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Yeah, cop cars are now much more aggressive looking SUVs for the most part, but no in the city were cars are still king. Most are running smaller Ford Taurus in Pittsburgh. I miss the old Crown Vics. lol
My wife's DD is a black SHO Taurus. It creates the world's most courteous drivers. Everyone gets out of the left lane when you drive, and people always do the speed limit around you. Until they realize it's not DPS...
If you like the Crown Vic you must be a civilian, most cops here hated them and couldn't wait to get out of the Vic's. Ford is discontinuing the Taurus thus you will not see any new ones for Police.
I think the Explorer is starting to outpace the sales of the Taurus anyway. Many PD's are loving the extra room the explorer affords.
Ford's idea was great in that the Taurus and explorer share the same chassis, so they have the same engine available, have the same brakes, the same wheels, etc. Only need to stock one set of parts if your entire fleet is made up of Taurus's and exploders.
Unfortunately, nobody buys the Taurus. I'd imagine police sales are the only thing keeping the model alive as the civilian model has not changes much at all since 2013 and just keeps lumbering on.
The Taurus has a small rear seat and a the roofline makes it difficult to load "passengers". Once the divider is in place it's basically useless as a police car
I think the Explorer is the ideal police vehicle. It's very visible, has a techno futuristic look that inspires confidence, and isn't aggressive looking in any way.
The Charger on the other hand looks aggressive and has an angry face. It's the best choice for the highway because it can accelerate quickly but doesn't have a good look for a police car
Maybe it's just me but the observation that I've had is that the larger, more cosmopolitan cities tend to use the older, larger cars (like the Crown Victoria) and the rural, socially conservative areas seem to actually use more expensive, sportier patrol cars. Maybe because they are going at higher speeds?
It seemed more like our local departments were testing the Charger and Malibu when Ford shut down the Crown Victoria line then the major buys went in for the SUVs. I seems as if there are still more Crown Vic's in service than Chargers. But the Crown Vic's still have more "police presence" in my eyes . When I see a Charger my first thought isn't "is this a police detective or federal agent?".
Where I live it seems to be Explorers and Tahoes lately. Very rarely do I see an Expedition used, unless it’s like the fire chief’s truck or something.
I think the city of Mobile does have a fleet of Caprice’s, but that’s the only place I see those.
Frankly, there are enough explorers that unless you see it sitting on the side of the road with the mirror light mounted, its pretty "meh." The thing is, at least for a large portion of its lifecycle, most Crown Vics were drove by the Police, and if it wasn't driven by the Police, it was the Fire Inspector's.
Explorers especially are just as likely to be driven by a Soccer Mom or Bill from marketing.
I know what the headlights look like and slow down when I see it. Of course half of the time it's a civilian vehicle, but it's still recognizable.
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but the observation that I've had is that the larger, more cosmopolitan cities tend to use the older, larger cars (like the Crown Victoria) and the rural, socially conservative areas seem to actually use more expensive, sportier patrol cars. Maybe because they are going at higher speeds?
. When I see a Charger my first thought isn't "is this a police detective or federal agent?".
