Ford Motor company is claiming that you should not attempt to outrun its Police Interceptor sedan or utility vehicle. In testing conducted by the Michigan State Police and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Ford outperformed the “competition” to retain its title as “fastest and quickest” pursuit vehicles.
Sheer speed – of course – is only one factor in vehicle selection, no matter the purchaser. Moreover, high speed police pursuits that sometimes injure or kill innocent parties are controversial, to put it mildly. Simply put, no police pursuit vehicle can out-run radio waves. Complicating factors here are the decline of police on patrol, as well as the politics of municipal purchasing.
Nevertheless, a Ford Police Interceptor sedan beat all “competitive vehicles” in testing by both agencies, including those equipped with V8 engines. It out-accelerated the competition’s V8 utility vehicle and all V6 powered sedans. (Ford didn’t want to name the Dodge Charger Pursuit or Chevrolet Caprice and Tahoe, both with their own virtues.)
Arie Groeneveld, Ford chief program engineer for police vehicles, claims the company’s dedication to the police business “does not waver” (Well, Ford abandoned the business for years when the Fox-platform-derived Crown Victoria was cancelled for lack of investment). “It’s a question of safety leadership. In terms of both public safety and the safety of our law enforcement officers, the best police chases are the ones that never happen.” (we agree) “But like our industry-exclusive 75-mph rear crash test rating and standard full-time intelligent all-wheel drive, these results reinforce the point that Ford is relentless in pursuing safety in our police vehicles,” claimed Groeneveld.
All-wheel drive is standard across the Ford Police Interceptor lineup. The un-named by Ford “competitive vehicles” only have optional systems that do not operate full-time. This can be a more flexible application and geographic specific choice, which might bring some taxpayer relief.
Michigan State Police
Preliminary results of Michigan State Police testing show that the 2017 Ford Police Interceptor sedan is the fastest of a group of vehicles that are all relatively fast. The Ford posted a zero-to-60 mph time of 5.7seconds, compared to 6.11 seconds and 6.05 seconds for the 6-liter V8 and 5.7-liter V8 sedans offered by Chevrolet and Dodge.
In zero-to-100 mph runs, the Interceptor sedan ran a 13.62-second time, beating the closest “competitor” by nearly one second. FYI, if you say Interceptor out loud it will take that little time. Difference without a distinction? The Interceptor utility made 60 mph in 6.4 seconds and 100 mph in 16 seconds. A Chevrolet Tahoe with a 5.3-liter V8 engine” posted a zero-to-60-mph time of 7.97 seconds and a 0-100-mph time of 19.76 seconds.
Both the Ford Police Interceptor sedan and utility are fastest around Grattan Raceway in Michigan State Police testing of 2017 model year vehicles. Raceways, of course, are controlled roads without innocent civilians, often run by drivers with high levels of competition training. Both achieved the fastest lap and fastest average lap times – with Police Interceptor sedan achieving the overall win.
Allen Magolan, Ford police vehicle engineering manager, claims racetrack testing puts the entire vehicle to the test, and shows Ford police vehicles aren’t just quick in a straight line. “This demonstrates well-rounded performance that tests severe braking, handling and steering under very grueling, extreme conditions,” he says. Click for the results of Michigan State Police preliminary testing.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’ Department
The Ford Police Interceptor sedan repeated as quickest-accelerating vehicle overall in Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department testing, with a zero-to-60-mph time of 5.6 seconds and a 13.8-second run to 100 mph. The closest competitor posted times of 6.1 seconds to 60 mph and 15.2 seconds to 100 mph. So, Ford’s utility not only out-accelerated competitor police utility vehicles, but also posted quicker zero-to-60-mph and zero-to-100 mph times than all V6-powered sedans.
