The Ford Crown Victoria has been the chariot of choice (well necessity really) for police officers and cabbies all over America since the demise of its numero uno competitor, the Chevrolet Caprice, back in the mid-’90s.
The Crown Vic and its ancestors have been around with a minimum of mechanical changes since roughly the same time as the Model T, or at least it seems that way. However, in recent years the Crown Vic has been increasingly challenged by the Dodge Charger and Chevrolet Impala.
Even more troubling for Ford is the impending arrival of a new rear-wheel-drive drive police car from Chevrolet based on the departed Pontiac G8.
At a private fleet sales event in Las Vegas today, Ford finally took the wraps off a new generation Police Interceptor model based on the 2010 Taurus. The new car has big shoes to fill as the Crown Vic has accounted for 70 percent of all police vehicle sales over the past five years. Read on for more on the new Police Interceptor.
[Source: Ford]
This isn’t the first time the Taurus has been offered in law enforcement guise. Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, a special service package was available and featured prominently as the preferred ride in RoboCop. But aside from that celluloid appearance, those Tauruses didn’t really have a full interceptor configuration. First-generation cop Tauruses got beefier brakes and cooling systems, but the powertrain was not up to the task of high-speed highway pursuits.
With the Taurus now assuming the mantle of top cop at Ford, things are a bit different this time around. There were some big hurdles to overcome since police agencies generally shy away from unibody designs like the Taurus over durability concerns. Ford president Mark Fields emphasized that the engineering teams worked closely with police agencies to build a car that met their needs. As such, the unibody structure of the Police Interceptor has been upgraded to meet twice the body durability requirements of the Crown Vic model, which should help alleviate some of the concerns of police agencies.
Safety is job 1 for police cars and Ford has developed the new Police Interceptor to withstand a 75-mile-per-hour rear collision. Fields claimed the car is the first in the industry to meet this standard. The Police Interceptor also retains all of the standard electronic stability and roll stability control systems featured in the Taurus. The systems, however, have been re-calibrated to meet the needs of police use.
As Jake and Elwood said, a cop car needs a cop motor, cop brakes and cop suspension. As we speculated earlier today, the Police Interceptor will get two powertrain options. The base model gets the 3.5-liter V6 found in other Tauruses with over 263 horsepower and 250+ lb-ft of torque. This naturally aspirated 3.5-liter engine is flex-fuel capable and gets 25-percent better fuel efficiency than the 4.6-liter V8 in the Crown Vic. The base models are available with either front- or all-wheel-drive. The top end pursuit version of the new Police Interceptor gets the full SHO powertrain including its 365-hp twin-turbo EcoBoost 3.5-liter V6 and all-wheel-drive as standard.
The Police Interceptor’s brakes also have 60 percent more swept area than a standard Taurus and 20 percent more thermal mass to help resist fade. While police officers have generally favored rear-wheel-drive cars for their handling characteristics, Ford officials claim the newly calibrated stability control has been tuned to meet their needs.
Inside Ford has optimized the standard Taurus interior for Police Interceptor duty with new seats claimed to offer better comfort while easing egress with smaller lateral bolsters. They even have cut-outs for police-issue utility belts. The transmission shifter has also been moved from the console to the steering column to make room for all the gear that today’s officers require be mounted in the center. Ford has even maintained the same nine-inch width between the seats to allow existing equipment to be mounted from older Crown Vic Interceptors. The switches on the steering wheel can also be re-mapped to control extra aftermarket equipment like lights, sirens and spot-lights.
The Police Interceptor’s back seat has a new roomier bench to make getting prisoners in and out easier. The rear door panels have also been slimmed down to make entry/exit easier and they swing out an extra-wide 71 degrees,10 degrees more than a regular Taurus.
The Taurus is not the only new Police Interceptor coming from Ford this year. Fields promised a second un-named vehicle, though did say it would share most parts with the Taurus and be available in a utility version. That indicates it will be either the Flex or the new Explorer, both of which are based on the same platform as the Taurus.
Ford hasn’t announced pricing for the new Police Interceptor yet, though did promise it will be price competitive with the outgoing Crown Vic and other vehicles in the segment. Service costs are another issue. Police agencies like the Crown Vic because they can easily swap out banged up body panels. Ford has worked closely with police agencies to keep service costs down on these new models as well. It will also work with agencies to help them upgrade their service facilities to straighten damaged unibodies, a process that is very different from straightening a body-on-frame vehicle.
The new Police Interceptor launches in late 2011, so don’t worry about seeing a Taurus glowing blue and red in your rearview mirror just yet.
