Ford Taurus-Based Police Interceptor Revealed

Should've brought us the Aussie Falcon instead.

yet another mistake by a company which looked to be on the right path to make a positive difference. why on earth would one make its flagship into a fleet? expect SHO's price to drop $10k soon if they're going to fleet this thing out.

If it's AWD, it'll be a smart move.

The Taurus was the "futuristic" cop cars in RoboCop. And, they were futuristic looking at that time. I'm sure a FWD platform will have some good applications in inclimate weather and mountainous locales, if nothing else. It's about durability, and Crown Vics had that in spades, though ancient technology.

so the police gets the G8 and we don't? wtf

I was thinking about this the other day when an unmarked Crown Vic POS roared past me, if Ford would do a cop version of the SHO.

I wonder how well the twin turbo eco-boost would hold up under the kind of abuse cop cars get. The 4.6l V8 in the Crown Vic is well known for going for 150k+ miles and thoudands of hours without a major rebuild. Can money concious police departments expect that from the TT V6? Also, they would have to retrain their mechanics, while the pushrod V8's in the Dodge and Chevy are time tested designs with easily available parts that can be repaired by anybody.

The Taurus is very spacious, and I like the AWD idea. But a normally aspirated V8 seems a better idea than the TT V6. I would bet the Charger and RWD Impala are more sucessful.

Alman, Mercedes are taxis in Europe, it doesn't seem to have an impact on the more expensive upmarket versions of the same models.

i don't know about a unibody cop car, but just because it's a V6 doesn't mean it couldn't have the same power or more than the old V8, plus think of the fuel economy savings. Cops always leave their cars idling for hours. You'd think they'd turn them off to save $$$

bankerdanny says:

10:07 AM, 03/12/10

I was thinking about this the other day when an unmarked Crown Vic POS roared past me, if Ford would do a cop version of the SHO.

I wonder how well the twin turbo eco-boost would hold up under the kind of abuse cop cars get. The 4.6l V8 in the Crown Vic is well known for going for 150k+ miles and thoudands of hours without a major rebuild. Can money concious police departments expect that from the TT V6? Also, they would have to retrain their mechanics, while the pushrod V8's in the Dodge and Chevy are time tested designs with easily available parts that can be repaired by anybody.

The Taurus is very spacious, and I like the AWD idea. But a normally aspirated V8 seems a better idea than the TT V6. I would bet the Charger and RWD Impala are more sucessful.

Alman, Mercedes are taxis in Europe, it doesn't seem to have an impact on the more expensive upmarket versions of the same models.
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I knew that, but Mercedes does not use their halo, flagship cars in the fleet.

Interesting that InsideLine didn't even mention our very own Indiana based Police-exclusive option; the Carbon E7 which I still think is the best alternative - dedicated and individualistic.

activ8 says:

10:31 AM, 03/12/10

Interesting that InsideLine didn't even mention our very own Indiana based Police-exclusive option; the Carbon E7 which I still think is the best alternative - dedicated and individualistic.
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that was mentioned many moons ago...

The Carbon E7 is still a concept with the manufacturer only offering 'Productoin Slots" right now, with now projected production dates.

The Taurus is an actual available model, so moving the police version from concept to production should be pretty straight forward.

The E7 does indeed seem like a great idea, like old days of the Checker Cab, a purpose built product that excels at its job due to the focused design. However, price and availability of parts is important. Can the E7 compete on either of these fronts, I would be surprised if it could.

bankerdanny: "I wonder how well the twin turbo eco-boost would hold up under the kind of abuse cop cars get."

That's why I was thinking we might see the 3.7L. Fewer things to break. Show's what I know.

about time.... the crown vic has been around since like 550 BC or something

Ford's gonna have a hard time selling these when the Chargers & Chevy PPV are V8 RWD. FWD & AWD's are hated by depts as they aren't very durable. Driving over curbs, thru medians, pursuits, just beat the snot out of the front & rear ends. The FWD's break in these situations rather than just getting the alingement knocked out of wack. The Ecoboost's are also pretty expensive. Repair & maintenance costs will be higher for a twin turbo AWD or FWD veh than a V8 RWD. Squads spend most of their life out of warranty. I'm guessing Dodge & GM are breathing a sigh of relief right now. Departments want cheap, easy maintenance, simple, tough, durable. Preview of the G8 based one was pretty nice last week.
BTW Carbon is saying the starting price will be almost $150K (they're trying to say that it will work out better as the diesel engine will last 300k plus). All repairs have to be done by Carbon dealers (of which there pretty much none yet).

Dead in the water. Too complicated with the turbo engine and therefore expensive. The EPA rated highway mileage of the turbo Ford is no better than the hemi dodge and the ford is only 1 mpg better in the city. Motor trend tested an AWD hemi 300C vs the ecoboost taurus and I think got slightly better milage out of the hemi in a comparison road trip. Maybe in the city, but then why not buy a v6 charger/caprice and get the beloved RWD and pay less?

Long boring, but informational, video here:
http://www.fordvehicles.com/fordpoliceinterceptor/

The should use the Fusion rather then the Taurus. Better car.

As for rear drive being more durable the FWD, unless you're talking trucks you're wrong. Front drive transmissions last just as long as rear drives and I have never seen anything to show an IFS suspension in a rear drive is any tougher then an IFS in a front drive.

It's old school thinking and fleet pricing that keeps the police driving Crown Vics. Nothing to do with it being a good car... as it can't be considered that for more then a decade now.

