A short time ago, we showcased to you what, in all likelihood, will go down in history as the most famous police car ever built. For those of you outside the U.S., Ford is just as big of a player in the cop car scene as it was in the days of the iconic Crown Victoria.
But in terms of all-out scare factor, there isn't much of anything on the road today that can terrify the living daylights out of American drivers than the latest Ford Explorer Police Utility. Rest assured, when any late model Ford Explorer finds itself in the rear-view mirror, chances are good all the drivers for hundreds of yards in either direction will take their feet off the accelerator.
The response to realizing the said car is being driven by an elderly woman throwing a cigarette out the driver's side window is usually mild annoyance or relief. But in that brief moment of ignorance, your mind can't help but be traumatized by the aggressive and authoritative look of what we're all conditioned to believe are cop cars. Worse still is when an undercover car in any of the 17 colors Ford offers for Police Utility actually does turn out to be the police. It's a panic attack waiting to happen for us civies, even if we're driving the speed limit.
But unlike the Crown Victoria that came before it, the Explorer Police Utility is a profoundly different vehicle than the civilian version. Let's take a deep dive and look at what these differences are. The current Explorer Police utility rides on the sixth-generation U625 platform that supports the standard models. But, happily, things start to differ radically with the engine.
Starting with the 2014 model year and the fifth-generation Explorer U502 Police Utility, many examples were the beneficiary of a twin-turbocharged EcoBoost V6 engine. While initially 3.5 liters in displacement, the subsequent sixth-generation downsized to a three-liter, twin-charged unit. In this case, when someone drops the "cop motor" line from the Blues Brothers, it's actually the truth. Unlike the Crown Vic.
Photo: Ford
Making its debut in the 2020 model year, the second-generation Explorer Police Utility actually has a range of three engine choices for a wide array of different uses. There's the aforementioned twin-turbo V6 jetting 400 horsepower, a 3.3-liter hybrid-V6 making around 320 horses, or the same 3.3-liter engine without the turbocharger for environments where getting up to turbo boost RPMs seldom ever happens.
When petrolheads and people in the know see one of these Police Utilities, it's easy to conclude that it's rocking the forced-induction variant. Even with the least powerful engine in the range, this special Explorer looks positively menacing. There's a sense with its toned and muscular body panels and jet-black grille as dark as the center of a black hole that you're done for if you sufficiently annoy its driver.
Granted, the person behind the wheel can and will pull you over and ruin your entire life if they have a reason to do so. So perhaps all the aggressive bodywork serves a purpose. With a zero to 60 mph (100kph) time of 5.5 seconds and a top speed of 148 miles per hour (238 kph) as with the twin-turbo V6, the Explorer Police Utility is one of if, not the fastest, police vehicles on the market. And no, the Dubai Police hypercars don't count.
On a day-to-day basis, the number of vehicles that could legit outrun an Explorer Police Utility is quite small. Besides, anyone who's rich enough to own a Ferrari is probably smart enough to realize that there are plenty of Police Utilities and only one of them. The result is a police car that's built to handle just about everything the average police or sheriff's department is liable to go through in a day's work. The space for an Ar-15 rifle in the rear of the vehicle and a state-of-the-art laptop scanner in the center console is like the gravy on top.
Photo: Ford
The truth of the matter is this. The real name of the game when it comes to the Ford Police Utility is not raw speed or acceleration, despite its impressive capabilities. You'll seldomly see them performing patrolling highway duties when the more powerful Dodge Charger Pursuit is also available. Instead, its job is to convey authority and keep the peace in urban and suburban environments.
As for whether or not it's ethical to parade around in brutish and scary-looking police cars through disadvantaged urban neighborhoods is another question entirely. But that's more of a judgment against the people behind the wheel of Ford Police Utilities than the vehicle itself. Even if you have your issues with law enforcement, if you're in danger one day and one of these pulls up to save you, we bet it won't look anywhere near as scary.
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