Yesterday, I had a chance to experience the 2011 Ford Taurus SHO in its Police Interceptor form at one of Ford’s secretive testing facilities as well as one of the out-going Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor (CVPI) models. The test vehicles highlighted the premium “trim” for both cars; with the Crown Vic sporting the tried and true 4.6L Modular Ford V8 with a rear wheel drive configuration while the 2011 Police Interceptor featured the advanced all wheel drive system and the 3.5L EcoBoost V6 from the Taurus SHO.
The venue was a simple – a massive tarmac in Ford’s Dearborn testing facility with a series of small cones and white lines arranged into a short, tight road course. Along with a variety of curves and turns of various angles, the course featured a nice straightaway where we could experience the all-out power of both cars. Both the Crown Vic and the new Taurus-based Police Interceptor were piloted by a Ford test driver and I sat shotgun. I had intended to take some video of the ride but unless a camera was bolted down to something, the wild ride would have made the film useless.
Now, you have to imagine that the new, Taurus SHO-based Police Interceptor would be better in many ways than the Crown Victoria - it is a newer car packed full of modern technology. However, I don’t think that most people (police included) will really have an idea of how much better the new Police Interceptor is until they hammered the car through a tight course at 50-60mph. Bear in mind that the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor is still widely used around the country and it has been (for many years) an incredibly popular police car.
The most obvious difference right off the bat was pure acceleration. The Crown Vic is offers 250 horsepower from the 4.6L V8 where the new Police Interceptor packs the 3.5L EcoBoost V6, making 365 horsepower. That extra 115 horsepower is obvious from the first time the test driver put the hammer down and the all-wheel drive system in the next generation Interceptor clearly makes much better use of the available power. The Crown Vic spun the tires on initial acceleration and in many of the turns, the test driver had to lift off the throttle to control the wheel spin – with the car spinning the tires hard enough to “drift” on the long, sweeping turns. Don’t get me wrong… it was a whole lot of fun riding in the tire-spinning Crown Vic as the body rolled side to side but it was definitely a rough ride. On the other hand, when the test driver put the pedal to the floorboards of the Taurus-based Police Interceptor, the tires bit down and away we went. Coming out of the short, hard turns the new Interceptor was quick to get traction and accelerate away where the Crown Vic struggled to get immediate traction. Like the Crown Victoria, the EcoBoosted Interceptor was able to break traction a little on the longer turns but there was clearly far more control to the driver and the car was able to generate more speed before reaching the threshold of the Interceptor’s 18” performance tires.
Another area where the improvements to the Interceptor lineup are clearly evident was in handling the tight turns of the test course. On the longer turns, the Crown Victoria’s suspension didn’t seem strained until later in the turn and at higher speeds but once you hit that point, you could feel the tires trying to roll under and the car pushed hard to the outside. When we hit the series of very tight turns, the Crown Vic threw you hard from side to side as the tires screamed for traction… leaving the test driver no choice but to slow down. On the other hand, the next generation Police Interceptor stuck tight to the longer turns with minimal push to the outside and in the images below, you can see the suspension of the Taurus-based Interceptor reaching to its limits as the car hammered through the long sweeping turns. Once the new Interceptor hit the tight turns, the advantages of the new suspension and AWD system were crystal clear. Where the Crown Vic rocked and rolled its way through the tight turns, the Taurus-based Interceptor quickly went from turn to turn – seeming more like the driver was swerving an animal on the road than making hard, high speed turns. After the first time through the course at moderate speed (where the Crown Vic seemed to struggle a bit), I wondered if the driver would slow down for the tight turns. He did not, and the car tossed us from side to side hard enough that as the passenger, I was getting in the driver’s way. When we took the new Police Interceptor Sedan through the same series of turns, there was hardly a need to hold on as the Taurus felt like it was just stepping around the cones – allowing the driver to build even more speed into the next long, sweeping turn.
The difference between the two cars is amazing. It isn’t like we were comparing some model that is unpopular and unused to a new model – we are comparing the most widely used police vehicle in the country over the last decade to the vehicle that Ford hopes will seamlessly replace the Crown Vic. After experiencing the two vehicles on a closed circuit course, I can only imagine the benefit to the police on all types of high speed and tight cornering pursuits. The Ford Taurus SHO is proven to be incredibly popular and after spending some time driving one; I can see why. Ford has taken every upside of the new SHO and converted it into a rolling, high performance fortress that offers as much comfort for the officers as it does performance to help catch the bad guys.
Check out the gallery below for a look at my ride-along session with the Ford test drivers, as well as the vehicle used in the tests. Stay tuned to your Detroit Autos Examiner for all of your breaking news from around town and around the world!
Check out the links below for other Ford Taurus and Police Interceptor information:
The Ford Police Interceptor: a closer look
The 2010 SHO Convention takes over Ford's World HQ
The 2010 SHO Convention raises over $8,000 for charity
Road test: 2010 Ford Taurus SHO - the Drive
Jay Leno clears up his views on the '11 Chevy Volt and the future collectability of today's vehicles
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