Dodge gives cops the awesome Durango Pursuit, not that we're jealous
The Durango Pursuit is just the killer-spec SUV we've been lusting after and can't buy.
Ever since the Blues Brothers happened, people have been mystified by the idea that cop cars are somehow much better or faster or more durable than the regular cars that you or I can buy. For the most part, that's not true. Now though, there's a pursuit package car that's worthy of our lust, and it's called Dodge Durango Pursuit.
What makes Johnny Law's version of the Durango so special that we'd want it over a readily available Durango R/T? Well, nothing terribly obvious. The engine is pretty much an identical-to-civilian-spec 5.7-liter Hemi V8 that produces 360 horsepower and 390 pound-feet of torque. A rear-biased all-wheel drive system is standard on the Pursuit as well, though it's an option on the production R/T.
The Pursuit starts to get special when you get more granular. For example, that unremarkable Hemi gets a powerful 200 amp alternator for powering lights and computers, etc. A heavy-duty oil cooler and water pump ensure that the engine will live a long, happy life chasing down scofflaws. The Pursuit gets beefier brakes than a standard R/T Durango, owing to all the extra weight a cop car has to schlep around and the extreme nature of the driving that police are expected to do.
Interestingly, the Pursuit Durango also gets a real-deal two-speed transfer case for going off-road. Based on the photos, we don't know how well the rest of the vehicle would fare, given that the Pursuit only has 8.1 inches of ground clearance, but it's cool nonetheless. Durango specifically calls out that its three-zone climate control system is K-9 friendly, and that alone gets a 13/10 from us.
While the Durango Pursuit doesn't exactly make us want to run down to the police academy and sign up, we will definitely be keeping our eyes out in a couple of years for these beasts to hit police auctions.