Have we talked about the Ford Taurus Police Interceptors?

So this one has since sold, but I saw this ad on Marketplace yesterday for a 2013 Police Interceptor for $1000 that according to the ad needed a transmission and transfer case. 

What do we think about these? 

I know the P71 Crown Vics have been a stple around here, do these fit the same bill? I mean RWD > AWD, but still, a 300-350hp AWD sedan, and they are starting to get retired from police departments, etc. I've seen a few go fairly cheap, but I don't know much about them. The prices are making me think of both Challenge potential, and cheap daily potential. 

The main questions I'm wondering are:

1. Are they reliable?
2. Are they relatively easy to work on?
3. Are parts available?
4. Do they handle/drive nicely?

Let me know your experience!

I'd be a little worried about the reliability of the transmission and transfer case.

Not all of them are AWD or turbo.  

The vast majority of them didn't get the exciting engine or the AWD, and the ones that did have probably been pretty well abused at this point.  The Ecoboost ones are quick enough to be fun, the standard ones are just another boring sedan, and as far as I can tell none of the variants have proven themselves to be as reliable as the Crown Vics they replaced.  That one doesn't have a partition as far as I can tell, which would be a good thing since that means less likelihood of bodily fluids all over the place- used police cars tend to be pretty gross.

I was looking at these and Taurus SHOs at one point and asked my friend that worked at a Ford dealer about them. He said the transfer cases were prone to getting a leak and because they have a small fluid capacity, they 'splode before you catch it. He also said that, due to loads of idle time, the cop cars were prone to burning lots of oil and borked turbochargers. They are also known to have the same leaky water pump issues as anything else with a 3.5L EcoBoost, which is not a fun or cheap fix.

A Taurus is never going to be nimble, but for high-speed road trips it would be pretty awesome. Hennessey offers the MaxBoost 445, a $4495 package that adds 80 hp and 55 lb-ft of torque.

pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:

A Taurus is never going to be nimble, but for high-speed road trips it would be pretty awesome. Hennessey offers the MaxBoost 445, a $4495 package that adds 80 hp and 55 lb-ft of torque.

But then the rods probably fall out of your car in 2 miles, and when you try to get a refund he's already spent your money to buy parts for another customer's car because he spent that customer's money on personal use. I wouldn't trust anything from Hennessey and I don't get how his company is so notoriously awful and he's such a scam artist, yet still continues to get ink from the press.

I posted before my personal experience with them. My department bought about dozen before switching to the explorers then Durango'(crap and I own 2 dodges). Our Taurus had transmission issue from the start and the suspension wasn't up to dealing with the abuse city streets give. I think we have 2 left and they are E36 M3 boxes now. 

We also had some engine issues. Ours were all NA awd models.

I loved our crown vices and the last generation explorer's are pretty good as well in my opinion.

The Michigan State Police do some of the most extensive testing of Police Cars in the country.  I think CHiPs does it too.  But, the Michigan reports are readily available.  Since this Ford is a 2013, here is the link to the 2013 Michigan testing.

1/4 mile times of slow cop cars for 2013:
15.63 Impala V6 fwd
15.94 Taurus V6 fwd
15.95 Charger V6 rwd

1/4 mile times of fast cop cars for 2013:
14.21 Taurus Ecoboost awd
14.52 Caprice 6.0L rwd
14.56 Charger Hemi rwd

I have always wanted to build a Robocop replica.

Of course with this guy driving that transaxle isn't going to last too long.

I see these and I'm starting to like the way they look. Especially with some of the wheels that come on the civilian version. 
But what NickD said scares me, and complexity + cop cars is not a good mix.

I have a close friend who is a cop, and they are pretty hard on their cars. He regularly kicked the door against it the hinges so it would bounce back and close. I asked him why he did that. he said "it's a police thing."

That was in a crown vic, which he and all the other cops loved. I haven't asked about the Taurus.

I still want to drive an AWD EB one.

It's pretty much a Flex/Explorer in size and handling.

The Crown Vics set a standard for reliability and durability in the face of hard use and abuse that will never be matched. 

Hard to see why you'd want the police version when standard-issue Tauruses are a dime a dozen and haven't been abused as much. I'd also be leery of the AWD versions. I had a SHO, and the transfer case fluid capacity is tiny, and it does bake if you abuse it, and it's technically non-serviceable. Now, you can change it, though it's kind of a PITA, and only an enthusiast owner is going to do that. No municipal police department is going to.

