My picks don't go back that far... but they again, neither do I !
Started out with the square body chevy caprice.... good car. Lots of room, ran great and never had a problem with it... The went to the sqare bodied Ford LTD Crown Vic. Also a good car... Wasn't as fast as the Chevy, but handles well and still had plenty of room.
Then some bean counter decided to thrust upon my young butt the biggest heap of horse hockey ever to wear a badge on the door since the late 70's.... The Ford Taurus SHO.... That heap was cramped, handled like it was on roller skates, couldn't get to 85 MPH without a down hill slope and a tail wind, and fighting a 6 foot drunk into that tiny back seat/cage was a never ending opportunity to get your butt kicked! (or another sensitive part of your anatomy!
)
They didn't get any better when they changed body styles to the "bathtub" version either...
Finally went back to the Ford Crown Vic and pretty much stuck with them until recently. Never had many complaints about them either until they started mounting computers and crap in them... Like putting 10 pounds of crap into a 5 pound sack....
We recently got a few of the 07 Dodge police packaged Chargers in the fleet...
I gotta give them Dodge boys credit.. that car ROCKS! It is fast, handles great, there is a surprising amount of room, and they look COOL in black and white! That 5.7 Hemi flat out SCOOTS.... At speed, this car feels like it is PLANTED to the asphalt!
We have noticed that they go through brakes like they were free... but they haven't let us down yet. My only minor complaint is that, for us that are 6 foot or better, you have to step down into it to get in, and the windshield is low, the door window's short (arm rest is way to high to use) and it takes alot of getting used to as far as the driver's "field of view" goes... moslty because of the low windshield. The back doors do not open very wide and the rear door openings are just in front of the rear wheels, which makes getting a prisoner in back a pain in the ass....
When I promoted, I ended up being forced into a "Supervisor's vehicle", which is a Ford Expidition. I don't like the way it handles, or picks up speed (it's 4 wheel drive and geared like it..) and I hate climbing in and out of the damn thing... But it is well laid out inside and I do enjoy being able to look down into other peoples vehicles at stop lights...... We don't transport prisoners in them, so they still have a real, normal back seat, which is nice. Every opportunity I can find/create to "down" the Expadition and take a Charger instead is fully explored!
My favorite so far is that Charger... The one I have the most hours in and feel the most "at home" in is the Crown Vic...