Ford came in w/ their newest and best..

[Mt Twigbert]

Ford came in with the newest Taurus Police Interceptor and Explorer.. Guess they are taking these all over in hopes of getting the business since the Crown Vic is done next year..

Boy were these nice!

My only complaint is they just aren't big enough.. These modern cars have the cockpit built around the driver.. Problem is, the driver is wearing a gun belt, vest, radio, ect and that adds like 4 inches to either side of your hips.. And a cockpit that is built around you and then you toss in radios and computers just makes that ideal cockpit just too small.. I hate to say it but the old CV just has more room..

Dunno what the chief is thinking.. We will see though.. We add about 40 cars a year to the fleet so what ever we get will be coming soon..

Sorry but all I had was the iPhone for pics..

And then we had 2 brand new CVs there which, frankly, looked tired compared to the new ones..

 

[JDWhite98GT]

Very nice. I would Shit my pants if I saw those coming up behind me lol. Are the fleet Taurus' SHO's ?

 

[lxtasy93]

I'm afraid once the LEO's see the new Caprice it may be a short battle, if it has the interior room it's supposed to. Personally I like the Chargers as an Interceptor but they all need to be tuned for the trans to act properly and no agency is gonna spring for 40 Diablo Predators to make them right. We'll see but I know at least our local agency here is now holding the CVPIs until 150k before retiring them for all the same reasons you stated. Great pics, thanks for sharing !

 

[Mt Twigbert]

Dodge gave us a Charger to drive a few weeks ago.. Officers got to take it out and write a review.. Too bad Ford would't let us drive these bad boys..

From what I have seen no 1 car is perfect..

IMO:

Taurus: Too small for driver (bigger officers, uncluding muscle or fat) had a very hard time getting in and out..

Charger: Geat room for the driver but a mother to get a prisoner in the back with the cage in place.. Although, I suggest just putting them in head first. =)

Caprice: Yet to be seen..

Impalla: The Sheriff's dept have these and the officers hate them.. Not much room for the driver and the FWD is less than ideal for inner city driving..

I was talking to our garage manager who in in charge of our fleet and he said our Chief saw the room restrictions of the Dodge and Ford so was leaning toward the Caprice.. Dunno, time will tell..

 

[oldmodman]

How much of the buying decisions are based on officers requirements?

And how much is cost driven?

I have talked to several motor officers that just hated their departments current stock of bikes and would much prefer to keep their older Harleys in operation.

I'm sure that similar things happen with cars.

 

[Scottyk]

I designed some "stuff" for the inside of the new ford police cars, not sure if they ended up using it or not, anything say Rockwell Collins on it?

 

[COBRA90GT]

Need room? Take one of the bread trucks out instead.

 

[thomas91169]

I dont understand, why not just keep the CV platform going?

By now ford should be able to pump out that old stuff at $15k cost, if that. Theyve already covered their R&D costs probably a decade ago. There isnt anything new to engineer about the CV. Id say tool a small plant and pump them out for cheap status, that way at least the departments that cant afford the newer styled cars can still buy new CV's to replace worn out ones.

 

[tistan]

The other thing I like about crown vics is that I can spot them from a mile away. These new cars are alot harder to pick out.

 

[turbov6joe]

Our fleet of Vics have been gone for a while. Since then, we have been rolling the Impala. To my surprise they are holding up well to county gravel road abuse, will run ~140 mph without a lightbar, and get decent fuel economy. For the larger Deputies room is at a minimum, but we make due. I pitched getting Tahoes for everyone, but the Sheriff won't bite on any SUV's that are not 4X4 I'll be waiting patiently for the Caprice to make it to GSA...RWD, power, more interior room, and completely redesigned for PPV use.

 

[harry gilbert]

I dont understand, why not just keep the CV platform going?

By now ford should be able to pump out that old stuff at $15k cost, if that. Theyve already covered their R&D costs probably a decade ago. There isnt anything new to engineer about the CV. Id say tool a small plant and pump them out for cheap status, that way at least the departments that cant afford the newer styled cars can still buy new CV's to replace worn out ones.

