That picture of an old Police Taurus is EPIC! lol

But on a serious note, I’m not sure the new Taurus will be rugged enough for the Police use…but only time will tell I guess.

Chevy has struggled to sell it’s Impala to fleet customers? I see Impala cop cars all friggen over the place! Way more than I do Dodge Chargers. I’d say many police departments have warmed up to the FWD unibody V6, at least here in the south.

BTW no cop car is more badass than the Charger HEMI.

@zfenderguy: Must be a regional thing. Here in PA I don’t see any PD’s using Impala’s. Just Crown Vics and Chargers (with a few Ford Explorers thrown in there as well). I do know the NYC PD uses Impala’s so they are definitely out there…

Haha, I’ve seen more new police Impala in Jacksonville than others such as Charger. The troops are sorely missing the RWD platform but the accountants are winning.
The new Tarus SHO would be a very good candidate, if stripped and used with paddle shifters on the wheel to make room inside. The Fusion could be a good ‘Ticket’ car like Impala.

zfenderguy, I respectfully disagree with “…no cop car is more badass than the Charger HEMI.” Please, check out Carbon E7 (purpose built cruiser) at carbonmotors.com. I’m curious to find out what everyone thinks…

As far as Taurus cop car… Well, if they’d bring 1986 SHO (RoboCop Edition), then I’d say “wow”….

too bad the pontiac G8 is gone cos that could be one BADASS cop car! you see a police cruiser has to inspire respect, the charger does, the crown vic does, impala kinda works, G8 would def work, but a taurus??? not really sure about that… might as well put them cops on fiat 500’s and have them hand you candy after they give you a ticket…

Well, the police officers who drove original “platform” into service retired about 20 years ago! That “platform” carriers newer engine/tranny, but underneath it is 1968 LTD. Remember Starsky & Hatch original, not remake? They drove 2 door Torino, but add 2 doors and you got your modern Crown Vic. And by the time that series came out, it was a battle proven police vehicle.

Speaking of police preferences for cars, this is political hot potato. Politicians have very strong ties to auto dealers. They often repay favors or campaign promises by providing contracts on police cars to their most trusted constituency. I recall in mid ’80’s township of Princeton having police officers patrolling in 4 cylinder Volvo 240’s. Obviously, hot pursuit Smokey & Bandit style was not an option.

I don’t think the Taurus would be a good cop car. Just too sophisticated, not enough rear seat room and FWD. Unibody too.

Why haven’t they thought of revamping the current Crown Vic. with the updated engine, meaning around 280hp, adding a few other big updates and then just sell it as a purpose built police vehicle?

That’s funny, Chevy “abandoned” the Police market LLN? Perhaps your area has, but in St. Louis, the majority of police cruisers curently is that “abandoned” Chevy Impala. Some still use the Vics and some areas with money (The speed trap cities) use Chargers, but most every other district used the “abandoned” Impala.

Downtown Chattanooga, TN cops patrol in Priuses….

If it is true that for Ford, building the Crown Vic is “basically a license to print money” why not keep producing it as a police/fleet only vehicle if that’s what the cops and taxi drivers want? Just a thought… If people still want to buy it and you’re still making a profit who cares if it’s 30 years old? Ford can still promote the Taurus alongside it as a more modern alternative.

And my vote for coolest cop car was the special SSP Mustang that Ford produced for highway cops, mainly for use in high speed chases. And isn’t there police agency or two (Overseas, not here in the states) that has a couple Lambos? (I know the Italian state police has one for sure, and maybe the London cops… but I could be wrong…)

^ So essenctially what I’m saying is the Taurus will do fine in all areas not around LLN’s office.

Yeah, Ford should totally keep the Crown Vic around as a purpose built police vehicle, maybe reskin it a bit and give it updated mechanicals. I would imagine that putting the Taurus into police duty would totally kill resale.

