The annual police-car test reports from the Michigan State Police and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department have been released, and since none of the major players involved—the Dodge Charger, Chevrolet Caprice, and Ford Police Interceptor—changed much, it's of little consequence. (Unlike the 2012 test, which saw the first participation of all three of the latest cop cars from the Detroit Three.) There was one tidbit that stood out, however: Ford's cop car with the smallest engine is now "pursuit-rated" by both the MSP and LASD.
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Since 2013, Ford has offered its Taurus-based Police Interceptor sedan with a 24o-hp turbocharged EcoBoost 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, but hasn't and continues to not make any claims to the car's effectiveness as a pursuit vehicle. Instead, the four-door has been marketed as the "2.0-liter EcoBoost Special Service Police Sedan," and it's aimed at detectives or other police higher-ups whose vehicular needs tend toward getting from point A to point B as fuel-efficiently as possible. As such, the 2.0-liter sedan is paired exclusively with front-wheel drive and is claimed to achieve up to 30 mpg on the highway. Other Police Interceptor engines include a 3.5-liter V-6, a 3.7-liter V-6, and a twin-turbocharged EcoBoost 3.5-liter V-6. All-wheel drive is standard with the 3.7-liter and 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6s.
-However, this year both the Michigan State Police and the L.A. Sheriff's Department decided to run the 2.0-liter EcoBoost Ford through its annual battery of performance tests for the first time. Lo and behold, even the humblest of Police Interceptors earned a "pursuit-rated" badge. Again, Ford isn't making any claims that the 2.0-liter EcoBoost is ideally suited for anything other than running around town or idling, but the two leading police-car testing agencies say it's up to snuff. It is worth noting, however, that the Special Service Police sedan still gets a heavy-duty alternator, active grille shutters, and "police-purposed" brakes, steel wheels, and suspension.
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It may have a small engine, but the 2.0-liter EcoBoost Police Interceptor at least isn't dog-slow. In fact, according to the Michigan State Police, the Special Service Police sedan managed to pull down a quicker 0-to-60 time than the last Crown Victoria it tested in 2011 (8.6 seconds versus 8.9 seconds). The newfangled turbo even outgunned the old Crown Vic to 100 mph. So we know that the Special Service Police sedan can at the very least run down a wayward taxi. In reality, the 2.0L's pursuit blessing from the MSP and LASD probably won't shake things up in police fleets beyond adding a modicum of duty flexibility to the basic sedan. True highway hogs will still gravitate toward the burly 365-hp, twin-turbo EcoBoost sedan or skip the four-door altogether for the increasingly popular Explorer-based Police Interceptor Utility.
-from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27
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