The Dodge Charger Police Car: Road Test

By John Carlin
WSLS10 Anchor
Published: November 27, 2007

VIDEO

The Dodge Charger police car opened a lot of eyes when it began showing up in the Roanoke Valley last year.  Roanoke City has one and Roanoke County, six.

Renowned for its impressive speed and handling, Roanoke City Police driving instructor, Sgt. Mark Lovern agreed to demonstrate the car on the course at Dixie Caverns, where local police do their training—and where he says safety is the key concern—not speed.

Lovern: This course, we designed it to simulate emergency driving situations.  … The course is very demanding.  There are a lot of tight turns as you’ve already found out.

It’s Lovern’s first time on the course in the Charger.
After a few laps we join him in the car and he explains the proper way to drive it, as he winds through a section of curves created with orange traffic cones.

Lovern: This section here, as we’re going up the incline here, through this series of chicanes or S curves, we’re teaching throttle control. … The theory is in slow out fast.  Into the maneuver and then accelerate out.

The Charger, he tells me, is more than adequate, but not substantially different than the standard Ford Crown Victoria.

Another part of the property features winding highway complete with a switchback curve—and Lovern says rural departments really appreciate the car’s speed here --perhaps more so than city police whose pursuits tend to be shorter and slower.

The next test, braking.  Lovern demonstrated the Charger’s electronic stability system something the Crown Victoria’s do not have.  On the skid pad, the car was impressive,

Lovern showed us the car’s 18 inch wheels, the performance tires, and the HEMI engine which is stock.

Lovern: Nothing is any different from a local Dodge Dealership if you were to go up and drive one off the lot.

Carlin:  I have to believe that if the car can negotiate this course more quickly and more safely then the officer and the public are safer also.  Isn’t that true? Mark:  This is true.

Carlin: Police departments across the country are going ga ga over this car.  Why is that?  Mark:  It’s a different look.

And that may be it’s most impressive characteristic… The Charger makes you notice ... And you don’t want to see it’s lights flashing in your rear-view mirror.

Despite the car’s impressive handling the associated expense may mean it only gets limited duty in the Valley.  Roanoke County’s chief mechanic, Dave Anderson, says the Charger’s upgrades cost more money.

For example the 18-inch tires cost $105.00 each compared to 67.75 for the Crown Victoria’s 15 inch tires and 87.00 for the 17-inch versions.  The Chargers also feature high performance rubber, which holds the road better, but wears out faster.

Anderson:  It all comes down to cost per mile.  The Charger is much more expensive.  I couldn’t see us having a whole fleet of these.

Anderson says the County’s 75 police cars average 22-thousnd miles each.  The Crown Victoria cost .11 a mile to operate, while the Charger costs .16.  Meaning an entire fleet of Chargers would cost 82,500 more than a fleet of Ford Crown Victoria’s.

For that reason the County has delayed ordering any additional Chargers for next year, while the City is ordering 2 Chargers, 1 Magnum (the station wagon version) as a K-9 car, and 7 Crown Victoria’s.

The Charger may become less expensive as its numbers grow, and Ford has been talking about changing out the Crown Victoria over the next few years.  But for now it appears the tried and true Crown Victoria, while a little more sluggish and much less stylish, will still be the car you’ll see most on the streets of Roanoke.