Michigan test archive

1993 Michigan State Police Patrol Vehicle Test

The last Mustangs in this archive before the Mach-E, a 154-mph Camaro with the archive’s best stop to that point, and a Taurus inside the 0–100 time by a hundredth of a second.

Twelve vehicles appear in the bulletin’s results: six special service-package cars and six police patrol-package cars. Among the special service cars were two Mustangs and two Camaros, and both Camaros were ahead of both Mustangs at every 10-mph step to 100, on top speed and on lap average: 154.0 mph for the automatic Camaro against 137.0 for the 5-speed Mustang, and 1:19.52 against 1:22.28 (the bulletin averages the Camaro’s fastest 12 laps and the 5-speed Mustang’s fastest 9, and does not say why). These were the last Mustangs in this archive’s results until the electric Mach-E of the 2022 book; eleven years earlier, the 1982 book had tested a Mustang and not published its figures. The bulletin marks anti-lock brakes on every car in its lap table except the two Mustangs.

The 5.7-litre Caprice, with throttle-body injection, reached 60 in 8.77 seconds, 100 in 25.86, and ran 132.0 mph: a mile an hour short of the 1992 Caprice’s 133.0, and level with the 1983 Mustang’s top speed. Michigan also tested two 5.0 Caprices that the bulletin tells apart only by their axles, 3.08:1 and 2.56:1: the 2.56 car took 6.28 seconds longer to reach 100 and ran 10.9 mph faster. The 1992 book, which tested the same two axle ratios, says its 3.08 car’s top speed was held by a governor; this bulletin does not say either way.

Against the year’s acceleration times of 10.3, 17.8 and 29.9 seconds, the Ford Taurus reached 100 mph in 29.89 seconds: a hundredth of a second inside.

The 1993 qualification bar. To qualify, a car had to reach 60 mph within 10.3 seconds, 80 mph within 17.8, and 100 mph within 29.9, and reach 110 mph within one mile. The braking qualification looks for “the ability of the vehicle to make a panic stop within its own lane and evidence of brake fade”; the bulletin prints no results for it. The scored braking test is described with the braking table below.

The police package cars

Source: NIJ Technology Assessment Program bulletin, October 1992, as published in The Police Chief, February 1993, Tables 1 and 2 (pp.45–47). Acceleration figures are four-run averages. For dynamics the bulletin’s method is “at least 12 timed laps by at least three drivers”, scored on “the average of the fastest of at least nine timed laps”; the footnotes mark some cars on their fastest 12 laps and others on their fastest 9, and the bulletin does not say why. The lap table marks anti-lock brakes on every car in this table that it lists. The 2.56-axle Caprice is in the acceleration and fuel tables but not in the lap or braking tables, so the bulletin does not say whether it had them. The braking table also brakes a Crown Victoria and a Taurus without anti-lock brakes.
Car	Engine	0–60 (s)	0–80 (s)	0–100 (s)	Top speed (mph)	Dynamics (s)
Chevrolet Caprice	5.7L TBI	8.77	15.48	25.86	132.0	85.87
Ford Crown Victoria	4.6L PFI	9.57	16.29	27.91	123.0	87.57
Ford Taurus	3.8L PFI	9.55	17.20	29.89	123.0	86.86
Chevrolet Caprice (3.08:1 axle)	5.0L TBI	11.14	20.23	35.28	110.1	88.91
Chevrolet Caprice (2.56:1 axle)	5.0L TBI	11.86	21.58	41.56	121.0	—
Chevrolet Lumina	3.1L PFI	11.18	20.56	38.23	115.0	89.95

Measured against the year’s acceleration times: the 5.7 Caprice, Crown Victoria and Taurus were inside all three, the Taurus’s 0–100 with 0.01 seconds to spare. Both 5.0 Caprices and the Lumina were outside all three. The bulletin prints no figures for the 110-mph distance or the panic stop, no overall scoring, and names no winner.

The special service vehicles

Source: the bulletin’s Tables 1 and 2, with their column headings. * The bulletin’s footnote: “Highest speed recorded before test equipment failure. Vehicle may be capable of higher top speed.” The bulletin marks anti-lock brakes on both Camaros, the station wagon and the Cherokee, but not on either Mustang; its braking table calls the automatic Mustang “Non-ABS”.
Vehicle	Engine	0–60 (s)	0–80 (s)	0–100 (s)	Top speed (mph)	Dynamics (s)
Chevrolet Camaro (automatic)	5.7L PFI	6.18	10.12	15.82	154.0	79.52
Chevrolet Camaro (6-speed)	5.7L PFI	6.10	10.33	16.12	147.1*	80.12
Ford Mustang (5-speed)	5.0L PFI-H.O.	6.59	11.36	18.45	137.0	82.28
Ford Mustang (automatic)	5.0L PFI-H.O.	7.98	13.18	22.34	135.1	83.39
Chevrolet Caprice Station Wagon	5.7L TBI	9.99	18.39	32.15	112.0	89.33
Jeep Cherokee (4WD)	4.0L PFI	9.84	18.45	34.15	115.0	87.00

Gold row: highest recorded top speed and lowest lap average in the test. The automatic Camaro’s 154.0 mph is the highest top speed in this archive’s results to that point, ahead of the 1992 automatic Camaro’s 152.0, and its 1:19.52 the lowest lap average on the 1.635-mile course to that point, ahead of the 1992 automatic Camaro’s 1:20.56 (how many laps are averaged differs from year to year). The 6-speed Camaro was the quickest car to 60, and its 147.1 mph is the bulletin’s “highest speed recorded before test equipment failure”. The 5-speed Mustang’s 137.0 mph and 1:22.28 were third in the special service group on both.

