Good morning! Our mid-week Showdown is between two former cop cars, both made by Ford, but from two disctinctly different technological eras. But before we get to those, yesterday’s sensible stickshifts were a hit, it seems. Let’s see which one took top honors.
Well, I’ll be. Somehow I expected the Honda to walk away with this one. I guess the high mileage gave some of you pause. For me, I think I’d take the ZX2 as well, but I’d show up with two grand cash and not a penny more. A $500 discount for having to pop-start it to get it home seems fair.
Now, for today, I’ve chosen two former police cars. I know such vehicles can carry all sorts of connotations about their owners, and not all of them are exactly wholesome, but let’s leave all that aside and just look at them as used cars. Used cars that have led hard lives, sure; cop cars spend a lot of time idling, and then suddenly accelerating at full throttle, and the combination of the two is not easy on a vehicle’s engine, transmission, or cooling system. But if they’ve been serviced properly, they should have some civilian life left in them. Let’s check them out.
2009 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor – $3,500
Engine/drivetrain: 4.6 liter overhead cam V8, four-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Gilroy, CA [Editor’s Note: Hey! The Garlic Capitol of the world! – JT]
Odometer reading: 120,000 miles
Runs/drives? Great, the ad says
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, this car’s headlight pattern was known and feared throughout the land. It didn’t matter if you were a car person or not; you could spot a late-model Crown Vic’s lights in your mirror, and you involuntarily clenched and slowed down. Then, inevitably, someone’s Aunt Matilda and Uncle Jasper went by you on their way to the Sizzler for the early-bird special.
This CVPI (as these have come to be known in internet shorthand) is a later model, so it benefits from the 500 or so years of development and refinement that Ford did to these cars. It has the later chassis with rack-and-pinion steering, upgraded suspension, a horsepower bump, and a fix to the 4.6 liter modular engine’s cooling system woes. This car should be just about armageddon-proof.
It does appear to be pretty clean, and it has an actual back seat instead of the molded-plastic bad guy seats. Like a lot of cop cars, it did get to retain its A-pillar-mounted spot lights; I guess they leave these on because without them there would be a gaping hole in the door frames. And it’s not like an auxiliary light is exactly cop-specific.
(As an aside, some friends of mine and I used to put the spotlight on my friend’s ex-cop car to an interesting use: Free beer. When I was in college up in Superior, Wisconsin, everyone liked to have bonfires on the beach, and, being Wisconsin, drink copious quantities of alcohol while there. Well, this included the high school kids, who once or twice got there before us and took the prime bonfire spot. We drove along the road, shining the spotlight down onto the beach, watched them scatter, and then thanked them for not only starting the fire for us, but also the cooler of beer they left behind. Not that I, or anyone here at the Autopian, condone such actions today, of course.)
This car isn’t without its flaws. The paint job is cheap-looking, and since it was painted it has had an altercation with something on its left rear flank. It’s not a big deal; I think a Crown Vic Police Interceptor in pristine shape would look wrong somehow.
2013 Ford Taurus AWD Police Interceptor – $4,900
Engine/drivetrain: 3.7 liter dual overhead cam V6, six-speed automatic, AWD
Location: Hayward, CA
Odometer reading: 120,000 miles
Runs/drives? Yep, but we don’t get much more info than that
After the Crown Vic’s reign, Ford designed two new Police Interceptors: One based on the Explorer, and one on the Taurus. I confess I almost forgot about the Taurus Police Interceptor (or Ford Police Interceptor Sedan, technically, I guess). They’re not common in my neck of the woods; Explorers are everywhere, but the local constabulary seems to prefer the Dodge Charger for its sedan needs.
This car is powered by a special 3.7 liter V6 not available on civilian Tauruses. It’s not quite as powerful, or nearly as fast, as the Taurus SHO, but I’m sure the cops would prefer you didn’t know that. It also comes equipped with all-wheel-drive, an advantage in slippery situations over the old Vic, even with a limited-slip rear end. It has a manually-shiftable six-speed automatic, and like the Charger police cars, the automatic’s shifter is up on the column, where it belongs.
