The Time Has Come! VDI Transitions Training Fleet to Dodge Chargers

Since VDI was founded in 2003, we have adhered to a very simple philosophy – provide students the highest value training opportunities possible. And we measure that value just as our predecessor, the Scotti School, did more than four decades ago – by how applicable our training is to each and every one our student’s everyday role and responsibilities. As forty plus years of driver training experience has shown, providing that value means evolving with both the times and automotive technology; for our students an added value of this evolution has always been more opportunities to succeed when and where it counts the most – out on the streets, where they earn their living managing the safety and security risks of those whom they are responsible for.

So with 2019 upon us, VDI is making yet another substantial investment in our student’s success by retiring our fleet of Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors and replacing them with Dodge Chargers. Those who have trained with us and followed us on social media over the past couple of years know that we have been conducting extensive and exhaustive research with a Dodge Charger – and by testing, we mean putting it through repetition after grueling repetition of our dynamic driving exercises in all sorts of conditions. And while the Crown Vic has been a reliable workhorse, as we mentioned in 2016 when we began our testing and development process with our first Charger, given their dated design and lack of advanced technology, with each passing day the Crown Vic was becoming less and less relevant to our students. Some two years later – and almost a decade since the very last Crown Vic Police Interceptor rolled off the assembly line – that that platform is simply no longer relevant to the training needs of professional Security Drivers and protection practitioners, particularly when you consider the makes and models of sedans our students are driving on a daily basis.

Why the Dodge Charger?

Well, for starters, we were interested in a car with similar characteristics and functionality as the sorts of sedans the vast majority of our students drive, such as the BMW 7 series, the Audi 8 series, and the Mercedes 500 and 600 series. So that meant that design features such as independent rear suspension, traction control, and electronic stability control were a must.

Equally as important in terms of similarities were performance aspects that include lateral acceleration (cornering) capability, braking, throttle response, and even time/distance from highway speed to maximum maneuvering speeds. With its Daimler-designed electronic control systems (only found on one other manufacturers’ vehicles, Mercedes Benz), 5.7L Hemi engine, and a power-to-weight ratio of 10.62 lbs. per horsepower, the Charger ultimately met all of those criteria. For comparison, the Crown Vic, at 15.76 lbs per horsepower, is not even in the same league as the BMW 750, Audi A8, MB S560, Cadillac CT6…or the Dodge Charger; keeping in mind, of course, that the fewer pounds per horsepower, the more responsive the car will be to the drivers throttle inputs – in terms of both acceleration and deceleration. Nor was the Crown Vic ever offered with electronic stability control or, for that matter, independent rear suspension.

Why did it take two years to develop this platform for our students’ use?  In keeping with our decades-long commitment to providing the utmost training value, the VDI team wanted to ensure that when we replaced the Crown Vic we were introducing a vehicle whose performance much more closely matched that of the vehicles our students drive on a daily basis, but that our training platform would provide reliable, sustainable performance…from the first run in the slalom exercise to the last “stress run” in our final exercise. That meant testing various brake pads and rotors, struts and shocks, tires, etc. After investing copious amounts of time, energy, and resources into the research and development process, we are confident that we have the platform that meets that criteria and, more importantly, will exceed our student’s high expectations by providing the confidence in their ability to succeed when confronted by a behind the wheel emergency. As has been the case for more than four decades, with this transition to the Dodge Charger as our training platform of choice, VDI continues to lead the way in providing that confidence to professional Security Drivers and protection practitioners across the globe.