Opinion of the CVPI

[MATT SS]

What does everyone in here think of the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor?

Personally I think it is a overweight, SLOW, unreliable pisspore replacement for the legendary 9C1 LT1 Chevrolet Caprice!

 

[hillie16]

What does everyone in here think of the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor?

Personally I think it is a overweight, SLOW, unreliable pisspore replacement for the legendary 9C1 LT1 Chevrolet Caprice!

WAY better than the Impala....not as good as the Caprice.

 

[Lawman85]

The Crown Vic sure does get a bad rap. Here is my opinion. I agree with your statement of overweight and slow. I disagree with unreliable. We keep our cars until 140,000 miles, which is about a year and a half at the most. My car is less than 5 mos. old and is about to turn 40,000 miles. The only time it has been in the shop is when it has been wrecked, which is now 4 times. It runs very well. The only unreliable part of it is the equipment we install (light bars, computers, radio, etc.).
As far as the speed, it could be a little faster. I've only lost 2 people due to speed. In one case a guy passed me at 95mph while I was going the other direction at 50mph, so I had to turn around to go after him. I don't think an Ferrari Enzo would have caught him. The other case was a Volvo running 85mph + in a 35 zone. I refused to push it passed 70mph and he wrecked on the first curve. He found out speed isn't always the answer while he was laying in the hospital in handcuffs.
The only mechanical complaint I have is the brakes. I would put the big 13" rotors on all 4 corners. We use the brakes more than anything. And I believe the interior room needs to be a bit bigger. I'm 6'3" and it gets crowded.
As far as comparing it to the new Impala's or Intrepids, it beats the hell out of them. Neither one has had a good reputation with the reliability. Our Impala's are always in the shop and they are only used for administrative details.

 

[MATT SS]

Lawman85, Your right about the brakes, they need to better and the interior room(im 6'3" as well) it is not as comfortable as the caprice. What kind of driving do you do? City or country, BC my town is more urban and we could use quicker short distance acceleration and the electrical system needs work. The new alternators are good on the 03's and up but the older models cannot hold up to hours of idling with the emergency lights on.

 

[FordSVTFan]

Lawman85, Your right about the brakes, they need to better and the interior room(im 6'3" as well) it is not as comfortable as the caprice. What kind of driving do you do? City or country, BC my town is more urban and we could use quicker short distance acceleration and the electrical system needs work. The new alternators are good on the 03's and up but the older models cannot hold up to hours of idling with the emergency lights on.

Since when is West Long Branch urban??

Maybe Long Branch is Urban. But West Long Branch is kind of sedate or has it changed dramatically in the year since I left.

Are you a special 1 or 2?

 

[MATT SS]

Since when is West Long Branch urban??

Maybe Long Branch is Urban. But West Long Branch is kind of sedate or has it changed dramatically in the year since I left.

Are you a special 1 or 2?

Yeah things have changed alot, we have gotten alot more traffic flow and more road work is being done. Monmouth Rd/Wall street is being completly redone and we still have the highway and college traffic to worrk about. We are already up to 600 accidents this year. Its not as busy as the great Long Branch :lol1: but not nearly as quiet as Rumson. I am a Special 2

 

[Lawman85]

Lawman85, Your right about the brakes, they need to better and the interior room(im 6'3" as well) it is not as comfortable as the caprice. What kind of driving do you do? City or country, BC my town is more urban and we could use quicker short distance acceleration and the electrical system needs work. The new alternators are good on the 03's and up but the older models cannot hold up to hours of idling with the emergency lights on.

I'm a county officer, but it is a heavily poplulated area. I would like to see more torque for those quick 0 to 80mph runs while using radar or laser. I think the top end speed is fine. I've had one over 125mph and it actually handled ok, just glad I didn't have to turn. We don't have any 03's left. Our oldest car now is an 04. We haven't had any problems with the electrical, which is surprising with all the sh*% we put in those thing....it's amazing.

