Ford To Cops: CV is Out

[Ford Jellymoulds]

Kinda funny we how only need horses, Ka's, Fiesta's & mainly Focus's & Transits to do exactly the same job police job as you Stateside. Police job is worse in the UK than the US these days, saturday nights are nightmare.

LINK

Edited August 28, 2009 by Ford Jellymoulds

[Patate]

Police barely keep their cruisers mroe ethan 1 year and 25,000 miles.

 

Here they get up to 200 000 km. Impalas and CV have no problems getting up there without any major repairs.

 

If they actually kept them for only a year, I would call this incompetence and waste of taxpayer's money.. just like the Carbon Motors cars.

Edited August 28, 2009 by Patate

[NickF1011]

Kinda funny we how only need horses, Ka's, Fiesta's & mainly Focus's & Transits to do exactly the same job police job as you Stateside. Police job is worse in the UK than the US these days, saturday nights are nightmare.

LINK

 

How many miles does an officer usually drive on his/her shift in the UK? I'm betting it is considerably less than it is in the U.S. I sure wouldn't want to be stuck behind the wheel of a Focus all day every day.

[RichardJensen]

I don't think there's anything approaching a 'norm' for law enforcement usage or service lifetime.

 

There's undoubtedly an 'average', but certainly nothing 'normal'---

Edited August 28, 2009 by RichardJensen

[Hoser768]

Here they get up to 200 000 km. Impalas and CV have no problems getting up there without any major repairs.

 

If they actually kept them for only a year, I would call this incompetence and waste of taxpayer's money.. just like the Carbon Motors cars.

 

I remember going to the DOT auction and finding a 5 yr old or so CV PI with 194k miles. Still started and ran good. I think most of the CV PIs had a piece of electrical tape covering the illuminated MIL. I remember thinking this particular car must have been a K9 unit because it looked like something made lunch out of the steering wheel. There was very little padding left, mostly bite marks and a metal ring. :lol:

[630land]

The classic Mopar cop cars from 60s/70s/80s were all unibody, and the Taurus is not "Smaller". Ford has to make a beefier version for police use, plain and simple.

[jasonj80]

Police barely keep their cruisers mroe ethan 1 year and 25,000 miles.

 

Borg Not everyone lives in a fancy neighborhood like you

 

Our local city keep cars until they get ~125,000 on them, at that point they go to other city dept. or are sold. Don't forget most police cars are in at least one accident in their service. I have some friends in PD and they say the Charger/Magnum were fast but cramped, the seats were not comfy after sitting in them a long time and one had the back window shatter after he went over a curb. Most prefer the Tahoe as the best vehicle but they are expensive to operate.

 

I hope Romulus's Charger and Magnum break down -- they are worse than the Allen Park...

[Ford Jellymoulds]

How many miles does an officer usually drive on his/her shift in the UK? I'm betting it is considerably less than it is in the U.S. I sure wouldn't want to be stuck behind the wheel of a Focus all day every day.

 

They do a five minute drive to the scene of the crime with sirens blaring the thief would be long gone with many others in the area as you can hear them coming miles away. They would then go back to the office for a few hours form filling.

 

They spend all day form filling on a computer in an office Nick when ever a crime is commited however small, if somebody had stolen a hub cap off T-Stags car to use as a frisby whist it was broken down. They would then notice the tyre (tire) is bald as well check the rest and book T-Stag having 3 bald tyres as well. T-Stag would end up boring them to death about Land Rover & Jaguar stories on how wonderful they are since TATA pumped billions into them that they would end up booking him for wasting police time.

 

They would still have to fill 20 pages and fields and fields of useless information on the incident.

 

Maybe 20 minutes a day in a police car those seats are not to comfortable in a Focus.

[NickF1011]

They spend all day form filling on a computer in an office Nick when ever a crime is commited however small, if somebody had stolen a hub cap off T-Stags car to use as a frisby whist it was broken down. They would then notice the tyre (tire) is bald as well check the rest and book T-Stag having 3 bald tyres as well. T-Stag would end up boring them to death about Land Rover & Jaguar stories on how wonderful they are since TATA pumped billions into them that they would end up booking him for wasting police time.