Complete acceleration data — every 10-mph increment, all twelve vehicles

Four-run averages in seconds, from the bulletin’s Table 2. Its headings name each column; the automatic Mustang’s by elimination, since the other Mustang column is headed “manual”.
0 to…	Camaro auto	Camaro 6-spd	Mustang 5-spd	Mustang auto	Caprice 5.7	Crown Vic 4.6	Taurus 3.8	Cherokee 4.0	Wagon 5.7	Lumina 3.1	Caprice 5.0 (3.08)	Caprice 5.0 (2.56)
20 mph	1.49	1.64	1.67	1.84	1.78	1.94	1.88	2.01	1.83	2.07	2.17	2.30
30 mph	2.38	2.40	2.50	3.27	2.94	3.56	3.12	3.43	3.16	3.51	3.68	3.98
40 mph	3.44	3.38	3.61	4.64	4.47	5.19	4.83	5.00	4.97	5.52	5.57	5.88
50 mph	4.63	4.70	4.99	6.11	6.49	7.19	7.02	7.26	7.25	8.04	8.12	8.65
60 mph	6.18	6.10	6.59	7.98	8.77	9.57	9.55	9.84	9.99	11.18	11.14	11.86
70 mph	7.89	8.33	8.90	10.42	11.60	12.51	12.94	13.00	13.61	15.18	15.14	15.76
80 mph	10.12	10.33	11.36	13.18	15.48	16.29	17.20	18.45	18.39	20.56	20.23	21.58
90 mph	12.89	12.94	14.32	17.33	19.84	21.61	22.35	25.22	24.22	27.94	26.93	30.52
100 mph	15.82	16.12	18.45	22.34	25.86	27.91	29.89	34.15	32.15	38.23	35.28	41.56

This bulletin prints no quarter-mile times. The two Camaros swapped places up to 60: the automatic was quicker to 20, 30 and 50 mph and the 6-speed to 40 and 60, and the automatic was quicker from 70 mph up. The 5-speed Mustang was behind both Camaros at every step.

Brakes — ten entries, the Crown Victoria and the Taurus with and without anti-lock

Source: the bulletin’s Table 3 (pp.46–47), with its column headings. Each stop is a 60–0 impending-skid stop after four decelerations from 90 mph at 22 ft/s²; Phase II follows a four-minute cooling period. The rate is (initial speed × 1.4667)² ÷ (2 × distance), and every printed rate recomputes. The final column is the bulletin’s own “stopping distance from 60 mph based on average deceleration rate”. The 6-speed Camaro, the 5-speed Mustang and both 5.0 Caprices are not in the table, and the bulletin does not say why. It prints no panic-stop results. Gold row: best average rate in the test.
Vehicle	Brakes	Phase I speed	60–0 Phase I (ft)	Phase I rate	Phase II speed	60–0 Phase II (ft)	Phase II rate	Avg decel (ft/s²)	60–0 from average (ft)
Chevrolet Camaro (automatic)	ABS	60.7	128.8	30.77	62.1	138.7	29.91	30.34	127.60
Chevrolet Caprice	ABS	60.8	144.1	27.59	59.6	137.5	27.79	27.69	139.80
Ford Crown Victoria	ABS	59.9	139.6	27.65	60.7	148.1	26.76	27.21	142.30
Jeep Cherokee (4WD)	ABS	60.4	143.7	27.31	60.7	149.5	26.51	26.91	143.90
Chevrolet Caprice Station Wagon	ABS	59.6	144.9	26.37	60.7	144.5	27.43	26.90	143.90
Ford Crown Victoria (non-ABS)	non-ABS	60.1	148.8	26.11	61.6	164.3	24.84	25.48	152.00
Ford Taurus	ABS	60.1	154.2	25.20	61.2	161.4	24.96	25.08	154.40
Chevrolet Lumina	ABS	60.5	160.6	24.51	60.8	167.0	23.81	24.16	160.30
Ford Mustang (automatic)	non-ABS	59.7	163.2	23.49	59.7	159.6	24.02	23.76	163.00
Ford Taurus (non-ABS)	non-ABS	59.5	169.6	22.45	59.6	165.6	23.07	22.76	170.10

The automatic Camaro averaged 30.34 ft/s², which the bulletin puts at 127.6 feet from 60 mph: the highest average rate and the shortest such stop in this archive’s results to that point, all under the same two-stop procedure, and the first average above 30. The highest before it is the 1987 Gran Fury 318-4BBL’s 27.44; some earlier years print no braking for some cars. The Camaro’s first stop measured 128.8 feet. The ten averages run from 30.34 down to 22.76 ft/s², the Taurus without anti-lock brakes.