This Taurus’s black-and-white color scheme allows me a rare chance to impart some nerdy knowledge from my day job in the fleet-vehicle-graphics industry. Most black and white cop cars aren’t painted black and white any more like they used to be; they’re painted black or white, depending on which is the dominant color, and the other color is a wrap, often with door shields and other graphics printed on the wrap for a one-piece installation. This is cheaper, both for initial purchase, and for the inevitable repairs. It also makes it easier to “de-copify” (to borrow a term from KITT222 on Opposite Lock) the car once it’s put out to pasture. So there; now that’s a thing you know.
This one is a few steps further away from civilian life, besides the white doors and roof. It has no back seat at all, only some intense-looking bracing that may or may not be present in the normal Taurus. We don’t get much to go on when it comes to its condition either; the seller only says it runs great, passed a smog test, and has working air conditioning. All important points, but Craigslist doesn’t charge by the word; they could expound a little.
I know cop cars aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, for a variety of reasons, but as someone who owns a former government fleet vehicle, I can tell you that if you find the right one, they can make great used cars. So here we have two options: One is a proven dinosaur, and the other is a modern ride with all the niceties, and complexities, that entails. Which one would you choose?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
We’re all such predictable dorks, going for the panther body.
This isn’t a fair fight. The Crown Vic will obliterate the incomplete callipygian Taurus.
On roadkill garage they put a 65 F100 on a Crown Vic chassis and created a vehicle that I would love to own, or build.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5p173v
The answer is always Panther.
I had an ’03 P71. (P71 is the Police Interceptor designation in the VIN) Other than the timing chain tensioners and 3 coil packs it gave absolutely flawless service for over 10 years.
As a plus, if you look on YouTube, it will take on Hell’s Revenge with ease.
Panther love FTW
Midwest weather means the AWD 2013 all day. the basic 3.7 duratec is not as good as say the SHO 3.5, but it also does not have quite as much crap to take off when the water pump fails behind the timing set. the hole in the trunk is concerning though. these taurus cop cars had a tendancy to carbon monoxide up the cabins if the rear lightbars were not sealed properly and the lack of a back seat altogether just makes the issue worse.
The comment on how everyone knew the light pattern on the Crown Vic reminded me of this. My ex has a 2005 Passat wagon. When we were together I added some HID lights to it and something about the square headlights on those models must have made it look like a Crown Vic at night. We’d be going down the highway in the fast lane and cars a quarter mile in front of us would slam on their brakes and jerk over to the slow lane. This happened enough for us to prefer taking the Passat on road trips as it took care of left lane campers.
Also, Crown Vic all the way here. My grandma has a Grand Marquis and I have some great memories of being 17 and getting the thing sideways when she would have me take it to go get gas for her.
Crown vic… the water pumps on those Taurus V6’s are ticking time bombs, and just like the Chrysler 2.7, they are driven off of the timing chain so it gives a real convenient pathway to make a milkshake out of the engine oil…then there are the PTUs on those Tauruses as well.
more concerning is that they are behind the timeing set, so assuming you catch it weeping before it takes out the engine, it still costs over a grand to have someone do as the timing set needs replaced at the same time.
Always Crown Vic
I decided to vote for the Crown Vic as it’s cheaper and doesn’t need anything to be a functional 5 passenger sedan. Was gonna go with the Taurus until I saw the lack of a back seat.
Neither.
If I were in the market for a used LEO ride I’d hold out for a cheap AF Chevy Caprice PPV with the 6.0 V8:
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a15123144/2012-chevrolet-caprice-ppv-police-car-review-review/
Then replace the auto with a 6MT.
Or better yet a KGB special:
https://www.motortrend.com/news/just-listed-ex-kgb-1989-tatra-613/
except you also either need to be handy enough to rid the thing of DFM, or be willing to pay someone about 4K to do the Delete, if anyone will still do it in this era of EPA police running things.