In northern NJ, the cops drive around in just about anything. I’ve seen Tahoes, Suburbans, Impalas, Explorer Sport-Tracs, Crown Vics, Chargers, whatever. So discontinuing the Panther platform might not have a substantial impact, at least in my neck of the woods

“Congratulations Taurus owners! Your resale value just dropped 50%!

Who wants to drive the same car that the police and taxi drivers do, that’s ridiculous!

…Hey here’s a smart idea, Ford sells everything that has to do with the Panther platform to a third party and they slap a new badge on it and turn it into a profitable fleet-only production line, because lord knows cops will keep buying them, maybe not many taxi’s anymore with the big hybrid push but they’ll do plenty of volume.

now you seen how well the taurus worked as a cop car in all of the robo cop movies. murphy was able to kill scumbags and stalk his wife and kid and go virtually undetected. this is a no brainer

I still don’t understand why they can’t configure the factory to produce the Australian Ford Falcon rear-drive platform. I believe that vehicle sees police duty in Australia.

I doubt taxi drivers will pick the new Tarus. Too heavy to be fuel efficient. Fusion Hybrid would likely be the choice.

@DIESEL, I have seen the carbon E7. It is indeed more badass than the Charger in terms of police cruiser badassery goes. I didn’t count that one though because I don’t think they are in service yet, are they? I’ve never seen one if they are. Awesome platform though.

I thought in two possible solutions:

The first would be upgrade these vehicles with the 315Hp V8 of the Mustang and a 6-Speed, that would give em a boost in power and in fuel economy or at least will keep the same numbers, but with the increased power

The other would be if police wants a rear drive V8, bring the Falcon with the new “Coyote” V8, and make it fleet only, if people wants to buy it, bring the FPV GT-E (very nice car) , stretch it a little, add a Lincoln badge and sell it as the new Town Car cause I think that a few people aren’t too happy with a FWD/AWD flagship (the MKS is a great car, but not a flagship)

In both cases, they could use the 2.7 V6 and 3.6 V8 diesels from the european market to boost FE and enable to sell the cars in overseas markets like europe or middle east

What ever happened to that company that planned to build yellow Checker Cabs again? They should be the ones to buy the tooling, and continue producing the Vic.

But, in response to ALL OF YOUR questions, the answer, my friends, is Money. For some reason (probably epa requirements) it will no longer be profitable for Ford to build the Panthers.

End of discussion.

@zfenderguy: There’s just one in Atlanta that I saw personally. But, I assume, it’s more a show car (even though real cops were driving it), or, maybe, local police was test driving it… It kinda does look like a Charger (just much meaner!). Glad you liked it Wouldn’t wanna see that in my rear-view, though.

@2WheeledSpeed: Yes, Italian “polizia” has Lambos, as well as Carabinieri. Also, German “polizei” use a couple of Gallardo’s on autobahns near Munich (other “chase cars”, not surprisingly, BMW M5’s).

Remember the Ford Interceptor concept from 2 years ago? That would have been the Crown Vic’s replacement except the economy went bust. I think ford can still do it. When the new mustang comes out in 2013, design a sedan version of it and call it the Falcon for Civilians and Interceptor for police forces. I personally think Ford should keep the Crown Vic in production until we find a viable replacement. The reason why police forces love the crown vic is because it’s cheap, simple and rugged. It’s the kind of car that you crash and fix one part and it’s done. The Taurus would be fine for traffic cops. I think Ford needs to modify the Crown Vic so it would be better than the Charger. In a year or two, I’d like to see the CV get re-skinned, give it the supercharged 5.4 Triton V8 (the boss 6.2 may be a bit expensive) upgraded suspension and integrated lights like the Carbon E7.

I think the issue with “revamping” the Panther program is the fact of meeting Pres Bam-Bam’s fuel and emissions standards. Since the cops want a V8, the mileage would suffer and That would be a BIG cost factor into redoing that car.

I just dont think the Taurus will cut it as the main stream replacement, its going to turn into a nice looking impala.

