Ford's new interceptor Police Car

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You have to remember a few things.
Chrysler had some decent cops cars back in the 60s/70s but GM had the handling/braking section wrapped up (more $ for development).
Then Chrysler gave up on RWD.
GM and Ford duked it out...GM won for a long time..handling and power.
Them GM bailed on RWD in 97. That left only Ford with the Crown Vic.
It handled decent (needed more power and stiffer sway bars) but they had no competition so why spend money on making it better.
In 2002 they finally put the PI (Performance Improved) heads on them and the power went from about 210 up to around 250.
In the mean time GM was using the FWD Impalas that ALL the cops I know hate them. Ever road race a FWD car?? They wanted their old 9C1 big Impalas back.
Then Dodge finally saw the light and brought out the RWD stuff with the Hemi. But you can't just stick a big engine in a car and make it a cop car....Vettes will scream down the road but it will not be practical.
It took a bit of development and they finally got the Charger done.
Now Ford has come out with the AWD 360hp offering.
Cop Car Wars are heating up.
And all my cop cars buddies are still threatening to plant some dope and conviscate my bosses 7k mile 96 Impala SS.
They loved their old Caprices.

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matthon said:
Anyone know the gas mileage on these cars?
Click to expand...

I had a 92 Crown Vic LX (thanks to the local Dodge dealer, long story). It was my wife's daily driver. 4.6L V8 was excellent on gas. Are you sitting down? On long trips the car would pull 28mpg. That cruising at 75 mph, 2 adults, 2 kids and our luggage in the car, using cruise control, on the interstate (usually traveling from New Jersey to Georgia.

The first time I figured the mileage, I thought I'd screw up. 28 MPG is impossible! My neighbor has a Merc. Marque (same car) so I asked what he was getting, he told me 26-27 on interstate drives of 4 hours or more. I attributed the differences to driving style. I drive much more sanely with family in the car! You can expect to pull low 20's MPG on average.

When my wife got a new car, my middle son took the CV. At that point it had nearly 200K miles on it, and still ran like a top. He got into the engine, rebuilding it with some performance parts (originally intended for Mustangs) and built a pretty good little (actually large) screamer.

By the time he wrecked it, it had warmed over heads, a cam, dual exhaust, a built trans, and he even replaced the rear with a used Moser he purchased at the Turkey Run at Daytona. Larger throttle body and injectors, and a few thousand dollars worth of suspension.

The result was a car that (except for tires, wheels and it's sound) looked pretty much stock, but ran like a raped ape!

The are great family cars, and can be fun hot rods, too.

There are many far worse choices you can make.
 
My family has always owned Crown Vics, starting with my grandfather. The best ones were always the "state" models. My '92 was, maybe, the best car I've ever had. I had a vette at the same time and an Acura NSX. It wasn't in the same legue as the NSX performance wise, but the NSX only had 2 seats and a "trunk" big enough for 1 paper grocery bag. The Crown Vic would keep up with the Vette as long as the road wasn't too curvy. I had to get rid of both the sports cars when our first baby was born - thank God we had the Vic. I fell asleep at the wheel one morning on the way to work and hit a power pole doing about 50 mph. I crawled out, hitch hiked to work and got a tow at lunchtime. Only injury was an airbag burn on my belly. I got 25 mpg consistantly and I didn't drive like an old lady.
My mom currently drives an '05 Crown Vic PEP, It has the chrome grill and all the options of a regular Vic, it was ordered for a police Chaplin, but the city backed out. There is a small uptick in performance, but the main differance is durability, extra oil cooler, high output alt, heavier shocks/struts. Great car. She gets closer to 30 mpg, but she IS an old lady.
 
Dan is entitled to his opinion, I love the Crown Vics, but not everybody does.

Remember the Reliant K cop cars from the early '80s (shudder), I think we can all agree about those.
 
