Ford's little police car engines get 24 mpg

Chris Woodyard | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Ford's New Cop Car USA TODAY Autos Reporter Chris Woodyard talks about Ford's new fuel-efficient police interceptor.

For police agencies that don't expect their officers to have to get in a lot of chases, Ford has just introduced a new engine for its police cars that emphasizes fuel economy over power.

The cars looks just as intimidating, even if they don't go as fast.

It's called the "special service police sedan" and its the same modified Taurus that is used for the standard police cruiser that Ford offers. Only this one comes with a 2-liter turbocharged EcoBoost engine. They are intended for uses like campus cops or detectives, cops in jobs that probably won't require chasing down fleeing bad guys or gals.

The little engine allows it to get 20 miles per gallon in the city city, 30 mpg highway and 24 mpg combined. That's about twice as much double what agencies were receiving with their old Crown Victorias, the standard police car for years that is no longer made.

Besides having a tiny engine, the car has active grille shutters, the shutters that open or close to improve aerodynamics when the engine doesn't require airflow cooling.

The 2-liter is not what Ford considers "pursuit-rated." The new engine joins the beefier V-6s. There is a 3.5-liter with front wheel drive, 3.7-liter V-6 with all-wheel drive and the 3.5-liter turbocharged EcoBoost engine, also with all-wheel drive