Michigan test archive
2004 Michigan State Police Patrol Vehicle Test
Two Interceptors separated by one axle ratio, a Kevlar-lined trunk, and the Intrepid’s last stand.
Eight vehicles were evaluated from September 20 to 22, 2003 — four police package and four special service — and Ford submitted two Police Interceptors with different rear axles. One carried the standard 3.27 rear axle, the other the optional 3.55. Ford representatives stated what the trade would be: better acceleration, and a maximum top speed reduced to 119 mph. The measured result was 8.25 seconds to 60 against 8.44, 22.52 to 100 against 23.30 — and a top speed of 118. The manufacturer’s prediction was out by a single mile an hour.
Ford had also raised the Interceptor’s output to 250 horsepower with a new air induction system, and added an item that belongs in the record without editorial: Ford’s Trunk Pack, a drop-in high-density polyethylene shell with a DuPont Kevlar lining on its forward face, which Ford stated would reduce the risk of trunk-mounted police equipment penetrating into the back seat or the fuel tank in a high-speed rear impact.
And this was the Intrepid’s last year. DaimlerChrysler representatives indicated that 2004 would be the last year of production for the Intrepid police package, and that a completely new, yet-to-be-announced police-package vehicle would follow for 2005. The Intrepid went out running 135 mph — the fastest vehicle in the test, as it had been in 2003 (in 2002 the Camaro ran 159).
The police category
| Vehicle | 0–60 (s) | 0–100 (s) | Top speed | Dynamics | Brakes (ft/s²) | 60–0 (ft) | Ergonomics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Police Interceptor (3.55 axle) | 8.25 | 22.52 | 118 | 1:41.98 | 25.74 | 150.4 | 199.50 |
| Dodge Intrepid | 8.56 | 23.56 | 135 | 1:42.02 | 28.18 | 137.4 | 196.70 |
| Ford Police Interceptor (3.27 axle) | 8.44 | 23.30 | 128 | 1:42.09 | 25.89 | 149.6 | 199.50 |
| Chevrolet Impala | 9.00 | 26.42 | 123 | 1:44.70 | 28.85 | 134.2 | 206.78 |
One figure in this table contradicts the bulletin’s own legend, and both are printed. The Ford Expedition’s 0–100 mph cell reads N/A, and the note under that same exhibit defines it as “N/A = Vehicle did not achieve or exceed 100 mph” — while the top-speed row of the same column reads 100. A car cannot both fail to reach 100 and top out at it. The archive keeps what the bulletin prints rather than choosing, exactly as it does with the 1983 deceleration rate that appears two ways in two tables. The likeliest reading is that the top speed rounded up to 100 from something just under it, but the bulletin does not say so and this page will not pretend it does.
Gold row: quickest to 60 and to 100, and quickest around the two-mile road course — but seventeen miles an hour slower than the Intrepid at the top end, and ten slower than its own 3.27-geared twin. The three fastest cars finish within 0.11 seconds of each other over a two-mile lap. That is the tightest spread among the cars in the database.
The braking column reverses the order entirely. Both Interceptors sit at the bottom — 149.6 and 150.4 feet — while the Impala stops in 134.2 and the Intrepid in 137.4. The slowest car in the test out-stopped the quickest by more than fifteen feet, and it also led the police category on ergonomics at 206.78.
See the original pages: Exhibits 3 and 5 in the 2004 bulletin
The special-service vehicles
| Vehicle | 0–60 (s) | 0–100 (s) | Top speed | Brakes (ft/s²) | 60–0 (ft) | Ergonomics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Tahoe (2WD) | 8.58 | N/A | 99 | 27.19 | 142.4 | 217.40 |
| Ford Explorer (2WD) | 8.90 | 28.25 | 107 | 27.30 | 141.8 | 210.98 |
| Chevrolet Tahoe (4WD) | 9.20 | N/A | 99 | 26.61 | 145.5 | 217.40 |
| Ford Expedition (2WD) | 10.11 | N/A | 100 | 27.09 | 142.9 | 187.67 |
The two-wheel-drive Tahoe reached 60 mph in 8.58 seconds — quicker than the Impala by nearly half a second, though both Interceptors and the Intrepid were quicker still. It is classified special service, which the bulletin defines as a vehicle not designed or manufactured for high-speed or pursuit situations, and one model year later a police-package version, the Tahoe PPV, is in the police category.
