The Autoline Daily today featured an article about a renamed and badged Pontiac G8, which is going to become the new Chevy Caprice. The catch is that it will only be used for fleet use, aka, police work.
There are two issues I have with this decision.
First, people have complained that the new Caprice, formerly the G8, will not be roomy enough for police work. They also say that there is not enough power under the hood for police work, as most Chevy sedans have no larger than a six-cylinder. The main police workhorse, the Ford Crown Victoria, has a V8.
Here’s my take. Chevy already has Impalas in police work. If they plan on continuing that, and especially if they decided to resurrect the G8 into a Chevy by making it fleet only, than this is what they should have done. They should make an Impala ESS, the ESS for Extended Super Sport. They could make a stretched/extended Impala, large enough for police work, such as the BMW 7 series with the 750i and 750 Li, the L designating the longer wheel base. Then the SS part would be either the Camaro tuned or the Corvette tuned V8, providing plenty of power to make the thing move. If they would make that type of vehicle for fleet use only, that would be ideal for the police, and good for Chevy/GM because it’s allowing them to compete more wholesomely with the Ford Crown Victoria.
Second, the look of the Caprice is not very stimulating. If it is supposed to be a relative of the G8, I can see the resemblance, but it sure didn’t inherit the good looks.
So here’s my take. While police cars are not the most glorious looking of vehicles, this does have some appeal to it. However, if they would have used the logic I described above, then they could have had a different purpose for brining the G8 back to life.
They should have brought the G8 back as the Monte Carlo. Now, you might be thinking, wasn’t the Monte Carlo only a two door car, and isn’t the G8 only a 4 door? Why, yes, it is, and that’s the point. When Dodge resurrected the Charger, they brought it back as a sedan. The Hyundai Genesis is a sedan, and recently they turned it into a coupe (although it really has no relevance to the sedan, besides the name.) Even more recently, Cadillac, also part of GM, unveiled the CTS Coupe. Up until that point, Cadillac had only made the CTS as a sedan. Now, this is what I am thinking. Chevy should take a little more time to restyle the front end of the car, and keep it as a sedan. Yes a Monte Carlo sedan. It sounds stupid, but it does have appeal. Then they should make a coupe version. Make it a larger coupe, able to compete with the BMW 6 series or the Cadillac CTS Coupe, or the new Mercedes Benz E class coupe. Then at least the car would live up to the once proud Monte Carlo name, and it won’t share a history with the less fortunate Caprice line.
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