Altima Cop Car

[edyvw]

Cool, so i have a question...what normal upgrades do police cars get versus the standard model.
Not really interested in lights package, decals, skid plates etc. (those are obvious)
Are they getting the largest engine that model has? Or something even more custom? Added turbo/supercharger?
Larger alternator to handle additional electronics load? Larger battery?
Same oil sump? or larger capacity?
Anything else cool that i'm not thinking about?

My neighbor who is deputy Sheriff has Tahoe with no markings.
So, besides interior upgrades (cage, box for various stuff like more comprehensive first aid kit, bigger fire extinguisher) comes with bigger transmission fluid cooler, engine oil cooler, steel plates under the vehicle to protect most sensitive parts from debris, air ducts that lead to brakes for more efficient cooling, higher speed rated tires (however, they are not true performance tires). I was looking at the brakes and cannot see any difference between regular one and this one. Not sure about suspension too. These vehicles also have to do a lot of driving off road, not necessarily tru off roading, but on dirt roads etc. and there are a lot of compromises. They do have several Chargers as tru pursuit vehicles, but based on feedback from several state troopers I had in my line of work as students, they are not quite happy with performance mostly bcs. they have 5 speed transmission that is not quite in line with performance of engine and suspension.

 

[Blinker]

Cool, so i have a question...what normal upgrades do police cars get versus the standard model.
Not really interested in lights package, decals, skid plates etc. (those are obvious)
Are they getting the largest engine that model has? Or something even more custom? Added turbo/supercharger?
Larger alternator to handle additional electronics load? Larger battery?
Same oil sump? or larger capacity?
Anything else cool that i'm not thinking about?

Depends on the vehicle. The 9C1 caprices had police specific suspension components, mainly shocks and springs. Some of these components were also offered for taxi service vehicles. I believe they even had police specific body mounts. The engines are generally the same as a civilian counterpart, although with the Caprice the 350ci engine wasn’t available to the civilian public for a number of years. I believe Ford did something different with the transmissions on the Crown Victoria interceptor vehicles for a number of years. I want to say the Dodge Charger and Chevy Tahoe has something different with the ECM programming.

 

[4WD]

My neighbor who is deputy Sheriff has Tahoe with no markings.
So, besides interior upgrades (cage, box for various stuff like more comprehensive first aid kit, bigger fire extinguisher) comes with bigger transmission fluid cooler, engine oil cooler, steel plates under the vehicle to protect most sensitive parts from debris, air ducts that lead to brakes for more efficient cooling, higher speed rated tires (however, they are not true performance tires). I was looking at the brakes and cannot see any difference between regular one and this one. Not sure about suspension too. These vehicles also have to do a lot of driving off road, not necessarily tru off roading, but on dirt roads etc. and there are a lot of compromises. They do have several Chargers as tru pursuit vehicles, but based on feedback from several state troopers I had in my line of work as students, they are not quite happy with performance mostly bcs. they have 5 speed transmission that is not quite in line with performance of engine and suspension.

They don’t offer 6.2L ? … 5.3L specs are same as soccer mom units …

Site Maintenance

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Altima? One trip over a sidewalk curb and the mac struts and oil pan will shear off. No ground clearance. Garbage suspension.

Up here its Chargers for cars and Fraud Exploders for SUVs

 

[Blinker]

They don’t offer 6.2L ? … 5.3L specs are same as soccer mom units …

Site Maintenance

I used to be surprised by this too. But I’ve witnessed the newer Tahoe PPV with the 5.3 DI perform acceleration sprints I never thought would be possible for its size. The are very quick.

 

[javacontour]

St Louis County has just under a billion little communities. (Remember, Ferguson, MO is in this area.) Most are too small to support a police force. Since they got their hands slapped for policing for profit after the Justice Department looked into policing in STL County, there has been more consolidation of these little police forces.

For anything major, I suspect STL County Police will be called out.

About

www.northcountypolice.com

What’s a Police Cooperative? I’m guessing not a full blown police officer?

 

[AutoMechanic]

Parts of New Mexico and even northwest Texas get cold and experience quite a bit of snow/ice. I spent a few years in the panhandle of Texas near Amarillo and the winters there were worse than where I was originally from in northeast Tennessee....only 3 hours slightly south and west of Roanoke, VA.

Cool thanks for the info. And cool I have met a lot of people on here that have lived close or been close to the area.

 

[edyvw]

They don’t offer 6.2L ? … 5.3L specs are same as soccer mom units …

Site Maintenance

I think it is 5.3. Probably they have both engines in those vehicles. But, it is not like these departments are bathing in cash. Our Sheriff's office is 200 people short as well as PD.

 

[edyvw]

Depends on the vehicle. The 9C1 caprices had police specific suspension components, mainly shocks and springs. Some of these components were also offered for taxi service vehicles. I believe they even had police specific body mounts. The engines are generally the same as a civilian counterpart, although with the Caprice the 350ci engine wasn’t available to the civilian public for a number of years. I believe Ford did something different with the transmissions on the Crown Victoria interceptor vehicles for a number of years. I want to say the Dodge Charger and Chevy Tahoe has something different with the ECM programming.