I have a few friends who work in LAPD and Private security. One says the Impala is actually a good car for around town for what he uses it for, but on the highways sometimes it lacks that punch. One friend from LAPD said the interior room was horrible when you factor in everything. They both would prefer the Crown Vics….

Now (theoretically) i see everyone being pissed off being forced to drive a charger/impala/Taurus, especially the Highway units but they will get use to it, but I see one powerhouse taking advantage of this problem….

Hyundai.

I bet they could build a cheap large RWD V8 sedan and they would be gold.

Just thinking ahead…..

I cant take a Taurus police car serious. My Firebird would eat that things lunch. The Charger on the other hand, that thing OWNS!!! I pay so much respect to that car that I would damn near get off the street when I see one. The other day a golden brown/black Charger pulled a Toyota over and it looked like the Charger was readying to eat that car alive. That car provokes fear. The Tahoe just looks like its going to squish me. The Taurus, HA!!! Try again Ford

I think Ford is crazy if they do this. They are trying to upscale the Taurus and then people are going to see cop tauruses cruising around, plus the vehicles will log big mileage fast and then be dumped on the market. If they do it they need to make it very unique and different body wise from the current 2010 taurus.

I think its a great idea

This is ridiculous. The entire article is one big reason why they should keep the Panther. C’mon Ford. You’ve made some great decisions as of late but this is not one of them. “…a license to print money” and they want to kill it? And don’t forget to throw the Town Car into this mix. Just how many of those do they flog to just about every Limo operation in North America.

ROBOCOP FOR THE WIN!!!!

Thats stupid, The Taurus is not rugged, its not dirt cheap to build and fix. It will fail. If Chrysler makes the next gen Police Charger more “Rugged” and more interior space then they have the perfect police car. but they should keep them for a while, until they bring the Falcon platform, hell they could modify the Panther by getting parts from the DEW98 or some other RWD platform.

I miss the old Paddy Wagons of the ’40s. Someone needs to bring those back.

I’ve seen more Dodge’s as new cruisers than anything else so far. But that may be because they came out first. I think for highway interceptors they/we should use the Lexus IS-F like the British are considering doing. That would be sick!…..

They could use the Charger/Challenger SRT8 for the highways, I don’t see whats wrong with that. as they are more rugged than the Lexus.

Yeah Bosley, at least the IS-F probably handles about the same as a Crown Vic. Piece of garbage.

The Dodge Charger (SRT8 or not) or other choices like Taurus might have a powerful engine, but speaking of handling and garbage……

I think the Crown Victoria (current gen) will always be the iconic cop car.

This is what I’ve been waiting to hear.

Oh and where I live I see a mixture of Crown Vic’s and Impala’s, and a few Chargers here and there. There’s also a ton of police Tahoe’s and a few Expeditions.

These look promising, a new car designed from the ground up to be a police vehicle. The E7 could fill the vacuum left by the Crown Vic.

See this link
http://www.carbonmotors.com/

The reason why the Taurus would not be a good police car is because it’s unibody. End of story.

Here in Longwood FL, we have a Charger (not sure if it is a Hemi, an unmarked purple Mustang GT (who somebody decided to race at a light and regretted it), unmarked Explorer, an unmarked Impala, and the usual Crown Vics.

How about a US built Ford Falcon?

It makes Sense the New Taurus which I see on the road now would make a good ride for a those Ticket Toddlers lol

Borat Um your wrong the Panter Platform might be old but it ain’t that old. It was made with the Chopped or boxed up Crown Vic LTD in 1979 that makes it 30 years old and not 40 years old. The New Taurus I think will make a Good Cop car for Hopefully Good Police officers that actually catch the bad guys instead of writing useless tickets and harrassing the tax payer. Hey I got why not start handing more tickets to the idiot Lawyers that are passing the laws that they feel won’t affect them!

