Taurus Police Package--any updates on durability?

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synthetic_crazy

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Since the new Taurus Police Packages have been on the roads for a few months now, have any of you heard how they are holding up? (I realize most probably have less than 100k miles) I am curious about their durability in terms of the FWD/AWD drive-train. Also, the engine compartment in the Taurus looks pretty compact versus the openness of the 4.6L Crown Vic, I wonder how this will effect heat dissipation.

Ford certainly has the experience to build a great police package vehicle as demonstrated by the Crown Vic. Time will tell.....
 
I'm curious of the sales numbers. Seems like Ford shot themselves in the foot on this Taurus deal, don't know about other states but Ohio State Highway Patrol is switching from P71s entirely over to Chargers. If just a few other states are doing the same, that means Ford is losing A LOT of business to the competitor.
 
Also it will be interesting to see if the police Ford Explorer model holds up in service. Evidently in qualification testing it bested the Chevy Tahoe in almost every category from acceleration to braking and handling.

We'll all be making some adjustments. Crown Vic's were easy to spot at night because of their familiar headlight and taillight patterns. These new vehicles give off no such clues.
 
Originally Posted By: evanautumn
I'm curious of the sales numbers. Seems like Ford shot themselves in the foot on this Taurus deal, don't know about other states but Ohio State Highway Patrol is switching from P71s entirely over to Chargers. If just a few other states are doing the same, that means Ford is losing A LOT of business to the competitor.


According to a contact that I have in law enforcement, they are unhappy with the Chargers, especially the roominess of them. He informed me that they are changing over to the Explorer version of the PI. They are starting to show up in Central Ohio.
 
I service a lot of the explorer police vehicles to be honest they are awesome in terms of reliability. I personally do not like the seating position but decent vehicles overall.
 
None of the local agencies have the Taurus. CHP has the Explorer and the only real issue we see with them is they eat through brakes. CHP has a rule with them that pads have to be changed when they get to 5mm, so they get changed a lot.

The UCSB Police use the Caprice, Santa Barbara County Sheriff still use Crown Vics, and SBPD just got a shipment of Caprices.
 
I was talking to a guy who is a mechanic for the local police department.

They switched to the Chargers after they couldn't get any more Crown Vics. The Chargers are much faster (hemi) than the crown vics and handle better, but according to him, they don't hold up at all. Constantly going to the dealer for warranty work and when they are out of warranty work they just fall apart.

The Taurus police cars are too new to decide on, but they don't have the same problems at their current age as the Chargers did at the same age/mileage/etc. Same with the Explorer police package.

The are AWD as well.
 
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
According to a contact that I have in law enforcement, they are unhappy with the Chargers, especially the roominess of them. He informed me that they are changing over to the Explorer version of the PI. They are starting to show up in Central Ohio.

interesting...I saw an OSHP Explorer a couple times in the past month or so, figured it was an experimental one (like the rare Tahoe you'll see)
 
Originally Posted By: evanautumn
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
According to a contact that I have in law enforcement, they are unhappy with the Chargers, especially the roominess of them. He informed me that they are changing over to the Explorer version of the PI. They are starting to show up in Central Ohio.

interesting...I saw an OSHP Explorer a couple times in the past month or so, figured it was an experimental one (like the rare Tahoe you'll see)



Tahoes really aren't rare. I passed 3 of them (silver colored) in a 5 mile stretch yesterday on 315. They have a bunch of them in NE Ohio, some are white and some are the silver they switched back to when they started buying the Chargers.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Also it will be interesting to see if the police Ford Explorer model holds up in service. Evidently in qualification testing it bested the Chevy Tahoe in almost every category from acceleration to braking and handling.

We'll all be making some adjustments. Crown Vic's were easy to spot at night because of their familiar headlight and taillight patterns. These new vehicles give off no such clues.


Big one right there! We totally trashed the Chargers both 6 and 8cyl. Front ends were horrid and the engines have had a few minor issues. So far the Ford Taurus is what everyone likes. You can't see nada from the Chargers. Taurus seems to be solid all around so far. We have a few at 60-80k mark; these are city miles. To date the only issue with Taurus was an actual fire from a door switch.

