"AkursedX" (akursedx)
11/07/2016 at 12:39 • Filed to: Ford, Ford Explorer Police Interceptor
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"AkursedX" (akursedx)
11/07/2016 at 12:39 • Filed to: Ford, Ford Explorer Police Interceptor | 8
| 20 |
In a never-ending quest to be more fiscally responsible, I was looking for ways to reduce my car payments and also get another vehicle in the household with an automatic transmission, so I started hunting for a replacement for my STI. In an effort to find something sensible, durable, yet somewhat cool and unique, I went back to my old standard of police vehicles. Back when I lived in MI, I used to buy Crown Vics and Tahoes from the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , fix them up, drive them for a bit and sell them for a few bucks profit. I learned this practice from my father who did the same thing through most of my youth.
Anyways, a 2014 Ford Police Interceptor Utility popped up at a local dealership this weekend. It only had 21k miles on it and looked quite promising. Unfortunately it isn’t an ecoboost (It has a 3.7l 304hp V6), but besides that, it’s pretty much everything I wanted.
I inspected it and took it for a drive today. It has never been used as a police vehicle and was traded in locally by a local police officer who use it as his daily driver. After a short bit of negotiating I put down a deposit! I pick it up on Wednesday and will be using it to drive my kids down to Disney next weekend!
Overall, I cut $200/month off my car payment over the exact same term and cut another $30/month off insurance. I’m pretty happy with that.
I already ordered these hubcaps along with a few other accessories.
Be prepared for a full review in the next few weeks explaining both the positives and negatives of Police Vehicle ownership.
Tristan
> AkursedX
11/07/2016 at 12:46 |
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Good call on ordering the center caps. Those full covers are fugly! So what’s the difference between this and a base Explorer? Standard cop stuff like firmer suspension and lots of extra fluid coolers?
That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
> AkursedX
11/07/2016 at 12:48 |
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That’s awesome. The cops I work with love the Explorer, tons more room than even the Crown Vic. That seems like a good purchase to me. Looking forward to the review!
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AkursedX
> Tristan
11/07/2016 at 12:50 |
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Yeah. It also has alot of chassis stiffening too. There is a massive x-brace in back that helps to save you from being rear ended by a car travelling at 75mph.
Also, the 3.7 isn’t available in civilian explorers. They only get the 3.5
jimz
> Tristan
11/07/2016 at 12:50 |
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It’s got a cop motor, a 440-cubic-inch plant. It’s got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters so it’ll run good on regular gas.
er, seriously, though, there are some suspension and brake differences. Plus I believe most of them have no center console and a column shift, plus more powerful alternator and prep packages for lights, sirens, and other equipment. Also, if you’re a big enough agency you can have them painted in your department’s color/scheme.
http://www.ford.com/fordpoliceinterceptor/features/
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Tristan
> jimz
11/07/2016 at 12:58 |
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But does the cigarette lighter work?
TysMagic
> AkursedX
11/07/2016 at 12:58 |
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I didn’t know think these would end up cycled out so quickly? Either way, excited to hear about all the not cop stuff you do with it!
Unrelated to car stuff, we will be in Disney this coming sunday! Super pumped
Comes over to help work on your car and only drinks beer
> Tristan
11/07/2016 at 13:00 |
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It’s got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters so it’ll run good on regular gas.
vondon302
> AkursedX
11/07/2016 at 13:00 |
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Hey now don’t be giving away my cheap car auction spot damn ya. Never gonna get that Charger at a decent price. Seriously though thats not a bad deal on the Explorer. Congrats
Party-vi
> AkursedX
11/07/2016 at 13:11 |
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Oh how I would hate to be someone in front of you on the highway you tricky dick.
shop-teacher
> AkursedX
11/07/2016 at 13:20 |
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Nice purchase! I have a serious hankerin’ for a Tahoe PPV, but I could see getting one of these instead.
random001
> AkursedX
11/07/2016 at 13:52 |
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What do you do to search for these things?
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AkursedX
> shop-teacher
11/07/2016 at 14:01 |
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I’ve had Tahoes as well (The older gen). I’m expecting this to be more fuel efficient. I would even argue that the interior space is better than the Tahoe, and the AWD in this will obviously be an upgrade over the RWD Tahoe.
Pics:
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AkursedX
> TysMagic
11/07/2016 at 14:03 |
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This one is a bit of an oddball as it was never used as a police vehicle. The public can’t buy these new, but you will find dealerships that have them for sale as ‘used’ with under 500 miles somewhat regularly. I don’t know how that works, but low mileage ones are able to be found.
For actual police service ones, I would expect them to be decomissioned around the standard 100k mile range.
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AkursedX
> vondon302
11/07/2016 at 14:04 |
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Haha, I’ve bought 5 cars from there in the past. I really miss being close enough to bid on cars there. It was a nice little side job.
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AkursedX
> random001
11/07/2016 at 14:08 |
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I search all over. Ebay, Autotrader, cars.com, craigslist, various auction sites. This is my standard autotrader search:
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vondon302
> AkursedX
11/07/2016 at 14:15 |
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Shhhh damn it. Haha only one car but got a few other things too.
Stapleface
> AkursedX
11/07/2016 at 14:15 |
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Are the wigwags still installed? It would probably make the Disney trip a hell of a lot quicker. lol
Maxima Speed
> AkursedX
11/07/2016 at 14:22 |
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Sweet. I’m jealous. Please put a brush guard on it and enjoy the benefits of everyone getting out of the way...... or slowing down to the speed limit or lower in the left lane which is more probable.
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shop-teacher
> AkursedX
11/07/2016 at 14:37 |
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I’ve got a RWD ‘06 Sierra, so that’s fine by me. AWD is nice, but so is the simpler maintenance of a RWD vehicle. How does one find police/government auctions? That part has always eluded me (admittedly I’ve never exactly done a deep dive on the matter).
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AkursedX
> shop-teacher
11/08/2016 at 09:24 |
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The State of Michigan site I posted in the article is the one I used the most. I wish other states adopted their model. Other places I search around are Auctions International and GSA are both nationwide and searchable by area.