Chargers are coming as far as I know with 5 speed transmission instead of ZF8. I think part of the reason is column mounted shifter. It undermines performance dramatically.

 

[edyvw]

Cool thanks for the info. And cool I have met a lot of people on here that have lived close or been close to the area.

Raton pass between NM and CO in winter, especially during El Nino season is always fun. You make a trip to Santa Fe, it is 50 degrees, you wanna come back and it is closed bcs. it can dump 2-3ft of snow easily over night.

 

[csandste]

Cool thanks for the info. And cool I have met a lot of people on here that have lived close or been close to the area.

I've flown over New Mexico in late May and peaks above the timberline were snow covered.

 

[edyvw]

I've flown over New Mexico in late May and peaks above the timberline were snow covered.

Yeah bcs. everything is above 10,000ft. That happens during El Nino season. Next spring probably you will not see anything as we are in La Nina pattern. But North NM and Southern CO are probably best places to ski in the North America if there is strong El Nino pattern in February and March. Few years ago Wolf Creek pass in South CO and ski resort got like 100+ inches in 72 hours.

 

[csandste]

Back to the original post. Since there were only four cars on the lot, I'd think that detective cars would be the best bet. Why do you need an Explorer for that?

 

[Blinker]

It depends. Detective cars are often unmarked cars for obvious reasons. Also a lot of departments no longer pursue in high speed chases so what’s the point of having a fast vehicle? The Altima would be plenty fast enough for responding the calls. My only concern is hopping curbs and other damage that happens in normal police usage. I’d imagine one soft blow to the front would total this car out.

 

[AutoMechanic]

I’ve seen various detective cars but they could have picked something more reliable than that lol. Most of the detectives in my area drive an Impala or Caprice and I think some of them might have a Taurus.

 

[edyvw]

It depends. Detective cars are often unmarked cars for obvious reasons. Also a lot of departments no longer pursue in high speed chases so what’s the point of having a fast vehicle? The Altima would be plenty fast enough for responding the calls. My only concern is hopping curbs and other damage that happens in normal police usage. I’d imagine one soft blow to the front would total this car out.

While most departments abandoned pursuits (for a very good reason) you still need capable and fast cars. Just doing traffic stop, one needs to catch up with offender. ANd while pursuits are abandoned, they still happen as sometimes it is impossible to avoid them. Few weeks ago there was huge pursuit here as it involved potential kidnapping of minor. There is no way someone is going to say: yeah, let's leave it for another day.
I am not sure these vehicles are that fast. Get BMW with inline six and turbo and there is no way cop Charger will ever catch up with it, let alone Tahoe etc. But, upgrades are mostly focused on reliability of engine and transmission in such situations: bigger coolers, more robust suspension, protection of sensitive parts etc. When you have proper cooling of transmission and engine, you can pursuit other vehicle for a long time. Not so sure about vehicle trying to run away.

 

[Blinker]

While most departments abandoned pursuits (for a very good reason) you still need capable and fast cars. Just doing traffic stop, one needs to catch up with offender. ANd while pursuits are abandoned, they still happen as sometimes it is impossible to avoid them. Few weeks ago there was huge pursuit here as it involved potential kidnapping of minor. There is no way someone is going to say: yeah, let's leave it for another day.
I am not sure these vehicles are that fast. Get BMW with inline six and turbo and there is no way cop Charger will ever catch up with it, let alone Tahoe etc. But, upgrades are mostly focused on reliability of engine and transmission in such situations: bigger coolers, more robust suspension, protection of sensitive parts etc. When you have proper cooling of transmission and engine, you can pursuit other vehicle for a long time. Not so sure about vehicle trying to run away.

In the area I live (DFW Texas) a lot of departments no longer pursue in chases. Once the helicopter is in the air with eyes on the suspect the ground patrol eases back and pursues in normal call procedures. So many innocent civilians have been killed by high speed police chase accidents. Again, that’s just the area I live. Yours may be different.

 

[edyvw]

In the area I live (DFW Texas) a lot of departments no longer pursue in chases. Once the helicopter is in the air with eyes on the suspect the ground patrol eases back and pursues in normal call procedures. So many innocent civilians have been killed by high speed police chase accidents. Again, that’s just the area I live. Yours may be different.

Our PD retired helicopter in 2010 due to economic crisis. Thanks to TABOR, years of economic recovery were even worse for a budget. Last year they started to talk about introducing helicopter again since our county is almost a million people, but with COVID-19 that is not happening.
Still, put pursuits on a side, there are a lot of other scenarios that require more robust vehicle.

 

[ls1mike]

So I own an upfitted 9C1 Caprice. The interior is different than the civilian versions. The drive train is a plain ole L77/6L80E just like every other civilian Caprice. OIl cooler, large transmission cooler which the civilian version uses. The only difference in the suspension is the springs. They are beefier for the added weight of the police equipment. I put Chevy SS springs on mine. The only other thing worth mentioning is it has a larger alternator with two batteries vs one.

 

[CKN]

The Panther is turning over in it’s grave.

So are the old owners......