Michigan test archive
2005 Michigan State Police Patrol Vehicle Test
The sport utility comes back as a pursuit vehicle, an ethanol patrol car appears, and every single vehicle in the test arrives governed.
Ten vehicles ran from September 18 to 20, 2004 — five police package, five special service — and the sedan had been reduced to two nameplates. The entire police category was a Chevrolet Impala, two Ford Police Interceptors differing only in axle ratio, and two Chevrolet Tahoes. After a six-year absence the Tahoe returned, and it returned in a form the program had never granted a sport utility before: a pursuit-capable police package with a 285-horsepower 5.3-litre V8, listed in the police category rather than exiled to special service.
It did not embarrass itself. The Tahoe PPV reached 60 mph in 8.27 seconds, 100 in 23.86 and ran 124 mph — quicker to 60 and to 100 than the Impala, and quicker to 60 than a Police Interceptor with the tall axle. Six years earlier a Tahoe had needed 10.16 seconds to 60 and been outrun by everything with a boot.
One of the two Tahoes ran on E85. The flexible-fuel PPV — regular unleaded or an ethanol blend, the driver’s choice — was slightly the quicker of the pair at 8.19 to 60 and 125 mph, and it is the first alternative-fuel vehicle to appear in these tables since the natural-gas Crown Victorias of the late nineties, which had been comprehensively slower than everything around them. This one wasn’t.
And read the footnote under the top-speed row, because it now covers the entire field: all vehicles are equipped with electronic speed limiters. Not ten of fifteen, as in 1998. All of them. The fastest figure in the test is 128 mph.
The police package vehicles
| Vehicle | Engine | 0–60 (s) | 0–100 (s) | Top speed | Dynamics | Brakes (ft/s²) | 60–0 (ft) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Police Interceptor (3.55 axle) | 4.6L V8 | 8.15 | 22.91 | 119 | 1:42.43 | 26.20 | 147.8 |
| Ford Police Interceptor (3.27 axle) | 4.6L V8 | 8.42 | 23.30 | 128 | 1:42.81 | 26.59 | 145.6 |
| Chevrolet Tahoe PPV 2WD (E85) | 5.3L V8 | 8.19 | 23.69 | 125 | 1:46.70 | ‡ | ‡ |
| Chevrolet Tahoe PPV 2WD | 5.3L V8 | 8.27 | 23.86 | 124 | 1:47.13 | 26.87 | 144.1 |
| Chevrolet Impala | 3.8L V6 | 8.76 | 25.29 | 123 | 1:44.74 | 28.41 | 136.3 |
Gold row: quickest vehicle in the test to both 60 and 100 mph, and quickest around the course. But look at the pair of Interceptors together, because this is the cleanest controlled experiment the program had run since 1993, when Michigan tested two identical Caprices with different gears. Same car, same engine, two axles: the 3.55 is 0.27 seconds quicker to 60 and 0.39 to 100, and gives up nine miles an hour on top — 119 against 128. The 3.27 car stops a little shorter as well. There is no free lunch in a final drive ratio, and here it is measured to the hundredth.
And the Impala’s answer to being the slowest police-package vehicle in the test is the braking column: 28.41 ft/s² and a computed 136.3-foot stop, comfortably the best in the field, more than nine feet shorter than either Interceptor. Add 20 mpg in the city against the Ford’s 15 and the front-driver’s case is the same one it made in 2000 — it loses the arguments that sound exciting and wins the ones that cost money.
The special-service vehicles
| Vehicle | Engine | 0–60 (s) | 0–100 (s) | Top speed | Dynamics | Brakes (ft/s²) | 60–0 (ft) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Tahoe (4WD) | 5.3L V8 | 9.46 | N/A | 98 | ** | 25.29 | 153.1 |
| Dodge Magnum | 3.5L V6 | 9.10 | 24.96 | 117 | ** | 27.01 | 143.4 |
| Ford Explorer (2WD) | 4.6L V8 | 9.01 | 27.58 | 107 | ** | 26.14 | 148.1 |
| Ford Expedition (2WD) | 5.4L V8 | 9.80 | N/A | 99 | ** | 27.25 | 142.1 |
| Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD (4WD) | 6.6L diesel | 10.97 | N/A | 91 | ** | 22.41 | 172.8 |
The Dodge Magnum is here as the replacement for the discontinued Intrepid police package — rear-wheel drive, 250 horsepower, offered for 2005 as special service only with the bulletin noting it may return as a police package for 2006. Its 24.96 seconds to 100 mph and 143.4-foot stop are better than either Tahoe managed, which makes its special-service classification a matter of what Dodge was willing to certify rather than what the car could do.
