I gotta stop doing this, but I couldn't resist. I've kind of had my eye on the latest version of the Caprice 9C1 since they first announced them. After talking a bit with one of the driving instructors at the Houston Police Academy, and hearing a friend rave about the ride he got in one to the speed limiter, well that sealed the deal.

I was kind of also looking at the new Chevrolet SS, but the $40K+ price tag was putting me off. Then, this example showed up:



It's a 2012 9C1. It's a retired car, so it has some mileage and scrapes and scratches, but it runs great, handles well, and should, for a while at least, get better mileage then my current 96 Impala SS DD. I was specifically looking for a 2011 or 2012, because GM went with some odd shifter stalk that grew out of the dash in 2013. Not sure what the big idea was there, but they wanted to get the shifter off the console, and there's stalks coming out both sides of the column.

The current plan is to fix what's broken/missing, do some mild upgrades in the engine compartment and suspension, and just enjoy. I'll add long tubes, and a better-breathing exhaust, maybe an intake, CAI, but I'm also thinking of a bit more cam. I'd also like to install a converter so this thing comes off the line a bit better. It really woke up the 96, and there are some nice converter choices out there that still lock up. I'd then add coil-overs to get the car a bit lower, maybe some '13 Camaro RS 19" wheels, and swaybars. It handles well now, I think taking a little out of the suspension, and adding some bigger sway bars will only help.

Since the shop is now full, we're thinking about selling our 95 9C1 Impala SS clone, and/or our 95 Z28 LT4/M6 convertible. So if you know anyone who's looking.....

I don't know much about that version, but it looks like they added wider tires and such (typical police package setup). I'm sure it will get better mileage than your old Caprice. That looks like it could be fun.

They come with 235-50X18s, which while kind of narrow, fill the wheel wells. At least the fronts do. Hopefully some different struts will help the space issue. The diff is a 2.96, or some such ratio. Luckily, the Gen V Camaro diff is a bolt-in update. Not sure I'd do that, though, I kind of like the long legs of that highway gear.

Surprisingly, our 95 9C1 really hasn't done that well mileage-wise. I probably got a best of about 18 MPG out of it. It's nothing like our 95 SS, which is an upper-20's MPG car on the highway. I'm hoping for at least that well. The few times I've actually gotten out to drive the car, and I haven't been easy, already has the car posting ~20 MPG, so that's nice. It runs very well, although I haven't timed any 0-60, or 1/4 mile times. We may do that if I get time to hit the drag strip, but the plan is to have this as a fun street car, and have it take over the foul-weather autocross tasks, so I'll be updating the suspension to help there.

Someone's already brought a '12 9C1 to a local event, but we definitely plan to autocross it, just for fun. Maybe the other guy will be there too, and we can have a little friendly competition with ex-cop cars.

A TR6060 conversion would be cool in one of those.

I'd rather spend that money on a LS7 crate swap.

There are several guys on the New Caprice list who have put superchargers on these things with great success. I think I'd rather put better suspension parts under the car, and maybe some mild engine mods.

I'll trade you an AR and some ammo for that old, beat-up IMPala IMPoster ...

Nice!!!

I'm curious where you found the car, and how much it cost to buy it?

We get those things from GM once in a while at work. Big, stupid fun. Like you said with the factory gearing they don't launch hard, but once it's moving God damn they haul ass for such a big sedan.

We had a g8 gt a few years ago, sold it because it became hard for my wife to get in and out of while she was pregnant. She wishes we still had the car.

These caprices have to be comparable to them, which means there a blast!!!

While I haven't completely matted it from a stopsign, I've mashed pretty hard on it, then realized I was only about 3/4 throttle when it upshifted. It launches pretty hard, considering the gearing, and gets moving in a hurry. The 1-2 shift, IIRC, though, was north of 40 MPH.

A friend went for a ride along in a 2013 model, and was amazed at how stiff the chassis seemed to be for a 'standard GM' car. He's a die-hard GM owner, driving a 3rd Gen Camaro, so he knows about 'flexible flyers'. He said they hit the speed limiter (154 MPH) in about 1-1/4 mile.

We picked it up from a company in Florida called 'Cop Cars Online'. It's the second car we bought from them, getting a '10 Tahoe PPV last year (I REALLY have to stop visiting that web site). We got it for ~$16K, plus $650 to have it shipped from Florida to Texas. All pretty painless, with the exception of the hit to the bank account.