One printed figure does not survive scrutiny and is flagged rather than repeated as fact: the bulletin gives the two-wheel-drive Tahoe’s 0–50 time as 4.36 seconds, which is quicker than its own 0–40 of 4.43 and impossible against its 8.58-second 0–60. It is evidently a typesetting error for something near 6.36. Every other figure in its ladder is consistent.
Complete acceleration ladders and fuel economy — all eight vehicles
| 0 to… | Chevrolet Impala | Chevrolet Tahoe (2WD) | Chevrolet Tahoe (4WD) | Dodge Intrepid | Ford Police Interceptor (3.27 axle) | Ford Police Interceptor (3.55 axle) | Ford Expedition (2WD) | Ford Explorer (2WD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 mph | 2.00 | 1.88 | 2.02 | 1.91 | 1.78 | 1.78 | 1.96 | 1.72 |
| 30 mph | 3.20 | 3.13 | 3.33 | 3.13 | 3.09 | 2.99 | 3.40 | 2.93 |
| 40 mph | 4.58 | 4.43 | 4.71 | 4.50 | 4.47 | 4.42 | 5.00 | 4.41 |
| 50 mph | 6.51 | 4.36 | 6.76 | 6.37 | 6.20 | 6.15 | 7.44 | 6.30 |
| 60 mph | 9.00 | 8.58 | 9.20 | 8.56 | 8.44 | 8.25 | 10.11 | 8.90 |
| 70 mph | 11.76 | 10.97 | 11.81 | 11.21 | 10.89 | 10.63 | 13.24 | 11.79 |
| 80 mph | 15.24 | 14.72 | 16.00 | 14.15 | 13.88 | 13.74 | 17.64 | 15.54 |
| 90 mph | 20.31 | 19.50 | 21.46 | 18.40 | 18.15 | 17.90 | 23.67 | 21.10 |
| 100 mph | 26.42 | N/A | N/A | 23.56 | 23.30 | 22.52 | N/A | 28.25 |
| Top speed | 123 | 99 | 99 | 135 | 128 | 118 | 100 | 107 |
| Vehicle | City | Highway | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Impala | 20 | 29 | 23 |
| Chevrolet Tahoe (2WD) | 15 | 20 | 16.5 |
| Chevrolet Tahoe (4WD) | 14 | 18 | 16.5 |
| Dodge Intrepid | 19 | 27 | 22 |
| Ford Police Interceptor (3.27 axle) | 16 | 21 | 18 |
| Ford Police Interceptor (3.55 axle) | 16 | 21 | 18 |
| Ford Expedition (2WD) | 13 | 17 | 15 |
| Ford Explorer (2WD) | 15 | 20 | 17 |
See the original page: Exhibit 4 in the 2004 bulletin
What the manufacturers changed for 2004
Ford fitted a new air induction system raising the Police Interceptor to 250 horsepower, an increase of eleven, and offered the optional 3.55 rear axle — stating openly that it would improve acceleration and cut top speed to 119 mph. A 200-amp high-output generator and a trunk-mounted power distribution box became standard. Stand-alone side air bags could now be ordered without the power seat package, and laminated security side glass was optional. The Trunk Pack — a Kevlar-lined polyethylene shell intended to stop trunk equipment intruding into the back seat or fuel tank in a high-speed rear impact — was new. A CNG Police Interceptor would be available in January 2004, and Ford stated it would be the final year of production for that version. The Excursion was in its last year as well.
DaimlerChrysler gave the Intrepid new rear brake pads, which its police vehicle engineering team said would help prevent premature front brake wear, and confirmed that 2004 was the Intrepid police package’s final year, with an unnamed replacement due for 2005.
Chevrolet offered the Impala in both 9C1 police and 9C3 unmarked packages with New England and California emissions available if specified at order. The Tahoe carried over. The turnkey equipment installation programme run through Kerr Industries was expanded to include fold-down equipment trays and trunk organisers, low-profile deck lamps, an accessory power distribution centre and full-size wheel covers.
What 2004 settled
Three cars from two manufacturers, two of them the same Ford model with different axle ratios, finished a two-mile lap within eleven hundredths of a second of each other.
Between the two Interceptors, Michigan measured the axle-ratio trade: the 3.55 gears bought 0.19 seconds to 60 and cost ten miles an hour on top, finishing one mile an hour under the 119 Ford had stated. The programme had compared two Caprices with different axles in 1993 and would compare two Interceptors again in 2005.
And the Intrepid left as the fastest thing in the test, 135 mph, with a replacement promised and not yet named. It turned out to be a Dodge Magnum, which arrived the following year as a special-service vehicle.