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The 155-MPH Cop Car: Meet North Carolina’s New Ford Mustang GT
Argue if you want whether police should ever be involved in chases, but they exist, and departments want to have vehicles that are capable of some serious top speed, achieved in relative safety for the officers, and hopefully the public.
With that in mind, the North Carolina Highway Patrol announced last year that they’d be phasing in Ford Mustangs to replace some aging Dodge Chargers in their fleet, and due to a delay caused by Hurricane Helene, the department is just now adding 25 Mustang GTs to highway duty. (Not to be outdone, the South Carolina Highway Patrol showed off its new Mustangs last June.)
Ford hasn’t offered a factory-ready police-package Mustang since 1993, but that hasn’t stopped agencies from ordering powerful Mustangs, Dodge Challengers and Chevrolet Camaros, and equipping them for police duty. That’s the case here.
The North Carolina Mustangs are GTs, with the 5.0-liter Coyote V-8 with 486 horsepower, mated to the optional 10-speed automatic transmission (which adds $1595). As for the price of the completed car itself, the agency is mum, except for saying the Mustang is “comparable to other vehicles” in their fleet.
The 2024 Mustang GT starts at $42,860, and from looking at the photos, we’re guessing the North Carolina cars have the GT Performance Package ($5295), which includes Brembo brakes, heavy-duty front springs, a Torsen differential, a strut-tower brace, a bigger rear sway bar and a front K-brace, which adds to chassis rigidity. With a couple more performance add-ons, a Mustang GT would price out at $49,260, and should be good up to 155 mph. Certainly that price would be reduced by a fleet discount.
Ford used to sell a police-ready Mustang called the Special Service Package from 1982 to 1993 with the Fox-body Mustang LX 5.0-liter V-8, and it was used by a long list of agencies, including the FBI and the DEA. Some 15,000 were built, and are in great demand today by collectors and police historians. Last month, an ex-1992 California Highway Patrol Mustang SSP, with a rare five-speed manual transmission, sold for $50,000 on Bring a Trailer.
Ford does sell a from-the-factory vehicle suitable for high-speed operation: “The 2025 Ford Police Interceptor Utility Hybrid AWD is the only pursuit-rated hybrid police utility vehicle,” the company says. “It’s designed to keep you feeling confident and offers power and performance without sacrificing interior space.”
The company offers a choice of powertrains in the Explorer-based Interceptor. The standard 3.3-liter V-6 hybrid delivers a combined system 318 horsepower in the Police Interceptor Utility, while an available 3.0-liter EcoBoost V-6 dials the output up to 400 horses, and raises the top speed from 136 mph to 148. That must feel pretty quick in a police Explorer, which weighs in at 4848 pounds, not including the add-on equipment ordered by individual departments.
A new feature for 2025 is the Manual Pursuit Mode Button, which is “activated by the simple push of a button on your steering wheel and helps to improve drivability and power delivery during critical scenarios.” It also comes with the Ford Pro Vehicle Integration System 2.0, which “unleashes capabilities many may not have known existed.”
Aside from those vague new additions, as you can imagine, there are a ton of police-oriented options, including Level IV+ ballistic front door panels and a 100-watt siren and loudspeaker.
Agencies around the country depend on the annual evaluations done by the Michigan State Police since the 1950s, which include only true police packages offered by auto and motorcycle manufacturers. That last bit is a shame, because we’d love to see how this Mustang stacks up. This year, the 12 four-wheel vehicles evaluated were all pickup trucks and SUVs from Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge, with motorcycles from Harley-Davidson and BMW. There were no cars. (And Ford’s just-released police-package Expedition came too late to be included.)
The fastest average speed around Michigan’s two-mile Grattan Raceway was the Ford Interceptor SUV with the EcoBoost V-6, with a time of one minute, 35.97 seconds. Chevy’s all-electric Blazer EV wasn’t far behind at 1:39.95. The highest top speed, measured at Chrysler’s Chelsea Proving Grounds, was again from the EcoBoost Ford SUV, at an as-advertised 148 mph. The lowest was a presumably governed 112 mph from Chevrolet’s police-package Silverado Z71. The Blazer EV notched the shortest stopping distance from 60 mph at 128.16 feet, with the longest going to the Ford F-150 Police Responder at 151.83.
