It turns out that, if you’re going to chase suspects on the highway in something like an Explorer Police Interceptor Utility, the old naturally aspirated 3.7-liter engine might not cut it.
While the Explorer Police Interceptor did get updated at one point with a turbocharged V6, the one being reviewed here is running the older naturally aspirated unit, good for about 305 HP and 279 lb-ft (378 Nm) of torque.
According to Regular Cars, this engine is perfectly adequate for city use, but once you get on the highway where perpetrators tend to make their escape at high speed, this SUV might not be able to keep up.
We’re even given a short list of cars that would be able to run away from this Explorer, and among those names there is the Mitsubishi EVO IX, Audi R8, Audi S4, Challenger Hellcat (duh) and pretty much any generation Corvette you can think of. But, as the reviewer points out, nobody can outrun a radio, which remains the Interceptor’s secret weapon.
Another weapon this SUV has is its appearance, which promotes a sort of civil anxiety in other drivers and even bystanders, who automatically assume the person driving it has some authority.