Michigan State Police Put Patrol Cars Through a Track Test to Find the Fastest
Michigan State Police tested their patrol vehicles on a track this fall to rank which perform best at high speed, according to Jalopnik.
Jalopnik reports that the Michigan State Police took several of its patrol cars to a race track this fall to see how they handle at high speed. According to the outlet, the goal was to rank the vehicles by performance so the agency could compare how well each one suits pursuit driving.
The coverage presents the exercise as a head-to-head evaluation rather than a routine maintenance check. Jalopnik says the results were ordered from fastest to slowest, which offers a clearer view of how the cars compare when driven hard in a controlled setting than a spec sheet alone would.
The details of the rankings, including which vehicles were entered and what times or top speeds they recorded, are not part of this summary. Readers who want those specifics should consult Jalopnik's full article.
Nothing in the reporting indicates that the test led to a change in policy or a purchasing decision. Any follow-up by the agency is not covered here.
Background
Police fleets have long relied on vehicles that combine acceleration, braking, and durability. For decades, that meant full-size sedans with large V8 engines and heavy-duty suspensions. In recent years, many agencies have shifted toward sport utility vehicles and crossovers with all-wheel drive, which offer more interior space for equipment and better traction in bad weather. Departments usually buy these vehicles from manufacturers and then add their own equipment, including lights, sirens, radios, partitions, and computer mounts. That upfitting process can change weight distribution, cooling, and electrical load, so the finished vehicle may behave differently from the base model.
Track testing is a common way to see what a vehicle can really do. Emergency driver training programs often use closed courses so officers can practice braking, cornering, and evasive maneuvers without public risk. A track environment also reveals heat buildup, brake fade, and tire wear that may not appear during normal patrol shifts. Comparisons tend to focus on acceleration, top speed, braking distance, and lap times, though agencies also weigh cost, fuel economy, parts availability, and how a car fits the work that officers do most days. Michigan State Police is the state's primary statewide law enforcement agency, so its vehicle choices can influence procurement conversations in other places as well.
Why it matters
For drivers and enthusiasts, a police vehicle test is an unusual window into how manufacturers engineer cars when the stakes and duty cycles are high. Patrol vehicles must perform repeated hard stops, sustained high-speed runs, and long idle periods with electronics running, which places demands on cooling systems and brakes that most consumer cars never face. Results from this kind of testing can reveal strengths that marketing materials do not emphasize.
For the public, the question is practical. Agencies spend significant budgets on their fleets, and vehicle choices affect response times, officer safety, and maintenance costs. A ranking based on track performance is only one input, but it can help explain why certain models appear in police fleets. It also raises a broader point about how much a vehicle's raw speed matters compared with reliability and total ownership cost.
The story also has a wider appeal because it blends everyday public service with motorsport-style comparison. People who follow car performance may find the rankings interesting, while people who pay taxes may want to know how those purchases are justified.
What to watch
The most useful next step would be full publication of the rankings, including the vehicles tested and the conditions of each run. Without those details, comparisons remain limited. Readers should also watch whether the agency explains its criteria, since speed alone rarely determines a fleet purchase.
Future procurement announcements could show whether the results shaped buying decisions. Observers may also look for changes in emergency driving training or equipment standards. Finally, it will be worth seeing whether other agencies run similar tests and whether manufacturers respond with performance-focused variants for public safety customers.
Viewpoints
Commentary from our columns: three angles on this story.
The Accountant price, value and running costs
A fastest-to-slowest ranking is a fine headline, but it is only one line on a much longer bill. A patrol car's real cost starts with the sticker price and then adds upfitting, which can include lights, communications gear, partitions, and mounts. From there come fuel, tires, brake pads, routine service, and the days a vehicle sits in the shop instead of on the road. Depreciation matters too, because a fleet vehicle is typically sold or retired after a set period.
That is why the most important question is not which car finished first on a track. It is which car delivers acceptable performance at the lowest total cost over its working life. A slightly slower vehicle that costs less to keep running and spends more time available for duty may be the better buy for a statewide agency. Performance is a real requirement, but it has to be weighed against every dollar that follows the purchase order.
The Engineer how the hardware works
Top speed and lap time are the numbers people remember, but they are symptoms of deeper engineering choices. Brakes, cooling, tire compound, suspension tuning, and the power electronics that run all that police equipment determine how a car behaves after the tenth hard run of the day. A vehicle can post a strong early result and then fade as brake temperatures climb or as the cooling system struggles under idle loads.
The interesting part of a test like this is the hardware story behind each result. Weight distribution changes when equipment is added, and upfitting can alter airflow to radiators and brake ducts. Those details rarely show up in a headline, but they explain why two vehicles built on similar platforms can perform very differently once they leave the factory and enter service.
The Driver's Seat the enthusiast's take
There is something satisfying about watching patrol cars run on a track. Enthusiasts have always been drawn to the idea of a machine built to go hard, and a police fleet is one of the few places where that idea meets everyday public service. Seeing the vehicles ranked by how they handle at speed turns a fleet purchase into a sporting question.
The respectful way to enjoy that is to focus on what the test says about the cars and the work they do. Officers rely on these vehicles in unpredictable conditions, and the goal of any training or evaluation is safety, for them and for the public. A good track result is meaningful only if it translates into confidence and control on real roads. That is the standard worth applying when the full rankings finally come into view.