Ford Australia wanted to design and build the Falcon for left hand drive markets but the US management canned the idea. The Falcon is used here in Australia by the local Police forces and is preferred by many officers over the Commodore (G8) because if its ride and handling abilities. I think the Falcon would do extremely well in the US, so maybe if you guys persist and petition Ford head office then maybe one day you will also get to enjoy the wonderful vehicle that is the Ford Falcon, just like us Aussies get to.

The new Taurus is way too big and heavy… AND seeing it’s not RWD standard, they’re going to have problems with making it appealing to PD’s. Same issue GM has had with the Impala.

Also to keep costs down for PD’s to purchase the stripper versions or purposely buit vehicles, using the new Taurus SHO is probably going to be out of the question.

Just as GM saw the demise of PD’s using their cars when they canned the Caprice, Ford will see it with the end of the Crown Vic.

I’m seeing more and more Chargers being used. At least in Michigan, so I’m guessing the Charger will replace the Crown Vic.

Ford has (for whatever reason) been wanting to kill this platform for years. It’s not very likely to happen for the Vic and Towncar. Feet sales are still good for those models. Perhaps the geezer-spec Grand Marquis will get the axe due to slumping sales, but I doubt the other two will anytime soon.

My first two cars were Vics, first a 1989 and then a 2002. Those things are tanks. But I do agree with them needing an updated powertrain… that 4.6 (like the de-tuned 5.0 that came before it) is completely guttless in that 4000+lb car. My 02 could not even spin the tires if I did a friggen brake stand. Oddly enough, the weaker/slower 5.0 had no problem in that department.

It’s also worth noting that there is a considerable cult following for this platform (especially the short lived 2002-2003 Maruarder). If you don’t believe me just go to crownvic.net

Not that many people care, but if they shut down CrownVic production, St. Thomas, Ontario will implode. It’s already seen the Sterling Truck (formerly Ford) plant shut down, as well as other automotive related closures.

Check out these pics of some cool cop cars around the world. Some of them look fake or photoshopped though.

http://moto.onet.pl/130620,5390465,1,zdjecie.html?node=27#id5390465

Regarding the Impala struggling, it only accounts for about 10-12% of all police sedans in the US. Compared to the old Caprice that accounted for about 50-60% of all police cars. So yes, compared to what Chevy used to sell, the Impala is struggling. Charger accounts for another 9-10%, and Crown Vic makes up the rest.
And as for making Crown Vic a dedicated police car only, that’s what it is now. Ford doesn’t sell Crown Vics as a regular vehicle anymore. It’s only sold as police cars and to large fleet purchasers, mostly government agencies. Go by your local Ford Dealer and see how many Crown Vics they have. . .
And as someone who’s ridden in a Taurus SHO, I can tell you that if they made a police cruiser based on that car, it would kick the Crown Vic’s butt, hands down. The new SHO is one hell of a car. Keep in mind the Crown Vic is 25 years old, so it’s an old, dated platform. The new Taurus would not only perform better, it’d be a heck of a lot safer for police officers in collisions. Unibody cars cost more to repair than old body-on-frame platforms like the Crown Vic, but they are a heck of a lot safer due to built in crumple zones, (not to mention 25 years newer safety technology and design). So if you’re city’s main concern is lower repair costs, then keep the Crown Vic. If your police agency wants a better, faster, safer police car, go with something designed in this century, like the Taurus.
Oh, and the Taurus is available in AWD, so if that were offered on a police version, it’d be even better than RWD as far as handling and performance, not to mention the fact that police have to go out in the snow, regardless of how bad it gets. Over the years I’ve passed more than one state trooper here in upper Michigan trying to get up a hill in the snow or ice in their RWD Crown Vic.
Progress isn’t a bad thing. Especially in automotive technology.

Ford tried to sell the Taurus to police departments before, as I recall. It didn’t work then, and I doubt it would work now. Why not simply put the 3-valve engine from the Mustang GT (and its corresponding 5-speed automatic transmission) in the Crown Vic?