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Review 4 of 119
Price Paid:
$26000.00
from ford fleet sales Year / Model Reviewed:
2003 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor Summary:
Well let me begin simply like this. This is not a police car. They say that it is, the lights and sirens would make you think that it is. The stripes and barking police dog in the back would make you believe that it should be a police car, but it's not. It astounds my buddies and I that despite the fact that FORD has been building cars for 100 years now and yet they cant make a power window work reliably. I'll elaborate by saying that with just 22K miles on the car my drivers side rear window stopped working, and every member of my unit has had similar problems. Ford apparently hasn't figured out how to make a fuel pump either because our cars now have a "silent " recall due to the fuel pumps going bad. Since I imagine that most people want the police to arrive in a timely manner when called, my being delayed by a vehicle that bucks, stumbles, stalls, and barely moves over 20mph has got to annoy them, it annoys me anyway. In addition its not like its a constant problem, its intermittant, which means that when we take it to the dealerships and tell them "It no go.", they invariably go out to test drive it and say there is nothing wrong. They're not lying, there wouldnt be anything wrong. Apparently leaving the car off for a few minutes would do something and it would return back to normal operation. This problem was of particular concern to those of us in the K-9 unit. Hot Miami days mean leaving the cars A/C on all day so not to give our dogs heatstroke. Sometimes officers would walk out from court or the station and found their cars had just died and their k-9 partners were inside sweating it out. We all leave our rear windows down, but since they sometimes DONT WORK! its a concern. Oh yeah and when the engine idles, it shakes, alot.
Lets get into handeling. I drive for 10 hours a day, 60 miles of highway and at least 50-80 miles in the city, thats stop and go, screaming to calls, sneaking at a snails pace and hard knocks. I know what im talking about when I say that this car needs alot of improvement. Ford went and tried to fix previous complaints of loose handeling, a high center of gravity and poor response. They didnt get it right. The watts linkage rear end means that high speed breaking and some times just VERY high speed lifting of the throttle gets the rear end very light and wobbley. Not cool. They replaced the old 15 inch tires with new 16s which did help a bit in the response dept but its only a band aid for sloppy steering and bad cornering manners. They also lowered the car by a bit over the previous generation but again this was only a band aid to try to counter they high center of gravity they built into the car. I continually find myself comparing this car to our old 93-96 Chevy Caprice's, some of which, 10 years later are still in service. By comparison not one of the fords bought in 96-98 are still in service, they have all been wrecked (wonder why that would happen), or just had so many catastrophic parts failures that they just deadlined the cars. I had taken that chevy to its limits and it never let me down, full 4-wheel drifts on wet roads at 30mph were predictable, planned, and perfectly controlable with just the right throttle input, handling was superb for such a huge pig. The engine was nothing to write home about but the 4.3 (yes 4.3) liter LT1 based motor could still out hustle (its all about torque) the newer and more sophisticated 4.6L ford motored cars. Over-all fit and finish were better and when I turned that car in with 134k miles on it it still ran fine and except for a few squeaks and rattles.
I simply cannot imagine these current crop of Crown Victorias making it that long.
Let me make it clear, You, the average consumer would never, could never legally, illegally or any combination, including racing, met out the kind of punishment that police cars take. High speeds, low speeds, all day idleing, full throttle upshifts, redline for extended periods, hard brakeing, driveing thru deep water, snow (not in miami), high heat, curbs, potholes, badguys, and fleet management. But, I think FORD could do better than to have a car with only 36k miles now, have this many problems. There are a few things I expect from a police car, RELIABLITY, DURABILITY, SAFETY, POWER, HANDLEING. This car really does not have these qualities in any significant amount. Police cars should be built like race cars, big engines, safety cages, fire suppresion systems, superior handeling and braking and high standards for quality and durability. Exceptional standards for safety should be the norm, not the exception. Exploding fuel tanks, and hard plastic interior bits are not exceptable. This car does not even have real bumpers, its just a cover, lean against it or put you foot on it and its just soft plastic. Its kinda like the rest of the car. Soft, weak, and fake. Im driving a fake police car. Strengths:
Acceleration to 70 is good.
Slightly more interior space than the chevy.
Comfortable seating...this is something that amazes me, complaints abound with domestic manufacturers concerning their seats and comfort, particularly long term comfort, and yet with all our various back problems, I know of not one police officer that has ever complained about feeling uncomfortable in the seats in a police car. You know why? They put stiffer foam padding in taxi and police package cars. Chevy and Ford both. So if that is a complaint you might have, try seats from a police car or have a good interior guy put stiffer padding in the seats. It works
I dont pay for the gas, or the things that break, and thank god cause this is gonna get expensive quick. Weaknesses:
Engine-Weak for its size, weight and compexity. It takes up the room of a big block, its DOHC makes it weigh almost as much as one, and it puts the weight high in the chassis (this does not help handleing), and the mechanics hate working on them. Not enough torque for a car this heavy. runs out of steam after 70mph.
Transmission-overheats quickly and warns you by hard, high stall shifting. Backing off the throttle between shifts confuses the computer and sends a harsh shock thru the driveline.
Chassis-high center of gravity, crash safety sounds great in a lab but real world is costing officers their lives
Handling-see review
Body-weak bumpers, paint is chipping in places, some guys have squeaking doors, doors that wont shut/open, trunks leak, poor fit and finish.
Its not built like a police car should be. Ford knows it and yet wont do anything about it. Modern car companies are all about filling a niche in the market. Well police, fire and taxi services are a big market but all we get is yesteryear tech, a build it big and stupid mentality, with substandard safety equipment.
Ford needs to step up and build a real police car. Similar Products Used:
94 chevy caprice
96 chevy caprice
97 ford crown victoria
03 ford crown victoria
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