EL PASO, TEXAS – The El Paso Police Department has added five new Dodge Chargers to its fleet as part of a pilot program to test the vehicles’ effectiveness, according to the El Paso Times newspaper. The El Paso Police Department unveiled five new Dodge Chargers on Dec. 14 that it plans to use in a pilot program to evaluate their performance in the field.

El Paso police spokesman Javier Sambrano said one Charger will be assigned to each of the five regional command centers to determine if the new vehicles are the right fit when the department needs to replace old patrol cars. For about the past decade, the department’s standard patrol cars have been Ford Crown Victorias. The decision to try the Chargers was based on the fuel efficiency of its smaller engine, a V-6 rather than the Crown Victoria’s V-8, and the vehicle’s roominess.

The Charger is also about $400 cheaper than the Crown Victoria at about $59,400, according to the report.