2006 Dodge Charger Police Car: A Test Drive!

[rohan]

Yeah except my car is a v6 and I won't get a new one til I hit 75k miles.  It's only got 35k ish now.     

[bing_oh]

Yeah except my car is a v6 and I won't get a new one til I hit 75k miles.  It's only got 35k ish now.     

Awwww! Guess if you'd get out from behind that desk every once in a while and do some real police work, you'd have more miles on that car! Frickin' butterbars...

[rohan]

[rohan]

speaking of that- I'm running the shift traffic grants in the "real world" on Friday and Sunday 8am to 4pm.  LOL  That's gonna be soooo much fun.

[bing_oh]

speaking of that- I'm running the shift traffic grants in the "real world" on Friday and Sunday 8am to 4pm.  LOL  That's gonna be soooo much fun.

Do you remember where the switch is to turn on the lightbar? Got any tickets that aren't dry rotted? You know it's cold outside and you actually might have to get out of the car, right?

[rohan]

Do you remember where the switch is to turn on the lightbar? Got any tickets that aren't dry rotted? You know it's cold outside and you actually might have to get out of the car, right?

I'm
So
I'll probably just  




My car doesn't have a light bar- it's got those cool little hidden flashy things. 

[bing_oh]

I'm
So
I'll probably just 




My car doesn't have a light bar- it's got those cool little hidden flashy things. 

Just have one of the road guys help ya you, Randy. I know you've been mouldering away behind that desk for awhile, so maybe they can do a little refresher FTO for ya!

Are you allowed to do straight traffic enforcement in Michigan in an unmarked? We're not allowed to under Ohio law, which kinda sucks.

[rohan]

Yea we can.  Which is why my car gets used everytime by the grant guys.  We have a couple other admin cars set up just like mine.  One is a gold 05 impala (which honestly just isn't fair because it doesn't look like a cop car) and a black charger just like mine.  hehehehehe  We also use regular marked cars as well.

[bing_oh]

Yea we can.  Which is why my car gets used everytime by the grant guys.  We have a couple other admin cars set up just like mine.  One is a gold 05 impala (which honestly just isn't fair because it doesn't look like a cop car) and a black charger just like mine.  hehehehehe  We also use regular marked cars as well.

I love it when I get the chance to use an unmarked. We'll occasionally break out an admin or detective vehicle in the summer for bar patrol, and it's amazing what we catch that we'd never see in a marked cruiser. People just aren't used to departments using unmarked units for normal patrol work in my area, so they don't give anything without a lightbar a second glance.

[rohan]

LOL- yeah it's fun.  But honestly when I came to this department we had Streethawks for overheads on white cars.  I could be driving down a main road- anyroad really in the middle of a sunny bright day and catch people going 80/55.  Did it all the time- easier now with the "invisible" bars we're all using.  People just aren't tuned into what's going on around them at all-

[the Teuton]

So what you're saying is that your city's tax dollars are going towards you joyriding in a new 390 hp V8 Charger?

[rohan]

Not at all.  I'm saying our county tax dollars are going towards working in a new 390 hp V8 Charger.  (if I can ever get the miles on my take home car up over 75k)

[the Teuton]

This is just me being ignorant about how police forces work (hence the skepticism in the last post), but in daily driving, a good Crown Vic will be lucky to get 12-14 mpg for a police force. Yeah, it's huge, but it's not like a Charger or Impala can't do the same things.

A 390 hp Charger will eat fuel like it's Frosted Mini Wheats. Why should a police force get something like that, only getting 10-12 mpg on tax dollars instead of an Impala that may get upwards of 15 or 16 mpg?

It makes a big difference when you're logging 20-30k miles per car per year, doesn't it?

[J86]

I love it when I get the chance to use an unmarked. We'll occasionally break out an admin or detective vehicle in the summer for bar patrol, and it's amazing what we catch that we'd never see in a marked cruiser. People just aren't used to departments using unmarked units for normal patrol work in my area, so they don't give anything without a lightbar a second glance.

so not sporting

[bing_oh]

This is just me being ignorant about how police forces work (hence the skepticism in the last post), but in daily driving, a good Crown Vic will be lucky to get 12-14 mpg for a police force. Yeah, it's huge, but it's not like a Charger or Impala can't do the same things.

A 390 hp Charger will eat fuel like it's Frosted Mini Wheats. Why should a police force get something like that, only getting 10-12 mpg on tax dollars instead of an Impala that may get upwards of 15 or 16 mpg?