At the far end sits the year’s genuine oddity: a Silverado 2500 HD crew cab, seven thousand one hundred and eighty-seven pounds, a 6.6-litre direct-injection diesel, 10.97 seconds to 60, a governed 91 mph and a 172.8-foot stop. It is listed as an Extended Mobility Package initially available through the federal GSA schedule. Michigan was now testing pickup trucks.
Complete acceleration ladders — every 10-mph increment, all ten vehicles
| 0 to… | Impala | Silverado | Tahoe PPV E85 | Tahoe PPV 2WD | Tahoe 4WD | Magnum | PI 3.27 | PI 3.55 | Expedition | Explorer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 mph | 2.01 | 2.85 | 1.76 | 1.78 | 2.19 | 1.91 | 1.82 | 1.80 | 1.88 | 1.81 |
| 30 mph | 3.18 | 4.27 | 2.95 | 2.97 | 3.57 | 3.22 | 3.11 | 2.99 | 3.32 | 3.09 |
| 40 mph | 4.52 | 5.94 | 4.20 | 4.24 | 4.94 | 4.75 | 4.50 | 4.40 | 4.88 | 4.59 |
| 50 mph | 6.41 | 8.08 | 6.06 | 6.12 | 6.82 | 6.65 | 6.19 | 6.10 | 7.24 | 6.50 |
| 60 mph | 8.76 | 10.97 | 8.19 | 8.27 | 9.46 | 9.10 | 8.42 | 8.15 | 9.80 | 9.01 |
| 70 mph | 11.36 | 14.48 | 10.48 | 10.57 | 12.16 | 12.01 | 10.88 | 10.62 | 12.57 | 11.77 |
| 80 mph | 14.68 | 19.13 | 13.62 | 13.69 | 15.26 | 15.34 | 13.98 | 13.94 | 16.41 | 15.47 |
| 90 mph | 19.51 | 32.06 | 18.36 | 18.38 | 21.52 | 19.43 | 18.25 | 17.86 | 21.88 | 20.73 |
| 100 mph | 25.29 | N/A | 23.69 | 23.86 | N/A | 24.96 | 23.30 | 22.91 | N/A | 27.58 |
| Top speed | 123 | 91 | 125 | 124 | 98 | 117 | 128 | 119 | 99 | 107 |
The Silverado’s ladder is worth following to the end: 19.13 seconds to 80 mph, then 32.06 to 90 — nearly thirteen seconds for that single ten-mile-an-hour increment — and then nothing. A three-and-a-half ton diesel pickup running out of governed road at 91 mph.
Complete braking data — both phases, nine vehicles
| Vehicle | Phase I speed | Phase I distance (ft) | Phase I rate | Phase II speed | Phase II distance (ft) | Phase II rate | Average rate | 60–0 computed (ft) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Impala | 59.8 | 134.53 | 28.6 | 60.0 | 137.00 | 28.3 | 28.41 | 136.3 |
| Ford Expedition (2WD) | 59.9 | 141.18 | 27.4 | 60.5 | 145.20 | 27.1 | 27.25 | 142.1 |
| Dodge Magnum | 60.5 | 144.93 | 27.2 | 60.8 | 147.45 | 26.9 | 27.01 | 143.4 |
| Chevrolet Tahoe PPV (2WD) | 60.2 | 144.87 | 26.9 | 60.2 | 145.15 | 26.9 | 26.87 | 144.1 |
| Ford Police Interceptor (3.27) | 60.5 | 148.05 | 26.6 | 60.0 | 145.87 | 26.6 | 26.59 | 145.6 |
| Ford Police Interceptor (3.55) | 60.2 | 150.65 | 25.9 | 60.3 | 147.22 | 26.5 | 26.20 | 147.8 |
| Ford Explorer (2WD) | 60.3 | 148.93 | 26.3 | 60.4 | 151.20 | 26.0 | 26.14 | 148.1 |
| Chevrolet Tahoe (4WD) | 59.9 | 144.65 | 26.7 | 60.2 | 164.62 | 23.9 | 25.29 | 153.1 |
| Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD (4WD) | 60.5 | 178.25 | 22.1 | 60.4 | 172.90 | 22.7 | 22.41 | 172.8 |
The four-wheel-drive Tahoe is the one to watch. It matched the pursuit-rated PPV almost exactly in Phase I — 144.65 feet against 144.87 — and then, after six hard stops and a four-minute heat soak, needed 164.62 feet. Twenty feet of fade in one session, and a deceleration rate that fell from 26.7 to 23.9 ft/s². The pursuit-package Tahoe beside it lost nothing at all. That difference, invisible in a single stop, is exactly what the police-package designation is supposed to mean.