@firstwagon Nope, I'm right. I speak from experience. We tried FWD for the snow/ice traction & mpg benefits. It didn't pay off. They kept breaking CV joints when they jump a curb/median or hit debris in medians (increasing costs). CV boots were constantly getting torn up on debris. When they took really hard shots to the front end they'd damage seals, which usually killed the tranny(increasing costs). The engine compartments have very little room for maintenance (increasing costs). Parts are more expensive. It also doesn't help that most squads are usually loaded up w/500+lbs of equipment. They are durable enough for normal use, so they were relegated to detective or administration use. The other depts in our area all have done the same thing. That's while you'll see very few on actual patrol in any city. They just don't last 120k or more like current budgets require. Because of that, resale value for taxi agencies (our traditional customers) are very poor as they've had the same experiences.

Crown Vics are pretty close in fleet pricing w/the Chargers & Impalas. What actually kept them around for so long, is maintenance & equipment costs. They basically haven't changed in years so the stockpiles of parts can be used (& purchased in large amounts), equipment doesn't have to be repurchased (cages, radio/computer/gun mounts, front/rear dividers) since you can park old/new squads side by side and swap the parts, mechanics can work on them in their sleep (greatly decreasing maintenance/ troubleshooting costs). Squads spend most of their time out of warranty & warranty won't cover damage from use (torn CV Joint boots, broken parts, etc.).

Fusion is a decent car, but would make a terrible squad as it has no room. You need lots of room for cages, officers wearing their equipment, long guns, shields between front rear areas, & room for handcuffed suspects sitting with their arms behind them (try them in your car and see how much room it takes up).

FWD/AWD just doesn't do well for daily patrol use. To make them last you need them off road tough (you won't find any pursuit rated 4WD's as they can't survive the abuse & hi-speeds) & able to take ramming, PIT impacts, running over debris, etc. still be able to continue to the next call & finish out the shift (while maybe waiting out a week or more of use 'til the mechanics can work on it). There's a reason GM is investing in bringing over a bigger version of the G8 & giving up on the Impala, you can't force your customers to take what you have no matter how many incentives you give or how hard you market it. It'll be interesting to see who wins out. Now that the Crown Vic is going away, all of the money has to be spent to outfit & learn new vehs so there is a huge opening for GM/Dodge. The Chargers have been working out decent & are much nicer than the Crown Vics. The Chevy PPV was presented in this area last week & is very nice. They've stretched the G8 chassis, reinforced it, given it wider opening doors, lots of room inside, nice durable seats that clear equipment belts, V8 w/lots of torque, decent mileage, wider trunk openings. The only thing that remains to be seen is durability, cost, & how it works out w/a console shifter. The Charger uses a column shifter, which usually works better for patrol use. Crown Vic was never a great car, just cheap in use & fairly durable.

Absolutely a terrible idea. The new Taurus, which is a great car, is destined to be another crappy fleet car. And it was going so well.

m1tankr,

I've watched previous attempts with FWD vehicles as general duty squads before. Like you, I've seen them fail, primarily for durability reasons.

Take a look at this video (boring but informative)
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/12/video-watch-the-live-reveal-of-the-2012-ford-police-interceptor/
or http://www.fordvehicles.com/fordpoliceinterceptor/

75mph rear crash testing, 40mph curb rated steel wheels, deflector plates, heavy duty subframe, etc.

This is not just a dressed up Taurus. I do agree with your concerns about price and maintenance on newer technology. That's hard to get around. The Crown Vic is incredibly cost effective.

As to the RWD vs FWD/AWD concerns. I've watched too many of the headstrong officers swear you'll have to pry RWD from their cold dead hands. I'm not convinced. The driving style has to change. RWD has benefits. FWD/AWD has benefits. It's kind of like politics. If you're bent on supporting one side, you can have an unlimited number of points. If you decide to give it a chance, you'll find out it's not better or worse, just different.

Admin & the mechanics decide what gets purchased. I think they're going to try a Taurus if they are cheap enough, to try it out. They'll be getting more Chargers & some of the Chevy's. Right now they are leaning towards the Chevy's if they last OK.

Do I like the Idea? Yes and no. Yes because I think these new cop cars look much better, and nowadays, it doesn't always require a V-8 Cruiser to catch up with vehicles on a Pursuit especially now with better fuel efficiency which I'm sure would save the Police Department more money on fuel.

And No because, now I gotta learn how to recognized a cop car day and night all over again, and I know very well what a Ford Crown-Vic looks like on the road so it was easy for me to spot a cop car, even at night. But I still say it's a beautiful huge improvement on new Police Cruisers. I think they look cool with even a nicer looking interior and I think the cops today are looking forward to it.

"...you'll find out it's not better or worse, just different...."

(brn)

Well if it's not better it should be cheaper, which unfortunately for Ford this is going to be impossible to do with a significantly more complex engine and drive system.

You gotta luv those plywood flat seats which provide as much support as a trampoline. When will Ford design respectable seats??

Hum.... The only way they are going to sell those FWD Ford Taurus to the cops is to reinforce seriously the drive train to a Rally Car standards and that is going to cost big bucks. To be honest most Urban Police departments do not get involve in a whole lot of car chases, running over curbs etc. So that might be a cheaper alternative if the price is right.

But, all depends who drives behind the wheel.

" Of course, it doesn't matter if you keep dumb drivers in the police force that will destroy cars faster than you can fix them" (a quote from an old police fleet mechanic)

As a habitual speeder this car worries me!

Glad cops finally have a vehicle that is not an utter POS.