Filed under: Sedans/Saloons, Government/Legal, Chevrolet, Ford, GM click image above for high-res gallery In a sign of the impending apocalypse, Michigan police departments are steadily switching from the stalwart Ford Crown Victoria to less expensive FWD Chevy Impalas with more efficient V6 engines. Oakland county plans on saving $220,000 per year in lower fuel and vehicle costs by making the switch. Wayne County, which includes Detroit, began switching to the Impalas in 2005. While the Crown Vic looks almost cool in interceptor guise, the body-on-frame tank on wheels isn't exactly fast with its 239hp V8 engine, so the Impala should at least equal its velocity in high-speed chases. The county fleets will be transformed over a number of years, but the strategy may be short-lived due to the pending arrival of the RWD Impala in 2009 or 2010. Time will tell if the Impalas will hold up as well as the RWD Crown Vics, especially when the FWD cars jump a curb at speed, but for counties struggling to keep funding, hundreds of thousands of dollars per year is hard to pass up. [Source: Freep via Jalopnik] Gallery: Chevy Impala Police Cruiser Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments More...
Yeah, and wait until they try to P.I.T. a fleeing car with a lighter weight front-wheel drive and end up spinning or flipping their own cop cars
Our local Sheriff's Dept got two Intrepids and two Impalas to replace 4 of their CV P-71s, and a bonus two Jeep SUV's for Metro duty. Except for the Jeeps, they hated them, and all went back to their Crown Vics to get every last mile and minute out of them before they're de-comissioned. "Too small, too cramped, and not enough "bulk" to feel safe in a situation where you might have to "tussle" with another car. The Sheriff's dept's in two neighboring counties got several Dodge Chargers and a couple of Magnums....all V-6's except for one Hemi for each county. They seem more than pleased with them. Our guys are hoping for a few Chargers soon
Typical municipal mismanagement of tax dollars. The politicians look good because they can tell the taxpayers that they'll save 220K on vehicle costs now, but what they won't say is that they'll have to replace those vehicles more frequently than the higher quality Crown Vics. Unibody cars are simply not built to stand up to the extreme duty that cops subject them to and will wear out faster than the body-on-frame cars. What will they tell the taxpayers when they have to spend the same money AGAIN? Not much of a savings over the long haul...
the cops have V6 Chargers in my county, and Crown Vics and Hemi Chargers on the highway. Those cop cars demand respect!
Alabama has been using Chevy Tahoe's and Dodge Chargers a lot here lately. Those Chargers look tuff with the grill guard and the two tone blue/silver paint ....
