Michigan test archive

Police car tests of the 2020s

The sedans go. 7 Michigan State Police vehicle tests, transcribed from the original reports.

The last decade in this archive is the one where the police sedan disappears. From 2021 to 2023 the only sedans left in the test are two Dodge Chargers. In 2024, for the first time in the books held here, Michigan tests no four-door saloon of any kind — the field is twelve trucks, crossovers and sport utilities, two of them electric — and in 2025 the electric Blazer turns out to be the quickest car there.

In 2022 the Mustang badge returns after twenty-nine years, as an all-wheel-drive electric crossover, and reaches 60 mph in 4.03 seconds; a year later it does it in 3.93, the quickest car in these books. In 2026 its GT version has the shortest projected stop by a car under the twenty-stop procedure, and finishes last of thirteen on communications, the score for how difficult police radios and warning equipment are to install.

The tests

Each year links to the full results: acceleration ladders, top speeds, braking, lap times, ergonomics and fuel economy, with the source report cited on the page.
Model yearWhat happened
2020A Yamaha sets what were then archive bests to 60 and 100 mph, and the motorcycle top speed
2021Ten vehicles and no motorcycles; a new Tahoe stops fifteen feet shorter than the old one
2022The first electric car in the archive: a Mustang Mach-E reaches 60 mph in 4.03 seconds
2023The Mach-E returns and reaches 60 mph in 3.93 seconds, the quickest car in the archive
2024The first test in the books held here with no police sedan of any kind, and two electric cars: the Mach-E and the first Blazer EV
2025A second year without a sedan, and the electric Blazer is the quickest car in the test
2026The Mach-E returns as a GT with the shortest projected stop by a car under the twenty-stop procedure
About these tests. Michigan has run comparative evaluations of patrol vehicles since the 1970s — by the department’s own counts from the autumn of 1976 — and the results held here cover every test from the 1978 models on except 1979’s, which have not been located. In the books that print it, the scoring converts performance into a dollar figure that is added to each manufacturer’s bid; the 2020 to 2026 books print purchasing criteria but no weighted total or bid adjustment. The full explanation, and the complete list of years, is on the archive index. See how this site is researched and corrections.