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Take note of what the new design looks like. That's what you're looking for in the medians of the highway and hopefully not what you'll see in your rearview mirror with lights on. The few people we could check and conduct were hybrid interceptors, and they were designated as such with a "hybrid" sticker pack on their side. Queue the jokes "I can overtake that; it's a hybrid", but leave it as a joke because it contains 318 horses and 322 pounds of courtesy torque, a V6 of 3 , 3 liter naturally aspirated coupled with the assistance of an electric motor. In case anyone would ask, it has a top speed of 137 mph.
Unfortunately, the Police Interceptor utility we drove was not equipped with all the accessories that we could expect to find in a police car. There was no light, siren, laptop or any other equipment in which we could expect to hide. Sigh. Whatever it is, we need to organize a short autocross course to get an idea of what this thing looks like in a "chase" scenario.
He walks away silently before starting the gas engine when we place him on the ground to enter the course. The Interceptor attenuates the noise less, which is noticeable as soon as the V6 raspber buzzes. The 10-speed transmission goes down and we are pushed back into our seats. We would not call it fast, but it's fast enough to chase away the bad guys. What surprised us was the enormous braking power, which apparently comes from the same set of brakes as the one proposed in the next Explorer ST Track Pack. Press your foot no more than lightly pressing the brakes and the Interceptor pulls to a stop. There is not much modulation, but we are certain that Ford will adjust things differently for the ST.
We have not been able to judge the quality of the ride, because Ford had installed us on a flat road. The handling was much better than the current Explorer, but we could not test the old Interceptor utility on the fly. This one uses the new Explorer platform, also used by the 2020 Lincoln Aviator. There was no jamming for the grip (each Interceptor comes standard with a all-wheel drive), and most of the power to the rear was delightful compared to a front-wheel drive explorer of the previous generation.
The interest of making an Interceptor Utility Hybrid is however to save money. Police officers spend a lot of time idling and a hybrid system keeps the engine out of power for much of that time. The Interceptor has a hybrid system that meets the requirements of the police, which simply means that it has an additional cooling system for the battery. Ford says every car should save at least $ 3,500 a year in fuel costs compared to the old 3.7-liter V6, which increases with rising fuel prices. Assuming average power consumption, the police should expect the engine to run for about two minutes every five minutes. This varies depending on the demand for electrical energy in the car. This is not definitive, but Ford estimates that the Interceptor Utility will get an average of 24 mpg combined.
Interceptor police cars are assigned a lot of tidy performance stuff. There are two modes of pursuit: high-speed pursuit and city pursuit. The modes are automatically selected according to the type of driving performed by the agent. High speed tracking is about charging the battery quickly and turning that electrical power into increased power, rather than keeping it for later. The city chase mode attempts to prioritize the storage of electrical energy for more torque at cornering. Now, this looks like a badass hybrid.
The suspension is stiffer and capable of withstanding much more abuse than any normal car, but it is typical of vehicles classified by Interceptor. This results in a solid road holding by a vehicle as big and heavy. Ford says it's faster in a straight line and around a circuit than any other police service before. Even the hybrid is faster than the Chevrolet Tahoe police cars, but nothing has been said about its position compared to the Dodge Charger.
Like a normal hybrid, the Interceptor Utility uses the usual low-speed electrical buzz to inform the stranger of his presence. The elimination of this sound seems to be a perfect opportunity for the police to try to be stealthy in situations that may require it. However, Ford says that the system will not be defeated, so it will be up to the police to keep the sound or not.
Ford told us that he was charging a $ 3,500 premium to the police for the Hybrid compared to the non-hybrid V6 3.3-liter utility. If the police realize the fuel savings achieved by Ford, the car should be profitable in one year and save money for the station. At present, according to Ford, about 1,100 of the 8,000 orders received for new interceptors were for the hybrid model. They expect the hybrid pie share to increase as larger cities like Los Angeles and Chicago embark on the adventure.
A hybrid police car makes sense when you think about how the police actually use their vehicles. This one has a lot of performance to go with, so we're sure that a ton of these more efficient police cars will soon patrol your neighborhoods.
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