Ford Falcon, Holden Commodore police cars get European PHEV SUV replacement
'Today, we're rolling out our new patrol fleet! Boosting frontline power, safety, and performance. Say hello to the Volkswagen Touareg R turbo diesel hybrid!' said the WA Police Force on its social media channels this week.
'Following the decommissioning of the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore, a comprehensive review was undertaken to identify an operationally suitable vehicle to withstand the demands of police emergency response driving.'
The post erroneously calls the Touareg R a 'turbo diesel hybrid', when it's actually a turbo-petrol plug-in hybrid; the rest of the Touareg lineup, in contrast, features turbo-diesel power.
Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now. Supplied Credit: CarExpert
Priced from $133,490 before on-road costs, the all-wheel drive Touareg R became the Volkswagen brand's first plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) in Australia last year.
It's powered by a turbocharged 3.0-litre petrol V6 augmented by an electric motor, outputting 340kW of power and 700Nm of torque.
The German brand claims its large performance SUV can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 5.1 seconds, making it quicker than the Commodore SS and Falcon XR police cars of old.
Production of the homegrown Commodore ceased in October 2017, a year after Ford also ceased local manufacturing and discontinued its long-running Falcon.
While the social media clip released by WA police shows an unmarked version, it's understood the Touareg R will be deployed in both high-visibility and covert roles.
It's not clear how many examples of the Touareg R will be purchased by the WA Police Force, which is believed to be the first Australian state to employ the model, but it won't be the first VW enlisted by police in the country's western state.
Like other Australian states, law enforcement officers in WA use a variety of sedans, wagons, SUVs and vans, depending on their application. Supplied Credit: CarExpert
For both marked and unmarked patrol duty, these include the mid-size Volkswagen Tiguan and large Kia Sorento and Toyota Kluger crossover SUVs, as well as the large Skoda Superb and Kia Stinger liftbacks and the Toyota HiLux ute.
The electric Kia EV6 has also been tested by WA police.
Depending on their use, each vehicle must meet strict safety and performance requirements, and patrol vehicles are fitted with technologies including number plate recognition.
In general, WA police vehicles are replaced less frequently than in other states, every four years or 120,000km. Supplied Credit: CarExpert
While police in many states are tight-lipped about the type and number of vehicles employed for operational reasons, most police forces now have a diverse vehicle fleet comprising a variety of models from a range of auto brands.
The Kia Stinger remains the highway patrol vehicle of choice in Queensland, but the rear-wheel drive Korean liftback is currently being replaced by the all-wheel drive vehicles such as the BMW 340i xDrive in Tasmania and the Subaru WRX in the Northern Territory.
The BMW 530d large diesel sedan, meantime, remains the favourite police pursuit car in New South Wales and Victoria, where the BMW X5 and M5 Competition are also used. Supplied Credit: CarExpert
Victoria Police also uses other passenger cars, SUVs, utes and specialist vehicles from brands including Ford, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia and Volkswagen. It's evaluating several electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, and says most sedans and wagons added from 2025 will be hybrids.
In NSW, apart from the 530d, police also continue to employ the BMW X5 and Chrysler 300 SRT for highway patrol duty, while general-duties police vehicles include the Volkswagen Passat and Hyundai Sonata sedans, and the Isuzu D-Max ute.
And apart from the Stinger, Queensland Police use a range of both marked and unmarked frontline cars including the Kia EV6 and Sorento; the Toyota LandCruiser, Prado, Camry, Kluger, HiAce and HiLux; the Isuzu D-Max and MU-X; the Hyundai Santa Fe and iLoad; and the Volkswagen Amarok.