Other than the mileage, it's not terribly beat up. It was my wife's DD until we got the Tahoe. That might be a trade to consider. Hmmmm

It's pretty much a 2010 G8. It's a longer wheelbase than the Chevy SS, and I can tell, the back seat is quite spaceous. It's surprising how many different things fit off the G8/GTO/SS/Camaro on these things.

Gene

Sweat Ride!!!! I love the 13 Tahoe PPV but the electronic nannies just plain suck.

I did see this in my in box the other day. With some pretty bold claims in the upper RPMS!!!!!

Improved Racing Intake

John

My wife is loving her '10 PPV. I haven't seen that many electronic nannies on it, though. We were able to slide it around and spin the tires in it on the autocross course, and really didn't piss it off too much.

Yeah, I was looking at that CAI, too. Not cheap! Additionally, you look at the different versions of the same kit, and they show wildly different HP/TQ claims on the dyno. Not sure what to believe there. Were you able to make any sense out of it? I'm also interested in seeing how much stress moving that radiator around puts on the bottom tank and the upper hose.

Gene

GM started adding the nannies from 2010 and up. With the ability to turn it completely off on the 10-11. The 13 Tahoe PPV I have I cant turn stabilatrak off. I can turn the traction control off, but it seems it not completely off. It allows higher wheel speed but only to a point.

On late-2010 and all 2011 police Tahoe PPVs, one push on the stability control button turns the traction control off. Some wheelspin may be necessary to “rock” the Tahoe to get it unstuck in mud, sand or snow. If you push the button again and hold it for 5 seconds, both traction control and stability control are completely deactivated (i.e., completely shut off).

For 2012, the police Tahoe PPV will get unique StabiliTrak software. The officer will have the option to turn traction control off with the first button push. With the second push and hold, the stability control will go to a more open, less restrictive, police-calibrated mode. In 2012, the stability control will not be able to be shut completely off.

For 2013 you can turn off traction control off. Stabilitrak can't.

This winter was interesting to say the least. This truck would get all messed up when braking in Ice/snow conditions. Like its going to swap ends because the computer!!!! under the correct conditions. I end in the other lane trying to catch it. Luckily where I drive its late and nobody around. I feel too much rear brake basis and poorly calibrated Stabilitrak. But what do I know.

I did find out last night that when in Manual Mode it will hold the gear and bang off the rev 5800RPM aprox rev limiter till you hit the up-shift button. Matched Rev downshift from a auto tranny are kinda weird feeling too.

So how do you turn off the stabilitrack on a Tahoe? There's a couple of push buttons on the console of the Caprice, but I'm seeing nothing obvious on the Tahoe.

hmm if yours isn't a late 2010 you may not even have it. My 2013 has a button underneath the HVAC left side. Gene shoot me a PM with the VIN # I will look up the GM history and build sheets.

John

Done! Yeah, there's certainly nothing there. Thank you.

Gene

You got a couple Emails. some interesting tidbits on the Caprice PPV. Don't forget about the Open recall on the Ignition switch

John

My wife currently has a 2012 from her department. The car just feels right sitting in it. It really makes me think about breaking my streak of never owning a car that wasn't built in the USA. Really tempting considering I could get a used 2012 for what '05-'06 CTS-Vs are still fetching and they come in white.

I had to laugh that you're getting almost 20MPG with it, they definitely don't get that on shift. That's my wife's main complaint, she has to fill it up at least every other night vs. about 3 days with the Crown Vic. She said these are a rocket ship compared to the Vic but a lot less trunk space.

That was kind of it with me. I've liked the way they looked when I'd see them at the Police Academy when we're running autocross events there. Then, I got the chance to sit in one. Wow. Since my current DD was approaching 200K miles, and this '12 showed up being available, I jumped on it. I should have held out for a 9C3 (Detective model), as the interiors on those are a bit nicer. But oh well, I'm enjoying this one now.

Thanks, John, the info was very helpful, and nice to have. Yes, I need to do the recall, more to get an extra key than to get the recall done. We only got one key with this car. The recall, IIRC, includes two new keys.

Pretty cool. I'd drive that.

Any pics of the SVO?

No problem Gene. Glad I could provide you that information.

John

We took the Caprice out today to go to a gun auction. I can confirm that if you turn off the traction control, you can spin the tires. I can also confirm that the car has a working limited slip diff.

The car DOES, however, complain vociferously when it detects hoonigan driving by setting off a chime and lighting yet another light on the dash. I might have to see if that chime can be quieted.