It makes a big difference when you're logging 20-30k miles per car per year, doesn't it?

First, the V8 Charger has the Multi-Displacement System, which should pretty much even out the gas milage issue while still maintaining the ability for the quick acceleration and high speeds that are sometimes necessary in LE. Second, if you ask any patrol cop, they'll tell you that the Impala is ill-suited for LE. They're small, cramped, have maintenance issues, and don't have the same acceleration and speed that the CVPI's or (especially) V8 Chargers have.

LE vehicles aren't all about the best gas milage. As was explained in the CVPI thread, a police cruiser has to meet a certain set of criteria to actually be useful on the job. If that wasn't so, we'd be driving Yugos.

[bing_oh]

so not sporting

Nope!

[rohan]

This is just me being ignorant about how police forces work (hence the skepticism in the last post), but in daily driving, a good Crown Vic will be lucky to get 12-14 mpg for a police force. Yeah, it's huge, but it's not like a Charger or Impala can't do the same things.

A 390 hp Charger will eat fuel like it's Frosted Mini Wheats. Why should a police force get something like that, only getting 10-12 mpg on tax dollars instead of an Impala that may get upwards of 15 or 16 mpg?

It makes a big difference when you're logging 20-30k miles per car per year, doesn't it?

It's not ignorant it's a good question and one we have to deal with everytime the issue of ordering cars comes up.  There's all sorts of variables weighed into ordering cars- we cover about 800 square miles from interstates to one lane dirt paths practically as a county sheriff department.  We need the best mix of room- mileage- straightline performance- handling- braking- comfort- reliability- cost- safety- crash test results- and presence we can find.  We are concerned with all of that.  In our last couple years we've been purposely buying several different brands in a effort to find a good car that can do it all well.  The CVPI does it all "good" but nothing "well" except room and there it's falls short of the old Caprice.  We've found the Charger kills the CVPI on mileage and is better than about half way between the Ford and the Impala.  Impala just doesn't have the room and it falls on it's face for handling.  Like the CVPI it's doing everything "good" but not "well."  With snow tires the Charger is easily better than the other 2 on slush and ice with the nannies and honestly the brakes last longer on the Charger which is in direct disagreement with what we read on LE forums.  They just have the best of all the worlds excpet trunk room and it's almost as good as the impala.  We've been looking at them all for a long time and the Charger just is the best car.  Also in the county when the  guys are just patrolling all the cars see at least 15mpg.  The Ford gets about 15 the Charger is about 21 and the Impala is about 25.  We've tested the v6 charger- we've got 4 of them and they do GREAT on gas but they just don't have the power we need in the county for long runs.  When you push one the gas mileage falls way below the charger Hemi cars and so does the Impala because they are working harder.  That help?

[rohan]

There is another school of thought and that's the power vs. economy of a patrol car.  The economy side is obvious so I'm not gonna explain it but the power side is the argument goes that it is far safer if our officers have to catch a speeder when they can do it in half the distance.

If a guy goes by us at say 80 in a 55 and we're gonna try to catch him we have to use "closing speed" to gain on him.  But first we gotta stop and turn around and then accelerate.  If it takes a closing speed of say 110 to catch up to him and one car doesn't reach 110 for 1.5 miles ( but gets 25 miles per gallon) and it takes him say 4 miles to catch the speeder.  while another car can get to 110 in say 0.5 miles (but gets 21mpg's on regular patrol) and it takes him 2.5 miles to catch the speeder- the risk management would call that an acceptable loss in gas economy in favor of risk reduction to both the department and the population because the officer is driving fast for almost half the distance. 

[rohan]

Well then you need to see it from the real world's perspective.  In our county- the out county- on a midnight shift the guys are assigned to districts.  one maybe 2 patrols in one district.  That one car has to be able to catch everything a normal person might drive because his back up or assistance could easily be 10 minutes away.  If you live in my county- and a man breaks into your parents home rapes your mom and kills your dad- and he flees driving the car you have pictured in your sig wouldn't you want the men and women who have to apprehend him to be using the best car their administration can find?

Also the new Caprice will probably be 400 horse and do 0-6 in about 4.8 seconds.

edit- Teuton why'd you delete that post?  It was a valid question.  ??

[the Teuton]

Interesting. Yeah, that helps. Thanks.

My roommate has a 1992 Caprice 5.7 liter TPI 9C1.

Now that is a big car, but even under his unleaded foot, it still only returns about 15 mpg in the city and about 25-30 on the highway. When it was used by some PD in New Jersey a long time ago, I can't imagine it did that well.

