New police charger

[Company5]

My good friend who polices for Hampton GA drives an Intrepid which is not a very good patrol car in my book. She says they are going to the new charger. I guess they are scared of the Crown Vics, or maybe they got a better deal on the chargers. Any of yall policias run those new chargers? What do ya think. I know another friend of mine hated going from the caprice to a vic because the Ford fuel tank was smaller so he had to fuel up more often. Of course now Ford owns the police/government market. I guess Dodge is trying to get some of it back since they lost it when the Diplomat was discontinued.

[USAF_2T2]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/USAF2T2/charger101.jpg


The Maryland State Police slicktop.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/USAF2T2/Charger102.jpg


They are saying that they are not fully tested yet, but who really knows. They are supposed to be better than the Crown Vic as far as power and fuel economy. I wouldn't mind having one with the Hemi in it.

[Moxnix]

I wouldn't mind having one with the Hemi in it.
I think you just want one with the fancy wheels on it (j/k) :D

[Big_Dave]

Hmmm.......a little comedy maybe? Look at the unit number in the top pic. :wow:

Car 54, where are you!?!? :rofl: :p

[lunatic]

Hmmm.......a little comedy maybe? Look at the unit number in the top pic. :wow:

Car 54, where are you!?!? :rofl: :p

:rofl: :rofl:

[vacavalier]

Gotta be better than those Chevy Impala's we have....

[Crystal Pistol]

Well, still can't post my pics here, and don't want to have to move all my pics here, so I'll just say they are even prettier in "VSP Blue & Silver" and let it go at that. :type:

I hear the brakes are about the same as the Intredids, and the rear suspension is not a solid axle but independent. Trunk is bigger in CVPI, think I'll just try to get another CVPI come spring when I get the miles up on this one I have now, and that should last 'till I retire from this "gig". :fishing:

Please ...... NO Wimpalas, I don't care how much power you put in it, it still has lousy brakes and weak underpinnings, too many problems for LE rigors based upon my limited experience, and ample observations. ;)

[SteelCityNomad]

Well, still can't post my pics here, and don't want to have to move all my pics here, so I'll just say they are even prettier in "VSP Blue & Silver" and let it go at that. :type:



http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid15/p530619e656ab67a747b32d0625694cc9/fdebf18c.jpg

Your pics should post here CP, just use img brackets before and after the pics name.

To see what i mean hit the quote button on this poat and look what I did from a pic you posted elsewhere.

[Capt._Chaos]

The Chargers with HEMI engines may have plenty of power for pursuit duty, but I have plenty of reason to question the quality of new Chrysler products.

I have seen a lot of their cars & pickups not put together well, and I've heard the Intrepids that have been used in Law Enforcement didn't hold together for long.

The Crown Vics are put together well, and that car has been around long enough to have had most all its "bugs" worked out. Hopefully Ford has enough sense to leave well enough alone and keep it as a V-8/ Rear Wheel Drive configuration.

I think Chevy screwed themselves when the Caprice was discontinued, as it was a great pursuit vehicle when it was equipped with (if I remember right) the Corvette LS-1 engine.

The new Impalas make nice family cars (I have driven one before- a rental car), but I doubt any front-wheel-drive car can withstand the demands & abuse of Law Enforcement work, especially when trying to put lots of power through a transaxle & CV joints! :yikes:

[scubadiver]

Dave your dating yourself commenting about Car 54. :harhar: :harhar: The Charger looks nice, but I'm with CC on this. Are they able to handle the stress of Law Enforcement. No offense to the LEO's here, but your cars go thru more usage.

[SteelCityNomad]

Well Mopar had what it took for many more years than Chevy and Ford combined. I think that them getting BACK into the Law Enforcement community, will not be really that much of a transition. And I also think that the LEO's are looking forward to the offerings from Mopar because of the high standards they had for decades in the vehicles they produced for them.

To even think to compare the standards used in the construction of production vehicles to those produced for the Law Enforcement Community is quite nieve. They do not get run of the mill cars and just add paint and lights ;)

[Capt._Chaos]

Mopar had quality cars in the '60s and '70s, but their quality suffered in the '80s and they haven't built any cars that could stand the test of time like their competitors.

I'm interested to see if those new Chargers last more than a few months doing Law Enforcement work. As I mentioned, I didn't see the Intrepids last very long- whether in civilian use, or LE use.

[SteelCityNomad]

Mopar had quality cars in the '60s and '70s, but their quality suffered in the '80s and they haven't built any cars that could stand the test of time like their competitors.


I beg to differ with that statement, I owned a 81 Dodge Diplomat that was built for the Baltimore MD. PD, and had the whole PD Package.

I lucked into the vehicle as the Dealership that had the vehicles, ordered in what they wanted, and budget cuts stopped them from purchasing all of them.

