It is no secret police often loses criminals during car chases because of sluggish vehicles they are handed out by the uncaring state. Not the Australian state of Victoria, though! The police has been driving BMW 530d there for almost a year now, and things promise to improve even further with the BMW M5 Competition joining the pool a few days ago.
Vikram Pawah, head of BMW Group Australia, proudly states that enlisting the help of the sporty AWD sedan has immediately improved the efficiency of the state police service.
The special-issue M5 wears the signature Australia Police livery and sports a roof-mounted light rack along with flashers built into air intakes. Hardly to anyone’s surprise, the engine stays stock.
Few public offenders will be able to lose a police car that sprints from nothing to 100 km/h (62 mph) in a breezy 3.3 seconds and climbs all the way to 250 km/h (155 mph) if necessary. That, and you can even lift the electronic speed limit and go all the way up to 305 km/h (190 mph), courtesy of a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 rated at 625 hp (466 kW) and 750 Nm (553 pound-feet) of torque. The transmission is eight-speed automatic.
A new M5 Competition starts at the equivalent of U.S. $161,365 in the Down-Under.