Table 3 brakes the Crown Victoria and the Taurus both with and without anti-lock brakes. The Crown Victoria averaged 27.21 ft/s² with them and 25.48 without, 142.3 feet from 60 against 152.0; the Taurus 25.08 against 22.76, 154.4 feet against 170.1. The bulletin does not say whether the non-ABS cars were separate vehicles, or why the pairs were run. The automatic Mustang, marked “Non-ABS”, averaged 23.76, the second-lowest of the ten. The 1994 book makes the same comparison for the Crown Victoria and the Taurus.

Ergonomics and fuel economy

Source: NIJ TAP bulletin, October 1992. Ergonomics scores are totals over an **unestablished number of attributes**, and this is now settled as far as the documents allow. The federal results bulletins say 29 — in the same sentence, with the same three examples, from one bulletin to the next. Six of them have been read for this note: the NIJ TAP bulletin of September 1994 and the NIJ/NLECTC bulletins of October 1996, October 1997, October 1999, December 2002 and January 2004, for model years 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2004; this 1993 bulletin’s Table 4 footnote says 29 as well. **Not one prints the attribute list**, so the figure cannot be checked against anything. The full reports, which do print the table, count **28 scored rows** — counted directly in 1994, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2005 (the October 1993 bulletin for the 1994 test says 29 beside a book that prints 28), and in the 2005 report eight of the ten columns sum exactly to their printed totals (the two Tahoe PPV columns add up to 211.90 against a printed 210.40). The 1987 results table (NIJ TAP Alert, October 1986) and the full 1992 report both print 29 rows: 26 graded by officers and three communications items, scored in 1992 by the police car preparation section. The count went from 29 to 28 somewhere between the 1992 and 1994 books, and the 1993 count cannot be settled from either side. A number repeated in boilerplate from one bulletin to the next is not a reading of any year’s table, so no bulletin’s 29 is relied on here; one car per model was scored, since interior dimensions are essentially the same. EPA city figures to 0.1 mpg from manufacturer-supplied data.
Vehicle	Ergonomics (pts)	EPA city (mpg)
Chevrolet Caprice	230.87	14.0 (5.7) / 17.4 (5.0, 3.08) / 17.3 (5.0, 2.56)
Chevrolet Caprice Station Wagon	230.80	16.5
Ford Crown Victoria	207.13	16.7
Ford Taurus	205.47	18.8
Chrysler Jeep Cherokee	187.60	14.7
Chevrolet Camaro	185.67	16.6 (auto) / 16.7 (6-speed)
Chevrolet Lumina	173.93	18.6
Ford Mustang	170.33	17.3 (auto) / 16.6 (5-speed)

The Caprice’s 230.87 is the best ergonomics total in the books held here to that point since 1978, whose book graded a much longer list of items and prints higher totals; the sedan and the station wagon finished seven hundredths of a point apart. The Mustang’s 170.33 was the lowest of the eight scores, which combine the officers’ ratings with the communications marks given by the Police Car Prep Section.

What the bulletin doesn’t hold

This page is built from the NIJ’s TAP bulletin of October 1992 as published in The Police Chief — a synopsis. It prints no per-lap times, run sheets, quarter-mile times, panic-stop results, weighted scores, winner, bid prices or hardware specifications. A full 1993 report is not held here; if one is found, its figures will be added to this page.

What the 1993 bulletin shows

The two Mustangs in this bulletin are the last in this archive’s results until the electric Mach-E of the 2022 book. Both Camaros were ahead of both Mustangs at every step to 100 mph, on top speed and on lap average. The automatic Camaro’s 154.0 mph and 30.34 ft/s² are the highest top speed and braking average in this archive’s results to that point, and its 1:19.52 the lowest lap average on the 1.635-mile course to that point. The bulletin marks no anti-lock brakes on the Mustangs and calls the braked one “Non-ABS”.

Among the sedans, the 5.7 Caprice ran 132.0 mph and had the highest ergonomics total; the Crown Victoria and the Taurus were inside all three acceleration times, the Taurus by a hundredth of a second at 100 mph; and the braking table measured the Crown Victoria and the Taurus with and without anti-lock brakes.

Source. National Institute of Justice, Technology Assessment Program bulletin, October 1992, as published in The Police Chief, Vol. 60 No. 2, February 1993, pages 45–47 and 50 (NCJ 141469): Michigan State Police Tests 1993 Patrol Vehicles, Tables 1 to 5. All figures transcribed directly from the bulletin. Read the official record at the DOJ virtual library, and see how these videos are researched.