Listen up, Ford. You currently have the corner on the police cruiser market, but only because Chevy for some reason or other decided it was time to get out of the game (killed the Caprice). Before that, you held a mere fraction of total sales. The competition's latest offerings are somewhat uninspiring when comparing performance stats to the Crown Vic (acceleration, handling, braking), but they are catching up. Here are some suggestions to improve your product:
1. Make the damn windows go up and down faster. Officers, especially in urban areas, are rolling through town more and more often with the windows down, in order to listen to what is going on around them. This is part of the Community Policing initiative. If we have to jump out to chase the bad guys on foot, we want to hit our Stay Run and be off. We don't want to have to wait until the window rolls up all the way some time tomorrow, or leave it down and wonder about the security of the car and the weapons inside it (shotgun, AR-15). Hell, the windows on my Windstar go up faster!
2. Give us independant rear suspension. If you can make it work for the heavy Explorer, and survive 400 hp/400 ft-lbs in the Mustang, you can make it work for the Police Interceptor. This will further refine the ride and increase the handling advantage enjoyed by the PI over its competition. It will also likely cure the harmonics problems you have with the current PI/CV in that they have to be speed limited or the driveshaft harmonics will quickly destroy the tranny.
3. Learn how to make an auto tranny that lasts. PLEASE! the current crop is junk! Send out some techs to Level 10 Performance if you have to, and learn what works and what doesn't. It's got to be cheaper to engineer a tranny that will hold up vs. replacing or reparing every other one under warranty. Ford is seriously behind the power curve compared to the rest of the industry when it comes to auto trannies. Make it a 5 speed auto overdrive, and give us some steep gears for the rear so we have some grunt off the line. 0 - 60 in 8 seconds is great to shoot for, but you keep missing the target. Also, the PI as equipped for street duty typically has so much extra weight in radios and equipment that you might as well add 1 - 2 seconds onto whatever time you get empty. Shoot for a 0 - 60 of 6.5 seconds, Ford.
4. Give us rack and pinion steering so our alignment will last for more than one shift. 'Nuff said on that topic.
5. Do whatever you have to in order to get us to 300/300 on the engine. Drop the 5.4L in there if you need to. And don't tell me about some BS concerning how it won't clear the wiper linkage assembly. REDESIGN the wipers then!
6. Bring back the sloped rear windshield. Fuel economy has gone down the toilet with the new body style.
7. Bring back a 4 headlight system. Wig wags work much better (better visibility to those in front of you) with a 4 headlight vs two headlight system.
8. Heated mirrors, backlight, and a connection for a heated lightbar should be standard with the PI.
9. Up the alternator output so that at idle, my battery doesn't slowly die when running the lightshow. Alternatively, take a hint from Chrysler; their Jeep patrol cars have a switch which bumps the idle about 250 rpms. This keeps the alternator in an rpm range that will output max amps.
10. Fix the damn engine so that it doesn't start knocking on full throttle after 30,000 miles. You have had a problem with this since the 4.6L was dropped into the PI. It's about time you fix it.
Just needed to rant a little there.
EDIT:
11. The stock brakes are great, but all too often departments are replacing the pads with generic parts when the time comes to change them. This kills their performance. My car is currently running on burned rotors because of this. Change the pad configuration between the normal sport package and PI vs. the standard CV so that only high perf. pads are available. Larger rotors would also help. My car sits at 4600+ lbs with me and all my gear in it. That is a lot of weight to try to stop from 100+ mph!
12. Give us a bigger fuel tank, and relocate it under the passenger rear seat. 19 gallons? I go through 1/2 to 3/4 tank on every shift. Range for pursuit driving is severly limited. I would rather give up some trunk space for added range (larger fuel tank). I'm thinking at least 26 gallons.
