The only AI cars that you can replace with download add-on player cars are the city cops.
The edit has to be done to the .aimap and .aimap_p files, replacing the parts where's written the "vpcop" basename with the basename/s of the car/s that you want to use as city cops on the places of the default Ford Mustang GT Cruiser.
You can easily get those files by editing the ones present in the patched of
this add-on car. Open the .ar file of one of the patches (it's one for each city) in the archive with WinRar, and extract and edit the files in them with Notepad. At the end drag and drop the edited file in the .ar file kept opened.
If you want to replace the traffic cars, the operation is a lot longer and it's very similar to the one of making a new add-on car for the game.