You're a Cop. Which Would YOU Choose?

Ford's new Police Interceptor?

At a private fleet sales event in Las Vegas today, Ford finally took the wraps off a new generation Police Interceptor model based on the 2010 Taurus. The new car has big shoes to fill as the Crown Vic has accounted for 70 percent of all police vehicle sales over the past five years.

[...]

The base model gets the 3.5-liter V6 found in other Tauruses with over 263 horsepower and 250+ lb-ft of torque. This naturally aspirated 3.5-liter engine is flex-fuel capable and gets 25-percent better fuel efficiency than the 4.6-liter V8 in the Crown Vic. The base models are available with either front- or all-wheel-drive. The top end pursuit version of the new Police Interceptor gets the full SHO powertrain including its 365-hp twin-turbo EcoBoost 3.5-liter V6 and all-wheel-drive as standard.

Or Chevy's Caprice (actually a re-badged Aussie Holden)?

Well, it's official. General Motors has resurrected the Australian-built Zeta sedan for North America, only this time around, it's just for the cops. Set to arrive in your local muni's police fleet in 2011 is the Chevrolet Caprice police patrol vehicle (PPV). First thing's first: it is not the Holden Commodore, a.k.a. Pontiac G8 (rest in peace). It's a left-hand-drive version of the long-wheelbase, Zeta-platform Holden Caprice/Statesman. Many of you already know that this car is also sold in the Middle East as, you guessed it, the Chevy Caprice. Also, as had been rumored – you can't buy one. It's a fleet special only, and we can envision fistfights breaking out over these at police auctions in a few years. 

The Caprice Cop Special gets an E85-compatible 6.0-liter V8 dishing out 355 horsepower and 385 lb/ft of torque, and as you'd expect, the engine's duly ruggedized for police duty with oil, transmission and power steering coolers, along with a heavy duty alternator. And yes, the brakes and suspension are uprated. Cue the Elwood Blues litany whenever you're ready. 

 MY department would choose the Caprice.  There wouldn't be one single damned front-wheel-drive (ptui!) or bastardized AWD car in my fleet.  And besides that... we have a VERY soft spot in our heart for the last edition of the Caprice... specifically our late lamented Impala SS... which was a tarted up Caprice with a Vette motor.  I MISS that car.  And so do thousands of cops all over these United States.

Images from the respective autoblog articles.