What’s your opinion on Ford Explorer Police Interceptor and Chevrolet Tahoe PPV? Are they a good idea to buy with low engine hours and under 80k miles? What are common headaches?
This has already been asked numerous times.
See below:
https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/qa/should-i-buy-an-old-cop-car/#post-45561
Thanks for the response.
Are there any other threads regarding this topic? Not sure how to search them I’m new here.
It does answer the question: No. There was a video in that link Scotty did. Also, do a search.
Ford Interceptor (Explorer): do a GOOGLE search and read about the timing chain driven internal water pumps.....my agency dumps these at 130,000 miles right before they have to change these pumps. Expensive and time consuming. If you see a leak from the weep hole, certainly run away.
Tahoes: I've not heard anything bad about them and I've never driven one at my agency. Perhaps a GOOGLE search can yield you something.
Impalas: tend to have transmission issues.....I'm driving one right now (pool car) for my agency and at 94,000 miles the transmission is clunking and jerking when starting to move or coming to a stop and the four HVAC motors are making a horrendous loud clicking noise that you can hear 25 feet away from the car. These were just junk cars from the start.
Crown Vics: expect to do an intake manifold replacement and the paint will flake off in sheets (not a question of if, but when if it is the original factory paint). I currently drive a 2008 for the law enforcement agency I work for and love it; it's got 86,000 miles on it and 861 idle hours. They'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands before I transition to an Explorer or Tahoe. I'm a bit biased as I started driving a Vic in 1998 when I started in law enforcement, so I want to end my career with one. I bought my first privately-owned one in 1993 (it was a used 1989 model) when I was 19 years old and put 255,000 trouble free miles on it selling it to a high school kid in 2005. Great, simple, basic, old-school cars, without all the complex computer systems of the new cars.
Chargers: with the 5.7L engines watch for the lack of lubrication on the cams and cam lifters and the associated damage from extended idle...GOOGLE search it.....my agency just sent a bunch of these to surplus back in December all with blown engines due to lubrication failures from extended idle.
Ford Interceptor (Taurus): We only had a handful at my agency to test, so I don't know how reliable these became. I can tell you the load rating was several hundred pounds less than the Crown Vic. We found that once we loaded all the gear in it (all the stuff that goes in the trunk) and on it (push bar, light bar, cage, console, radios, computers etc etc), plus driver, plus prisoner that the car became illegal as it went over weight. That's why we never adopted them. We just assumed they had the same load weight rating as the Crown Vic; they certainly didn't not.
Generally all agencies by me (not sure about other areas of the country) do all the required maintenance on time and have a robust maintenance schedule. That being said, a car could be going to surplus because something broke they don't want to spend the money on fixing. Or, just going to surplus because it hit their threshold for mileage or age with nothing wrong with it.
My agency and another agency recently fully repainted all of their Crown Vics to keep them in service even longer. Keep in mind Ford stopped making the Crown Vic in September 2011 (a full decade ago), so what does that tell you about which vehicle some of these fleet managers and agencies still prefer.
Now that is one descriptive answer. In case you don't get a thank you from the original poster, Thank you! You must work for a large city or for the state.
About a tahoe, you'd much rather a tahoe/any V8 SUV over a crown vic, the crown vic can easily spin out in the rain.
The tahoe most likely is 4 wheel drive and also weighs more so you for sure have more traction.
Keep in mind that the 2010 ford Explorer has the same engine and tranny as the vic and also 4X4 so...
Definitely have more space in the SUV.
I love my crown vic but I would love a tahoe which is perfect for space/cargo as well as a comfortable ride, even if you need to lay down a mattress to sleep on the side of the road.
It's just a better choice
Even tho crown vic is an awesome car with a long lasting engine...
It's just not practical for me at least with my music equipment etc...
The only used police car I would consider would be a Crown Vic with under 100k miles and low idle hours (2000 or less).
You can get them cheap and they can last if you maintain them right.
Not only would I be wary of ANY police car, the models you listed aren't exactly known to be reliable.
