Admit it, police cars are cool. Take a regular car (or these days, more likely an SUV) and beef it up with an ominous paint job and all kinds of antennas and lights, a cop motor, cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks — I think Jake and Elwood would agree, Chevy’s latest 2021 Tahoe will make a fantastic cop car. Chevrolet unveiled two versions of its upcoming all-new SUV in full police livery, including the details of what you’ll find under the hood of these new law-enforcement machines.
Related: What It’s Like to Drive a Police Car
Don’t Even Think About Running
Chevy will offer two packages: the Police Pursuit Vehicle and the Special Service Vehicle. What’s the difference? Well, the PPV is meant for exactly that: stability during high-speed pursuits and situations that require better handling, while the SSV is an off-road and towing-oriented vehicle that isn’t likely to see high-speed pursuit. As such, Chevy outfits them slightly differently. Both will have a standard 5.3-liter V-8 engine mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission, the same as in the regular civilian Tahoe, but the PPV gets high-performance rocker covers off the Chevy Camaro ZL1 LT4 engine that improve crankcase ventilation. This will aid power availability during what Chevy calls “high lateral conditions,” or what the rest of us call “high-speed cornering in a tall and tippy SUV.” New, heavy-duty cooling systems specific to law enforcement have also been added for both engine oil and transmission fluid.
So outrunning one of the new PPV Tahoes might be difficult, but you think you can beat one in the corners, eh? Think again — the Tahoe has new, pursuit-rated Bridgestone all-season tires called the Firestone Firehawk Pursuit. (Bridgestone owns the Firestone brand.) It mounts to 20-inch steel wheels and was vetted at multiple racetracks by GM test engineers. All told, the new Firestones help the SUV stop 11 feet shorter from 62 mph on dry surfaces versus the 2020 Tahoe PPV. Helping the tires achieve that shorter distance is a heavy-duty braking system with large Brembo six-piston monoblock front calipers gripping 16-inch rotors. The Tahoe PPV comes in either rear- or four-wheel drive, and it features a lowered suspension with unique monotube shocks, coil springs and stabilizer bars for better handling, high-speed aerodynamics and overall stability. The rear end gets a heavy-duty clutch-type limited-slip differential to better lay down the V-8 power as well.
Bigger Than Before
Of course, the new Tahoes benefit from the all-new design of the 2021 model, which is significantly bigger than the outgoing Tahoe. Chevrolet touts class-leading interior space with 70.3 cubic feet of cargo room behind the second-row seat, or 18.3 cubic feet more than the next-largest “pursuit-rated SUV competitor,” the brand said in a statement. The rear door openings also are 3.5 inches wider, which should “ease the loading of handcuffed passengers.” Chevy says the truck should benefit from its all-new independent rear suspension and longer wheelbase, too, which should indeed help handling and ride smoothness.
Visually, the PPV and SSV packages share styling from the Tahoe’s Z71 off-road package, making good use of that trim’s rugged front grille, higher approach angles (thanks to a higher air dam) and a front underbody skid plate for protection. All police Tahoes get standard keyless entry and push-button start, high-definition backup camera, rear park assist and a hitch guidance function to more easily attach a trailer. Optional equipment includes an available 4G LTE Wi-Fi hot spot and Chevy’s rear camera mirror, which uses a rearview camera to project the view rearward onto a digital rearview mirror screen, allowing the driver to see behind the vehicle without any of the stuff inside (K9 cages, equipment, perps) obstructing the view. Optional safety features include automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, a following-distance indicator and lane departure warning with steering assist.
Unless you’re a law-enforcement department, you won’t be able to buy one of these new cruisers from Chevrolet directly, but departments tend to keep them for a few years before they find their way to the secondary market, so finding police package vehicles as used cars isn’t difficult. For now, however, keep your eyes sharp, as these vehicles will start appearing on highways and byways early next year.
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