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what type of police vehicles have you guys driven at work and what was your favorite?
my ride along was in the new Tahoe and i was impressed with its performance.
my friend that took me on the ride along normally drives an impala that he likes more than the tahoe
my favorite to look at would have to be the charger
Out of all I have driven my favorite was the late 90's Caprice. Since then it has been the Charger.
1996 Caprice LT-1 is the KING. Followed closely by the new Chargers
My first squad was a 2003 Dodge Ram pickup with a hemi.
It was snappy, accelerated fast, and moved fast. It handled decent, not great....so going fast wasn't something I really enjoyed doing.
Since then I've had a 2005, 2007, and now a 2009 Ford Crown Vic. Of all of them, I prefer the 2009 Crown Vic the most.
I liked the Caprice and the Crown Vic. I don't care for Chargers.
96 Caprice- hands down, nothing comes close. My first patrol car, had it for almost a year as a rookie. Almost cried when they took it from me.
05 Impala- not the fastest car out there, but I really liked it. The car and I were a good match.
97 Ford CV- hands down the best Crown Vic I've had as a squad.
I've also driven 01, 03, 06, 07, 08 CV's and 08 and 2010 Chargers. The Caprice, and 97, 01, 03, and 07 CV's were take home squads at my former agency. I've driven the others as pool cars at my current agency. My assigned car currently is an 06 CV only until the new batch of Chargers are decaled and equipped, then the CV will be retired for a 2011 Charger.
I really want to drive the new Caprice, but my department is switching over completely to chargers. They're ok. If ford hadn't squared off the steering column in their later models, I'd pick a current CV over a current charger. But in the current CV's, my knee is resting against a corner of the steering column all shift. Not comfortable. So I'd go with a charger for that reason only. There is a rumor that the department will lease 2 or 3 of the Carbon Motors vehicles for testing. Im never one to like brand new untested items, so I'll hold out my opinion on it until it has a few years in the market.
I've used the ford bronco, expedition, crown vic, chevy caprice, tahoe, and dodge diplomat, Durango, and charger. Of those I liked the bronco the best. It was great in a rural setting. The caprice was good in a straight line but cornered badly. The tahoe was obtained to replace the bronco and absolutely sucked off road. The dodges were the worst of the bunch. So many things fell apart on those vehicles it was pretty pitiful. The charger has to be one of the worst choices for a patrol vehicle I've ever driven. The crown Vic is a good patrol vehicle and seems to hold up to abuse well. I think ford is going to loose a good chunk of the market when it is gone.
The only thing that beats the 1996 Caprice is likely to be the new Caprice.
All depends on room. That was one thing that was awesome about the old caprice. You had room for all sorts of gear plus badguys. Didn't have to worry about hitting knees on dashes or your head on the roof.Quote:
Originally Posted by MacLean
Favorites (in order of preference):
2011 Tahoe PPV (Room, HP, handling - it has it all)
1996 Caprice LT-1 (Ungodly fast, handled like a tank but OMG the acceleration)
1977 Plymouth Gran Fury (10 years old when I drove it. Sounded great with the breather lid upside down, dependable as anything I've ever driven)
1997 Crown Vic (Just a good all-around car. Rugged as hell)
Least favorites (who cares what order they are in?)
Ford Fairmont (I think 1983 but I'm trying to forget)
1988 Dodge Aries K (literally a puke of a vehicle)
1986 Ford LTD II (Sandbags in the trunk helped cornering)
1991 LTD Crown Vic (again, sandbags; and leave your hood popped)
A trooper in he post near me has to pop the hood on his Impala after arriving at every accident he goes to because the car overheats so bad. Those things must just be trash.
I've been running around our office for the past couple weeks shouting out "caprice! caprice!" in an effort to pass along a subliminal message. I'm hoping it's received.
Do people say "bless you" and hand you a tissue? :DQuote:
Originally Posted by jmur5074
Of all the cars I have driven at work, the worst, by far, was a Plymouth "K" car. The Chief tried to save money. It was fun hitting a railroad track at 60 mph. really, it was a piece of crap, and they even tried to put a cage in it.
For your youngsters, here is what one looked like
http://i53.tinypic.com/orufkm.jpg
What it looked like when we got thru with it.
http://i53.tinypic.com/2znmi5f.jpg
Ha! I drove one of those pieces of crap when I was the Comm Center Commander....what a riot.Quote:
Originally Posted by bayern
My first real ride was a 1973 Dodge Polara 440 Magnum. That bitch was straight from drag city...fast and handled well for a very big car. After that, it would be the 96 Caprice LT-1. I had Brembo brakes, Bilstein suspension and the corvette motor.....I could do shit with that car that would make your hair stand on end.
I still dream about that ride....
Car 4:biggrin1:
Dude, I have to cram myself into everything already.Quote:
Originally Posted by pgg
I want it to go fast and stick the corner. Room is just a bonus.
The only vehicles we've ever had were Ford. Before I worked there, they did have a 92 Taurus that was an absolute heap. I did some ride a longs before I was on the Dept and it was laughable.
Of the limited choices I've had, my favorite by far was a 95 Crown Vic.
Best patrol car - Mercedes E320 CDI estate - switch off the traction control & smoke it sideways round the bends ;-)
Worst police car - 1986 Ford Escort 1600 diesel - couldn't pull the skin off a cold rice pudding
We took up a collection for the officer that finally totaled the last Aries we had. Presented a congratulatory certificate, too. Funny, we did the same thing over the end of the Fairmont.Quote:
Originally Posted by Car 4
I have driven a Jeep Cherokee that was pretty good for working the projects. Very short turning radius so no three point turns on most streets. Anyone that has worked the projects would know how helpful that could be. Plus I could hop curbs and cut across parks very easy.
I've had numerous Crown Vics and they were OK. The brand new Crown Vic I got did not even compare to the Charger I have now. I love the get up and go, but I'm most impressed with the handling and BRAKING compared to the Vic. From the comparison tests I've been reading over though the new Caprice does all that just a bit better.
I never liked SUVs and vans as patrol vehicles. Out of the cars I've driven I liked the Caprice and most of the Crown Vics. There were a few CV's (I forgot which year) with loose steering that handled horribly. The Impalas I drove were absolute junk. We don't have Chargers here. My department hasn't made a decision yet about new cars after the CV goes out of production.