rmc523 Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 I turned on the news a few minutes ago, saw 2 undercover Taurus' -- one black Limited, one tan (SEL maybe?), at least 3-4 Expys -- 2 white EB, one black Limited. Of course theres the usual 20 billion Crown Vics at the scene of the crime Well, it looks like police are using new Ford vehicles as undercover units. I thought this was interesting though, that the police had brand new Taurus' as units, as others have said, maybe Taurus could replace CV w/ Taurus as cop cars/taxis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLaudioF150 Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 I turned on the news a few minutes ago, saw 2 undercover Taurus' -- one black Limited, one tan (SEL maybe?), at least 3-4 Expys -- 2 white EB, one black Limited. Of course theres the usual 20 billion Crown Vics at the scene of the crime Well, it looks like police are using new Ford vehicles as undercover units. I thought this was interesting though, that the police had brand new Taurus' as units, as others have said, maybe Taurus could replace CV w/ Taurus as cop cars/taxis. What better way to stay undercover with a car that just blends in so well? Sorry couldn't resist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 I turned on the news a few minutes ago, saw 2 undercover Taurus' -- one black Limited, one tan (SEL maybe?), at least 3-4 Expys -- 2 white EB, one black Limited. Of course theres the usual 20 billion Crown Vics at the scene of the crime Well, it looks like police are using new Ford vehicles as undercover units. I thought this was interesting though, that the police had brand new Taurus' as units, as others have said, maybe Taurus could replace CV w/ Taurus as cop cars/taxis. Police have been using unmarked Expeditions around here for ages....Mustangs as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomServo92 Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Police have been using unmarked Expeditions around here for ages....Mustangs as well. Same here. State police also use F-150s. Summer_Sales_Program.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Those vehicles may also have been detective's cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinb120 Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 here, the speed enforcement guys use everything, Dodge pickups, 90's Explorers, I've even seen an Eclipse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANTAUS Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Cops are using grey Mustangs (with the little black strips across the hood), to "provoke" street racers in my area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted September 13, 2007 Author Share Posted September 13, 2007 (edited) What better way to stay undercover with a car that just blends in so well? Sorry couldn't resist. Maybe they should use Camries?? I also saw a Camry in a police motorcade on the news also, it was 'undercover', had the blinking lights w/in the turn signals, etc. Those things could never be police cars. Edited September 13, 2007 by rmc523 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixt9coug Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Theres an Infiniti G35 in the city of LA's fleet that has takedown lights.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Probably a drug bust car. Former LEO I know (won't name the agency or the level of government) had a Corvette for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonj80 Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Depends on the department, a city in Michigan had a BMW M3 for a while. Have seen some Escapes as of late and there are a few Mustang's and Magnum's running around. Not to mention the Minivan surveillance vehicles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suv_guy_19 Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 (edited) Depends on the department, a city in Michigan had a BMW M3 for a while. Have seen some Escapes as of late and there are a few Mustang's and Magnum's running around. Not to mention the Minivan surveillance vehicles. Winnipeg is exclusively CVPI from what I've seen. I've never seen anything else. They do though, use almost anything for traffic camera carriers. Cars, vans. When you see it parked running parked or with a big grey box on the front bumper, you know lol. The RCMP use mostly CVPI for highway patrol, Impala for in town cruisers and also, Tahoe, Expedition and Silverado. A smaller city near here, Brandon switched from CVPI to Chargers. Edited September 14, 2007 by suv_guy_19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
630land Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Yep, eventaully, Mopar will undercut the old Vic. And the whole idea of "police only want BOF" is out the window too, with more Cop LX cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traveler Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 You know...I'd honestly be interested in seeing a Charger (in a test situaton) be rear crash tested to the severity of how the Crown Vic has been tested. I'd also like to see and hear of the details of how the Chargers are holding up to wear and tear as well as the abuse associated with everyday police work. If you have a large department that buys brand-new and can afford to put their cars to pasture at 75,000 miles, the Chargers may be doing fine. However, smaller agencies may have to roll up higher mileage and it would definitely be interesting to see if the Dodges hold up as good as the Vics. One thing about the Vics you have to keep in mind. Everybody points out the downside of keeping the sheetmetal the same since 1998. The pluses are easily switchable parts and body panels with a host of affordable replacement parts out there. If Ford continues on with the Crown Vic as-is with no changes, I'd say that Dodge will possibly continue to cut in on their business. However, I am still not seeing large numbers of Chargers out there. The Crown Vic remains the gold standard for police duty and I doubt Ford will lose it's lion share, unless they sit on their hands forever. Another thing to remember is that the Panthers still remain popular in select overseas retail markets. If they are low overhead cars already and their fleet business stays good, they could perhaps keep the cars in production for awhile longer...even without changes. Although, I think that it would behoove Ford to get off their collective duffs and freshen the cars up and put some more ponies under the hoods. At least the police, Kuwaitis and the few of us enthusiasts could appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted September 14, 2007 Author Share Posted September 14, 2007 Depends on the department, a city in Michigan had a BMW M3 for a while. Have seen some Escapes as of late and there are a few Mustang's and Magnum's running around. Not to mention the Minivan surveillance vehicles. Around me, they use Escapes as 'Parking Enforcement' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford-150 Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 (edited) rmc523.....were you watching the thing about the police shootings, cause actually i live 10 min. from where the LaBeet