Yahoo Autos 2018 Chevrolet Tahoe PPV: Cop Shop on Wheels
Eat your hearts out, Jake and Elwood Blues, because the 2018 Chevrolet Tahoe PPV (Police Pursuit Vehicle) complements its cop brakes, cop suspension, and cop tires with a new Enhanced Driver Assist package. The optional extra adds low-speed automated front braking, forward-collision alert, lane-keeping assist, lane-departure warning, adjustable pedals, and Chevy’s Safety Alert Seat, which vibrates to notify the driver when obstacles are detected in the vehicle’s path or if the SUV drifts out of its lane. Police chases ending in giant pileups like those in The Blues Brothers movie are now even more ridiculously unrealistic.
In This Case, PPV Doesn’t Mean Pay Per View
With the demise of the Chevrolet Caprice PPV (and the civilian Chevrolet SS sedan sibling), the 2018 Tahoe PPV serves as the bow-tie brand’s only pursuit-rated product. Compared with the standard version, the Tahoe PPV comes equipped with cop-specific kit such as a set of stouter disc brakes; a restyled lower front fascia designed to improve brake cooling; an upgraded cooling system to enable the tough, taxi-like duty cycle; a less intrusive stability-control system; and a set of 17-inch steel wheels wrapped in Goodyear all-season rubber. The tires are rated for speeds up to 149 mph, although in formal Michigan State Police testing, the rear-wheel-drive PPV topped out at 134 mph and the all-wheel-drive version at 121 mph.
Like the civilian Tahoe, the PPV comes out of the box equipped with a 355-hp 5.3-liter V-8 mated to a specially calibrated six-speed automatic transmission, in both rear- and all-wheel-drive models. The transmission didn’t handcuff our performance during a brief stint through an autocross-style course, as it held onto lower gears throughout the exercise.
Among the consumer options that aren’t available on the fleet package is the 420-hp 6.2-liter V-8 and the 10-speed automatic-modern police practice employs tools other than top speed (such as radios, helicopters, and spike strips) to deter runners.
Although we appreciated the torque-rich powertrain’s relative potency, the body-on-frame SUV’s slow 17.8:1 steering left us churning at the helm as we sliced through the coned course. The PPV’s significant mass surely did it no favors, either. While Chevy pins the Tahoe PPV’s curb weight at between 5185 and 5480 pounds (depending on drivetrain and equipment levels), aftermarket police gear such as sirens and light bars can add as much as 600 to 1200 pounds. We might prefer the lighter, lower Dodge Charger Pursuit if assigned to chase down a criminal on the run.
High-speed pursuits make up a small portion of a police vehicle’s service life, though, and Chevy believes the Tahoe PPV’s seating comfort and large cargo area more than make up for any dynamic penalties. For instance, all 2018 Tahoe PPVs come standard with an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment screen, a 4.2-inch information display in the gauge cluster, and steering-wheel-mounted audio and cruise controls. These convenience features supplement the Tahoe PPV’s 54-cubic-foot cargo bay and standard six-passenger seating courtesy of three-across benches in both the first and second rows. A pair of bucket seats can be swapped in for the standard front bench, while both cloth and easy-clean vinyl seating surfaces are available. A third row of seats is not offered in the Tahoe PPV.
An Idle Mission from God
Idling is what police vehicles do most, and Chevy doubles its durability testing cycle for these vehicles. (Fun fact: Chevy says it equates the wear of one hour of idling to 33 miles of civilian driving.) It also upgrades the Tahoe PPV’s electrical system to support the office-on-wheels functions. A 170-amp alternator is standard, as is an auxiliary battery that provides 100 amps of power to the cargo hold. Additionally, every Tahoe PPV is prewired to support police equipment such as lights, sirens, and various interior-mounted electronics.
EPA fuel-economy estimates of 16 mpg in the city and 23 mpg on the highway for the rear-drive Tahoe PPV and 16/22 for the AWD version match or eclipse the figures returned by competitive Dodge and Ford vehicles. Among pursuit-rated offerings, the only better fuel-economy ratings belong to the rear-drive Charger and front-drive variants of Ford’s Interceptor sedan (which is based on the Taurus, meaning it’s likely to follow the Caprice into retirement).
The weighty Tahoe PPV strikes us as a tad too large and cumbersome to effectively star in some Hollywood megachase. For many police departments, though, the Tahoe PPV’s dynamic deficiencies are a small price to pay for the comfort and cargo-carrying capabilities of the large SUV. That the Tahoe PPV is relatively fuel efficient and offered with modern active-safety features are added virtues. Alas, an in-dash cigarette lighter is noticeably absent.
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