On another site I did read an officer's complaint about the shifter. I've not driven a Durango but I guess it hits the knee or something.

 

Ordering for the '20 models was closed on November 1st.

Sources indicate the very short ordering window was not the result of any marketing strategy, but by a production constraint - no transmissions !

Production of the A580 5-spd was discontinued at Kokomo 2 in August of 2018. Since then, Brampton had quickly used up the remaining inventory, as sales of Pursuit models continued to rise, requiring SRT to engineer the application of the 850RE and 8HP70 in the cars. As the '20 model introductions neared, the supply of A580's disappeared just as the GM strike hit, along with strong V8 retail sales, which likely affected availability for the Fleet products. Indeed, two of the 4 Chargers tested at MSP 2020 evaluations used retail shifters and consoles, which obviously won't fly with customers out in the field.

What is unknown at this time is whether future availability of the 8-spds will allow Fleet the chance to create another window for ordering in the 2020 model year. It sounds more like they want to perfect the new assemblies for the '21s.

In the meantime, the Durango Pursuit is taking some flak for its console shifter and low top-speed. Goodyear is said to be developing suitable pursuit tires in the Durango's size, but this is more subjective than the shifter complaint - the 2020 Tahoe 4×4 PPV topped out at 122 mph in this year's MSP tests. The shifter is a stronger complaint - it's at least partially what killed off the Chevy/Holden Caprice PPV.

And the fact that the Charger has no direct competitors left in its vehicle size and price classes; Chevy Impala and Ford Taurus both left earlier this year; is also goosing sales of the (relatively) ancient model. Why I say ancient is the Charger came out in 2006 (14 years ago), received a major restyle for 2011 (9 years ago) and had a minor nose and tail job for 2015 (5 years ago).

 

Far more important to law enforcement is cost - the Chargers cost less to purchase, less to operate, and bring higher resale.

To clarify the timeline just a bit -

2006 - 2010, LX
2011 - 2021, LD

The changes made to the 2011 LD models completely erased the Daimler remnants from the cars. From that point onward, literally everything (except transmissions) in and on the cars was/is engineered by Chrysler, and produced in North America. The A580, 850RE, and 8HP70 transmissions are, of course, Chrysler adaptations of ZF assemblies.

The Caprice never really caught on. It was quite expensive, had the bizarre console shifter, and used an oddball tire size. It performed well, and I really haven't heard of any serious issues, except fuel consumption.

The Taurus was really a sad mistake by Ford. That was supposed to be their flagship squad, but it had so many issues - its only redeeming quality was a conpetitive price with the Charger.

When Chrysler finally solved the lousy tension strut and valvetrain issues in the mid-2016 Charger, their reliability soared and operating costs dropped, which is what eventually caused Ford and Chevy to throw in the towel on their police sedans. They were each making sufficient profits from their respective SUV squads, so the minor loss of sales was easily disregarded.

Let's hope the Chrysler Police Advisory Board can convince FCA to get with the program, and get the shifter issues resolved in the squads, and make certain their is enough inventory to be able to produce enough product. The demand is definitely there !!!

 

Far more important to law enforcement is cost - the Chargers cost less to purchase, less to operate, and bring higher resale.

To clarify the timeline just a bit -

2006 - 2010, LX
2011 - 2021, LD

The changes made to the 2011 LD models completely erased the Daimler remnants from the cars. From that point onward, literally everything (except transmissions) in and on the cars was/is engineered by Chrysler, and produced in North America. The A580, 850RE, and 8HP70 transmissions are, of course, Chrysler adaptations of ZF assemblies.

The Caprice never really caught on. It was quite expensive, had the bizarre console shifter, and used an oddball tire size. It performed well, and I really haven't heard of any serious issues, except fuel consumption.

The Taurus was really a sad mistake by Ford. That was supposed to be their flagship squad, but it had so many issues - its only redeeming quality was a conpetitive price with the Charger.

When Chrysler finally solved the lousy tension strut and valvetrain issues in the mid-2016 Charger, their reliability soared and operating costs dropped, which is what eventually caused Ford and Chevy to throw in the towel on their police sedans. They were each making sufficient profits from their respective SUV squads, so the minor loss of sales was easily disregarded.

Let's hope the Chrysler Police Advisory Board can convince FCA to get with the program, and get the shifter issues resolved in the squads, and make certain their is enough inventory to be able to produce enough product. The demand is definitely there !!!

Valve train issue?? Lifters?

 

GOOD NEWS - LIFTER PART #'S

5038785AD

5038786AD

These will probably be on back-order forever, but they are saying these parts supercede all previous lifters, 2005 - 2018.

