We need the room for transporting other cops because the federally mandated partitions take up so much damn room. We might care not about the comfort of prisoners and suspects but when in urban areas where some cops are still on foot patrol and your fellow officers offer to give you a ride. It is nice not to have your knees up by your chin with a full gunbelt an baton. Or when we have a mobilzation and you can't wait for police vans to transport the troops. Believe when I say it is no fun to watch your fellow law enforcement brother and sisters scrunched up in the back of a Nissan Altima or Ford Fusion Hybrid marked police car with the partition in place.

As far as I am concerned I look at a marked NYPD RMP as so many two seat Corvettes as for giving me a a ride to the stationhouse from a footpost or from court.

Here in New York City the taxis have similar security partitions and all the owners made a big stink to Ford b/c it was cramping the passengers having to sit sideways and all. Ford then started to sell Crown Victoria taxicabs in a LWB version based on the Lincoln Town Car chassis. Problem solved. Those extra 4 to 6 inches made a world of difference. I can personally atest to that after taking a back to back rides in the old and new LWB versions.

 

Both Holden products suffered greatly by being marketed as Pontiacs which at the time even before the GM bankruptcy was a "deadman walking" division. Yes even all you Chief Many Horses fans know that was true. Bland styling didn't help either. Both were better off coming over here in their original facias as GM does in their UK and Middle East markets. Sell Holden and Opel products as Vauxhalls in the UK. Just change the nameplates not the styling.

I voted out of emotion that the Civilian Caprice would sell like hotcakes but upon reflection, I agree with the other posters on this thread that it wouldn't need to sell all that much to be a success. If the RWD 300M/Charger is keeping Chrysler alive based on an out dated Mercedes Benz E-Class chassis. I don't see where lower than Caddy CTS price 4 door sedan can't make a nice piece of coin for GM. That is a segment of the market the GM and Ford has given up to Chrysler.

Not everybody has CTS-V money and their is a lot of us where the 5th Gen Camaro is just too small for our family needs and we hate minivans and SUVs.
We need a car that fullfill our performance needs. Something with four doors that we can drag race, Auto-X or roadrace on the weekends but still pick up the kids from school, get the gorceries and take the wife out to dinner in the evening with out spending $50K. A N/A LS3 powered Commodore/Stateman fits the bill without threatnening the S/C Caddy CTS-V in the GM hierarchy. Remember how the Chevy execs were scared to death about how the V6 Fiero GT would dig into Corvette's market share.

 

Makes sense however the legroom of the standard Commodore is larger then a Altima and Fusion so not that good of a comparison. Though if you want legroom then the Zeta platform LWB is your car.

I guess it's a trade off between legroom and performance/handling?

 

Me too, assuming I find myself in the market for any large sedan. That's possible, since the Bonneville has 165k on the odo. I'd love to replace it with something more interesting to drive when the time comes (which is when it's dead and beyond reasonable repair).

Then again, the Bonneville is my winter DD, and given my driveway, RWD wouldn't be my smartest option. I imagine AWD is out of the question for the Caprice...

On that note, to be honest, I'm not pleased with my options for replacing the Bonneville. I'll most likely end up replacing it with a newer Bonneville (mine's a 2000... I'd look at '05s) or a Lucerne (which is basically an updated Bonneville).

 

Because you can't drive RWD in the snow? Even with stability control?

 

It's not big enough to be a Caprice.

For $30K with a V8, yeah it'll sell OK. With that trunk I have no use for one.

If GM wants to do a big RWD sedan then just do it right and spread one out to Caddy and Buick. Stop trying to import Aussie big, Taurus size, and sell it as American Big, Crown Vic size.

 

2010 Holden Caprice:
Length: 203in
Wheelbase: 118.5in
Width: 74.76
Height: 58.2

1996 Chevrolet Caprice:
Length:214.1
Wheelbase:115.9
Width: 77.5
Height: 55.7

Seems pretty close to me. Loss in length due mostly to less front overhang. I don't get your trunk issue though. The new car has a full-size trunk. Are you thinking it's like the GTO which had the gas tank in it? It doesn't.