4flats said:
.....thank God we had the Vic. I fell asleep at the wheel one morning on the way to work and hit a power pole doing about 50 mph. I crawled out, hitch hiked to work and got a tow at lunchtime. Only injury was an airbag burn on my belly. I got 25 mpg consistantly and I didn't drive like an old lady.
Click to expand...

As I stated earlier, my son wrecked (totaled) the car. He was involved in an accident with an SUV, and a truck. The car was totaled, but my son walked away without a scratch.

Roomy, safe, excellent mileage, excellent durability, easy to drive, comfortable on long trips, abundant parts availability, V8/RWD, easy to work on, and even the low end models have plenty of options. What's not to like?

I've got to hand it to Ford, even though the car is a dinosaur, they built a pretty good package there, and stuck with a V8/RWD platform when both Chrysler and GM abandoned that geometry.

I agree with 4flats. These car aren't for everyone, but I'm extremely happy they were available, and wouldn't hesitate to own another.
 
I checked the Kelly Blue Book value on a 2003 Crown Vic, no P71 option to select, with 100k and it was $6k. Seems a little high to me.
There is a local guy who has it, just rebuilt the tranny, and he is asking $6,500.
I've seen prices for 2000-2004 P71s in the $2k to $8k range, with mileage of 70k to 180k.

Some people list them as having a 4.6, some list them as having a 4.9- which is correct, or are they both correct?

I have no experience with the Ford engines.

I would like to consider a 96 Impala SS, but it would not make a good winter car.
 
Reading what you all say abuot the Crown Vic I have to say my two cents worth. I worked at the plant that built the Vic's for thirty years, starting of with the Falcon, Pinto and so on up to the Crown Vic. When I retired in 98 the union was putting pressure on Ford to restyle the Vic Ford had a cash cow and left well alone.Cops loved the car for two reasons, one interior roon ,when your in a car all day with all the high tech. stuff and two RWD.Also known as the poor mans Caddy Ford continued to just change the hood decklid fenders and tail lights to keep all the retires and cops happy.Profit was Fords main concern and led the the demise of the CV.Not only are they dropping the Vic they are putting 2400 men and women out of work.Ford had the oppertunity to change the CV to modern standards but wanted to sell the Thuras with a police option. The CV had porpane options witch was mainly for Califoria and many CV were sent to Russia and the Arab states and all over Europe. Family car, yes cop car yes gone come Aug.
 
Love my '97 Crown Vic it's my "Poor Man's Lexus." Bought it 10 yrs ago for $4000. I wish Ford would have done the right thing and redesigned it to modern standards. Guess I'll just keep maintaining and driving mine....
 
I wasn't going to jump in, but... As a retired cop, 25 years, I will state that the best police car I ever drove was the FORD, period... I started in 1968 and retired in 1993. I drove the Polara, Monaco, Impala, Valiants (one year) and the Crown Vic. The Mopars sounded great and topped out about 110-115mph but what a POS otherwise. Didn't last long and fell apart regularly. the worst thing was the brakes, they plain sucked, would overheat and during a chase we had to pray alot. The Chevy was confortable but did float alot at high speed. The Ford was GREAT, without question they were and are super fast, reliable and safe and compared to the Dodge the Ford makes Dodge live up to Move Over People Are Racing, (MOPAR). As for the current generation Charger, have any of you driven one? They are not what they use to be and priced about 10-15 grand more than they are worth. JMHO. Just for your information, Ford is used by local, county and state law enforcement.
 
Cuda67,
You retired just when the Caprices started to get good. And thanks for your service !! I have ridden with a bunch of State Troopers and Deputies in all the years I was on the vol. fire. depts. I also used to teach the EVOC courses and had a blast. A couple of times I used my warmed-up 81 9C1 Malibu to teach the benefits of wearing seat belts. Imagine sitting on the slick vinyl back seat of a car going down a runway at 60 and the idiot behind the wheel unexpectadly spins the car and since you have no belt on, you have now become firmly entrenched in a door on the other side of the car.
There was a standing joke here at Jax S.O. when the 94 Caprices came out. Two deputies could be sitting doing paperwork when a Code 3 call would come out. The deputy in the CV would tell the one in the Caprice to take the call and he will be there as back-up...sometime.
40 hp made a pretty good difference.
I love the way the new Hemi Chargers run and the brakes are good but need to be bigger and have better pads but you know how the bean counters are. And I think the suspension is really good but it needs a bigger back bar as it still pushes too much for me. The government again!

