Crown Vics need to be replaced with 3800 powered cars.
 

I was driving around and I see the police dept use Crown Vics. I'm sure it's used in your states too. I wonder why the hell they use them, they're sluggish, handling is iffy at best and they suck on gas. So I think they need to replace the ENTIRE fleet with 3800 powered cars such as the Impala. I realize some Impalas are in service but not enough in my opinion. I have one Impala that serves as a sheriff car. That's it. I mean the Impala is faster, more agile and better on gas. Don't you agree?

ask any cop, he'll want rwd.

Well, I did have a RWD car before my Bonnie and I prefer my Bonnie over my Cutlass. But that's me, I mean all they do is cruise around. Plus a sheriff driving a Crown Vic was recently killed in an accident because he spun out. I suspect it was because of the camber of the road and the fact it was RWD.

Thing about Crown Vics, they can take a lot of abuse, carry a bunch of weight in the trunk, they're RWD, which makes it easier to do some maneuvers required in chases, and they're heavy, which helps when they do PITT maneuvers.
Also, a detuned V8 can handle the abuse they put their cars through a little better than a bossted V6, and they could never put up with the sluggish acceleration of an n/a 3800.

Huh, I was pretty sure the L36 was quicker than the Crown Vic. I'll have to test that theory (not literally).

I wasn't talking about a L67 for the cop car, I was talking about L36s.

Shit, I didn't think throughoutly before I posted.

if they both have the "getaway" gearing, its about a dead heat.

Speed doesn't really matter in a cop car since we have the radio. They want something built like a tank and an engine can handle tons of abuse.

I know that after the Caprice went bye-bye, alot of our local departments tried various different FWD cars, including Impalas, Tauruses, and Intrepids, and they have all gone back to using the Crown Vic.

One of the other things I forgot to mention is that the Crown Vic has a pretty large back seat and door, which makes it easier to get people in and out.

Sorry, but having driven them both, there is really no difference. This is comparing an 05' LeSabre with 2.83 hearing vs a 02' Vic Intcep. Concidering a NA Impala with the Intcep package has 3.33 gearing it may walk away.

As far as our state is concerned the 5 main State Patrol chase cars are in fact 04' Impalla SS's. A drunk driver passed me coming back from a snowmobile trip. One minute later the Impalla SS blew by our truck so fast it moved the truck. Cop must have been doing 140mph+. Fastest i've ever seen anyone go.

My father has an 04 Crown vic sport package (a civi interceptor w/17" rims and a console shifter), it handles remarkably well, and it has VERY formidable pickup. They are not as sluggish as you may think.. keep in mind that Interceptor and sport package cars have shorter gears to accellerate alot quicker than your standard grandpamobile

and a bit more room in the back seat to toss a few criminals

Depends on who is the lowest bidder for the contact when it comes to replacing new vehicles.

The Crown Vic with a cage in it provides the maximum amount of room when transporting criminals, over any other adaptation of vehicle on the police market. Most departments prefer SUV's though.

A lot of chase cars are mustangs and firebirds, since the chase car will not haul away criminals.

And you have to remember that the crown vic comes from the FACTORY prepared to be beat to hell. I mean i was reading a brochure for the 06's and they even come with ballistic panels in the doors now if you order them. I don't see any GM fleet vehicles with that option... Not to mention the ford parts are cheap and the poilce fleets get a huge chunk of change cut out of them. There's also the fact that the crown vic's are just bigger, aka more weight for ramming and spinning out run-away's. Add onto that they come with reinforced frames... heavy suspension... silicon radiator hoses... aluminum driveshafts... beefed tranny's... higher capacity alternator... EVERYTHING a cop needs from the factory. GM would have to spend big $$$ to compete with any of their FWD cars. Not to mention we all know any FWD GM tranny would nowhere near handle police abuse on a daily basis without being completely reworked. That's something the fleets don't have time to do. Crown vics are really good cars to beat on for cops, besides they only hang on to them for about 100k before selling them off at auction.