 

That's actually kind funny. :lol:

[Ford Jellymoulds]

The classic Mopar cop cars from 60s/70s/80s were all unibody, and the Taurus is not "Smaller". Ford has to make a beefier version for police use, plain and simple.

 

I used to like all Steve McGarretts Mercurys in 5-0 & oooooh Magnums 308 GTS must be coolest PI car around my God did l want one, why can't Ford mass produce something out of steel like it, l would buy a new one every few years.

 

Don't think l would like to live in Hawaii there was always about 10 folk gunned down in every episode. Maybe thats why Obama got a job on the mainland.

[joihan777]

Those of you that know about the Taurus's mechanicals may have an answer to this:

 

There is an AWD Taurus right? So how hard would it be to make a RWD only Taurus? Would the change allow for a column mounted shifter?

 

Otherwise I can see the AWD being more popular in the icier regions and police fleets getting used to FWD elsewhere.

[Pioneer]

Using the Taurus as the next police cruiser would, IMHO, be a mistake.

 

Civilian version resale prices would drop. Customer perception would diminish. Same thing that happened to the Crown Vic.

 

Please, Ford. Do not kill the Taurus by adding a police cruiser. Let another auto company take over providing a vehicle before you do this.

[stephenhawkings]

can't find any engineers to update the P71 platform, maybe a P72?, could even produce a ranchero off of it!

[Maximus]

maybe they should have/could have dropped the Ecoboost in the CV?

[timmm55]

maybe they should have/could have dropped the Ecoboost in the CV?

 

The problem with the CV is it's antiquated design. Replacing the engine won't solve it's age. it needs a MAJOR refresh/redesign.

[BORG]

I hope Ford doesn't look to the Taurus for such fleet duty, that will corrupt it horribly. They could produce a version of the Taurus for fleet duty, perhaps rename it, try to hide it a bit. Call it the Ford T-150 or something like that The Taurus is also a MUCH safer vehicle in high-speed collissions than the Panther which has a terrible side-impact crash rating. This will do a better job protecting our officers, which is very important.

 

The Taurus will be an excellent police cruiser, Ford will do a great job prepping a model for fleet. Of course, I'm sure many departments will migrate to the Impala since they've already been doing that for years now. The CV share of that market has been eroding steadily for 10 years, no reason to keep around such a niche orphaned vehicle if a Taurus will do the job better (and murder the competition). And my God, a Taurus PI is going to look sharp in the new Robocop movie

Edited August 28, 2009 by BORG

[old_fairmont_wagon]

Around here (South Louisiana), major municipalities tend to purchase the new cruisers (as does state). They keep them for what appears to be 3 or so years (depends on the abuse a particular units takes apparently). Once they reach the end of their primary service life, they get sold to small police districs in surrounding citites and parishes. Those districts use them until they fall apart. There are some forces that are all CVPIs but for a few special purpose vehicles. Others use whatever is cheapest at the moment. Some are starting to mix in 20% Tahoes or so (handy with the regular flooding we get down here with summer rains). State has a lot of impalas. Some small forces use Dodge Chargers (Crescent City Connection police in New Orleans for one).

 

The feds buy in big bulk purchases. Many fed agencies use Tahoe's (And some expeditions) for their police enforcement duties. Others use (08 and 09)Taurai for their marked and lighted units that don't do pursuit work. There are still many CVPIs purchased. Lots of special purpose vehicles though.

[Ford Jellymoulds]

President Mark Fields points out to The Detroit News, the CV gives Ford a presence in just about every municipality in America. One vehicle that Ford gave to police to drive during their stay in Dearborn was the new Taurus, which is almost as big and roomy as the CV, but with far more safety tech, improved fuel economy and the (costly) option of an Ecoboost V6 under the hood in the form of the SHO model.

