Police Cruiser

The Vapid Police Cruiser is one of the two main police cars used by the Liberty City Police Department in Grand Theft Auto IV, the other being the Police Patrol.

Design
Like the Police Patrol, the Police Cruiser can be found at almost any LCPD station, and is dressed in LCPD livery (based on that of the NYPD). It is faster and more agile than the Police Patrol. The Police Cruiser's chassis is also shared with Vapid's NOOSE Cruiser and Taxi. The grill was probably inspired by toy police cars that can be found in several stores in New York, which are based in the Ford Crown Victoria but have a larger, more rectangular grill and lack of manufacturer emblem.

The Police Cruiser is an amalgamation of various Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors, thus probably powered by a tuned V8. It's taillights are similar to those of a 1992-1994 model; the chassis, including: windows, headlights (however upside down, similar to a 1992-1997 Mercury Grand Marquis), and front and rear bumpers resemble those of the 1992-'97 models; and the grille and hood look like those of 1998 and later models. The dashboard instrument cluster is unlike the Ford product, consisting of a tachometer, speedometer, fuel gauge and temperature gauge rather than the Crown Victoria's central speedometer and gauges for fuel, temperature, oil pressure and volts.

The Police Cruiser does not appear as a drivable car in GTA Chinatown Wars (as the Police Patrol is the only police car in the game), but does occasionally surface as an aesthetic element of "busted" sequences, when a pre-rendered depiction of a modified Police Cruiser may be seen.

Design
The Police Buffalo (ingame named a Police Cruiser) is an LCPD Police Car in the multiplayer of The Ballad of Gay Tony. This vehicle shares the same in-game name as the regular Police Cruiser (made by Vapid) which appears in all of Grand Theft Auto IV, but is a separate vehicle.

The vehicle is a branded Bravado Buffalo, similar to the Dodge Charger Police Package used by the New York Police Department, and its performance is comparable to the unmarked FIB Buffalo in GTA IV.

In multiplayer, the Police Buffalo can be found at a majority of police stations, and is not accessible in single player. When spawned via hacks or trainers in single player, player can notice that sometimes, strangely enough, regular civilians may drive the Police Buffaloes on streets.

For performance, the Buffalo is best described as 'above average'. It will out-accelerate any other standard-issue police vehicle in the game, save for of course the Police Stinger, which is obviously either a D.A.R.E. car or some other community-oriented policing strategy. It's top speed, engine and weight all appear to be taken from it's unmarked sister, the FIB Buffalo.

Handling-wise, the Police Buffalo is well-balanced, and sticks to the road a bit better than the apparently aging Vapid platform that it may replace in future episodes. Understeer is very prevolent and the Buffalo's six-cylinder sounding engine requires huge rpm to accomodate for it. At high speed, the buffalo is remarkably stable, and lift-throttle oversteer is nearly non-exsistant.

Crash deformation is average. In frontal impacts, the suspension appears to be tough, but it's engine only takes a few good hits before it begins to smoke.

Performance
The Police Cruiser's high- performance V-8 (Which real life variant is Ford's Police Interceptor V-8 engine) produces an impressive amount of torque off the line, and accelerates well. It has a low rev limit, which can be felt at higher rpms. Also, the engine feels as if it runs out of steam before the transmission switches gear. It has a higher top speed than its Declasse-branded competitor, but will not get there faster than the latest Bravado offering.

The car's weakness lies in its poor suspension, as the car experiences incredible amounts of body roll and has a tendency to oversteer off throttle. Stability is average at high speeds, but due to its very soft suspension the car does wallow and float about quite a bit. The car does appear to have some decent tires on it, however, which does help with improving the handling quality, if only just a bit.

Crash deformation is also average, and the suspension does not take very long to start meandering one way or the other. The engine is not fragile, but is certainly not the toughest to destroy in the game, although it fares better than the "Buffalo" Police Cruiser.

The Ballad of Gay Tony
In the multiplayer mode of The Ballad of Gay Tony, there exists a Police Buffalo which is also named the "Police Cruiser". Based on a Dodge Charger Police Package, it is a police variant of the Bravado Buffalo comparable to the FIB Buffalo.

Another variant of the Police Cruiser in TBOGT, internally named " ", oddly exists as a completely wrecked but drivable version of the GTA IV Police Cruiser. Depicted with a completely charred bodywork, the  has no siren, non-functional lights and no radio, and emits a horn sounding like that of the Brickade's. Despite being a wreck, the   is still vulnerable to damage from collisions and weapons. The vehicle however still has well above average performance, one nearly of that comparable to the Police Buffalo, instead of the regular performance as found in its un-wrecked Vapid counterpart. It has the motor sound of that found in the Police Buffalo, and its acceleration is the equivalent, along with top speed, and handling. The physical motor acts as if nothing is wrong with it, and runs as healthy as any good motor. Aside mods or hacking, the  is otherwise unobtainable in the game. The car is regarded as a conventional traffic vehicle, and as a result, may also spawn in traffic if the player is driving a  themselves.

Use in side-missions
When the player is stationary in any police vehicle they can access the Police Computer (this is done by pressing the L1 button (PlayStation 3), the LB button (Xbox 360), or the E key (PC), which lets Niko search for the most wanted criminals, monitor recent crimes in the area, search the police records and even call for backup. This is where the player can start the Vigilante-style side-missions and the Most Wanted side-missions.

Trivia

 * Like other emergency vehicles with roof-mounted strobe lights in GTA IV, the Police Cruiser's siren will malfunction by wailing in random, distorted pitches if the strobe light housing is significantly damaged by gunfire, falling objects, or rolling of the vehicle. The second and third sirens noises are also disabled, leaving the car with only the malfunctioning siren noise.
 * A bug exists where in GTA IV a fixed police car can be driven with a distorted siren, requiring the "repair car cheat", or, in multiplayer, a health kit. However, if the player turns off the siren while it is like this, then turns it back on, it will return to normal.
 * In GTA IV multiplayer, the Police Cruiser, Enforcer, and the Annihilator are the only vehicles used by law enforcement, regardless of one's Wanted level.
 * On the GTA IV DVD case, a Police Cruiser can be seen. However, the Police Cruiser on the case has the headlights and front bumper of a 1998–present era Crown Victoria, when compared to the in-game model.
 * In multiplayer, the Police Cruiser has a normal radio; the same applies to all other emergency vehicles, and the Securicar.