Oddly, they haven't posted the mid-2016+ Pursuit camshaft part #. This is an obvious omission, since they only show the same cam from 2009 on up.

Valvesprings are all over the place (applications), so it doesn't make sense to post those #'s.

 

360 ponies at the drive wheels, that's still ca 430 HP at the crank, no package car had that kind of power, even in the 1960's. The only outlier I can think of was the 1963-65 Chevy 409-425 option and, the current Charger would probably still outrun it, especially at speeds over 130 MPH.....

 

The '69 Fury 440 with 2.93 rear was probably the fastest of the Muscle w/Badge rockets, until the Camaro in 1992, and LD Charger in 2011. A lot of folks overlook the big Plymouth, but it did have a slight weight and size advantage over the glorified Polaras, and it also out-sold the big Dodge every single year, at least through '81 - even though the cars were absolutely identical after '73 (B, R, and M bodies). Why the Dippy outsold the Fury from '82 - '89 remains a bizarre mystery.

 

I wish civilans could get the charger without that massive console

 

Amen to that - what a tremendous waste of space, and also a literal pain in the leg. Just because the space is there, doesn't mean it should be filled up !!!

 

To clarify the timeline just a bit -

2006 - 2010, LX
2011 - 2021, LD

The changes made to the 2011 LD models completely erased the Daimler remnants from the cars. From that point onward, literally everything (except transmissions) in and on the cars was/is engineered by Chrysler, and produced in North America. The A580, 850RE, and 8HP70 transmissions are, of course, Chrysler adaptations of ZF assemblies.

AKA NAG1 aka W5A580 aka WA580 aka Mercedes 5G-Tronic 722.6. Nope, that's an MB transmission, though it has been rumored that it's a MB copy of a ZF unit.

 

The ZF 5HP30 was definitely the basis for the Mercedes assembly, which later became the basis for the Chrysler unit. It must be noted that the assembly used in the LX cars was not, and could not, be identical to the MB trans. The A580, of course, was and is much closer to the original ZF design. Incidentily, the 722.6 had a 2-spd reverse.

"NAG1" was more of a marketing buzzword for the MB-derived assembly. It was used in 2005 and 2006 to try to persuade buyers that this wasn't just another failure-prone transmission. As time went on, they probably could've called it the 580RE, as that would've been much easier to understand, but "A580" had a nice ring to it, and it stuck. The NAG-1, as such, was said to be last used in the LX models to or through 2008. This coincides with the split of Daimler and Chrysler, but the "Chrysler LLC" interim between '08 and the new "FCA" LD models in 2011 leads me to believe they continued to use the old assembly until Kokomo 2 was fired up and ready.

None of this is, however, is of any significant consequence today. Chrysler continues production of the 845/850RE at Kokomo1, and ZF continues to supply the 8HP70/90/95.

 

The fact that Ford and GM literally do not make a police sedan and probably never will again is crazy.
Chrysler was the first to get out of the police sedan game in 1989, but now they are the only ones in it.
Ford got out briefly, 1991 to 1992 or something like that, until they got the restyled "aero" version of the Crown Vic ready for cops.
But for me, the "Shamu" Caprice of the 90s was the absolute pinnacle of police car heaven. For those who are not old enough to remember, after the initial buzz surrounding the new rounded Caprice died down in 1991, the only people who bought them were police departments and old guys who wanted people to get out of their way. There are no cars like that today, that are so completely identified as police cars.

 

The 1991-96 Caprice is a textbook example of taking a homely looking vehicle and, really primping it's looks for 1995-96, as well as really amping up the horsepower, starting with the 350/LT1 for 1994.

 

Looking around my area it seems the Explorer is winning the sales race with police dept. and sheriff dept. Only branch I haven't seen them yet here in GA is the State Patrol...yet.

 

Ford still has pockets of brand loyalists, but the same is true of Chrysler and GM.
It's interesting to note the changes in ordering once the Durango Pursuit became available - orders for half Charger/half Ford (or Tahoes) quickly became Charger/Durango.

To that observation, I will add this:
When Fleet upgrades the Durango with full police features from the Charger (rubber floor, vinyl rear seat, column shift, higher top speed, larger brakes), we will very likely see a decent-sized exodus from the hideously expensive Ford and the clumsy Tahoe.

 

It really comes down to cost, not price. You may get in with a low bid, but if the vehicle is troublesome, expensive to maintain, or has terrible resale (not always an issue as some departments run them to death) those factors can negate a low bid price.