Was just looking thru a list of new vehicles and engines coming out in the next few years. There are many new models coming our way soon. Here are a few that caught my eye:<br>- Cadillac may be producing a 1000 HP gasser called the GM XV16. It is a 13.6 litre V-16. Designed to compete with Rolls Royce etc.<br>- Dodge Ram within 18 months is coming out with a luxury pick-up for competition with the Caddy Escalade EXT and Lincoln Blackwood.<br>- The cops in 2004 may have their beloved Crown Vic back. It will be a V10 propane fueled 6.8 litre. 0-60 in 6 seconds. Prototype has Vogtland suspension, Bilstein shocks and 255/50R17 tires.<br>

 

<br><br>They've been promising to stick a 5.0 in them since '96, that never happened either :<br><br>'99 they finally got decent gearing to make up for the lack of power. The '94-'96 Caprice was the best patrol vehicle ever. The old hemi's and 440's may have been faster off the line, but I know they didn't handle as well. They would over heat in city driving too. Just a little trivia.

 

[quote author=Redleg link=board=10;threadid=16965;start=0#160009 date=1058249565]<br><br><br>They've been promising to stick a 5.0 in them since '96, that never happened either :<br><br>'99 they finally got decent gearing to make up for the lack of power. The '94-'96 Caprice was the best patrol vehicle ever. The old hemi's and 440's may have been faster off the line, but I know they didn't handle as well. They would over heat in city driving too. Just a little trivia.<br>[/quote]<br><br>I'll give you a little more trivia, when you come up on a scene where there are several police cruisers in the summer time, you can tell which are the Caprice.... they are the cruisers with the hood open. And, they handle like a bus with to flat front tires. Most around here are the Crown Vic and a lot of Impala's. The Caprice is lovingly called the 48 Nash or an upside down bathtub. The do work well if you have a little more than a football field to turn them around in. Other than that, they need brakes and front end work constantly, and the fan motors burn out regularly. Other than the above, you are right, great patrol vehicle

 

More trivia....<br>The Crown vics and Impalas have taken over because Chevy discontinued all RWD cars in 96 so they could concentrate all the parts for use in SUV's. Chrysler offered to buy the tooling to keep the cars available, but GM declined. 65,000 vehicles wasn't big enuff market for GM, but plenty for Chrysler. :They only recently started producing the police version of the Impala to get some of the market back. The Crown Vic is only still in the market because of the rear passenger room, and you ever try to shove a car off the road in a front wheel drive? . The pre '94 Caprice's WERE junk. '94 was when they went to the LT-1 &quot;vet engine&quot;. They beefed up the suspension as well. The brakes were still poor. They were the same as on my Z-71, which went through them too. Any patrol Caprice on the road now is either past it's serviceable mileage, or has been overhauled. There are a couple dealerships that &quot;overhaul&quot; these cars to keep the model on the road. They offer different &quot;budget&quot; levels. You probably see some from a lower budget. My dept had used quite a few of the rebuilds, but ran into chassis problems (other than drive train) due to excessive mileage.<br><br>The Michigan State Police is one of two agency's (other being LAPD) that put patrol cars through a battery of tests and publish the findings for other agency's to use as a guideline for their fleet. We test all vehicles a given manufacturer advertises for patrol use (from Volvos to Cameros). When GM announced the Caprice was done, MSP began testing a number of vehicles before having to resort to the Crown vic. They even tested a stock (vortec)Tahoe, which beet the crown vic around the drive track (1.5 miles of mixed curves and straights) by two seconds. The vortec out accellerated from a stop (Ford later helped this with lower gears), but the Tahoe made most time because it took the curves tighter. They got with GM who then lowered a 2wd by 2&quot; and beefed up the suspension, for a patrol vehicle. I was one of quite a few guys who tested the first one in the field. With our write ups, they took it to market. We ended up with mostly Crown vics anyway as GM was back ordered on Tahoes, and in some situations it is still better to have a car. We did get a lot of Tahoes though. Lately we even have fielded a few Impalas, but they're a little better suited for city use. They may have taken care of the problem by now, but a '96 I was driving burned up 3 cylinders when I was going to head off a persuit (predetination). Sarge was doing some follow-up on the damage, called the main motor pool, and was told they have 13 more sitting there with the same problem. The Caprices are long gone here, but we still have a couple very high mileage Tahoes here just for an alternative to the Ford. Normally with the mileage these have, they don't worry about body work, just get'em ready for turn in. These keep getting cleaned up though.

 

They're going to put the 5.7 Hemi in the Chrysler 300 this year. I wonder if that would make be a decent patrol car?

 

I want a blown 440 Hemi in a Miata. ;D Or how bout an LS1 interceptor with a 427TT Lingenfelter in it. ;D Try out running that one.

 

Its a Lingenfelter 427TT its got twins buddy.

 

Linger-Finger-Schminger :

Out run this.

 

That has got to be one of the prettiest sites I've ever seen in my life. ;D

 

[quote author=Redleg link=board=10;threadid=16965;start=0#160029 date=1058260160]<br>More trivia....<br>The Crown vics and Impalas have taken over because Chevy discontinued all RWD cars in 96 so they could concentrate all the parts for use in SUV's. They only recently started producing the police version of the Impala to get some of the market back. The Crown Vic is only still in the market because of the rear passenger room, and you ever try to shove a car off the road in a front wheel drive? . The pre '94 Caprice's WERE junk. '94 was when they went to the LT-1 &quot;vet engine&quot;. They beefed up the suspension as well. The brakes were still poor. They were the same as on my Z-71, which went through them too. Any patrol Caprice on the road now is either past it's serviceable mileage, or has been overhauled. The Michigan State Police is one of two agency's (other being LAPD) that put patrol cars through a battery of tests and publish the findings for other agency's to use as a guideline for their fleet. We test all vehicles a given manufacturer advertises for patrol use (from Volvos to Cameros). [/quote]<br><br>We have a small town, hense small department. The Caprice is a '94 with the LT1. It has had one engine and two transmissions replaced. The engine burned oil bad from new so was replaced at about 80,000. The car has 120 and change on it. Our experience with the Impala is that the officers hate it the first few days but it grows on them and once used to the front wheel drive they like it well. We have two of them, one is a couple of months old. Previous administration hated fords, had to have Chev. The Impala worked out well and was cost effective, so we purchased the new one. You are probably right about the different levels of Caprice, this one had the small fan motors and I changed them to the taxi units which put out much more and seem to last. Still will overheat at idle with lights on in the winter. It is ok as long as the air is on, only one fan operates unless the air is on. Next town had a bunch of them as well as the troopers, they all seemed to have the same problem with the fans.<br><br>I am out of the situation now since March 1st, so was just adding errata.

 

Maybe electronic problem with the fan? Though, these LT-1's were cast iron head and intake, not the aluminum, but how many cameros and vetts are driven around the clock under such conditions? the cars were treated like diesels due to the continuous need for radios and lights. Just about all cars produced ran into electrical problems. Ford boasts upgraded electrical system, but they still have occasional problems. Same with the Tahoes. Your guys probably don't get much highway activity though, where you have to worry about the gas tank exploding.