Mopar squads of the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s
The 1980s
The major squad cars of the 1980s were the St. Regis and the Dodge Diplomat / Plymouth Gran Fury. We have separate pages devoted to each of them.
Jim Benjaminson: By 1982 Plymouth had the Reliant patrolling the streets of America in full police car trim. Reviving a term used in the past, it was called the Reliant Scout Car. Powered initially by a standard 2.2 liter 135 cid engine with 84 hp, or an optional 2.6 liter 156 cid 92 hp Mitsubishi Silent Shaft four, the Scout Car joined the midsized Gran Fury Pursuit and the Voyager as Plymouth's offerings to law enforcement.
Ed Hennessy wrote: Chrysler did make an AHB (police package) Aries and Reliant in the mid-1980s; the NYPD used hundreds of them. These were 2.5 TBI cars. Their highway patrol division got Gran Furies with the 318 4 barrel police motor. New Haven, CT also used them. I believe both cities bought a majority of six cylinder cars for patrol, and V8s for pursuit duties, regardless of brand.
Dale Burkhardt wrote: There never was a factory police package for the Dodge Dynasty, but several agencies did use them. I remember that the suburban Chicago, Illinois, village of Crestwood had one in the 1980s. (Mark Swingle wrote: "The only 3.8L Dynasty police mules I ever heard of were naturally aspirated. Even without the turbo, they provided enough power as a 3.8 Dynasty to be competitive. The reason the program was shelved was the Dynasty was at the end of its product cycle and the Intrepid was due out in a year or so.")
1990 - 1995
We have little information from this period; would you send us something?
Mitch Hartley wrote in 2002: The Cheltenham, Pennsylvania police department have three Dodge Shadows that are used as unmarked/ comand personnel cars. These cars are equipped with a red tear drop light, radio, and siren. They love the Shadows as they are great in snow, have great repair records and they would be happy to put more into thier fleet.
I have used a 1993 Dodge Shadow in my process service business, the car has over 140,000 miles on it and short of a timing belt, and a pick up coil I have never broken down. This same car was used as a Security patrol vehicle 24/7 at a local shopping center and is still used as a daily driver. I only wish Dodge was still making these cars.
1995
When the Grand Cherokee was first introduced, Chrysler tried to reposition the Cherokee by creating a right-hand drive model for export, a postal vehicle, and a police unit. Tyler Adams reports that Texas State Troopers started using the Jeep Cherokee as a police cruiser and special purpose vehicle in the early 1990s.
After the Caprice was cancelled, the slower, long-braking Crown Victoria became the only traditional police car. Due to safety concerns with the Fords, Connecticut began to use Mazda 626s. Canada began to use Intrepids as early as 1995 for squad cars. General Motors, meanwhile, is trying to push the Yukon as a police car, apparently for those agencies which do not have to pay for gasoline.
Representative Dick Chrysler tried to obtain the Caprice tools and dies, to produce the patrol cars in a Canadian former Hyundai factory. This effort seems to have slipped into nonexistence.
1997
Mark T. Crowther reports that many Canadian agencies are switching to the Intrepid, because of their superior handling, room, and price (compared to the C.V.). However, most seem to be 3.3s. He also reported that the Mounties were testing Intrepids as a C.V. replacement. Ohio is testing 1997 Dodge Intrepids for use as patrol cars, most of which will be unmarked.
1999 Michigan State Police Tests
The big winner in the 1999 tests was the Chevrolet Impala. Its scores were nearly always about the same as the Crown Victoria; the Impala's top speed was 5 mph lower (though it took less time to get there) and its fuel economy was about five miles per gallon higher. That's a significant difference considering how much squad cars are on the road.
The best performer, the Camaro, was also the lowest ranked vehicle, due mainly to its cramped size (inside). The Jeep Cherokee and Volvo T5 surprisingly were about even in score - the Volvo performed well, the Jeep was spacious.
2000 - 2001
Intrepid Police Package
We have details and a first-drive review of the Intrepid police package, including full coverage of the flaming brakes debacle. Chrysler literally owned 80% of the total output of police cars from the mid 1960s to its pull out in 1989. At the moment, it is taking a distant back seat to Ford and Chevrolet, whose Impala has been making inroads over time; the Intrepid had a 4% market share, with only about 2,800 sold.
2000 Michigan State Police Tests
For the 2001 model year tests, GM fielded the Hummer, Camaro, Impala, and Tahoe, while Ford put up its Crown Victoria, Excursion, Expedition, and Explorer. DCX contributed a pair of Jeep Cherokees with front and rear wheel drive.
The two wheel drive Cherokee is about half a second slower to 60 miles per hour than the Ford Police Interceptor, but faster than any of the Ford trucks, the Tahoe, and the Impala. (0-60 in 9.18 seconds). The top speed, 111 mph, was better than the Ford and Chevy trucks, but not up to the cars. The Camaros swept the floor with all the other squads in acceleration, braking, and handling. The big Ford trucks and Hummer had terrible stopping distances, while the Cherokee was similar to the Tahoe and a few feet worse than the Ford cars.
On the ergonomics test, the Cherokee only beat the Camaro and Hummer. The fuel economy test went to the Impala, with 20 mpg city and 29 highway. The two wheel drive Cherokee was even with the automatic transmission Camaro and similar to the Ford Police Interceptor. Worst were the Ford trucks and the Hummer. Overall, the Cherokee was a middle of the pack vehicle.
Other models
We have received reports of Stratus and Ram squads, as well as the Jeep Cherokee. The PT Cruiser is often used as a "teenager awareness" car for anti-alcohol and anti-drug educational activities, but isn't actually used as a cruiser.
Jeffrey Brindisi wrote: "I have made several trip to Maine from Massachusettes, and over the past 2-3 years noticed that the State Police were using two wheel drive blue Dodge Ram pick-ups." Jeff McDonald replied: "These are commercial vehicle enforcement trucks. Presumably in the bed are portable scales for 18-wheelers. They don't pay too much attention to ordinary traffic but truckers should cringe at the sight of these big blue Rams!"
Lio wrote: "The police department in Sherbrooke, Quebec has been using only (Chrysler) Intrepids - and a few Cherokees - since several years (not before 1998 though, it started with 2th gen Intrepids). Until lately you could still see some Crown Vics but now the fleet is 100% mopar... But since last year, they're using Dodge Caravans as their main police vehicle! I think they're in the process of replacing many, if not all, of the Intrepids with Caravans. Is that unusual? (I haven't read anything about the Caravan on the Squad page).
I believe there may be, at least here, a new trend of using minivans as squad cars... the Montreal police replaced almost all of its cars with Chevy Ventures, a while ago. Let me know if squad Caravans are rare, I might be able to get a pic if you want... I'm pretty proud of my city for using Mopars!
Crown Victoria
Curtis Redgap forwarded an AP story to us. Florida troopers are reportedly unhappy with the Fords, partly because of the location of the gas tank, which has ruptured or expoded in accidents. The assembly integrity has also been challenged. Ford has refused to address these issues; however, Ford is also the only current American maker of rear wheel drive four door squad cars, and has about 80-85% of the market.