The MSP tests a lot of other aspects of the police vehicles, including the amount of padding in the front seat (winner: Dodge Durango) and instrument clarity (Chevrolet Silverado).
As someone who has spent hours, and hours, in the front seat of police cars (less time in the rear seat, thankfully), it’s important to ride the proper horse. North Carolina’s fleet of Mustangs look great, but you aren’t going to be able to wrestle perpetrators into that rear seat without tasing them first, meaning Mustang troopers will likely have to call a larger vehicle out to transport prisoners. Just-surfaced rumors of a four-door Mustang could solve that problem. Until then, if one of these Mustangs catches you after testing its top speed, you’re likely to ride to jail in an SUV or leftover Charger.
In 1993 I drove my Honda Turbo motorcycle from Toronto to Atlanta. In Tennessee I was fueling up and in rolled one of those State Police Mustangs.
Big lad climbed out, dressed in black from head to toe, a Tennessee State Trooper right out of myth & legend (to a young Canadian guy), with the Yogi Bear hat and sunglasses and everything… and a 2-door police car! Car also looked tough. So I kept the Turbo on a leash in Tennessee (no 200 clicks) and I was glad to have encountered that Mustang highway patrol car at the rest stop.
I think you mean Smokey Bear hat. Yogi’s hat was kind of goofy looking and not very intimidating. 😁 But of all the times I’ve been pulled over, I don’t think any was ever a Mustang. Maybe. It’s hard to remember all of those times in my youth. 😆
Who needs or even wants a 4 door Mustang? Just call in the paddy wagon to transport those arrested.
They look stunningly beautiful, but not very PIT worthy.
The color scheme looks good on the cars but I do wonder how much this is needed over a more functional vehicle.
The South Dakota Highway Patrol is currently running a handful of S550 Mustang GT’s – even in the winter – and I didn’t find out the hard way.
With all these high horsepower, super speed muscle cars available on the market and black market, chases have become really dangerous. Social media is overflowing with hellcats running from police.
The Mustangs are probably to counter such high HP threats on the highway. To keep eyes on the fleeing car. You may be able to outrun the mustang but you’ll not outrun the police radio.
I had the pleasure of a courtesy ride-along with the CHP in a Mustang SSP five-speed in the early 90s. With no S.C.M.O.D.S computer in it, there was plenty of room for both of us. My host told me transporting arrestees was not out of the question in the cars. He said he had a tether for over their thighs and he’d lock the shoulder belt down tight to keep squirming to a minimum. Clearly no resistors rode with him, though. Not likely today-even cuffing too tight (inadvertently) can invite a civil rights lawsuit for unreasonable use of force.
Just so you know hagerty. We transport our arrestees to jail in the front seat and have been for a very long time
High speed police chases kill lots of innocent people every year, and for what? A speeder? A person who has a doobie in the ashtray? I don’t care if it’s Ted Bundy driving Jeffery Dahmer on a joyride, high speed police chases are BS.
I realize they are dangerous, but the police can’t just let the perps speed off into the sunset. If the police were not allowed to chase, all perps would simply run. Give the police every tool they need to do their job. I kinda like the idea of a Gatling gun attached to the car like on the Wart Hog. Try running from that?
Got pulled over by a Mustang while driving a Mustang back in the day. It was probably 1991 or so. Didn’t help me that I had a Mustang, got the ticket anyhow.
I have always wondered what kind of driver’s training police get before being handed one of these ultra powerful “race” cars? It would be an interesting article to read…
“Protect and serve” has been changed to “collect with nerve”
The state cops I know personally can’t drive worth a crap. I outran one I didn’t know, who was driving a Ford Taurus police interceptor in an 89 Volvo 740 wagon, stock engine with 125HP. Granted my Volvo had IPD suspension upgrades and good tires, but he probably had at least 150HP advantage on me. Take them on a twisty road and they’re lost. I think these high horsepower police vehicles can catch somebody on an interstate but they’re a handful in the twisties. There may be a few who actually know how to drive a high horsepower car on a twisty road but not many. I agree with Verdigris, high speed police chases should be outlawed. Too many end in disaster.
I completely agree with you, if your gonna run your just going to be gone or take twisty back roads or something, and agreed there shouldn’t be police chases unless you’re physically running from A crime scene not a stop or something.