MORE: Explore the Volkswagen Touareg showroom
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If you like the design of the IM5's interior but want more space, the IM6 has a virtually identical interior and an identical price tag. We can see a lot of buyers being tempted. The IM5's sedan-like styling conceals a hatchback-style tailgate, but don't go thinking this is a huge load-lugger. Open the tailgate – the button is concealed as part of the IM logo – and you'll find a load bay that's surprisingly narrow. MG claims cargo space of 457 litres, expanding to 1290L with the rear seats folded. There's also an 18L storage compartment under the bonnet. To see how the MG IM5 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool Well, technically, there's an 18L storage compartment under the bonnet. But don't take that heading literally, and you're looking at a choice of three powertrain configurations. 2025 MG IM5: Quick drive Credit: CarExpert The base IM5 Premium RWD uses a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery and a 400V electrical architecture, resulting in slower charging speeds than the others which use a nickel manganese cobalt (NCM) battery and an 800V electrical architecture. MG quotes 20 minutes to charge the IM5 Premium RWD from 30 to 80 per cent using a DC fast-charger, against 15.2 minutes for the Platinum and Performance variants. All IM5s feature vehicle-to-load (V2L) functionality, with a maximum output of 6.6kW. MG doesn't quote total system power and torque outputs for the flagship Performance AWD, which is the only variant with two electric motors. It's also the only variant with standard air suspension and Continuously Controlled Damping, though you can option air springs on the Platinum. All IM5s feature four-wheel steering and four-piston front brake calipers from Continental with ventilated discs at all four wheels. To see how the MG IM5 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool I'd love to tell you how it drives, but that will need to wait until we get one through the garage. I sure can tell you how it parks, though. 2025 MG IM5: Quick drive Credit: CarExpert Our driving experience was limited to one loop around a boat terminal, which wasn't enough to get much of a feeling for the IM5's ride quality or handling. The steering in Comfort mode is light but not completely vacant. There are selectable drive modes, allowing you to adjust aspects of the drive like the steering and throttle response. All IM5s ride on double-wishbone front and multi-link rear suspension, but the flagship Performance also features standard air suspension and Continuously Controlled Damping. Typically, if you want a sedan with air suspension you're looking at spending well over $100,000 for something with a three-pointed star on the grille, so it's great to see this technology at a more accessible price point. 2025 MG IM5: Quick drive Credit: CarExpert We also got to experience the brutal acceleration of the Performance, which boasts a 0-100km/h time of 3.2 seconds. Sadly, this was with somebody else behind the wheel, but the IM5 rocked me back in the softly padded passenger seat and, while I could hear the tyres scrambling for grip on the wet pavement, the electric liftback tracked straight. Double-layered glass is used for all the windows for sound insulation. And if this thicker glass doesn't cut out sound enough for you, there's a standard (unbranded) 20-speaker sound system including four 'sky speakers' mounted up higher, as well as active noise cancellation. We're keen to take this car to a poorly surfaced road with a high speed limit and see how all of this works in cutting out sound, but in low-speed driving the IM5 was hushed. 2025 MG IM5: Quick drive Credit: CarExpert Our tech demo involved five stages in a rainy parking lot, allowing us to test the vehicle's AI Chauffeur technology and check out all its cameras, which are impressively high-resolution. Semi-autonomous parking assist technology is nothing new, but the IM5's is some of the best we've experienced. Some systems can be slow and dim-witted when it comes to detecting parking spots, but the IM5 identifies spots quickly. In one demonstration, we had to use the system to reverse into a spot on the right-hand side of a 'street' that had vehicles parked on the other side. Each time, the vehicle got unnervingly close to a vehicle on the left-hand side, but manoeuvred into position with no sweat – well, at least not from the vehicle. There's also a one-touch pull-out function to help get you out of a spot, and the IM5 can handle both parallel and perpendicular parking. 2025 MG IM5: Quick drive Credit: CarExpert What's more unique and impressive is the reverse tracking function, which allows you to press a button and have the vehicle reverse back for the last 100m – handy if you accidentally drove down a tight alley and lack the confidence to make your way back. One function that is impressive but has less of an obvious practical use is the IM5's ability to use its four-wheel steering to crab. No, it won't throw a pot into the water to catch crustaceans, but it will turn all four wheels in the same direction at the same time at speeds under 18km/h. This function is accessible by entering the Driving menu on the lower screen and pressing a button that's supposed to look like a crab. The car then gives you a dynamic checklist of criteria that need to be met before crab mode can work. As you turn the