New Chevy Caprice Cop Car

[ddrumman2004]

One has to wonder how the unibody construction will hold up in real police use.
Here in MS, a friend of mine who is a state trooper, told me that the Crown Vics are all they use on interstate patrol because of the fact that they can cross over the median when needed. By this, they just drive across in a pursuit.

The front wheel drive cars they have couldn't handle that kind of abuse....at least that's what he told me.

I know this Caprice is rear wheel drive but without a full frame......I just have my doubts. Maybe someone can convince me differently?

 

[Nick R]

What is it with everyone thinking that a body-on-frame is stronger/more durable than a unibody? And if you hit a curb at 40mph I don't care if you are in a RWD or a FWD car, there WILL be carnage.

 

[AuthorEditor]

In my own experience driving Crown Vics and Grand Marquis for many years they are very rugged. Just for example, it seems like other front-wheel drive cars I have owned need frequent alignment, front CV joint and axle repairs, strut replacement, etc. I hit a huge wheel-swallowing pot hole at night recently that threw my car partly sideways at 70 mph, with no detectable effect on the front end. The impact was so great I really thought I would have damage, but none that I could find. The same ruggedness is why they see taxi service everywhere too. Remember a new taxi is probably an old police car with 100,000 miles or so on the clock.

 

[Win]

Originally Posted By: ddrumman2004


I know this Caprice is rear wheel drive but without a full frame......I just have my doubts.



This Caprice is just an extended wheelbase version of the Commodore that was previously available here as the Pontiac G8.

The whole Holden as US cop car thing started with a black and white demo G8 built for the LAPD quite a while back: http://www.carpoint.com.au/news/2009/holden/pontiac-g8-targets-us-criminals-13461

The idea outlived Pontiac.

The Holden cars are robustly built. Out of the cars I've owned, only the Jaguars have been more robust, and they cost 2X to 4X the price of the Holdens. Nothing else has been comparable. The Commodore will beat those ancient crown vics like a full house beats two of a kind.

 

[LS2JSTS]

Originally Posted By: Nick R
What is it with everyone thinking that a body-on-frame is stronger/more durable than a unibody? And if you hit a curb at 40mph I don't care if you are in a RWD or a FWD car, there WILL be carnage.


The body on frame is easier to repair when that carnage does occur.

And you have to consider that most are thinking in terms of the "typical" unibody. Body flex and torsional rigidity can be outstanding in a well designed and heavy unibody, Mercedes has been building car-tanks out of unibodys for years.

As Win said, I think the Holden Zeta platform is pretty stout. The gauge of metal used and the weight of it are substantial. Also, these cars from Holden seem to have very heavy sheet metal. I can actually lean up against my GTO without having any worries of denting the thing. Many of the unibodys we are used to driving and seeing are thinned out for mileage just like the typical sheet metal body panels are.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04

These could have a high residual value, due to their rarity in the states.


"...last of the V8 Interceptors - a piece of history...." /Mad Max quote

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Originally Posted By: super20dan
the ex police cars are hot only cause the bros think they are hot stuff in them. i guess they want to curse the hood with out being shot at. it should be illegal to sell them to the public as its easy to impersonate a police /detective .


Impersonate the police...That would never happen in a million years in Miami-Dade or Broward County.

 

[dailydriver]

^^^^^What did all of the staties do when they used Stangs and f bodies??

 

[Shannow]

The new generation commodore (G8) has a vastly different chassis to the older one (GTO Era)...seen some ttests that it's 2-3 times torsionally stiffer, due to an integral firewall.

 

[Drew2000]

Originally Posted By: GMBoy



Right. Add the fact that there are no civilian versions planned and I agree the value will be higher than expected. I'm already making room for one in my stable! My only concern is that the car only comes with a floor shifter and most all police depts need column shifters so there is room between the seats for all the electronics. My wife already told me that while the car is perfect in specs, she cannot use them in her police fleet JUST BECAUSE of the floor shifter - they cannot fit their equipment between the seats with it. This may be a drastic demerit to the car and it's sales.


Yeah, I can see the shifter being a problem. I was sitting in a NYS Trooper's CVPI (accident report after getting rear-ended by a drunk) and the computer console/printer/shotgun rack is huge.

No more hand written tickets, just scan the barcodes or enter the license information, and the ticket/summons/accident report is printed out and the info sent wirelessly to HQ to check for any warrants and record the ticket.

 

[whip]

I thought I read that Chevy planned on making a version of the G8 for civilian use. When did that change?

 

[crinkles]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
If Holden offered an optioned down Statesman, there would be Oz buyers for sure.


+1

I would love a base model V8. no bells and whistles.

I had a highway patrol V8 take off past me yesterday from the lights... what a beautiful 6.0L sound...

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: whip
I thought I read that Chevy planned on making a version of the G8 for civilian use. When did that change?


Read an interview with a Holden guy where he ruled out a civilian Caprice, but not a return of the Commodore.

 

[Falcon_LS]

Originally Posted By: crinkles
Nice. that's an aussie holden commodore.


It's actually a Holden Statesman, which I suppose is a LWB Commodore in essence...

 

[AuthorEditor]

A lot of municipalities just don't have the budgets for new police cars right now and I bet they will not be happy about switching the fleets to new, more expensive, and unknown vehicles that they now have to learn how to service and repair. My wife was speaking to a police officer the other day and he was complaining bitterly about the old rattletrap CVPIs his force is using. On the other hand, it will get harder and harder to keep these old cars on the road and they will eventually have to switch. I suspect one huge criteria, maybe the biggest one, in which car will be chosen will be initial cost and upkeep prices, not matter how great the specs. on a particular vehicle.

 

[Drew2000]

I read somewhere that Ontario Provincial Police bought a few hundred new CVPI and warehoused them for future use.

 

[GMBoy]

Originally Posted By: Drew2000
I read somewhere that Ontario Provincial Police bought a few hundred new CVPI and warehoused them for future use.


I've heard that too.

 

[Shannow]

Just drove a 98 Caprice, with 98k km, and the supercharged V-6.

I think I'm hooked on them....now to find an LS1

 

[Falcon_LS]

Originally Posted By: Drew2000
I read somewhere that Ontario Provincial Police bought a few hundred new CVPI and warehoused them for future use.


The Kuwait Police did the exact same thing, purchasing 285 of them. They're in storage at the moment, waiting for their paint jobs and decals. Last year, they bought 150 Dodge Chargers, but they had quite a number of issues with them...turned out more troublesome than the old BMW 540i's they have in the fleet.

Biggest problem they have with the Caprice is the engine overheating, especially when left to idle for a couple of hours. The way they operate here is if one component of a system fails, say the radiator, then they overhaul the entire cooling system - i.e. fan, radiator cap, hoses, water pump, thermostat, heater core, reservoir, etc. Bit of a worry with an all-aluminium engine, but they haven't used the Caprice since. Newest one they have in the fleet is a 2002 Caprice LS with the 5.7L:

 

[Old Mustang Guy]

I would be willing to bet that the agency I retired from (Dallas Police) will never be able to get any of these because of price. We have to have a lot of justification not to go low bid. As long as something cheaper is available it won't happen. As for how we coped with the Mustangs and Camaros and our equipment: I wrote a grant request to get some 2000 Camaros for our freeway traffic enforcement guys. We got the cars and ended up making them one seaters, no passenger or back seat. If we got a prisoner we had to send a Crown Vic to transport. They gave us good service and were durable but could have never been used for patrol.