Whenever a car maker unveils an armored vehicle, there will always be a group of people saying claiming it to be pointless. The truth of the matter is, if armored vehicles didn’t sell well enough, car makers wouldn’t make them. However, such cars are actually in demand and a new report coming in from Australia claims that the Australian Federal Police is in the process of getting a fleet of new BMW X5 VR6 models.
According to Car Advice‘s sources, the cars will be bought for the VIP transportation program the Australian Federal Police has and they will be replacing the older versions the authorities currently rely on. The AFP has been using armored cars for over ten years now and the new models are now going to replace the ones that have reached the end of their useful life. That’s because, the criminal elements out there are getting better firepower and the cars and their armor needs to keep up.
The collaboration between the AFP and BMW and its armored X5 models goes back a long way. The first ever armored X5, the E70 generation was used from day one by the AFP, the fleet being replaced later on by the F15 X5 armored versions. Now, it’s time to migrate towards the G05 X5 which abides to the VR6 standard. That means it can withstand sustained fire from rifles such as AK-47s, explosions from up to 15 kilograms of TNT at a distance of up to 4 meters and the underbody can take hand grenades.
The BMW X5 VR6 is based around the BMW X5 M50i. That means it has a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 under the hood with 530 PS (523 horsepower) and 750 Nm (553 lb-ft) of torque. Of course, with all the added armor on, the modified X5 is a bit heavier but it will still do 100 km/h (62 mph) in 5.9 seconds from standstill.