Ergonomics, communications and fuel
| Vehicle | Ergonomics & communications | City | Highway | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Tahoe PPV (2WD) | 210.40 | 15 | 20 | 16.5 |
| Chevrolet Tahoe (4WD) | 209.70 | 14 | 18 | 16.5 |
| Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD (4WD) | 203.30 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Ford Police Interceptor | 202.09 | 15 | 22 | 18 |
| Chevrolet Impala | 199.92 | 20 | 29 | 23 |
| Ford Expedition (2WD) | 198.60 | 13 | 17 | 15 |
| Ford Explorer (2WD) | 186.90 | 15 | 19 | 16 |
| Dodge Magnum | 184.87 | 19 | 27 | 25.4 |
The Tahoes take the top two places, as sport utilities have in almost every year they have appeared — but the margin has collapsed. In 1998 the Tahoe led the Crown Victoria by nineteen points; here the pursuit PPV leads the Police Interceptor by eight, and the Impala sits within eleven while returning five more miles per gallon in the city than the Ford and roughly five more than either Tahoe. The E85 Tahoe’s ethanol figures are 14 city and 18 highway, against 15 and 20 on unleaded — the flexible-fuel option cost about a mile per gallon.
Two combined-economy figures in the bulletin don’t reconcile with their own city and highway numbers — the Magnum’s 25.4 and the Tahoes’ 16.5. They are printed here as published rather than quietly corrected.
What the manufacturers changed for 2005
Chevrolet brought the Tahoe back as a Police Package Vehicle after six years away, pursuit-capable, two-wheel drive only, with the 5.3-litre 285-horsepower V8 and an available E85 flexible-fuel option. A four-wheel-drive Tahoe remained on the special-service list with a standard 4.8-litre V8, though the car tested carried the optional 5.3. The Impala continued in both 9C1 police and 9C3 unmarked packages with no significant change, still front-wheel drive with the 200-horsepower 3.8 V6. New for the year was the Silverado 2500 HD Crew Cab Extended Mobility Package, special service only, initially through the GSA schedule.
Ford left the Police Interceptor essentially unchanged from 2004, again offering the standard 3.27 rear axle or the optional 3.55 — both of which were submitted, which is why they appear as two entries. One addition is worth recording plainly: an automatic fire suppression system with manual override was to become available as an option on Police Interceptors built later in the model year. The Explorer and Expedition returned as special-service packages. The Excursion, supposedly discontinued after 2004, was still available as a 2005 model, but Ford did not submit it for testing.
Dodge discontinued the Intrepid police package and offered the new rear-drive Magnum in its place — special service for 2005, with the bulletin noting it might be introduced as a police-package vehicle for 2006.
Notes on this page’s source and the gap before it
This page is built from the NIJ/NLECTC bulletin of December 2004 — the eight-page synopsis. The full report holds the per-lap dynamics, the individual brake sheets, the vehicle specification pages, the final weighted scoring, the year’s winner and the bid prices.
The 2001 to 2004 tests are not yet covered in this archive. Those four reports exist and are catalogued by the Department of Justice — the 2001 book runs 103 pages and the 2002 book 108, both compiled by Betsy DeFeyter of the MSP Precision Driving Unit — but the DOJ library serves them from a third-party mirror rather than its own servers, and that mirror is currently unavailable to me. They will be added when I can reach a copy. Between this page and 2000 sit some of the most interesting rosters in the program’s history, including an AM General Hummer entered in the police category and a Dodge Intrepid police package that lived and died inside those four years.
The dynamics course also changed somewhere in that gap, from the 1.635-mile configuration to the two-mile course used here, along with the lap methodology. Exactly when, and where the test moved to, is one of the questions those four books will answer.
What 2005 settled
The sport utility stopped being a compromise. For a decade Michigan’s answer to the truck was a separate category and a warning label: useful, roomy, well liked by the officers, and not a pursuit vehicle. In 2005 Chevrolet brought a Tahoe that was quicker to 60 and to 100 than the Impala, held its brakes through a full heat soak while its own four-wheel-drive twin faded twenty feet, and was listed in the police category on merit. The vehicle that would dominate American patrol fleets for the next twenty years had just qualified.
The other lesson is in a pair of Fords that differ by one number. Same engine, same body, same everything except a final drive: 3.55 gears bought 0.27 seconds to 60 and cost nine miles an hour on top; 3.27 gears did the reverse. Michigan had been demonstrating that trade since at least 1993, when it ran two Caprices with different axles. Here it is again, priced to the hundredth of a second, in the last years before the Crown Victoria’s long reign ended.