Police Edition vs. LS, LT, LTZ?

[pinkpalmetto80]

Found a great brand new police edition tahoe, but there are some things I'd have to do after purchasing to make it look good (new rims/ tires/ lift)

vs

buying something more expensive that comes with all the things i want.

Also do they ride the same, am i still getting a good quality vehicle with the police edition?

 

[08grey]

Most if us end up changing our wheels and tires no matter what we get our trucks with anyway. If it drives great and it's a deal call a spade a spade. Modding the truck is fun. Fixing a broken down truck sucks.

 

[TheFuzz]

Most if us end up changing our wheels and tires no matter what we get our trucks with anyway. If it drives great and it's a deal call a spade a spade. Modding the truck is fun. Fixing a broken down truck sucks.

Yup, this. No real difference between police trucks and civvy trucks, save a few options that make the trucks easier to upfit for public safety agencies (mostly lighting/wiring related). Same powertrain though. Scoop it up and have fun with it.

 

[Mgyver1]

The police model has changed some over the years. When they first came out they had a few features not available on the civilian Hoe such as air ducts for the front brakes that took the place of the fog lights, a high speed balanced aluminum prop shaft, smaller tires, no traction control or rollover control and an engine oil cooler.

Now the air ducts are no longer offered, and with the heavy duty towing package offered in 2009 on the civilian model the engine oil cooler is available to all along with the tranny cooler which has always been available. Also now the propeller shaft is not aluminum anymore so I don't know if it's "high speed balanced."

So the stuff that comes standard on the police PPV model that is optional on the civilian model is the engine and transmission oil cooler. The things that are not available on the civilian model is the lowered suspension and the engine computer which has idle boost (raises idle during heavy electrical load) and a governed limit of 130. Also the tires are a 265/60R17 (factory is 265/70R17) and the speedometer is calibrated to that size.

There are some lighting options available such as DRLs and auto headlights deactivated, and the horn being deactivated for the remote so it won't honk when you lock the doors and the panic switch won't work. There are a bunch of different options so you would have to look at the options list.

 

[Z-56 Hoe]

One of the main reasons to buy a PPV is the suspension why in gods green earth would you lift it they handle like a dream! Unless you are talking about a SSV? # 2. The general public cant buy these new! # 3 the new ones are $39K. And they have a upgrade payload capacity.

Also no onstar in a PPV or SSV. Rubber lined floors unless ordered with carpet.

They also come with a better charging system!

 

[Sheriff]

The general public cant buy these new!

Myth. There's a brand new one on eBaY occasionally.

The same was always said about the Crown Victoria. But people could buy them if they found a dealer willing to sell one. Or if a department ordered a hundred new ones, and only ended up purchasing 92 of them. One dealer 60 miles from me kept 60 to 100 in stock at all times. He would sell to departments and civilians.

 

[Z-56 Hoe]

Has to be sold as used.

 

[Steedog]

I've never seen a police edition LTZ. Do they exist? I've seen a few LTs. See LSs all the time!

 

[falconK]

Found a great brand new police edition tahoe, but there are some things I'd have to do after purchasing to make it look good (new rims/ tires/ lift)

vs

buying something more expensive that comes with all the things i want.

Also do they ride the same, am i still getting a good quality vehicle with the police edition?

