A new vehicle has joined the New South Wales Police Force’s Highway Patrol fleet: a BMW 530d saloon. The move joins another 5 Series previously revealed to be the latest addition to the Victoria Police Force, both replacing VF series Commodores.
There are a number of reasons why the 530d in particular is so ideal for being the supply vehicle from BMW. For one, they handle exceptionally well and are plenty fast thanks to its 3.0-litre straight-six, but they’re also very frugal relative to their petrol twins, especially for high speed highway cruises like we expect them to be used for.
It’s turbodiesel engine generates 195kW and a very wholesome 620Nm of torque at peak. In standard specification, though, BMW quotes the 530d as having a 0-100km/h sprint time of 5.7 seconds and a top speed of 250km/h (electronically limited).
BMW will be supplying NSW Police with these cars in ‘authority specification’, which is something of a murky term. But we do know each car is fitted with the multi-adjustable Comfort seats, M Sport Package suspension and the uprated M Sport Brakes. Typically, a sunroof would be specified in the 530d, but here the unique spec means that the option is omitted to make room for the roof-mounted lighting and sirens.
“Globally, the BMW Group supplies emergency and authority vehicles to a large number of countries, so I am very pleased to see our brand continue this proud tradition in Australia,” said BMW Group Australia CEO, Marc Werner. “We are honoured by our association with the New South Wales Police Force and delighted that our officers will be driving BMW’s safe, efficient and dynamically superior vehicles.”
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