wheel, it shows you the angle of your wheels on the upper screen. Don't move the wheel too much, and you'll feel the car crab across the road. It's unusual, and especially disconcerting when you're reversing – you need to turn the wheel in the opposite direction from which you'd normally do. 2025 MG IM5: Quick drive Credit: CarExpert The four-wheel steering has a more obvious practical benefit in that it gives this car a turning radius of just 4.99m, something that the company says makes it as manoeuvrable as a small hatchback. And indeed, even in a limited demonstration we could see how nimble this big car was in tight quarters. There's up to 12 degrees of rear wheel steering. It might be easy to steer, but the IM5 isn't easy to see out the back of. The rear window is more like an ovoid porthole, and there's no digital rear-view mirror – baffling for such a tech-rich car in 2025. You can touch one of the wheel toggles to provide a camera view on the touchscreen, but this isn't good enough. But all is not lost for the IM5 in the visibility stakes, as despite missing out on a digital rear-view mirror it has something no rivals can match: Rainy Night Mode. This projects camera footage on the upper screen that has been enhanced and reprocessed to be made clearer, making it handy if, for example, your windows are fogged up. Sadly, we didn't get an opportunity to test this because it was daytime, but it's an intriguing idea. There are three variants in the MG IM5 lineup. 2025 MG IM5: Quick drive Credit: CarExpert 2025 MG IM5 Premium RWD equipment highlights: 19-inch alloy wheels Tyre repair kit Automatic LED headlights Rain-sensing wipers Heated, power-folding exterior mirrors Electronic park brake with auto hold Semi-autonomous parking assist Hands-free power tailgate Proximity entry and start Panoramic glass roof Rear privacy glass 26.3-inch touchscreen 10.5-inch touchscreen Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto DAB digital radio Leatherette upholstery Heated and ventilated front seats Heated rear seats 12-way power driver's seat 6-way power passenger seat 60:40 split/fold rear seats with adjustable backrest 3 x ISOFIX child-seat anchor points 256-colour ambient lighting 50W ventilated wireless phone charger 20-speaker sound system Road Noise Control 3 x USB-C outlets (2 x front, 1 x rear) Dual-zone climate control Heat pump The Platinum RWD adds: 20-inch alloy wheels Hankook iOn high-performance EV tyres The Performance AWD adds: The IM5 has yet to be tested by ANCAP or Euro NCAP. 2025 MG IM5: Quick drive Credit: CarExpert Standard safety equipment across the range includes: Adaptive cruise control Autonomous emergency braking Blind-spot monitoring Driver attention monitoring Lane-keep assist Emergency lane-keep assist Intelligent Lane Change Lane centring Rear cross-traffic assist Safe exit warning Front and rear parking sensors Surround-view camera Tyre pressure monitoring Front, side and curtain airbags Far-side airbag Its suite of active safety and driver assist technology is powered by 12 ultrasonic sensors, nine high-definition cameras, three millimetre-wave radars, one positioning unit and one inertial measurement unit. MG's IM models are covered by a seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, though if you don't service within MG's network this drops down to a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty (or five years/160,000km if the vehicle is being used for commercial purposes). 2025 MG IM5: Quick drive Credit: CarExpert The battery warranty is eight years, 160,000km no matter how you use it. The air suspension and four-wheel steering systems are backed by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. There's a capped-price servicing program that spans five years/100,000km, with servicing required every 12 months or 20,000km. To see how the MG IM5 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool The IM5 is an intriguing addition to the local EV market. 2025 MG IM5: Quick drive Credit: CarExpert Most buyers will go for the IM5's sibling, the IM6 SUV. That's fine, but for those of us who prefer a traditional sedan or liftback, the IM5 offers a compelling alternative to similarly sized petrol and hybrid vehicles. The exterior is more attractive than the IM6, though the interior is almost identically styled (ie: polarising) even if it has inferior packaging. But that rear hatch arguably makes the IM5 more versatile than the rival Tesla Model 3 and BYD Seal sedans, even if the load bay is rather skinny. And unlike the Tesla, you get a proper digital instrument cluster. We still have a lot of questions about the driving experience. How does it handle? Are the driver-assist features well-calibrated, or will they drive you apoplectic with rage? How is energy efficiency and range in real-life driving? All those questions couldn't be answered in a parking lot demonstration. What we did learn, however, is that the IM5 has some clever technology, a distinctive interior, and sharp pricing. On a spec sheet, it looks fabulous. But we need to get one through our garage to see how it fares in the real world. 2025 MG IM5: Quick drive Credit: CarExpert CarExpert can save you thousands on a new MG IM5. Click here to get a great deal. MORE: Explore the MG IM5 showroom Impressive performance for the price Slick technology Long list of standard equipment Physical switchgear almost non-existent Styling may polarise Not as spacious as its dimensions suggest
