Ford Boasts About its Police Interceptors Beating Dodge, Chevy in Michigan Speed Tests

Automakers love to boast about their police vehicles: last month we had Dodge tell us about the Charger Pursuit AWD setting the fastest lap for an all-wheel-drive test sedan at Grattan Raceway, now Ford has news regarding its police vehicles.

Ford says its EcoBoost-powered Police Interceptor sedan was faster than the Chevrolet Caprice V8 and Hemi-powered Dodge Charger Pursuit in Michigan State Police’s acceleration testing, while the Police Interceptor utility bested the Chevrolet Tahoe V8.

Preliminary results show the 365hp 2014 Ford Police Interceptor sedan with standard all-wheel drive posted a 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) time of 5.66 seconds, compared to 6.04 seconds for the Dodge Charger Hemi with optional all-wheel drive and 6.01 seconds for the Chevrolet Caprice V8.

The gap was even greater in 0-100 mph (161 km/h) testing: Ford Police Interceptor clocked 13.5 seconds, followed by the Caprice with 14.35 seconds and the Charger with 14.70 seconds.

Ford’s Police Interceptor utility vehicle powered by the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 and fitted as standard with all-wheel drive sprinted from 0 to 60 mph in 6.28 seconds and to 100 mph in 15.51 seconds, compared to 8.22 seconds and 21.95 seconds respectively for the Chevrolet Tahoe powered by a 5.3-liter V8.

Michigan State Police also tested the base 3.7-liter V6 Interceptor utility, which was also faster than the Tahoe with 8.02 seconds and 21.0 seconds, respectively.

“Agencies tell us if the bad guys see the police vehicle quickly close in pursuit, they’re less likely to try to run," said Bill Gubing, Ford chief engineer. "If this can help reduce the number of high-speed chases, then we could improve public safety on our nation’s roads.”

By Dan Mihalascu

PHOTO GALLERY

2011 Ford Explorer Found Hiding Behind Marketing Team Boss

Ladies and gents, we present to you Amy Marentic, FoMoCo's car, crossover and SUV marketing manager. And oh, the vehicle stalking her is the forthcoming, 2011 Ford Explorer. The Dearborn automaker released this new teaser photo as Marentic was recently interviewed by Reuters on the 2011 Explorer, which is expected to be officially revealed in July.

In that interview, she talked about what led the company to "reinvent" the Explorer and how Ford will try to win back customer loyalty.

"Right now six out of 10 who own an Explorer defect to another brand," said Marentic. "We want to switch that around and keep all of those customers like we used to in the early to mid-1990s."

To achieve this, Ford says that the new Explorer will retain many of the capabilities of a traditional SUV, with three rows of seats for up to seven adults, and the ability to tow a 19-foot boat, adding to the equation an improved ride, sharper handling and at least a 25 percent improvement in fuel economy over the current Explorer's 14 mpg city and 20 mpg highway numbers.

2011 Ford Explorer SUV: Lame Teaser Pictures Round 3

No really, Ford is in fact trying to convince us that it is teasing the new explorer and not a boat in this latest picture that was uploaded on the SUV's dedicated Facebook page. Whatever. The redesigned from the ground up 2011 Explorer should descend upon us in a couple of weeks time, maybe even sooner. Time wasters can check out the rest of the teaser pictures after the jump.

2011 Ford Explorer SUV: Lame Teaser Pictures Round 5

As if FoMoCo's marketing department would stop at round four... Anyway, here are two more crappy cropped teaser images of the all-new 2011 Ford Explorer crossover / SUV that is set to be fully revealed on the firm's Facebook page at the end of this month. If you haven't done so already, follow the jump to check out the rest of the pictures.