My older brother has an 01 CV as a dd and it does ok. Tows pretty good but it needs an 03-04 Mustang GT engine and tranny. And I keep telling him that.

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How pathetic is this thread guys talking about how good looking COP cars are:dontknow::dontknow:..must be winter..lol...
 
that thing is far too complicated for daily police duties . All-wheel-drive ? Too much to maintain . Turbo engine ? Too much room for error with a spooling turbo . Transverse-mounted drivetrain ? Hangs too low for curb jumping duties .

I like the new 9C1 Caprice , as well as the Charger A38's .
 
I can tell you which one will win the hearts of the cop shops. The lowest priced car will.
 
Everyone needs to understand the driving factor for Law Enforcement agencies will not be the performance or the occupant safety, it will boil down to cost!!! I was in Law Enforcement for 28 years, starting with the Plymouth's in the 70's and ending up in 2000.

The cost to the agency was the deciding factor for all agencies. Agencies in reality do not want pursuits although they are a necessary part of the law enforcement officers daily lives, but if they could successfully place them on mopeds to cut gasoline costs and drop the number of pursuits the administrators and government officials would.
 
not absolutely certain as to why the manufactures have been trying to push that wrong-wheel-drive horseshit for 20+ years now ; Taurus ( with the power steering high-pressure hoses running under the exhaust !! ) ; Volvo ( REALLY ??? ) ; stupid front-drive Impala
( stupid move dropping the 9C1 Caprice , especially since the '95 / '96 models were finally fine-tuned !! ) ; and other random pieces-of-**** .

Low-hanging oil and trans pans are a definite no-go for areas with dog **** streets
( L.A. , all of Riverside County , high desert , etc. , etc. ) and freeways / expressways with their deep-dips , broken pavement , asphalt-to-cement junctions , tar strips , etc. .

We in Calif have some impending doom whose name is Jerry Brown . He was the sole reason as to why the 1976 Valiant / Dart A38's with the 360 were saddled with a single exhaust and that stupid catalytic converter , AND the never-to-be-forgotten 1980 St. Regis / Gran Fury ( "R" Bodies ) with their rip-snortin' 120 hp 318 four barrel ; the cars that wouldn't even reach 100mph !!! Yes , the E58 was available 49 state .

Why did this happen ? Because that worthless turd decided that police cars were also supposed to meet Ca emissions standards !!
Prior to 1976 , CHP cars got special grind cams ( more overlap ) , going as far back as c.1960 .
This is why the "U" code 440 was rated at 290 hp in 1972-1974 in CHP cars .

Nevertheless ...
That 2011 9C1 Caprice looks great ! Saw it at the L.A. Auto Show last year ( 2009 ) ; I initially dismissed it as yet another wrong-wheel-drive Impala , until my friend pointed out that it was actually rear drive .

Charger "A38's" are quite popular around here , with Murrieta P.D.'s fleet consisting almost completely of them , with some Magnum A38's ( Field Supervisor and K9 units ) still in service .
Every one of the officers I've talked to said they really like 'em .

Riverside County still uses primarily Interceptor Crown Vics , with a small fleet of Chargers .
While the 'Vic is roomy , it's also ill-handling at higher speeds , which is only compounded by the shitty Riv Co roads ( potholes you can swim in ; broken-up asphalt ... ) . They also "float" at speeds in excess of 75 mph ( which are reached quite frequently around here on Hwy 74 , I-215 , and other long-stretch roads ) .
 
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