[rohan]

That's a full 4,000 pound car with only about 200 horse power.  It's actually not bad for the age of the car. 

edit- Also unless it was a LT-1 which I think came out in 94 it would've been throttle body not tuned port injection.

[the Teuton]

edit- Teuton why'd you delete that post?  It was a valid question.  ??

I saw you posted some more while I was writing that, and I wanted to check to see if you answered my question.

I copied it just in case:

Ten years ago, the average family sedan probably could hit 60 mph in 8-10 seconds and topped out at 110-120. Today, the average family sedan can probably do the same thing in 6-8 seconds and top out at 120-140.

Most cars on the road are relatively slow still, and most people don't drive them well enough that acceleration should be a concern. Even the most experienced car booster probably couldn't out-drive your average Sunday autocrosser in traffic. I don't buy that anyone really needs a full-size sedan that can hit 60 mph in under 6 seconds to do police duty. That seems like overkill to me, especially since a) most police are pretty good drivers, and b) police have radios and a network of other patrol officers that can track down and surround a speeding criminal.

I can't see why anything more than a V6 Charger or Caprice (when it comes out) would be necessary.

[Byteme]

Not at all.  I'm saying our county tax dollars are going towards working in a new 390 hp V8 Charger.  (if I can ever get the miles on my take home car up over 75k)

I thought one of the advangtages of the CVPI was the body on frame construction which allowed many bodywork repairs to be made more cheaply than the unibody structure of a charger.

[rohan]

I'm sure it does bytme.  I don't know much about the repair of body damage- and we have insurance to cover crashed cars.  I'm still learning all the in's and out's of risk management so I can't answer that one fully.  but honestly we don't have many cars get crashed - maybe 1-2 a year so it's really not an issue.  Now the state police crash them all the time so it's probably a big issue.  But everyone seems to be going with the impala these days and it has the same concern as the Charger would right?  Maybe Greg or Bing could answer that one better than me.

[rohan]

I saw you posted some more while I was writing that, and I wanted to check to see if you answered my question.

I copied it just in case:

Ten years ago, the average family sedan probably could hit 60 mph in 8-10 seconds and topped out at 110-120. Today, the average family sedan can probably do the same thing in 6-8 seconds and top out at 120-140.

Most cars on the road are relatively slow still, and most people don't drive them well enough that acceleration should be a concern. Even the most experienced car booster probably couldn't out-drive your average Sunday autocrosser in traffic. I don't buy that anyone really needs a full-size sedan that can hit 60 mph in under 6 seconds to do police duty. That seems like overkill to me, especially since a) most police are pretty good drivers, and b) police have radios and a network of other patrol officers that can track down and surround a speeding criminal.

Actually- that's a question for everyone- how pissed would you be?

I can't see why anything more than a V6 Charger or Caprice (when it comes out) would be necessary.

In my scenario above where your parents home in invaded by someone and their brutally assaulted- an honest question-----  How pissed would you be if our department chose to use Impalas because of gas mileage when the guy was driving a car capable of 0-110 in 18 seconds and 150 top speed and he got away because of that?  Because our people couldn't keep up with him?

Actually that's a good question for everyone- seriously- how pissed would you be in that case if we chose economy or performance and your families attacker got away because of it? 

[TurboDan]

Now the state police crash them all the time so it's probably a big issue. 

Well you're in Michigan, so the State Police cars are probably whooshed into the air by the giant, single rotating light on top and the funky thing sticking out of the hood. 

[rohan]

They claim it's tradition.  Now they're switching the giant huge rotating bulb system to a the same housing but they've got four hug LED panels that blink randomly.  It's ultra dumbass looking and honestly makes our state look like complete hickerbillyville.  The side stop markers I actually like.  They have been using them since they started patrolling with cars.  They're very retro in my opinion.  The also have a light and glow surprisingly they're actually really visable when they're on.

[Rich]

In my scenario above where your parents home in invaded by someone and their brutally assaulted- an honest question-----  How pissed would you be if our department chose to use Impalas because of gas mileage when the guy was driving a car capable of 0-110 in 18 seconds and 150 top speed and he got away because of that?  Because our people couldn't keep up with him?

Actually that's a good question for everyone- seriously- how pissed would you be in that case if we chose economy or performance and your families attacker got away because of it? 

The attacker would be 2 miles away by the time the call was answered by the police.  You'd need a Veyron to catch up with them then

[rohan]

I think I'm entirely ok with that.

[the Teuton]

I think your police force should all drive Priuses and Camry Hybrids.