Last few week starting to see SUVs used by California Highway Patrol cruising on the freeway. This evening, I just saw a CHP SUV zoom by at 90+ mph. Wonder what kind of MPGs it gets. It went by so fast I can't see the brand of SUV it is. Anyone knows who is the supplier and model?
No idea, but I've seen other non-CHP police forces sometimes use Chevy Tahoes (aka battering rams of death w/poor braking and handling). BTW, I've sometimes glanced at the evaluations at MSP - Police Vehicle Evaluation.
With an oversized slicer-dicer on front, so they can be certain to dismember anyone who gets T-boned.
Probably just from the smaller road tires. Maybe even the wheels are a size down from the civilian model. The Taurus is also available in a police model. I wonder why it wasn't chosen.
Well I know the sheriff in our county uses a Chevy Tahoe for the fleet. Those are lowered a bit in front and back for better handling. Lower profile tires as well.
Our LEOs use GMCs, and some Chargers. I like the Chargers because you can see them from a LOOOOOOOOOONG way off at night. Just out or curiosity, went to a gear-head site to read up on the FOMOCO products. Uh.... HOLY CRAP. I think Ford fumbled the snap on their PI lineup.
In New York the state police are now driving tall SUVs so they can see drivers who are texting with a phone in their lap. NY State Police Using Tall SUVs to Spot Texting Drivers | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
The CHP SUV is used for speed enforcement. The one zoomed passed me stop a car two miles down the freeway.
CHP is going to a Ford Explorer fleet. Most all Patrol Vehicles will be Explorers by the end of the year. They will be used for every type of enforcement not one particular type. The have turbo charged v6 motors so they are supported to get better fuel mileage than the v8 crown vics. And, they do sit a couple inches lower and are all wheel drive.
Hi Folks, I work at CHP Fleet Operations in West Sacramento. Ford says it gets better mileage than the Crown Vic PI it replaces (but still atrocious especially they way they are driven). Fuel mileage isn't tracked as far as I can tell, but it is a big budget item for CHP. Also, top speed and acceleration are claimed by Ford to be the same or slightly better than the CVPI. It is officially called the Ford Police Interceptor Utility. It is built on a Ford Explorer chassis with some tweaks to make it pursuit rated. There are no Explorer badges or labels anywhere on the vehicle. The CHP version is AWD with a 3.7 V6. A twin turbo 3.6 version is available, but CHP did not buy that version. I have heard that Nevada Highway Patrol may be buying the twin turbo version in the future. The Taurus version (Police Interceptor Sedan) was not chosen because it did not meet the payload requirement in the CHP spec. There is a payload spec because of the weight of all the radio gear, emergency lights, push bar, etc. The purchase in 2013 was for 751 vehicles; about 400 of those have been completed so far by Fleet Operations. No info on how many will be purchased in 2014; I need to know asap so I can start ordering material to equip those. It will take at least 3 or 4 years to replace all the enforcement vehicles in the fleet, so you should see Crown Vics for a while; the last ones were deployed in 2012 (2011 model). I have seen some wrecked ones, and one that was totaled, but no rollovers yet. The Utility is equipped with Ford's RSC system, the CV was not.