I know this question was posted many years ago, but I still wanted to put in my 2 cents for anybody else with the same question.
I purchased a PPV 2015 Tahoe, which was never used as a law enforcement vehicle. It was purchased by a company to showcase their police video equipment, so when I got the vehicle it was in pristine conditions, it just had a lot of freeway miles as the company's employee had to drive the vehicle to most of the police departments in CA to showcase their equipment. So lots of miles but everything else looked like new.
Here are a few things I went through with this vehicle:
1) the original ride was TERRIBLE, it bumped almost on every grain of sand on the road, that was because police cars are designed with a very stiff suspension so they can handle pursuits at high speed without rolling over, but for a regular family that was not acceptable. So I replaced the front struts and rear springs and shocks, and now the tahoe rides like an angel.
2) The PPV come with NO 3rd raw seat, so I had to find one, on ebay the cheapest I found was about $750 with shipping included, but on CraitsList I found a brand new one for $400, but I had to make the 3 hr. trip to pick it up. I didn't want to have it shipped as I wasn't sure if the seat was going to fit my vehicle or not, so I went in, tried it, and it fit perfectly. Then I just purchased some bolts from Home Depot and now the seat looks great. I'm just still missing the seat belts, but I should be able to find a set online soon.
3) The vehicle came with 17" rims and tires, although the tires were almost brand new ( the company had those installed prior to selling the vehicle), I still didn't like the size and the look, so I found on Craigs List a set of stock rims with original tires with 95% life left for about $550. The rims/tires came off of a sierra pickup truck, but were the correct size I wanted, which was 20". This gave me a lift of about 2" over all, but the vehicle looked much better.
4) Currently I"m working on installing a new 10" screen aftermarket radio, which is almost done.
5) Our PPV came with factory tinting on all windows, I don't know if that's the standard or only some come out like that on request, but we love it, lots of privacy, and I'm assuming that's legal in CA, otherwise they wouldn't do it at the factory.
6) PPVs come with only plastic flooring but NO carpet anywhere. Originally I was going to just purchase a pre-made carpet for it, but after a while the wife said that the plastic flooring was much easier to clean, and liquid spills were much less of a problem than carpet, so we kept it without carpet.

After all, now we are very proud and very happy with our tahoe.
Was it worth it? I think it was, I think we saved about $5K at a minimum, but I also think that I could have found a regular tahoe same age and conditions at a compatible price if I had waited long enough, but for now no regrets, I think it was a great investment.

 

[Miami-Dade]

I've never seen a police edition LTZ. Do they exist? I've seen a few LTs. See LSs all the time!

I know this question was posted many years ago, but I still wanted to put in my 2 cents for anybody else with the same question.
I purchased a PPV 2015 Tahoe, which was never used as a law enforcement vehicle. It was purchased by a company to showcase their police video equipment, so when I got the vehicle it was in pristine conditions, it just had a lot of freeway miles as the company's employee had to drive the vehicle to most of the police departments in CA to showcase their equipment. So lots of miles but everything else looked like new.
Here are a few things I went through with this vehicle:
1) the original ride was TERRIBLE, it bumped almost on every grain of sand on the road, that was because police cars are designed with a very stiff suspension so they can handle pursuits at high speed without rolling over, but for a regular family that was not acceptable. So I replaced the front struts and rear springs and shocks, and now the tahoe rides like an angel.
2) The PPV come with NO 3rd raw seat, so I had to find one, on ebay the cheapest I found was about $750 with shipping included, but on CraitsList I found a brand new one for $400, but I had to make the 3 hr. trip to pick it up. I didn't want to have it shipped as I wasn't sure if the seat was going to fit my vehicle or not, so I went in, tried it, and it fit perfectly. Then I just purchased some bolts from Home Depot and now the seat looks great. I'm just still missing the seat belts, but I should be able to find a set online soon.
3) The vehicle came with 17" rims and tires, although the tires were almost brand new ( the company had those installed prior to selling the vehicle), I still didn't like the size and the look, so I found on Craigs List a set of stock rims with original tires with 95% life left for about $550. The rims/tires came off of a sierra pickup truck, but were the correct size I wanted, which was 20". This gave me a lift of about 2" over all, but the vehicle looked much better.
4) Currently I"m working on installing a new 10" screen aftermarket radio, which is almost done.
5) Our PPV came with factory tinting on all windows, I don't know if that's the standard or only some come out like that on request, but we love it, lots of privacy, and I'm assuming that's legal in CA, otherwise they wouldn't do it at the factory.
6) PPVs come with only plastic flooring but NO carpet anywhere. Originally I was going to just purchase a pre-made carpet for it, but after a while the wife said that the plastic flooring was much easier to clean, and liquid spills were much less of a problem than carpet, so we kept it without carpet.

After all, now we are very proud and very happy with our tahoe.
Was it worth it? I think it was, I think we saved about $5K at a minimum, but I also think that I could have found a regular tahoe same age and conditions at a compatible price if I had waited long enough, but for now no regrets, I think it was a great investment.

This thread is from 2013..Please start a new thread about your PPV instead of piggy backing on this one. Thank you!