from Wired:

Quote:


The Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor is on its way out. Behold law enforcement's new hero: the badass car you see here, code-named E7. Billed as the world's first purpose-built law-enforcement patrol vehicle, the black-and-white E7 is a positively stunning vision of the 21st century cop car from the Atlanta-based upstart Carbon Motors. The specification sheet reads like that of a European sports sedan: An engine described only as a "forced-induction clean diesel" (biodiesel-capable) will produce some 300 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque, delivered to the rear wheels through a six speed automatic transmission. Carbon expects the car will make the jump to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds and top out at 155 mph. The E7 itself will feature an aluminum spaceframe structure with bulletproof doors and dash panel and a 75-mph crash capability, as well as all manner of accident-avoidance technology. And, naturally, it'll roll with an extensive arsenal of the latest cop-tech, including built-in night-vision capability with forward-facing infrared lamps, automatic license-plate recognition, 360-degree video surveillance, and rear-hinged rear doors for safer suspect ingress and egress.

And lest you think the E7 is a Hollywood prop build on an '87 Taurus, consider that Carbon recently signed an agreement with Lotus Engineering to help develop the E7, and pictures of the car (including a Quicktime walkaround, after the break) have been turning seasoned cops into giddy schoolgirls. When does it arrive? How much will it cost? What will it be called? We'll keep you posted.

Carbon's website



Desert Tuners

“When you come across a big kettle of crazy, it’s best not to stir it.”

The only problem I see is the maintenance requirements for the vehicle. I know the police department back home mostly drives Chevrolet because there's a dealership in town that can work on them (small town).


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* Student of the University of Oklahoma. Go Sooners!
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chargers are the new squad cars

This has got to be one of the ugliest things I've ever seen.

Just stick with the Chargers.

yeah theres alot of chargers that are state troopers here in oregon.
and seriously, why they hell do we even need faster more expensive cars? 90% of people dont run when their getting pulled over. and out of the 10% that do, maybe 1-2% can actually out run one. and they still have choppers...
more of my tax money down the drain.



12.5@116 2.0 60ft

Good. Less pigs blending in with the herd is ok by me.


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"Youth in Asia"...I don't see anything wrong with that.

Wow....THAT's not easy to spot or anything.




1989 Z24 Convertible - Dust Covered
2006 tC - Dust Covered, but driven more

ZlineDavid wrote:Wow....THAT's not easy to spot or anything.

I wouldn't jump to sarcasm so quickly.with no light bar, or obtrusive crash bar it will be darn near impossible to figure out what it is if you're looking at it in your rear view mirror at night or off in a distance.

4000 lbs with a space frame construction? That sounds like some heavy duty reinforcement somewhere in there. Anyone know the weight of the average body on frame cruisers today (ie crown vics, caprices, etc)? And how much is something like this going to cost per vehicle if its partly engineered or supported by Lotus and not being made by a massive manufacturer like Ford and GM or would they somehow contract this out because Police Departments would need a pretty constant supply of cheap replacement parts I'd think... Can't say I know much about police cruisers but this idea seems a bit outlandish to me. I like the "Hoseable Rear Passenger Compartment" haha

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<<<<<2003 Sunfire Sedan>>>>>

You can hose out the rear prisoner compartment of most police cars: sometimes bad guys like to spread their bodily fluids.

Pretty interesting concept, but why try and fix something that isn't broken? The crown vics still do a good job, and a lot of Police Departments are switching to Chargers. Hell up here they're using trucks more than cars now.

interesting very interesting


SATCH PROGRESS THREAD!!!

In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.

Never gonna happen on a wide scale. Too expensive for no reason. You might see this as a highway patrol/high crime area vehicle, but that's it. It's just too expensive for most municipalities to purchase specialized vehicles like that. I'm thinking we may see the Crown Victoria be upgraded (have the rear end reinforced and a better gas tank installed) and maybe get a more fuel efficient V6 for patrol work, but that'd be the extent of any major change. Besides, I doubt that any cash strapped agency would buy a bunch of cars that they could never sell to the public. Wouldn't make economic sense.

Would have made a FAR cooler Roadblock in Transformers.

Looks like a Renault badge

GAM (The Kilted One) wrote:
Would have made a FAR cooler Barricade in Transformers.

fixed that

seems like something thats going to cost more than most departments will be able to afford, at least as their bread-and-butter patrol cars. Really doesn't look all that different from an inbred child of a Charger and a 300 to begin with either.... My guess is, should this thing actually get built, you might see them pop up in the big cities, and maybe one or two here and there in the larger non-metro municipalities. The reason why police departments have Crown Vics and Chargers is that they're cheap to produce because their based on pre-existing, mass produced vehicles. I just don't see how a little-known company like Carbon could possibly commit to the volume necessary and still manage to keep the per-unit price low enough to be competitive.




Arrival Blue 04 LS Sport
Eco
Turbo
Megasquirt
'Nuff said