I suspect some of the reason Ford discontinued the CV was the problems they had with exploding fuel tanks, and the need to equip the police cars with fuel bladders. Yeah, the tooling had been long paid for, but legal expense was an issue. At least that's what I heard. I had wanted to buy a CV for comfort on my annual trips down to Florida and back, but I guess I'll buy a Taurus to replace the Ford 500..

 

[black92]

Just curious as to how roomy the new Explorer is? Looking forward to checking one out in person

 

[fst64_v8pwr]

*removed by moderator - please post constructively and on topic*

 

[aquill1]

I suspect some of the reason Ford discontinued the CV was the problems they had with exploding fuel tanks, and the need to equip the police cars with fuel bladders. Yeah, the tooling had been long paid for, but legal expense was an issue. At least that's what I heard. I had wanted to buy a CV for comfort on my annual trips down to Florida and back, but I guess I'll buy a Taurus to replace the Ford 500..

I don't think the fuel tanks exploding is an issue anymore since they fixed it , if anything they'd want to keep the platform going to recoup the costs of the lawsuits. Personally I don't understand how they expect a car to get rear ended at 75mph and not do something like explode. To me it all relates back to the whole coffee spilling on your lap, however it is unfortunate when it does happen.

My question is how easy the shotgun will be to remove from the taurus? They show an AR in the pics I've seen but it kind of looks like a pain to get out in a hurry. All the new cars look like they will be cramped for any front passenger, just like the charger is. It sure will be interesting to see how this all works out in the end.

No matter what happens I will miss the crown vic.

I can imagine that my dept isn't resting easy about the crown vic being discountinued especially with all of the doors, glass, interiors, lights, shells, rims, tires, engines, transmissions and other random crap that we have laying around that will be useless.

 

[jshen]

Is there ANY American car out there -NOT suv- big enough to accomodate all the gear, computer, cage, etc officer's need? I agree with posters- keep the Crown Vic...Ford would sell everyone of them- but I think the CAFE average has something to do with all this. The Caprice is a smaller car...same frame as Camaro so I don't see that helping. Remember the Dodge Magnum was first introduced as a police car- Dunno what happened- except Charger looked better.

 

[aquill1]

Being that the vehicles are for govt use, I can't imagine that the fleet vehicles are subject to CAFE standards.

 

[Sn95Snake]

Those things look really sleek and nice. But i agree the front seats should be much bigger. I sat in one at a car show and i had trouble getting in and out. Im only a 19 year old guy thats 6'1 i feel bad for anyone bigger than me.

 

[04 MysticMan]

From what I understand is that Ford only makes the CV in one plant in Canada. They have a contract through 2012 (model year). It can only be bought as a fleet car commercially. And from what I am hearing is that Ford isnt going to renew the contract with that plant.

 

[SVT F15O]

I dont understand, why not just keep the CV platform going?

By now ford should be able to pump out that old stuff at $15k cost, if that. Theyve already covered their R&D costs probably a decade ago. There isnt anything new to engineer about the CV. Id say tool a small plant and pump them out for cheap status, that way at least the departments that cant afford the newer styled cars can still buy new CV's to replace worn out ones.

I suspect some of the reason Ford discontinued the CV was the problems they had with exploding fuel tanks, and the need to equip the police cars with fuel bladders. Yeah, the tooling had been long paid for, but legal expense was an issue. At least that's what I heard. I had wanted to buy a CV for comfort on my annual trips down to Florida and back, but I guess I'll buy a Taurus to replace the Ford 500..

I heard of one main reasons is crash test safety ratings. It wasn't regarding the fuel tanks though. It was more geared to the "b" pillars and roll over tests.

 

[turbov6joe]

The CV is a boat compared with the newer cars out on patrol now. The tranny was junk, the engine way under powered, the seats offered no support, and the overall durability was less than great. Yes they had pretty good room, but all things considered, it was time for them to be put out to pasture.