American police cars had become hopelessly outdated. Now for
has decided to haul them kicking and screaming into the 21st century
 |
| Ford Police Interceptor |
As Elwood famously said to this brother, Jake, while trying
to sell him on their new wheels: It's got a cop motor. "It's got cop
tyres, cop suspension, cop shocks." His point being that police cars are
faster and handle better than civilian models. Or at least they did in 1980,
three years before the Crown Victoria entered the US cop-car fleet. That hasn't
been true for years now. As modern cars have got faster and faster, US cops
have been stuck in their ageing Crown Vics and have become an easy Hollywood cliché
for slow, bad-handling cars. But not for much longer. Now that ford has finally
put prehistoric Crown Victoria on notice, there's a new-look sheriff in town.
And he now has the means to catch you without having to resort tithe radio for
back-up. While this is good and bad news- depending on which side of the
criminal fence you stand- it's great for the cops who drive them. But it hasn't
been done just for their benefit. The US police car market is around 50,000
units a year, so it's a good chunk of business
 |
| Ford Police Interceptor |
GM and Chrysler both offer
their own cop-spec cars, the Chevrolet Caprice PPV and the Dodge Charger Pursuit
respectively, But Ford has over 50 per cent of the market. And it intends to
keep it, with not one but two new vehicles. Yes, there are now two versions of
the new Ford Police Interceptor: the (US-only) Taurus-based model, which is
called the Utility. They are basically very similar underneath to make
servicing fleets of them easier and cheaper- the 18-inch steel wheels, 60per
cent larger and thicker brake discs and many of the other components are
interchangeable. The service chief just buys a load of each and fits them on
whatever vehicle needs it. Both are several worlds more advanced than the outgoing
model. The four key areas of development are: officer protection, performance,
durability and design. The protection features include passing a 75mph
rear-carsh test (a real problem in the Crown Vic), a beefed-up body shell and intelligent
airbags that can tell the difference between the car being hit by a shower of
bullets (they don't go off) and getting into a shunt they do
 |
| Ford Police Interceptor |
Ford Police Interceptor can
also be fitted with level 3 ballistic door panels, which can stop everything up
to and including a .44 Magnum semi-jacketed hollow-point bullet entering the
cabin. You'd want those fitted, wouldn't you? Performance upgrades start with
the 3.5-litre EcoBoost turbo V6 engines that, even in their lowest-output
versions, still kick out over 115bhp more and use 20 per cent less fuel than
the Crown Vic's old small-block V8. A 305bhp, 3.7-litre V6 is also available in
both cars. But the big daddy engine, the 365bhp motor that is similar to the
one is the civilian Taurus SHO (super High Output), is only available in the
Sedan. It's not exactly the same, as it has to be able to sit and idle for hours
at a time. Some cars run around the clock across different shifts, so it has a
bigger oil capacity, a stronger oil pan and better cooling. So it can go on
producing fill horsepower long after a civilian version would have faded. The
gearbox also has it own party trick. Called pursuit mode, it cuts in
automatically when brake pressure and lateral acceleration levels suggest the
law enforcer wants to get out of a corner quickly, holding onto a gear instead
of trying to get into top gear as quickly as possible. Other features that help
the new black-and-whites keep on moving further and faster include a standard,
pursuit-tuned AWD system. This is a front-biased set-up that has the ability to
shove up to half of the torque to the rear wheels as required. Allied to this
is a chassis control system tuned by the police instructors to stop wheel spin
and lurid under-or oversteer
 |
| Ford Police Interceptor |
Ford Police Interceptor's system has been designed to be
neutral, so it will eventually start to slide. But at much higher speed than before.
The cars won't crumple into a ball quite so easily now, either. Special items
that improve durability include heavy-duty front suspension designed to ram kerbs
and go over debris, a 220-amp alternator (to run all the in-car electronics),
underside bash plates, extra door tethers and the aforementioned bigger, badder
brakes and heavy-duty tyres. The inside of the car hasn't been left alone,
either. The first thing you notice is that there is now a normal,
modern-looking dash with a couple of screens and a few dials
and-a-piece-of-fake-wood effort in the Crown Vic
 |
| Ford Police Interceptor |
All the sirens and light can
now be activated by steering-wheel-mounted switches. And there’s an even
voice-activated command and calling, so there's no need to drive one-handed
while grappling with the radio. This is starting to sound unfair. But, as a
very brief drive showed, not as unfair as it's going to get when there are more
of these on the US road. The Sedan handles like a sports car, ride like a
Jaguar, and accelerates like a muscle car. The brakes are monstrously strong,
there's plenty of grip and that chassis system works well enough to allow you
to keep the hammer down long and hard. So the net result is this: you can try
and outrun one, but I wouldn't recommend it. Instead, I suggest you try another
line from The Blues Brothers to explain your excessive speed. Try: "we are
on a mission from god." And please do let us know how you get on
 |
| Ford Police Interceptor |
Ford Interceptor Sedan specs
The numbers: 3,500cc, 6cyl,AWD, 365bhp, 350lb ft, 23.0mpg,
n/a g/km CO2, 0-60mph in 6.5secs, 148mph, n/a kg
Ford Interceptor Sedan price $n/a
The Verdict: About time Ford produced a better car than the
Crown Vic. Didn’t have to be this good, though
No comments:
Post a Comment