Saw this article on MSN.com--the 4Runner gets good marks. All the people here in Aspen driving their overpriced Range Rovers (the things are everywhere!) should take note and switch to 4Runners and Land Cruisers (which are already popular)!

http://autos.msn.com/advice/CRArt.as...c=LP%20pickups

Interestingly, the Aspen police used to drive Saabs:

http://www.aspenpitkin.com/depts/53/...ons_patrol.cfm

Now they have Volvo XC90s that are on the sorry list:

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20...NEWS/103080004

A fleet of Land Cruisers or 4Runners as patrol cars would be kickin'!

I saw the newest edition of Consumer Reports in the supermarket and took a quick glance at it. I saw happy to see that the 4Runner had such high reliability ratings. Most Toyota/Lexus vehicles had high reliability ratings. To my surprise, the Highlander Hybrid and RX400h got great reliability ratings and they are in their first year of production. Even though this is not new technology for Toyota, you would still think there are some quirks to work out. Goes to show you how well these vehicles are built.

bonedoctor, a town in NJ (not far from where I live) has a 2005 Sport as an unmarked unit. I don't know if they bought it new or was part of a drug seize. I didn't know it was a police car until I saw the cop in it.

Are you sure it wasn't just a cop driving to work in his personal car?

Geez, if they (the cops) drove unmarked Range Rover HSEs here, you'd never see 'em and everybody would be paranoid with every glance.

100% positive. The town is Eatontown and he was monitoring the traffic light. In addition, all of the windows were darkly tinted and it looked like there was a light on the dash.

Then Mark, my friend, you have a new mission in life. Any chance you can get a photo of that thing? I checked the P.D.'s website and couldn't find any photos.

I definitely will take a picture the next time I see it. I only go to that town when I have to go to the Toyota dealer for service. They actually have a lot of weird unmarked cars.

Do they think they're Swedish in Aspen?

Naw, they just got some sweetheart deal from Volvo. The city bought them, the dealership or Volvo I think is paying them monthly to use 'em, then the dealership buys them back after a few years--good publicity and advertising I guess. Those Volvos are easier to spot, much more so than the shorter Saab sedans.

Both Saab and Volvo are Swedish. This confirms my point.

Why not Mercedes or BMW, which are more reliable?

I didn't know this, but one of the articles said they had Saab patrol cars since the 1970s--Volvo was apparently trying to one-up their competition with a deal too good to pass up (free or almost so). Guess the Germans were being frugal. Also not sure if there's an MB or BMW (those X5 4.8i would be nice) dealership anywhere nearby. There really aren't any dealerships here, gotta go to Glenwood Springs (40 miles away). That's where the Toyota place is and also the Range Rover dealership (which basically caters to the snooty Aspen RR crowd, but probably couldn't afford to have a dealership here because of real estate prices--they've got a fairly large dealership in Glenwood, nearly as big as the Toyota place). May also have something to do with Vail which also uses Saab, I think, since there's a big rivalry between the two places.

If they wanted fancy and reliable, I would've fielded a fleet of Land Cruiser patrol vehicles. Or those new FJs!

And they (US auto industry) wonders why the imports killed them during the 70-80s! That thing is hideous. The height of non-functional tacked on crap. Gotta be careful, though--I'm not sure that scoop on the 4R SE does anything, but it does look good however.

http://www.lhmopars.com/MOPAR_Ads/78spcpad.html

If they can't beat them join them, Saab is now owned by GM.