guy lives, and yes i also saw a lot of undercover/detective cars on the news, they all want this guy dead, most of them were ford, then Daimler and GM....a lot of F-series my thoughts are with the family of that cop that passed away Edited September 14, 2007 by Ford-150 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted September 14, 2007 Author Share Posted September 14, 2007 rmc523.....were you watching the thing about the police shootings, cause actually i live 10 min. from where the LaBeet guy lives, and yes i also saw a lot of undercover/detective cars on the news, they all want this guy dead, most of them were ford, then Daimler and GM....a lot of F-series my thoughts are with the family of that cop that passed away Thats exactly what I was watching. Sad, about the cop, my thoughts are w/ them too. I hope they catch this guy soon. Then they found that Vibe in the shopping center too, thats a few mins away from me. I've never seen that many undercover/detective cars before, there were tons of them!! Along w/ the usual 10 billion Crown Vics of course, I think I said that earlier though. My cousin is a cop in Tennessee, he currently has an Impala (not the new one) he says his favorite cop car is the CV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford-150 Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 (edited) Thats exactly what I was watching. Sad, about the cop, my thoughts are w/ them too. I hope they catch this guy soon. Then they found that Vibe in the shopping center too, thats a few mins away from me. I've never seen that many undercover/detective cars before, there were tons of them!! Along w/ the usual 10 billion Crown Vics of course, I think I said that earlier though. My cousin is a cop in Tennessee, he currently has an Impala (not the new one) he says his favorite cop car is the CV. OMG....they just shot the guy dead!!!! they just interrupted Jay Leno because of it.....turn on the news but i hope i get to watch O'brien.......at least they got the SOB Edited September 14, 2007 by Ford-150 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted September 14, 2007 Author Share Posted September 14, 2007 (edited) OMG....they just shot the guy dead!!!! they just interrupted Jay Leno because of it.....turn on the news but i hope i get to watch O'brien.......at least they got the SOB did they reallY!?? I'm glad they got him. Edited September 15, 2007 by rmc523 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford-150 Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 did they reallY!?? yes turn on the news Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford-150 Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 they went back to regular programing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBadBflo Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 A lot of agencies use confiscated vehicles for undercover work etc. So chances are you will see quite a variety of different makes and models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old_fairmont_wagon Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Heck, in Post Katrina New Orleans, you're liabled to see ANYTHING as a detectives or non-enforcement vehicle. I've seen it all. Now, for the cop cars, they're using what was donated. CVs with way too much mileage on them, Impalas, there's a couple of Carpices in the fleet again, all that with about 6 different paint schemes and about ten different light setups. The suburbs still largely use CVs, some of the smaller towns use whatever is from their largest auto dealership. The State Police are, I believe, still using Impalas as their new vehicles and are slowly retiring CVs as they hit their time and mileage limits. I believe that they haven't given up on the state lawsuit and ford won't sell them any CVs at the moment. (that could be old information). I do have it on good information that they are starting to see a fuel savings from the impalas, but that they are costing more in the maintenance department. I do not know if its a wash, however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 One thing about the Vics you have to keep in mind. Everybody points out the downside of keeping the sheetmetal the same since 1998. The pluses are easily switchable parts and body panels with a host of affordable replacement parts out there. Yeah but face it: Ford cared a lot more about the Crown Vic back then. Revision in 1978, facelift 1990, revision 1993, and then again in 1998. Now, 10 years of nada. During the Eighties it was okay - LTD was one of the top 3 selling cars at the time. Now?... Eh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traveler Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Yeah but face it: Ford cared a lot more about the Crown Vic back then. Revision in 1978, facelift 1990, revision 1993, and then again in 1998. Now, 10 years of nada. During the Eighties it was okay - LTD was one of the top 3 selling cars at the time. Now?... Eh. The Crown Vic is built for purpose moreso than looks. Its chiefly a police car nowadays and there are proabably quite a few advantages of carrying over that sheetmetal. With the Crown Vic exclusively, its more about what is underneath and the changes there were considerable in the early part of this decade. The styling of the car is just clean and not detracting from its purpose or duty. Its not ugly; its just not exciting...well, unless there's one in your rearview with full lights and siren. Then it may be exciting. Its funny how some departments justify their purchases like the Impalas. Save gas here; blow it there on maintenance and upkeep. The local TV station did a story a month or so ago about how the Highway Patrol was overbudgeted on gas expenses. What did they have sitting in their inventory lot in Raleigh...A SEA OF BRAND-NEW 5.3 CHEVY TAHOES! This stuff leads me to believe that the purchasing agents for the state get extra incentives to buy regardless of what is better for the state. Why in the world would they buy 2WD Tahoes that are worse on gas than Chargers or Crown Victorias??? Why even settle for Impalas to save on gas when you're going to spend more on maintaining your fleet???? Another funny story. NC bought 100 brand-new LS1 Camaros back in 2002. They were questioned why the state needed such an impractical sport coupe. They didn't really just come out and say we want more speed and acceleration. Nope. They tell the media that they saved $200 per car over Crown Victorias. The kicker of the story: However, they had to install roll bars inside the cars to strengthen the roof to Crown Vic standards. Cost? You guess it...approximately $200 per car! Really when it comes down to it. On paper, there probably should be no better police car than the Charger 5.7 Hemi. You've got the near speed and acceleration of the LS1 Camaro, the roominess of nearly that of the Crown Vic, fuel economy that is purportedly better, although I'm not sure if that is truly the case or not and the weigh and size of the Impala. The only benefits that I could think of with the CVPI is the BOF dexterity the larger of the sedan trunks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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