God yes, this. There’s a woman who parks a tattered conversion van at my gym (the second one I’ve seen her in - the first got totaled or something I guess), and every piece of crappy tacked-on exterior trim is either cracked, held together with duct tape, or missing altogether.

Equipment. Cops need to carry lots of stuff these days, and car trunks just don’t cut it, especially after they mount all the radios and things in the forward section.

And don’t forget A/C off and all four windows rolled up.

GM did that in the 1980s, essentially.

And it would be “sleeping” long-term in the VW showroom with a sticker price approaching $50,000.

Yeah, you know what doesn’t sound cool?

Yeah, VW has made the Passat and Jetta very “fleet-y” in the U.S., in order to offer those competitive lease rates. A woman I work with has a new-ish Jetta and I swear it could have been made by Toyota.

I think you’re getting some kind of placebo effect with this “German feel” thing. They’ve blanded out most of whatever feeling the Passat and Jetta had a long time ago, trying to lure Mr. and Mrs. Vanilla away from the Camry and Accord.

Ford offered “Special Service” packages on the Explorer, as well as the Expedition. Special Service meant tailored to law enforcement needs (extra cooling for long periods of idling, heavy-duty interior pieces like rubber floor liners instead of carpeting, etc.), but not meant for high-speed pursuit driving.

Needs more badging on the back.

No, they offered the Explorer in a police package, just not “pursuit rated” until this generation. Lots of SUVs have been designed as heavy-duty police vehicles over the years, used for various non-high-speed chores.

“Trying...to...turn...phone...such...struggle...wrist...in...agonizing...pain...can’t...continue...will...hold...phone...wrong...way...to...avoid...permanent...injury...”

You have to “twist your wrist” to hold a phone sideways?

“Au revoir, LeGeorge.”

But are a lot of people leaving work in Manhattan, getting into a car, and then driving to another portion of Manhattan? Very few, I assume. All those cars in the tunnels and on the bridges are going somewhere else that has gas stations.

None to speak of in the core of Downtown Los Angeles, either. You have to go north to that Chevron near Olvera Street (the one with the famously ridiculous prices) or south to the produce district to fill up.

If they revive Magnum P.I., this car could be an ongoing comical plot point. Higgins could threaten to take away the Ferrari, AND make Magnum drive the Avanti instead.

And yet, it was a crystal ball into the future.