 

 

AUTOBLOG New Taurus police car LINK

My God P-71 Crown Vic (MATT) has got a big chip on his shoulder.

 

 

Edited August 28, 2009 by Ford Jellymoulds

[silvrsvt]

Um isn't the Detnews just assuming that Ford will offer the Taurus as replacement?

[Pioneer]

Um isn't the Detnews just assuming that Ford will offer the Taurus as replacement?

 

 

Wouldn't that be your guess as well, since Ford was letting police representatives test drive them?

 

I would hope Ford would drop out of the market altogether before they do that.

[suv_guy_19]

I think that perhaps body changes would be in order for the police Taurus.

[retropia]

Modern unibody cars can be and are designed to be safer in an accident; the entire body can absorb impacts. The more impact absorbed by the car's body, the less impact is transferred to the bodies inside.

 

However, this makes accident damage more expensive to repair. As the article mentioned, police repair shops find it relatively easy to repair accident damage on a body-on-frame car like the Crown Victoria.

 

More safety is a good thing, but cash-strapped states and municipalities are likely to heavily weigh the costs to maintain and repair.

[Pioneer]

I think that perhaps body changes would be in order for the police Taurus.

 

 

I sure hope so. Using the platform, with unique sheet metal, would preserve the Taurus resale value.

[matthewq4b]

I think what is going to happen is more agency's will move to the Tahoe to replace the VIC in applications that can not be filled with a FWD variant. For severe service police use no FWD to date has been able to be as durable as the RWD's The VIC was able to fulfill that role and handle the more sedate police duties.

 

I imagine Ford will try to beef up the Taurus but the basic front end design is not strong enough for severe service especially the upper strut mounting that is the same design as the last gen of Taurus and was that vehicles single biggest weak point. And the current platform is showing the same durability issues in higher mile units. That design can not feasibly be beefed up without a complete redesign of the upper strut mounting

 

I fear that utilizing the current Taurus in an SS application will only end up being a repeat of the last SS Taurus's performance.

 

There are some Dept's that will just out right refuse to use FWD cruisers due to the poor history they have experienced with them over the last 20 odd years. We have one such dept here that serves a surrounding community of over a million.

 

The AWD drive units will be too pricey for most PD's and the added cost, complexity and inherent reduced long term reliability will be huge strikes against them.

 

Chevy may very well be positioned to pick up a huge portion of the CV sales with the Tahoe. Like Ford was able to do when the Caprice was cut. (One of the biggest mistakes GMC made and admitted as such) It is happening already do not kid yourself that is is not.

 

Unfortunately the Expedition is saddled with a quirky handling weak IRS design (for the application), otherwise it would be the logical alternative for the PD's.

 

Hopefully we will only see a few years hiatus of lacking a proper Panther replacement. By 2014-2015 the Taurus the Falcon and Stang's chassis will be over due for replacement and hopefully Ford's fortunes will have turned enough by the panthers production end that Ford will be able to look hard at a GRWD alternative.

 

By the time the current CV ends production the chassis will have been production for 33 years and in the current body style for 21. No small feat to say the least considering the massive advances made in that time, more advances than in any equivalent time period in the history of the automobile.

 

The panthers really are a tribute to American Engineering and the Ford engineers and designers that originally penned them back in the mid 70's. How many of them would have guessed then that their car would still be in production in the second decade of the new millenia.

 

 

 

Matthew

Edited August 28, 2009 by matthewq4b

[RichardJensen]

no FWD to date has been able to be as durable as the RWD's

Or more appropriately, SRA RWD. There's a lot to be said for a simple suspension and torque tubes vs. two half shafts, four CV joints (and boots), and more suspension arms and (IIRC) alignment points.

 

Seemingly, any IRS GRWD would be subject to the same frailties as a FWD cop car & the Charger---although the Charger also suffers from the many deficiencies inflicted on it by Chrysler's far less stringent coachwork standards.

Edited August 28, 2009 by RichardJensen