Toyota should jump in the police vehicle market

[TEXASCOP]

I wish Toyota would drop that 5.7L Tundra engine in a full size sedan and jump into the police market. My 4x4 double cab Tundra can do 0-60mph in 6.3 seconds and it weighs 5600LBS. If Toyota developed a sedan that weighed in at approximately the same weight as the Crown Vic (4100LBS) they could have a contender in the market. Just a thought and I don't wanna hear any of this anti foreign car mubo jumbo. Toyota's Tundra factory in San Antonio TX is providing over 2000 jobs. The positive ripple effect to the local suppliers keeps 8000 other people employed.

[MikeG]

How big is the police car market? It would seem to me the only way it's feasible/cost effective is if they already have the sedan and engine available. Next is the sedan has to be repairable. I don't know all the details but I thought that was the reason unibody frames are not as widely used as rolling chassis and quaterpanel stuff. Apparently police officers damage their cars often. "Drive it like you stole it" has consequences.

What's the spec on the engine that Ford/GMC can't match?

[retdetsgt]

If nothing else, I suspect the government, fueled by the UAW would throw roadblocks into any police department using foreign cars, even though many are built in this country.

We have a couple of hundred staff and detective cars that are smaller than patrol cars and Toyotas and Hondas would be great. My last police car was a Dodge Stratus that was a little bitty POS. The 1997 Honda Accord I had was 4X the car in reliability, handling, acceleration and especially comfort. The biggest staff/detective car we had was the Ford Taurus and although it was bigger, it was nothing to write home about in the 90's at least.

When I worked drugs, we used mostly seized autos. We got in a little 1985 Mazda 626 that had over 100K miles on it. It required less maintenance and was in better shape than any of the American made cars we had that were more expensive and had a lot fewer miles. I was issued a nearly new Chevrolet Camero that was a piece of junk at 15K. I shut the driver's door one day and the door handle came off in my hand. It was held into the door by two short screws going into plastic. In fact, it was that little Mazda that made me start looking at Japanese cars and I haven't looked back since.

I asked the Lt that was our fleet manager about getting something other than the big 3 for staff cars and he said the heat from the unions would be unbearable if he tried that. He didn't even ask them for bids.

I have a 4 liter V-6 in my 2005 Toyota PreRunner that will snap your neck a bit when I floor it doing about 50 mph too. My wife drives a 2004 Toyota Avalon with 90k miles on it and it still looks, handles and is as quiet as it was when it was brand new. Neither it nor my pickup, which has 65K miles on it have ever had any kind of repair whatsoever, only routine maintenance. My last American vehicle was a 1989 Ford P/U that blew two A/C compressors, a U joint and had the paint peel off. That was also the last vehicle I ever traded in too. I usually sell my cars on my own, but I didn't want to pawn that thing off on anybody.

[Joeyd6]

And the feds (largets fleet of "police" rated vehicles in the U.S. would not be able to touch it....can only buy American cars. While there may be a few non-American cars, there is a operational need for such for undercover. Otherwise if you see a fed in a non-American car, it was seized or bought with seized funds, and not really part of the GSA/DOD (fed G) procurement process.

[retdetsgt]

Oddly enough, both my Toyotas were built in this country. The pickup in Kentucky and the Avalon in Texas. Chrysler on the other hand, used the stimulus money to build a plant in Canada and another in Mexico.

[greg72982]

My american made 6.0L does 0-60 in under 5 seconds. They should use that in a police car. Oh wait they are in the 2011 Caprice!

[mcsap]

The Hyundai Genesis 4 door sedan 4.6 V8 knocks down 375 hp. That will get you to a burglary in progress call

[retdetsgt]

The Hyundai Genesis 4 door sedan 4.6 V8 knocks down 375 hp. That will get you to a burglary in progress call

The Hyundai has really come a long way. At first, they were right up there with the Yugo, but the S. Koreans cracked down on quality control and now build a damn nice vehicle.

I was reading in Fortune Magazine that in their head quarters in Seoul, they have a huge area with tv's that monitor the assembly lines in every factory all over the world. And there are people watching them 24/7.

The UAW would have a cow if someone did that in their plants.....

[greg72982]

The Hyundai has really come a long way. At first, they were right up there with the Yugo, but the S. Koreans cracked down on quality control and now build a damn nice vehicle.

I was reading in Fortune Magazine that in their head quarters in Seoul, they have a huge area with tv's that monitor the assembly lines in every factory all over the world. And there are people watching them 24/7.

The UAW would have a cow if someone did that in their plants.....

Even my dad (a mechanic) who hates foreign cars says that Hyundai and KIA have come a long way. That's saying something. The only foreign company I never heard him rip on was Subaru. He'll even say they are built pretty decent. Said the same about Infiniti the other day too. My jaw dropped.

[retdetsgt]

I always raised an eyebrow at KIA, but I visited my cousin in Texas last year and she had just bought a KIA minivan. I don't know how well it was built, but it was a very nice automobile with a lot of features for the price.

[mcsap]

Hyundai bought out KIA , thats why they have improved so drastically.

[greg72982]

Hyundai bought out KIA , thats why they have improved so drastically.

Yes I believe that was his take on it too.

BTW he also always said Toyota makes a good engine but the body and frames rust out. He would say "You can still run the engine in your garage after the body rusts away lol

[MikeG]

I was reading in Fortune Magazine that in their head quarters in Seoul, they have a huge area with tv's that monitor the assembly lines in every factory all over the world. And there are people watching them 24/7.

The UAW would have a cow if someone did that in their plants.....

No they wouldn't. They'd make it so the person monitoring was a Shop Steward and a union job. Their main function would be to make sure that employees always took every break and didn't return too early. Second function would be to look for unsafe machine conditions and get the workers to safety when they saw something.

[retdetsgt]

Second function would be to look for unsafe machine conditions and get the workers to safety when they saw something.

Yeah, like a moving assembly line.....

[retdetsgt]

Yes I believe that was his take on it too.

BTW he also always said Toyota makes a good engine but the body and frames rust out. He would say "You can still run the engine in your garage after the body rusts away lol

Never had a problem with that. But we don't salt the roads here either.