Why are Police Cars so fast?

Question

What makes cop cars so fast? Whats under the hood?

Answer 1

The Police Interceptor (often referred to simply as CVPI) is the law enforcement version of the 1999 and later Ford Crown Victoria. The 1979–91 full-size LTDs and LTD Crown Victorias prior to 1992 used the P72 Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) code for both fleet/taxi and police models. From 1992–1998, the police car models of Crown Victorias were officially known as Crown Victoria P71s. Starting in 1999, the Crown Victoria equipped with the P71 package has been given the official name of Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. It is one of the widest-used automobiles in North American police departments, and due to the "heavy duty" nature of the vehicle, is also used by many taxi companies. Since Chevrolet dropped the rear-drive Caprice, Ford has had a near-monopoly on the market for police cruisers because of a preference for V8 powered rear-drive cars in North America.

These vehicles are available to order through fleet sales instead of ordinary retail dealership sales. The police package consists of modifications to the car for higher durability, speed and capability for high mileage driving and to accommodate the use of the electronic equipment used by police officers on patrol (laptop, strobe lights/siren, radio etc.). This is usually accomplished by heavy duty suspensions, brakes, tires, alternator, transmission and cooling systems, and also sometimes includes slight modifications to the car's stock engine.
All of the Police package components not only increase performance but also increase the car's longevity, although this widely varies depending on daily hours of usage, miles driven, and quality of maintenance.

In the United States and Canada, police departments historically have used standard-size, low-price line sedans such as the Ford Model A or Chevrolet Bel Air. They switched to intermediates when they were introduced in the 1960s, such as the Plymouth Satellite, Ford Torino and AMC Matador. When the Ford LTD and Chevrolet Caprice were downsized in the late 1970s, they were re-adopted as standard. With the departure of the Chevrolet Caprice most police departments currently use the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor as the standard patrol car. New North American Crown Victoria Police Interceptors are optionally equipped with a fire suppression system to combat instances of vehicle fires subsequent to high speed rear impacts.

Some departments have adopted SUVs and front-wheel drive sedans for non-pursuit applications, but the rear wheel drive V8 configuration is favored for being consistent with pursuit driver training. General Motors and DaimlerChrysler provide police vehicles as well, and a few jurisdictions use these vehicles, primarily in Canada.

There are many jurisdictions that use the Chevrolet Impala. The Dodge Charger (LX) is the most likely challenger to the Crown Victoria as a RWD car, though the Washington State Patrol is using it initially as an unmarked patrol car. The former 44th Precinct in the Bronx, NY, now home to a special police task force has one of the new Hemi Dodge Chargers for testing. So far the Charger has shown great promise as a police car, being faster, more modern, and more fuel efficient than the commonly used Ford Crown Victoria. Some complaints about the Charger though are its limited rear visibility and smaller trunk than the Crown Victoria. As of the end of 2006, multiple Dodge Chargers have been put into the NYPD fleet for citywide testing.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

They are not - they just seem like it because of TV, history, and the fact that they can travel as fast as they want to without penalty. In the 60's, cop cars were pretty fast but then again, so was just about everything else American with their big engines. Now days, police packages have primarily a lot of heavy duty components (cooling systems, high capacity electrical systems to handle requirements such as strobe lights, sirens, laptop computers, etc.), heavy duty brakes and suspension pieces. A new Police Interceptor Crown Victoria may have only a 5-10 horsepower advantage over its civilian counterpart, which does not translate into a significant accleration or top end advantage. A V6 Honda Accord produces more horsepower with less weight. Last month, Motor Trend did a comparison of the police versions of the Chevy Impala, Dodge Charger and Ford Crown Victoria. The same question was answered there.

Answer 4

Some of the newer models of police cars have a hemi engine in them, it's very powerful. But police hemi's are much different than civilian cars. The police have technology that makes their cars go faster then yours. So if you have the same car as them, they're still going to beat you. I know this for sure, however I don't have any links to present you with.

Answer 5

Cop Cars always have had specialized equipment packages in their engines special cams lifters larger valves in the heads...

newer comuterized ones had hotter ECU for being faster... shift kits were installed in the tranny's

Ex police cars have always been sought out for parts by hot rodders the more recent 4.6 litre roller cammed injected Fords are no exception...

Walt

Answer 6

In Australia the normal street patrol cars are just fitted with a K&N filter and a CAI setup.

The highway patrol cars are setup with a Silenced supercharger kit, hence why they are so effing fast.

Answer 7

i own a shop,and have serviced a few of them ,so naturally you have to drive them to make sure there alright,its not much more of an engine than a lot of performance cars have on them,a lot of its in the gear ratio they are running,there geared for mid to top end performance,and there are a few tricks to them that most cars don't have like the computer they have in them,but there's a lot of small things about them,most people think there's one main part that makes them run so good,actually its a combination of a lot of things that does it,a few mods in the engine,and exhaust also help with this,good luck hope this helps.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

If its a ford they have the interceptor engine in them usually the dodge chargers have the HEMI's and there suspension are built stronger to handle the turns better.

Answer 10

they just drive them fast because they are trained to do that.
ford tunes engines differently in police cars because the V8 engines they use go faster