Michigan State Police releases squad car tests; Charger beats Fords

The Michigan State Police have started to report preliminary data from their tests of 2008 model year police cars. Since 2007, Chevrolet has greatly improved their Impalas, powered by two 3.9 liter V6 engines (one E85 capable and slightly slower in acceleration), while Dodge has improved the power and gas mileage of its Charger V8 squad car with variable cam timing, and has addressed issues with rapid brake wear. 

Generally, the Hemi Charger was the most impressive vehicle by a wide margin, easily beating every other vehicle in every acceleration test, and garnering the highest top speed of 146 mph vs the next best, the Impala’s 140 mph. (The two Ford Police Interceptors, differing largely in axle ratio, managed 128 and 120 mph.) 0-60 times were impressive for the Charger Hemi, at under 6 seconds vs over 8 seconds for every other police car. Ford’s V8 models were both beaten by the Chevrolet Impala V6, by a decent margin; Ford’s V8s were roughly matched by the Charger V6.  The standard Chevy Impala V6 did 0-60 in 8.37 seconds and 0-100 in 22.22 seconds, versus the Charger V6’s 8.50 and 23.52 seconds — and the higher-performance Ford’s 8.79 and 23.70 seconds. The best 0-60 times were achieved by police motorcycles.

The two Dodges again easily beat Chevrolet and Ford’s braking, with the Charger V6 and V8 both stopping in 135 feet, the Impala stopping in 144 feet, and the Ford stopping in 142 feet. The Tahoe was also tested; it stopped in 143 feet.

Final numbers, gas mileage estimates, and other data are being prepared but are not expected for some time.