Not at all. Police departments don't use the "lowest bidder" approach for their cruisers and interceptors, or they'd be driving Corollas.
Departments use a set of guidelines to choose their vehicles that measure durability, ground clearance, interior usability, ease of entrance/egress, performance, and utility.
Only a few vehicles will meet their guidelines and they choose from that list.
When the Caprice went away and PD's were stuck with lackluster Vics, they experimented around with various FWD vehicles, all of which, including the Impalas, failed to display the durability and utility of the Crown Vic, which Ford was also updating and improving hugely to recapture that market. Simply put, the Vic can take hits and hop curbs that would sideline ANY FWD vehicle, and that far overshadows any performance concerns.
Now that Chrysler is offering Dodge Chargers and Magnums with Police and Interceptor packages, Ford may have some competition for highway cars, but the Vic will still be the main "in-city" police car because of ground clearance issues with Chrysler's platform.

Remember that the SS's got the L67 in 04, putting them 10hp up on the 230hp Vic cruiser and equal to the chipped Interceptors.

Oh..I know for our county in Long Island they go by the lowest bid. Only thing is it has to be a USA built car.

Guess it kinda sucked when Dodge stopped making the 318 Dodge Diplomat. Not the best car but hard to kill and cheap.

250 hp on the c.v.

https://www.fleet.ford.com/showroom/...cPoliceInt.asp

Exception to every rule, and anyplace in LI is going to be doing massive orders, too, so lowest bidder probably works best for them for them, but I'll bet they still restrict their bidders to one or two models of car.

And, yeah, the Dippy was hard to kill. One reason that it's the most coveted car for demo derbies, they're f*cking invincible! :bluetwitch:

Hmm... that's a nice and long-overdue bump in HP...I haven't looked in a while :oops:
Looks like they also eliminated the "Law Enforcement Package" that didn't get the beefed up motor...


I want in here... :shock:
https://www.fleet.ford.com/showroom/...ew/default.asp

my dad has the Ford fleet book and thumbing though it awhile back i saw the stats. I would love to get one. unfortantly they remove the radio now on the police packages so i would need to get something after market

Elberton got an Impala a couple years ago, and the cops still fight over who gets to drive the Impala.

They won't for long. One of the area counties went to luminas, then impalas, and now back to the CVPI. If you research the cop cars, they all are about the same in acceleration, braking, top speed, handling etc. The difference is in durability and room.

Room means a lot when it is your office. Get in an impala with an in car computer, cage, and center console, then a CVPI. The CVPI is spacious campared to a similarly outfitted impala.

Fantastic88 they really use 04 Impala SS's as chase car? Seriously that is sweet those L67's do move well, and uhh did it look stock or did it have the light bar and grill guard. Sh*t glad I don't live in MN haha they all have Vic's around here, and my Bonneville blows all of em off! ;)

i actually DID test that theory once, and no i wasnt running from a cop, i was seeing if i could keep up with :) , luckily he didnt have rear facing radar or i probably wouldnt have a license today.....in hindsight probably one of the stupidest things ive ever done...

i once saw a GP GT give the cops quite a run for their money on Wildest Police Videos.

also lets remember that most NAed 3800s are governed at around 110, which most cops are going to want to be able to go faster than that...and custom PCMs on every squad car? not happenin.

Actually, a wonderful thing that you brought up. I do remember seeing that GP GT, there was a crazy woman driving that. I also recall a Bonneville running away from the police on that show too, I think it was white. The cops couldn't keep up because of its acceleration. Well, the white curse attacked and the Bonne crashed. I DO NOT CONDONE running away from the cops.

Being a big guy and been in too many cop cars to remember, an Intrepid has more room in the back seat then a Crown Vic. And nothing had more room then a Caprice Classic! Except the Tahoe, very roomy :lol:

dude they have impalas here l36 powered cars. My friend has a used police interceptor impala. He says its specially tuned l36 or something :roll:

In town around where I live in MI they use Impalas. On the freeway its still crown vics, but I guess they like the Impalas for around town better or something? Not quite sure but I can imagine that the gas mileage difference (would be noticable around town for sure) and winter driving might have made up their mind. I'm not sure. I do know that the Police Impalas are governed at 118. They also have the 3.08 gearing, not 3.29 like L36's usually do, nor 3.33's like was said earlier. Really the only major drivetrain changes are the 3.08 gears and a power steering cooler. I looked up what the Impala police package included and thats about all it was. Which is why in the end a normal L36 w-body will walk on police Impalas all day long, due to the impalas having taller gearing and a lot more weight with all the police equipment. But it doesn't matter if you can outrun them because the piggy just gets on his radio and you're caught anyways.

Shawn