“except you also either need to be handy enough to rid the thing of DFM, or be willing to pay someone about 4K to do the Delete, if anyone will still do it in this era of EPA police running things.”
No problem, just $230+ tax and shipping:
https://gmauthority.com/blog/2020/05/range-technology-offers-afm-dfm-disabler-for-general-motors-vehicles/
That said I’d probably just keep the $230 and the DFM.
But this wasn’t the question.
Taurus purely on the novelty. I feel like everything that could be done with the Panther has been, and that Taurus has places to go, I think. Too bad about the V6.
Added bonus to the Crown Vic…
One of my storm chase buddies who drove a Crown Vic for several years had added a mount for his laptop. In spite of his own, un-coplike appearance, the site of the unmarked Vic with laptop mount always seemed to earn him free food when patronizing various fast food drive thrus. Inevitably, the person at the window would ask, “Are you police?” and simply replying “yes” meant free Big Macs, tacos, chicken…
As far as a storm chase vehicle, the Crown Vic’s big engine was great when you were in a hurry to get to a storm. The mileage on multi-state chase days? Not so much…
Crown Vic for sure. The dashboard on that Taurus is an affront to esthetics and good taste.
@JT Conan the Grammarian here – a capitol is a building, and a capital is a city. 🙂
Do the cigarette lighters work ?
First thought was “how is this even a choice? Panther all the way!”.
On second thought though, even though the ’13 is incomplete inside, the AWD might make for a fun winter beater and the price is still bordering on cheap money. I wouldn’t even need a rear seat anyway; I’d just build a platform for my dog.
I don’t know anything about the durability of the drivetrain of the newer car though, so I’ll stick with my gut and vote Vic.
As the former owner of a CVPI, the best way I can describe my ownership is that it was an automotive cheat code.
On the highway, lanes would clear like I was Moses and the interstate was the Red Sea. It didn’t matter that all the local PDs had long retired their Crown Vics; people have long memories.
I swapped in a junkyard Town Car interior and suddenly had the perfect road trip car.
Until one time I got flagged down by an officer, who thought I was the plainclothes backup he had called for. I went home and immediately listed it for sale.
I am pretty sure the Crown Vic is burned into the subconscious of every driver over about 35 years old. My brain doesn’t pick out explorers very quick but I will immediately notice a crown vic.
And at night…the matrix-dot amber light pattern!
That works great on a multi lane highway. My experiece with a CVPI on a two lane highway is that the person in front of me annoyingly sticks to the speed limit and impedes my ability to speed.
That’s where being a nice deep blue like the Showdown shitbox is a plus, hit up a junkyard for a chrome Grand Marquis grille (and its’ polished alloys if they’re still there) and you stop looking like a cop and just look retired.
That bracing does not seem to be normal fare, which leads me to ask, WHAT the eff was it for?
That bracing, in conjunction with the spare tire, was integral to the police interceptor sedan rear end collision safety system. The police interceptor SUV’s (Explorers) have a similar setup. Ford advised that the spare tire be kept in its original location in order to maintain the safety of the occupants in the event of a rear end collision. Unfortunately, police vehicles are far to often struck from behind while stopped on the roadway on a traffic stop or assisting other motorists.
Both ads are bad, and they should feel bad. At least the Vic ad actually has information, even if spell check evidently doesn’t exist.
The Crown Vic is the only pick! (IMHO)
(Unless something has changed, the Ford Taurus is known to need a new Transaxle every 30-50K. )
Crown Vic is the easy choice here. Cheaper, simpler, easy to work on, and still plenty of replacement parts out there for not much money. Also the Crown Vic is still what I picture in my mind when someone says “think of a police car” and I don’t think that will ever change
Once, in the earlier days of Uber, I got a driver with an ex-cop Crown Vic. It was a spring or early summer day and had rained earlier so it was warm and sticky out, exacerbated by the vinyl rear bench with 3-4 of us packed in. Luckily it wasn’t a far that we had to go, but then when we got there, the driver had to let us out, because cop car.
Nothing to do with these particular cars, just it’s been like 10 years and I still think about it relatively often.