Ford Police Interceptor, intercepting crime and emissions
If you're highly trained at spotting a parked Crown Vic while approaching at 70-plus miles per hour, you may want adjust your speeding strategy by staring at this photo:
Hint: it resembles a Taurus.
Ford has unveiled the new Police Interceptor. The police car may replace the typical Crown Victoria cruisers for which production will cease in 2011.
Along with safety enhancements (side-curtain rollover protection system, enhanced brakes), as well as accoutrements to make patrolling more comfy (extra legroom, seats crafted for police utility belts), the new black-and-white features an EcoBoost engine.
No, it's not a hybrid.
But the Interceptor's EcoBoost, a.k.a 3.5-liter V6 engine, might reduce the fuel costs to the police departments, the taxpayers and the environment. Ford claims these savings could be as much as 25 percent.
From Ford:
A highly efficient 3.5-liter V-6 engine delivering at least 263 horsepower and E85 compatibility is 25 percent more efficient than the 4.6-liter Single Overhead Cam (SOHC) V-8 offered in the current Crown Victoria Police Interceptor.
Plus, an all-new 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 twin-turbocharged, direct-injection engine will deliver at least 365 horsepower and 350 ft.-lb. of torque across a broad rpm range.
A high-capacity six-speed SelectShift Automatic transmission delivers the power of EcoBoost to the road via the sophisticated torque-sensing all-wheel-drive system.
Michael Graham Richard of TreeHugger reports:
It remains to be seen if the E85 capability will be used much, but it's a good way to help future-proof the vehicles a little. Law enforcement doesn't change vehicle models too often, and if in a few years there's a cleaner source of ethanol available (not corn, but maybe something like switchgrass of agricultural waste), it'll be good to have the flex fuel engines.
Municipalities could also upgrade their aging armadas with the Dodge Charger. But in the Interceptor, whether cops are chasing you down the highway or idling in front of the 7-Eleven, they might be doing it more efficiently energy-wise.
Video from Autoblog
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com