Would you buy a 2014 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor?

[shortyb]

Many police departments have their own in-house repair shops, not publics works. Well not around here anyways. Many of those people enjoy maintaining police vehicles.

Even the dedicated shops have their own issues. Big agency I worked for had a HUGE facility with a separate radio shop etc. but a bunch of guys that liked to mess with the cars because they weren't necessarily cop friendly. Many a time i would get into a car after repair and the vinyl seats would be heavily Armor All-ed and I would slide all over. Or the rubber mats would get the same treatment. You always knew something was up when all the mechanics would gather near you when getting into the car just to get a laugh watching you slide under the dash on the slippery mats. Or the handful of pennies in the wheel covers. The empty soda can behind door panels. The list goes on and on, most of it harmless but annoying, but you still didn't trust them. One of them installed a battery backwards and totally fried all the electronics. $2600 wiring harness later and you never knew what would happen when you turned on the wipers.

 

[Fordiesel69]

So in PA the state police use the "Ford Police Interceptor Utility (Explorer)", and the "Ford Police Interceptor Sedan (Taurus)", and my opinion is different. I only buy unmarked units for our family, and I only select models that are low idle hours and low run hours. Higher mileage is of no concern as that means more highway. Door panel, drivers floor, and drivers seat tell the truth on how it was used.

When buying a true unmarked, not used for patrol version of one of these, they can be VERY reliable. There are 3 major areas of failure, the water pump, the PTU, and the rear differential axle seals / wheel bearings. Aside from that there is not much that goes wrong with these. The 3.7L V6 NA Cyclone engine is very reliable, and they do not burn oil or suffer from any cam phaser issues like the eco boom engines do. The 6 spd tranny is near bullet proof. Also if you change the ptu fluid every 5 ~ 15K miles those are reliable too.

In the north where there is salt, these suffer the same rear caliper / rotor issues as other rust belt cars.

I do not need the big space of the explorer, so I choose the Taurus, and I have 202K on it. It has been great.

 

[RazorsEdge]

Nope

I had a 95 Explorer, never ever again!

 

[TomYoung]

Jay Leno bought the last Charger PPV, and they showed in the trunk, it had a huge pigtail if you will that is for the police electronics....unused in his application/car

And the stuff made for police vehicles is well designed these days… it’s a pretty big business.