North Carolina spurns Fords for Dodge Chargers

North Carolina may be the first state to completely replace their gas-guzzling, ungainly Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors with the efficient, speedy, and better-braking Dodge Charger. According to Chris Pate, the State Highway Patrol ordered 400 more Chargers in October, adding to what has already been cited as the biggest fleet of Dodge Chargers in the United States, with no Crown Victorias ordered. The new Chargers will come in the traditional silver color, while the first Chargers ordered by the state came in black with a silver stripe.

Police departments have recently been taking a closer look at their gas mileage, with higher prices making swapping out the Crown Victorias, which reportedly get around 14 mpg in police use, with much higher-mileage Chevrolet Impalas and Dodge Chargers. While the Charger V6 has higher EPA ratings than the Hemi V8, at least one department has reported that, with the multiple displacement system, the Hemi actually gets the same mileage. While Ford announced that it is working on improving the aged Crown Victoria’s gas mileage, the 2009 Chargers already have a variable cam timing system and modified gearing to increase their efficiency over the 2008 models.

 Like on Facebook