vehicle – which is what we’re talking about here. Not to mention virtually every department’s preference for RWD sedans’ handling characteristics, particulary when loaded with all the gear you need for patrol.

Marked patrol cars need to meet certain realistic specifications. When I first hit the road, I can remember dozens of our patrol cars (myself included) being outrun in my 1987 Diplomat that had a top speed of 89 MPH. Over and over and over. That same car could only hold two suspects – a real problem when my usual zone was 25 square miles, or the zone next to it had 36,000 residents – either serviced by a single deputy. It couldn’t tow the 4WD Yamaha Mules we needed for rural patrol unless the rear suspension was modified heavily.

We tried a plethora of vehicles over the years (and I was one of test drivers). We test drove Luminas, K-cars, Diplomats converted to run on propane (really!), Oldsmobile Cieras, Caprices, Crown Vics, Jeep Cherokees, and refurbished Caprices (when they stopped making them in 1996).

Fact is, I think Scions (okay – first gen xB’s) are practical and cool – I’d use forfeiture funds to buy one or two as an “image” car for a department (such as DARE cars), but if you plan to equip the entire metro department in your average million citizen plus area (such as where I live) with Scions or the like – I’d suggest that’s not as practical as you might think. It has less to do with image, and more to do with the aforementioned items – function, specifications, cost, reliability, training, etc.

Fact is – marked patrol cars draw ire or respect (or a shower of bullets – twice in my case) regardless of manufacture. So I’d prefer the best tool for the job. And again – I don’t know in this case that it’s the Charger over the Crown Vic (which are the only two options for most departments).

But I certainly respect your opinion in this matter.

Yeah, the Mazda 3s is less fuel efficient compared to the other cars in the economy class. But hey, you get a considerably bigger engine, more HP, better acceleration and a better overall driver’s car than the Civic’s and Corollas.

My daily driver is a 2002 Corolla, and while I average 37mpg on my daily routine a little piece of my eternal soul dies every time I drive that thing. So really, what would you rather have? Better fuel efficiency or your eternal soul? Better fuel efficiency… eternal soul. Yeah…

On a sidenote I love New York City but that’s one of the few places I’d never want to drive. A mpg in the 20’s is pretty good for that kind of traffic.

The Charger is a decent police package, but it is unproven, and many agencies have deemed them too small, with poor lines of vision for the driver. Intial quality reports have not been entirely positive.

The Crown Vic is still the standard, not that Ford should rest on it’s laurels in the market. Unfortunately, Ford appears willing to lose that market as well chasing a pipe dream of what kind of people will buy their products.

I was referring to the Volvo 850 turbo that was offered in 1997, as well as the S70 and V70 / T5 offered from 1998 to 2000. These were purpose built police vehicles and not consumer models that were pressed into police service by agencies such as those in Vail, Aspen and elsewhere.

I am not aware of Volvo offering a police model in the North American market at any other time and would welcome any additional information that you can offer in this regard.

I thank you for the corrections.

dror

My car is Mazda 3 s hatch 2.3, if there is one thing I dislike about this car is fuel consumption, the whole point of getting a small car for me was fuel consumption.
I live in NYC, so my day is mixed hwy and heavy stop and go.
The advertised MPG on this car (2006) is 25-31, I can only manage 22-25 but on a recent trip to DC, 560 miles all together, I manged 31 to 33! MPG, it was a long trip so I figure there is no mistake on my side, the average speed was 70mph, 85 degrees so the A/C was on all the time it means that I beat the pre 2008 EPA which is a little surprising for me.

Actually, to clear up your misconception, it was a 1980s attempt Volvo – early 80s if memory serves me correctly.

blautens :
September 20th, 2007 at 4:35 pm

CeeDragon -

Would you prefer a patrol officer drive a Scion?

Can you imagine if that happened? What message would be sent?

If we changed the message from, “we’re here with the best tools to pursue you in a high speed chase and arrest you” to “we’re here with the best tools to be friendly and approachable, connect with the community, and tailor our services for you since you pay our salary”.

Perhaps we wouldn’t catch all the criminals in their fast(er) cars. But I would rather invest my tax money into a police culture that works with the neighborhoods and focuses as much on preventing crime as stopping it.

I know. It’s really, really hard. It’s much easier to carry a bigger gun, drive a more intimidating police car, and cruise neighborhoods in those cars than walking the beat.

Know what my favorite police vehicle is? A bicycle. I love these guys/gals who ride them because of the great community work that they do that often goes underappreciated because they prevent more crimes than catch criminals. And when they prevent a crime, they didn’t need a “bad ass” car to haul them to jail.

Blautens, gotta give you props for having those dialogs with your community. I think if more officers did that, we would all be living in a much better world.

Ultimately, I doubt it matters either way. Given the rates of crime in this country (especially in poorer minority neighborhoods) how a few of our police cars look seems rather irrelevant in the bigger picture.

dror: Back in 1993, GM decided to kill the Caprice platform in favor of some boring FWD cars.

The year was 1996 and the Arlington Texas plant was switched over to build more profitable Tahoes, Yukons and Escalades.

dror: Ford decided just to ignore the future and keep making the Phantom platform unchanged since 1979.

That would be the Panther platform, which has evolved since 1979.

MX5Bob: …they didn’t have to decide to kill it, it died because Chevy put that godawful bulge-mobile body on it. Plus, it wasn’t fast enough to get out of its own way, so the few police departments that bought them, dumped them as soon as possible.

The published performance numbers for the 1994 Chevrolet Caprice police model, as independently tested by the Michigan State Police, were 0-100 mph in 21.64 seconds with a top speed of 141.2 mph.

Noted police car expert, Edwin Sanow, has written: “the Caprice was the best overall police car ever made by anybody.” This would mean even better than the Camry Toyota once offered to North American police agencies as well as Volvo’s 1990s attempt at this market.

There is some sort of “cool factor” attached to x police cars, and people in the know are well aware of which police force has better cars.

As a general guideline the “highway patrol” cars are more desirable than the “urban / city cars”.

Police officers can quickly explain why the back seat is moulded plastic or fiberglass, and why the rear floor covering is rubber.

Would you prefer a patrol officer drive a Scion? Patrol cars are tools, like pistols. Form follows function. Much as a Sig-Sauer P226 will always appear just like most other typical 9mm pistols in that class; I would think a RWD, front engine, 4 door sedan with interior space and performance that meets department specifications, state emergency lighting regulations, and the police agencies particular paint scheme will all look similarly as “bad ass” as the next car that meets those specs.

I would suggest that the fact that one person stated this car looked “bad ass” doesn’t make it more or less suitable for law enforcement duty than its competition.

In fact, when people admired the appearance of my patrol car (I drove two test cars for my department), it often started a dialog between the citizen and myself.

Blautens, you’re right, every situation is different… but in communities that do not have a good relationship with the police, I question the image this kind of vehicle would project.

It’s called “visible deterrence”. I’m not saying it works everyplace (sometimes I enjoyed driving a clapped out K-Car and watching idiots commit crimes in front of me – and other officers enjoyed their bicycles), but try running a police department without it and see how many citizen complaints you get because they never “see any police officers”.

Fact is, law enforcement is complicated and changing, and each agency has their own challenges. But almost all departments require a standard, reliable, patrol car – might as well make them a visible deterrent.

Not that I’m a fan of this car – it’s interior is too cramped (once it’s properly equipped for duty) for me. Also, I have also heard more than a few anecdotal reports of serious brake overheating issues (literally flaming brake components), but perhaps they have been addressed by now.