Lookout hipsters, there may soon be a glut of decommissioned Crown Victorias on the auction block. According to LASD officials, the iconic Ford Crown Victoria – the most widely-used automobile by police stations across the country – is slowly being phased out. The phase-out is due to Ford’s decision to stop making Crown Victoria service vehicles, and to many in law enforcement, it couldn’t have come at a better time.
In place of the Crown Victoria, Ford has offered law enforcement agencies two choices: a sedan and an SUV. Both the CHP and the LASD have decided on the SUV for a variety of reasons; not the least of which being that the low gas prices make operating an SUV today far more economically viable than it would have been just a few years ago.
While the cost of gassing up their new rides isn’t likely to remain as low as it is today, the advantages of an SUV over a sedan are myriad. Officials have stated that the primary reason for deciding on the SUV is because law enforcement equipment has been changing over the years and they simply need more room. The amount and type of equipment officers carry will change with respect to what their assignment is, but the fact that officers need more storage space for such equipment is unanimous.
The performance of the SUV is another net-positive. One of the reasons that the Crown Victoria was so successful as a police cruiser was that it had a lot of space under the hood to fit a powerful engine. Despite the cruiser being anything like a sports car, the engine allowed officers the ability to keep up with the majority of automobiles they encountered on the road. The new SUV promises to do much the same by offering quick acceleration and a supercharged V-6 engine.