 

[MATT SS]

I'm a county officer, but it is a heavily poplulated area. I would like to see more torque for those quick 0 to 80mph runs while using radar or laser. I think the top end speed is fine. I've had one over 125mph and it actually handled ok, just glad I didn't have to turn. We don't have any 03's left. Our oldest car now is an 04. We haven't had any problems with the electrical, which is surprising with all the sh*% we put in those thing....it's amazing.

Thats great that you dont have anything older than a 04. Its nice to work for a large agency that has money. But in my town we only get a couple new cars a year and we have to deal with the older ones.

 

[Lawman85]

Thats great that you dont have anything older than a 04. Its nice to work for a large agency that has money. But in my town we only get a couple new cars a year and we have to deal with the older ones.

Our cars usually last 1.5 years. I worked for a smaller agency first before moving over. It was a nice change. If you have some good maintenance guys then the older crown vics should last awhile.

 

[jetblackcobra]

i was a cop for a small agency and now run my own security co., i personally hated the caprice, the engine and tranny were solid but the rest of the car was crap, they handled terribly and as a shorter guy (5'8") visibility was terrible. and as far as reliablilty my company now has 5 crown vics, and the lowest milage vehicle is 130,000 with the highest (96) having 225,000, largest repair on any of them has been battaries and brakes (which i will agree are garbage). the only caprice i ever liked were the old boxy ones. and the new impalas are really bad, even at my height i feel cramped in there. BTW i had 2 luminas (lasted less than a year) and a caprice (lasted a year with constant repair). Only crown vics will be in my fleet.

PS. they do desparately need more power.

 

[FordSVTFan]

Yeah things have changed alot, we have gotten alot more traffic flow and more road work is being done. Monmouth Rd/Wall street is being completly redone and we still have the highway and college traffic to worrk about. We are already up to 600 accidents this year. Its not as busy as the great Long Branch :lol1: but not nearly as quiet as Rumson. I am a Special 2

Rumson, well that is a totally different story.

Long Branch and Asbury are opposite ends of the spectrum.

My buddy is still Traffic SGT in Middletown. My cousin is Det Sgt in Keyport.

My other cousin is a State LT.

No luck getting hired FT, or dont want it?

What is your FT job?

BTW, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's dept is taking lateral transfers.

 

[MATT SS]

Rumson, well that is a totally different story.

Long Branch and Asbury are opposite ends of the spectrum.

My buddy is still Traffic SGT in Middletown. My cousin is Det Sgt in Keyport.

My other cousin is a State LT.

No luck getting hired FT, or dont want it?

What is your FT job?

BTW, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's dept is taking lateral transfers.

I do want to get hired Fulltime and my current Full time job is Dispatch, which SUCKS!!!!!!!! I take every chance i get to go on the road. I have an interview comming up with ocean post and i have to take the civil service test next time around. I do(hope) have a good chance in WLB.

 

[Vancouver83LTD]

Well you know, It's an old design - it's definitley going to be needing a re-design from scratch in a year or two...
Better brakes, better handling, more power, etc etc... They need to put the HO 4.6 in the car, IMO - preferrably the new mustang GT engine... 300hp would help get it moving a bit faster.
239 hp and 287 lb.ft is a little bit silly for pursuit.

The caprice 9C1 was a good thing, I still don't understand why Chevy would kill it.
The V6 Impala is gutless, as I can attest to - I was going up a realtively steep hill on a forestry service road recently in a rental, and it couldn't make it up!
It had a 3.8L V6 - I tried again, didn't make it - I finally had to back way down the road, and take a big run at the hill before I was able to get up. Ridiculous!

And they're FWD - man, I can't imagine it'd be fun in a rural county driving a FWD car - I bet you would easily have some issues with it if you have to engage in pursuit over rough roads frequently.

Really, the P71 is a capable car, and it's an old design. - When it was new, it was satisfactory, but as technology has changed and the car has needed a re-design, it's fallen behind a little.
I say just wait, the new Vic will be out soon enough, or so I hope

EDIT --- OK, Ford Crown Vic P71 has 250 hp - no mention of torque

I looked at the caprice police package on GM's fleet site -
well, it says it has a 3.8L V6, however they are too emberassed to put the hp or lb. ft. ratings
haha