Shown are some Ford vehicles being tested by the Michigan State Police. Photo courtesy of Ford

This past week, the Michigan State Police conducted its annual testing of police vehicles.

This year, it tested 12 vehicles: the Chevrolet Tahoe 5.3L RWD and 5.3L 4WD; the Dodge Durango Pursuit V-6 and V-8; the Ford PI Utility AWD 3.3L, AWD 3L EcoBoost, and AWD Hybrid; the Dodge Charger 3.6L RWD, 5.7L RWD, and 5.7L AWD; the Police Responder Hybrid Sedan; and the Ford F-150 Police Responder. Some vehicles tested were 2020 models.

Government Fleet has obtained limited preliminary results from the testing:

For the acceleration and speed tests, among sedans, the Charger 5.7L AWD had the fastest 0-60 mph time of 5.87 seconds. The Charger 5.7L RWD had the fastest 0-100 mph sedan time of 14.66 seconds. The 5.7L RWD and AWD tied for top sedan speed of 149 mph.

The 2020 Police Interceptor Utility EcoBoost turned the fastest 0-60 mph (5.77 seconds) and 0-100 mph times (13.59 seconds) of all vehicles tested, including sedans. The EcoBoost also had the highest top speed of any vehicle tested, at 150 mph.

In the driving dynamics test, the Charger 5.7L AWD had the fastest average lap speed of the sedans, of 1:37:11. The PIU EcoBoost had the fastest average lap of all vehicles tested (1:36:47).

During brake testing, the Charger 3.6L RWD had the fastest projected stopping distance from 60 mph, of 126.9 feet. The Durango Pursuit 3.6L had second fastest projected stopping distance of 128.8 feet; this is the best time among the SUVs.

New SUVs tested were the Durango Pursuit and the Ford PI Utility Hybrid. The V-6 Durango had a 0-60 mph acceleration of 8.59 seconds, while the V-8 Durango achieved this in 7.08 seconds. The PI Utility Hybrid tested at 7.27 seconds. Top speeds for these vehicles are 117 mph for the V-6 Durango, 118 mph for the V-8 Durango, and 137 for the PI Utility Hybrid. Projected stopping distance from 60 mph for the PI Utility Hybrid was 129.4 feet.

Comparing to Previous Models

Ford was pleased with testing results, especially in comparison to its own vehicles.

The 2020 PIU EcoBoost was faster than last year’s 3.5L AWD EcoBoost performance 0-60 (0.5 seconds), ­­­0-100 (2.0 seconds), best single lap (1.8 seconds), and best average lap (1.7 seconds), said Steve Tyler, police brand marketing manager for Ford.

The 2020 PIU hybrid turned in the second fastest 0-100 mph, second fastest lap, and second fastest average lap of all utility vehicles, including those with V-8 engines, only behind Ford’s PIU EcoBoost. It beat last year’s PIU 3.7L AWD performance 0-60 (0.5 seconds), 0-100 (2.2 seconds), best single lap (0.8 seconds), and best average lap (0.6 seconds), Tyler added.

“These proof points show we’re delivering on our promise of improved performance on 2020 PIU Hybrid vs. current PIU 3.7L AWD, and PIU EcoBoost vs. current PIU 3.5L AWD EcoBoost,” Tyler said. “We’re seeing the EcoBoost Utility take the top spots that PI Sedan used to take, and the hybrid Utility is testing faster than the remaining utility vehicles.”

This article was updated 10/3 at 5pm to include brake testing results.