My take, and I do the buying of patrol cars (we have a fleet of 60) is the Taurus is working out well. I would never buy another Charger unless forced too. We do have 2 new Explorers. I am very much ahhhhhhhh jury out. The previous non-police package Explorer's were horrid. They were simply not meant for police service. Our 5.4 3V Expedition engines were stellar as was the trans 47E IIRC but the suspension and front ends were not heavy duty for our use.

I have ha hard time believing Explorer will hit the Tahoe hard. Tahoe has served the NYSP very well for a low cost.
 
Ours are the 3.7L's and so far everyone seems to like the acceleration, handling, etc. Only gripe is the tight courters inside because the computer takes up so much room, along with the printers and scanners. But to be honest, I don't expect them to last as long as the vics. Im sure the 3.7L will be quite tired by 100K.
 
Originally Posted By: BISCUT
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Also it will be interesting to see if the police Ford Explorer model holds up in service. Evidently in qualification testing it bested the Chevy Tahoe in almost every category from acceleration to braking and handling.

We'll all be making some adjustments. Crown Vic's were easy to spot at night because of their familiar headlight and taillight patterns. These new vehicles give off no such clues.


Big one right there! We totally trashed the Chargers both 6 and 8cyl. Front ends were horrid and the engines have had a few minor issues. So far the Ford Taurus is what everyone likes. You can't see nada from the Chargers. Taurus seems to be solid all around so far. We have a few at 60-80k mark; these are city miles. To date the only issue with Taurus was an actual fire from a door switch.

My take, and I do the buying of patrol cars (we have a fleet of 60) is the Taurus is working out well. I would never buy another Charger unless forced too. We do have 2 new Explorers. I am very much ahhhhhhhh jury out. The previous non-police package Explorer's were horrid. They were simply not meant for police service. Our 5.4 3V Expedition engines were stellar as was the trans 47E IIRC but the suspension and front ends were not heavy duty for our use.

I have ha hard time believing Explorer will hit the Tahoe hard. Tahoe has served the NYSP very well for a low cost.



Not sure why there would be much difference between the Taurus and the Explorer PI's. They are both based off the same (Taurus) platform.
 
Local police and OPP seem to be really into the new Explorers, they have several, just started showing up like mad in the last 6 months or so. I see a LOT more of those than I do the Taurus.

Our local force has a fair number of Chargers. I've never talked to the officers to see how they like them however. I think most (all?) of them are V6 cars. I saw one in getting its heads replaced at my Chrysler dealer (Pentastar issue).
 
My 2012 v8 Charger has about 47k miles on it. No real problems with it, but I don't beat on it a lot because the zone I work is pretty chill. It does smell like raw fuel if it idles for too long. We have 4 Caprices and love them, but won't be getting anymore of them because they cost a lot more than the Chargers. A city in our county got the AWD turbo Taruses. They seem to like them and don't have problems with them.
 
Interesting observations. Seems that Ford is having a good run so far. The Crown Vic had a hard legacy to live up to in the dependability dept. and hopefully that trend will continue.

Also goes to show how Ford and GM get the law enforcement market. Doesn't surprise me the Chrysler offerings fall apart early. Seems to mimic the much hated dependability surveys. Their law enforcement offerings seemed to be more flash and little substance vs the competition.
 
Originally Posted By: lawman1909
Ours are the 3.7L's and so far everyone seems to like the acceleration, handling, etc. Only gripe is the tight courters inside because the computer takes up so much room, along with the printers and scanners. But to be honest, I don't expect them to last as long as the vics. Im sure the 3.7L will be quite tired by 100K.

What makes you think a 3.7L DOHC V6 is going to be less durable than the 4.6L SOHC V8?

Back in the 1990s, did people suspect that the 4.6 SOHC wouldn't have the durability of the 5.0 OHV engine?
 
I tell you what- the Impalas are pretty darn good. WAY faster than a crown vic, and the department I was at didnt take care of them at all, and they held up pretty well. The Impala is a pretty good car if you ask me (I never would have said it a few years ago), the 3.9L cars went pretty well. The 3.6L cars run like a raped ape.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Also it will be interesting to see if the police Ford Explorer model holds up in service. Evidently in qualification testing it bested the Chevy Tahoe in almost every category from acceleration to braking and handling.

We'll all be making some adjustments. Crown Vic's were easy to spot at night because of their familiar headlight and taillight patterns. These new vehicles give off no such clues.


That's what you think.
wink.gif
 
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