Michigan test archive
2003 Michigan State Police Patrol Vehicle Test
The Interceptor is rebuilt from the frame up, the Intrepid returns for its second year — and the lap counting changes.
Nine vehicles were evaluated from September 21 to 23, 2002: four police package and five special service. The headline belongs to Ford, which had replaced the Police Interceptor mid-year in March 2002 — the pre-production version of this very car had been run at the previous year’s test, where its ABS failed twice. The production 2003 arrived with a new hydroformed steel frame, new shocks, springs and suspension, rack-and-pinion steering, an all-new brake system with ABS now standard, and a new Goodyear tyre. Its dynamics average, 1:41.65, was the best of the year.
Michigan also records a piece of history in a single clause. The Dodge Intrepid, it notes, was introduced in 2002 as the first police-package sedan entered by DaimlerChrysler in these tests since the Dodge Diplomat in 1989. In its second year the Intrepid ran 136 mph — the fastest vehicle in the entire test, faster than the rebuilt Interceptor by eight miles an hour.
And the way the dynamics score is earned changed this year. From 2003 each vehicle runs 32 timed laps in four eight-lap series, and the score is the combined average of each driver’s five fastest — the twenty best of thirty-two. In 2000–2002, as in many earlier years, the score was the average of the fastest twelve of sixteen laps; some earlier books used other counts.
The police category
| Vehicle | 0–60 (s) | 0–100 (s) | Top speed | Dynamics | Brakes (ft/s²) | 60–0 (ft) | Ergonomics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dodge Intrepid | 9.14 | 24.80 | 136 | 1:42.07 | 26.69 | 145.1 | 199.14 |
| Ford Police Interceptor | 9.14 | 25.58 | 128 | 1:41.65 | 26.05 | 148.6 | 196.90 |
| Chevrolet Impala | 9.25 | 26.73 | 126 | 1:44.25 | 29.12 | 133.0 | 196.32 |
| AM General Hummer | 20.65 | never reached | 85 | 2:00.87 | 22.76 | 170.1 | 154.40 |
Gold row: fastest vehicle in the test at 136 mph, and quickest to 100. The Intrepid and the Police Interceptor recorded identical 0–60 times of 9.14 seconds — the Ford then took the dynamics average by four tenths, the Dodge took the top speed by eight miles an hour, and the Dodge stopped three and a half feet shorter.
The Impala’s braking is the year’s outstanding single figure: 29.12 ft/s² and a projected 133.0-foot stop, the shortest since the 2000 Volvos. It stopped nearly sixteen feet shorter than the Ford.
Across the two phases the rebuilt Interceptor’s stops grew slightly longer: its first six averaged 26.07 ft/s² over 147.45 feet, and after the four-minute heat soak the second six averaged 26.03 over 149.20 feet. That 1.75-foot rise is the only one among the four police-category vehicles; the Impala, the Intrepid and the Hummer all stopped shorter in the second phase.
See the original pages: Exhibits 4, 3 and 5 in the 2003 bulletin
The special-service vehicles
| Vehicle | 0–60 (s) | 0–100 (s) | Top speed | Brakes (ft/s²) | 60–0 (ft) | Ergonomics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Tahoe (4WD) | 9.31 | not reached | 98 | 25.31 | 153.0 | 219.69 |
| Chevrolet Tahoe (2WD) | 9.34 | not reached | 98 | 25.69 | 150.7 | 215.59 |
| Ford Expedition (4WD) | 11.27 | 35.83 | 100 | 24.76 | 156.4 | 202.73 |
| Ford Explorer (2WD) | 11.75 | 37.87 | 101 | 26.70 | 145.0 | 179.44 |
| Ford Expedition (2WD) | 12.30 | 40.91 | 100 | 25.36 | 152.7 | 202.73 |
Printed as found, with one oddity left standing: the two-wheel-drive Expedition is slower than the four-wheel-drive at every increment — 12.30 seconds to 60 against 11.27, and more than five seconds adrift at 100 mph. The bulletin offers no explanation, and notes separately that no information was available from Ford at press time regarding the Explorer and Expedition. The two Expeditions share a single ergonomics score in the source.
Fuel economy
| Vehicle | EPA city (mpg) | EPA highway (mpg) | EPA combined (mpg) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Impala | 20 | 29 | 23 |
| Dodge Intrepid | 19.8 | 27 | 22 |
| Ford Explorer (2WD) | 16 | 21 | 18 |
| Ford Police Interceptor | 15 | 22 | 18 |
| Chevrolet Tahoe (2WD) | 15 | 20 | 16.5 |
| Chevrolet Tahoe (4WD) | 14 | 18 | 15 |
| Ford Expedition (2WD) | 14 | 19 | 16 |
| AM General Hummer | 9 | 10 | 9 § |
| Ford Expedition (4WD) | n/a | n/a | n/a |
What the manufacturers changed for 2003
Ford rebuilt the Police Interceptor and introduced it as a mid-year replacement in March 2002. The frame is new hydroformed steel, which Ford’s engineers said would improve strength and front-end crash performance; the shocks, springs, suspension and rack-and-pinion steering are new; the brake system is all new with ABS standard; and the tyre is a Goodyear Eagle RS–A Plus. A variable-speed electric cooling fan and a knock sensor to handle low-octane fuel were added. Inside: a higher head restraint for whiplash protection, side air bags standard on power-seat cars produced after July 2003, adjustable cup holders, a new power point, and a power distribution box with ten fuse locations standard in the passenger compartment and optional in the trunk. A CNG version was to be available in January 2003, but Ford elected not to submit one for testing.
Chevrolet raised the Impala’s fuel cut-off to 129 mph and made standard four items that had been optional: an engine oil cooler, an external transmission oil cooler, low-frequency radio interference suppression, and the UT7 ground stud for the electrical system. The Tahoe gained standard power windows and rear air conditioning.
DaimlerChrysler left the Intrepid largely unchanged but said the power steering and ABS had been enhanced over the 2002 car, with side air bags and remote keyless entry newly optional.
AM General submitted the Hummer again as a police-package vehicle with no significant changes. Its ergonomics total of 154.40 is identical to the figure published for 2002.
A discrepancy worth recording
The 2003 Police Interceptor appears in two consecutive books. The pre-production car evaluated in the 2002 tests scored 223.08 on ergonomics and communications — the highest police-category figure in this archive since the 1998 Tahoe’s 238.89. The production car evaluated a year later scored 196.90. That is a 26-point swing on the same nominal vehicle, presumably scored by different panels of officers a year apart. I have no explanation for it beyond the obvious one that these are human judgments averaged across a changing group of evaluators, and I am recording both figures rather than choosing between them.
What 2003 settled
Ford answered the previous year’s embarrassment with metal. The Interceptor that had failed its ABS twice and missed the braking requirement came back on a new frame, with new suspension, new steering and a new brake system, and posted the best dynamics average of the year. Its stops grew only 1.75 feet longer across the heat soak, though the Impala and the Intrepid still stopped shorter.
And a name was back in the tables. Before the Intrepid’s return in 2002, the last Chrysler police-package sedans in Michigan’s published tests were the 1989 Dodge Diplomat and Plymouth Gran Fury. In its second year the Intrepid ran 136 mph, matched the Ford’s 0–60 to the hundredth, and out-stopped it.