A Buddy of mine worked at the dealership and knew I was in the market for a new car and gave me a call.

That car was one of the most reliable vehicles I have ever owned, only real drawback to it was the cost of repairs compared to a production vehicle.
Brake drums are larger, suspension parts are different, etc. can't run down to the salvage yard and save money.

My wife had the car serviced at a Jiffy Lube and they accidently filled the crankcase with 90 wieght gear lube, and it trashed the lower end when winter came(Spun a bearing on the crank)

Had a local mechanic do the repairs and the estimate doubled when he found the little "a" stamped after the number on the crank.(Jiffy Lube wasn't impressed) :rofl:

I would probably still have that car today if my wife didn't try to go ice skating with it one winter day.

[Crystal Pistol]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid175/p2173f4fba11d304b72cc6a52cf1b98ad/f3843381.jpg

SCN, when I do it, I get a "X" in a small box in the preview. I didn't think it was posting them ... so here goes again, just like I do other places, and just like you did here.

Now, I am pressing "Submit". :yikes:

Edit added .... well, it showed up as the box with the "X" in it, even while the other photo displayed. I then right clicked on the box, and chose "show picture", and presto, it displayed. I'm missing something here, because I never had to do that in other sights, etc. I have been posting pics everywhere (you've seen them I see), never had that happen, but it wappears OK now, so here is a "front view" of a photo shopped version with bar lights. The new decals are going to be used for one year I think.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid175/p1a27408213613d4a192992720cf049e2/f384337d.jpg

I hear we are purchasing a few to test reliability issues with before we order a bunch and maybe get "burned" again. Some of the Impala's and Intrepids have been dissapointments when it came to reliability and service.

Now (second "edit"), some are boxes, some are pics. All will display if I tell them to. I'll figure it out ... even the pic you posted showed up this time as an "X" in a box.

Well, now that I know I can throw a pic up ..... I'll post more pics ...... :chase:

[Crystal Pistol]

Update ....

I got the new car, a 2006 Crown Vic PI as I wished. I have now gotten about 4,000 miles on it and I like it. I thought it would ride harsher with the 17" rubber but Ford did a good job with bushings and it's is the smoothest police car I think I have ever had, and cross winds do not seem to disturb it at all. It goes where pointed. The seat took some getting used to as my old one was "broken in". I don't see much need for a tach, and the speedo is a bit smaller but it's "dead on accurate" at all speeds. There is no throttle cable, it's all "drive by wire" now with a motor on the throttle body reacting to imputs from the body control module. Cruise control is rock steady, even downshifts the trans if needed to maintain speed on steep down or up hills. My old trusty and still in service, near bulletproof, original SkyFi is still sounding good (I liked it better when it was "Hank's Place", but "Willie's Place" isn't bad.) on it's third car now! There is even a built in funnel under the oil filter to help keep oil changes nice and tidy (6 quarts now). Slightly louder mufflers too.

Also, correction to earlier posting ... the trunk of the charger is about the same as an Impala, and not nearly as big as the CVPI's trunk. We haven't purchased but a few Chargers, w did buy a s-pot load of CVs (marked) though.... and some Impalas (unmarked).

[Flying Dutchman]

I have seen some of the new unmarked '06 Impalas on I-95. Pretty hard to tell it apart from the 'civilian' version, though. While a police-issue unmarked Crown Vic is easily distinguished from your grandma's car, I think the unmarked VSP Impalas should be required to use the dog dish hubcaps for better visibility.
:harhar:

Anyway, I am on vacation in Michigan as I type this - and I have seen at least one of the '06 Dodge Chargers in police duty out here. Oddly, though, it still had a single red "gumball beacon" light on the roof and that very loud laser blue paint scheme. Talk about mixing old and new!!

Be safe out there, folks, and I'll try to jump back on here after I get back home late Saturday night.


Flying Dutchman; knows that CP would flip if he saw some of the 11-axle trucks driving around the local streets here

[Flying Dutchman]

UPDATE:

I have returned from my vacation in Michigan. According to my stepbrother who lives there and operates heavy equipment, the maximum weight limit is about 140,000 pounds!!!! Of course, you have to be equipped with the proper number of axles to handle the weight.....but that is still a lot of truck for one guy to handle.

I took some photos of some grain haulers, which I intend to post here in the coming days. I saw a few of them on US 23 across the Ohio line as well, so I assume they can also drive them in parts of that state as well.

That comes to 42 tires on one truck, which should make the folks at Goodyear & Michelin very happy.
:wow:

But can you imagine what the toll would be for something like that on any road in VA? Ouch!!

While in Michigan, I saw a few state troopers there. One was in a new Charger - but the rest of them had Crown Vics or Chevy Tahoes. All of them looked odd with that red "death ray" gumball light on the roof, even though they had grille lights, mirror lights and rear deck lights as well.


Flying Dutchman; glad to be back home