 

Interior and trunk space should be bigger on the Aussie car than in the Crown Vic -- about the same as the Taurus before it was restyled (check the MT comparo to see how the restyle on the Taurus took away headroom).

 

This, the LWB trunk is not small, hell the Standard Commodores boot is large.

 

BigBlueCruiser,

All "full size" cars are getting smaller and getting more space effiicient. Also the there is a marketing aspect. Remember when back in the '70s Chrysler marketed the Aspen/Volare as a compact car and by the early '80's they marketed the same car with different body panels and names as the Diplomat/Gran Fury as a "full size". The same exact car. Change in Gov't classifications and marketing strategies.

Back to the civilian version of the Caprice PPV.

GM should just import and/or produce in the Camaro's (Zeta Chassis)Canadian plant the Middle East market Caprice it already has the nameplate and styling consistency with the entire Chevrolet line. It has the level of luxury that is consistent with a mainstream car. Look the Toyota Camry and Ford Taurus they have a whole lot more luxury and amenities than they had in their 1990's version. When you are putting out $30K for a car and the average family makes around $50K in income you better put something more luxurious than bench seats and plastic.

They could bring over and/or produce over here in North Ameria the Chinese/Korean market Buick Park Avenue as the "Ta Da!!!" Buick Park Avenue. It could be marketed cheaper American alternative to the Infiniti Q45 or Lexus 450 and something for the over 65 market who don't want to spend Caddy money for a car. I see qiute a bit of old people driving their Mercury Grand Marquis' and in this economy other than the mega wealthy they seem the only demographic that has money on hand.

I see NO PROBLEM in bringing over here two more if not three more Zeta based cars. One of the few bright spots in Chrysler's lineup is their Benz E-Class based LH RWD cars. Look athe luxury/styling split between the Chrysler 300 and the Dodge Charger same car two different markets and even shown in the same exact showrooms. You see how easliy this split could work for GM vis-a-vie Buick and Chevy?? Like the way GM has done for most of it existance. Except you don't need seven car brands in the 21st Century maybe two or three like what they have now.

GM also wants to sell a plain wrapper version of the Caprice PPV as an Undercover/Detective car which makes no sense. (Though I would love to drive one at work with a L76 engine. I ain't greedy for LS3)The car would be a dead give away to the "perps" on the street, observing at a distance or from rooftops. Without a civilian versions randomly cruising around by average citizens or as taxicab/livery cars all manner of stealth would be gone. As it is now the perps know that it primarily us(law enforcement) who drives Crown Vics and Impalas.

Oh and another thing GM please over the Holden Ute esp.the Maloo R8 as the El Camino. It being a truck should help with CAFE. That has got to be the biggest "no brainer" marketing move of the decade

 

Perhaps you missed that I said "and given my driveway".

My driveway is unpaved, relatively steep, and is sloped towards a ditch. It's hard enough to navigate in a FWD car with snow tires. A RWD car, stability control or not, would get stuck far too often for me to seriously consider owning one for winter use.

For people without that problem, RWD + snow tires + stability control is a perfectly viable mode of winter transport.

 

According to ol' Jalopnik we should be expecting a SWB Chevrolet Commodore and a Ute as well...

...I won't get my hopes up too high it seems this "rumor" pops up at least once a year.

 

If the driveway is steep, wouldn't RWD help, since you'd transfer weight to the back? I wonder what a 53/47 weight distribution turns into on a 6% grade....

 

That would help with forward traction (only a little, and only when leaving), but not with steering. The slope to the ditch makes that a big problem. Being able to point your driven wheels in the direction you're trying to go makes a HUGE difference with directional control on slick surfaces.

 

I would think applying power to the front wheels in a low traction situation would make it less likely you'd make that corner.
In addition, a well timed right pedal in a RWD car could help you make the turn.

Not that I have much experience driving in snow (and no particular desire to gain more), so I'll have to take your word for it.