WHAT did the LEOs do about this during their high speed pursuits, just grin and bear it??

Electronic Nanies Suck!!!!!!!!!!!

I bet the LEOs are trained to leave the buttons alone. Since it resets back to all on whenever you start the car, it would get old setting everything back every time you got in the car.

Gene

Did you know that during the Michigan State police car testing the Chevy and Dodge have at least the traction control turned off. Ford's don't have that option and are run as delivered.

I did not know that, but figured they'd take all the advantage they could, short of bending the rules. We'll definitely be trying the car with traction control on and off when we finally get the car on the autocross track. It will be interesting to see how we do with and without the 'help'.

Chuck,

I do have old pictures, although not much of the complete car digitally. All I have now, are up close pictures of updates for the on-going, and taking-far-too-long restomod we're doing to the car. It was pretty beat up when we bought it, and then it became our dedicated stock-class autocross car for several years before buying the Firebird. I did find this picture online, and have attached it here. It was back when we autocrossed the car. the paint was dead, and both rear quarter panels were beat in, but the car drove and ran great. We had to replace both quarter panels when we started the body work. I also have added lightness with a fiberglass hatch and hood. The interior has gotten treated to new carpet and seat covers, and many of the interior parts have been repaired or replaced with better parts. I'll be installing a header, 3" single exhaust, ported intake, and maybe an upgraded turbo when I get under the hood. I also need to replace the rack (I have a replacement already) that started puking fluid out of one of the ends, and already had to replace the fuel tank assembly when the pump quit working and I discovered it was all rusted up when I pulled it out.

I hope to upgrade the springs, probably moving to coil-overs up front, and weight jackers in the back so I can get the car back down after all the fiberglass was installed. I hope to turn it into a fun car I can take to shows, and may even bolt some small slicks on it and run it in CP at an autocross when we get it done.

oh yes let us know. I've been reading what some of the guys have done on the Tahoe. But it has been more to address getting stuck/low speed. when the active handling kicks in. I had the same issue this year and got stuck because of the stabliitrak. Basically I need to get a running start when Icy to make it up the driveway with a hill. Going around the corner with some speed, the front tires slide a bit, then the rear end steps out(nothing big). The active handling kicks in to stop the rear end slide and kills all your wheel speed. I hated on my charger, hate in on my Tahoe. I assume hopefully tuning can address it. I just want ABS Brakes function and nothing else.

John

I'll be interested in seeing what happens, too. I can't imagine all the guys who have dropped whipples on their cars. I watched a vid of one with a procharger leaving two black stripes on an abandoned piece of road for a couple of hundred feet long. I can't imagine putting up with the bells chiming during all that.

There was a competitor in my old SCCA region (NNJR) who used to run a metallic gray '86 SVO in local F/S events.

I always liked that car, and he did pretty well with it locally.

Any new updates?

We didn't do too badly in our region, either. When we got the car, it was an F Stock car, then went to G Stock. Limitations in what we could do with the car, specifically the availability of replacement parts to keep everything in factory-fresh condition started to wear on us. The ball joints are not replaceable, for example, so you either pay a ton of money for NOS parts, or pay a ton of money for good-used parts. For what you would pay for old LCAs, you can buy a new SN95 front end, which gets you more adjustability, and replaceable ball joints. We figured we'd go to a class that we had more options, and the Firebird became available, already built, and pretty cheap, so we jumped into C Prepared.

The day we showed up with the Firebird on the trailer, TWO of our former-G Stock competitors came up and thanked us for moving to CP.

Since that happened, we've been resto-modding the SVO, keeping it stock looking on the outside, but adding a few mods under the skin. The bent rear quarter panels were replaced, and the car painted. I've been freshening up the interior, and cleaning/replacing parts under the hood. It should be very nice IF I can ever finish it.

Nothing of late. Work and other projects have kept me pretty busy. I'm waiting for some stock parts to arrive to replace stuff that's not there/broken, so hopefully I can install those this weekend. It will probably be a while before I start making any suspension or performance mods. Since it's 'like' a G8/GTO/SS, parts made for each more or less fit. But because the more or less fit, you have to pick and choose your parts wisely. I'm still trying to decipher what will fit where, although I'd like to get coil overs on it sooner than later. The thing rides kind of high on the suspension. I'm looking at H&R units, although some have been very satisfied with BR Racing parts. Decisions, decisions.....