As for Hennessey, that scam artist should have been rotting in jail years ago, but there are plenty of reputable tuners for the 3.5EB. Unleashed and Livernois are probably the best-regarded on the SHO forums.

It seems to me that if there's a "new P71", it's probably the Charger, because RWD V8.

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

It seems to me that if there's a "new P71", it's probably the Charger, because RWD V8.

My work has a service contract with the local NY State Trooper barracks and they bought a few Chargers and were never very happy with those either. Apparently the Hemis were not happy with lots of idling and were eating valvetrain up frequently, and they said they also had lots of issues with the transmissions from the extended idling. The one trooper who came in was griping that the transmission fluid would get hot when they idled for a long time, then someone would go by that they'd want to pull over or they'd get a call to respond to, and he said you would put it in drive and there would be nothing there. It was like it was in neutral. They've mostly gone to the police Explorers and a few Tahoes.

I've been keeping an eye on them since they started popping up at auctions in the $3k range. 

On paper, they sound to me like a fun little toy, particularly boosted awd versions. But I haven't heard of, or looked for, any negatives with them. Transfer case sounds annoying to say the least. 

I'm sure I'll wind up with at least one at some point. 

NickD said:

My work has a service contract with the local NY State Trooper barracks and they bought a few Chargers and were never very happy with those either. Apparently the Hemis were not happy with lots of idling and were eating valvetrain up frequently, and they said they also had lots of issues with the transmissions from the extended idling. The one trooper who came in was griping that the transmission fluid would get hot when they idled for a long time, then someone would go by that they'd want to pull over or they'd get a call to respond to, and he said you would put it in drive and there would be nothing there. It was like it was in neutral. They've mostly gone to the police Explorers and a few Tahoes.

Sounds like the trans in those probably does like some older Mopars and bypasses the cooler circuit in park.  Solution for extended idling is to sit in neutral with the parking brake set (assuming you don't want to mod the valve body for cooler flow in park). 

In reply to RevRico :

No boost but not a bad price in this market for a big SUV

https://mansfield.craigslist.org/cto/d/butler-2015-ford-explorer-interceptor/7423430590.html

I added the Livernios kit minus larger snails to an Explorer, it really woke it up.  From the owner, "After several runs from 0-100 with four people, it gave a trans temp warning, I gave it a rest and it appears to be fine".  Our concern for adding the bigger turbos was the trans holding up, plus why for a DD. 

In reply to John Welsh :

Eh, I have the excursion for SUV/truck duty. 

In my head these cop cars would be decent Subaru fighters at rally cross for a much smaller buy in. But bad or undersized transfer cases and weak transmissions might not make it the cost saver I thought it could be. 

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

It's pretty much a Flex/Explorer in size and handling.

The car is quite a bit lighter.  Even for such a heavy vehicle.  

And compared to the MKS that was used to drive hard up Laughlin Pass a decade ago, the SHO/Cop package handles a whole lot better.

It's not a sporty car by any means, but it's not horrible.  One of the better things is if you can get the trans to shift in hill mode, the shifting rocks.

Transverse, twin-turbo, direct injected V6 with AWD sounds like the proverbial "10 gallons of crap in a 5 gallon bucket" to me. I can't imagine that much of anything is easy to work on.

Bummed to hear they are fragile.  I liked the idea of a low cost cop ride.

84FSP said:

Bummed to hear they are fragile.  I liked the idea of a low cost cop ride.

Agreed. 

NickD said:

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

It seems to me that if there's a "new P71", it's probably the Charger, because RWD V8.

My work has a service contract with the local NY State Trooper barracks and they bought a few Chargers and were never very happy with those either. Apparently the Hemis were not happy with lots of idling and were eating valvetrain up frequently, and they said they also had lots of issues with the transmissions from the extended idling. The one trooper who came in was griping that the transmission fluid would get hot when they idled for a long time, then someone would go by that they'd want to pull over or they'd get a call to respond to, and he said you would put it in drive and there would be nothing there. It was like it was in neutral. They've mostly gone to the police Explorers and a few Tahoes.

Dodge? Having bad transmissions?  You are having a jape at our expense, are you not?