√Brand-new Mercedes-Benz highway patrol cars for sale to the public
A batch of special highway patrol cars intended for Victoria Police have made their way to Mercedes-Benz showrooms after a cancelled order.
Approximately two-dozen high-performance versions of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class All-Terrain wagon – initially destined to become Victoria Police highway patrol cars – have been made available to the public brand-new following a cancelled order.
Drive understands a batch of special-order Mercedes-Benz E400d All-Terrain diesel wagons – believed to number approximately 20 to 30 vehicles – have been distributed across select Mercedes-Benz showrooms for sale to the public, after the balance of a fleet deal with Victoria Police fell through.
Drive understands Victoria Police took approximately 50 of the 80 Mercedes-Benz cars it originally ordered two years ago.
The vehicles were built specifically as highway patrol cars, and as such come with fewer luxury features – no sunroof or genuine leather seats, for example – but gain a high-output 2.9-litre turbo-diesel inline six-cylinder engine, and police-ready brakes and electronics.
Mercedes-Benz Australia confirmed a batch of E400d All-Terrains was made available to the public last year, but it declined to clarify whether they were part of a cancelled Victoria Police order.
The reason for the cancelled order is unknown, however highway patrol in NSW and Victoria primarily use the BMW 5 Series sedan or wagon, while Victoria Police plan to roll out a higher proportion of BMW X5 SUVs for traffic work.
The NSW Police highway patrol division is also understood to be preparing to roll out the BMW X5 SUV alongside the BMW 5 Series sedan in certain areas.
The police-spec E400d All-Terrains represent the only Mercedes E-Class wagons ever sold to the public in facelifted, 2020-onwards trim.
Private buyers could order a pre-facelift E-Class All-Terrain before 2020 – but only in far less potent E220d trim, with a 143kW four-cylinder diesel engine.
Victoria Police took delivery of its first E400d All-Terrain vehicles at the end of 2019, in pre-facelift form – before, as Drive understands, a second order was placed during 2020.
The cars rolled off the production line in December 2020, and received their compliance plates in Australia in mid-2021 – but sometime last year, some or all of the police purchase deal is believed to have fallen through, leaving a number of already-built E-Class All-Terrains in Mercedes-Benz Australia’s possession without buyers.
It’s unclear exactly how many brand-new police-spec Mercedes-Benz E400d All-Terrains remain unsold, however dealer sources have told Drive approximately 20 to 30 vehicles were made available.
Drive understands the unsold vehicles were made available to all Mercedes-Benz dealers from late last year, with one showroom believed to take as many as eight cars, across three of the five available colours.
As this article was published, three examples were listed on Mercedes-Benz Australia’s website for sale as pre-owned used vehicles, with low kilometres.
“I can confirm that with the launch of the updated E-Class a limited number of E 400 d All-Terrain vehicles were made available as a one-off allocation in a standard configuration,” a Mercedes-Benz Australia spokesperson told Drive.
Priced from $142,471 plus on-road costs, the police-turned-civilian E-Class All-Terrains are well-equipped, with standard features including air suspension, adaptive LED headlights, dual interior screens, a head-up display, power tailgate, and a suite of advanced safety features.
However, compared to similarly-sized, higher-grade Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedans, the police-specification E400d wagons feature Artico faux leather trim (rather than genuine leather), no panoramic sunroof, no Burmester sound system, 19-inch wheels (rather than the 20s fitted to civilian E220d All-Terrains before 2020), and no badging on the tailgate.
To ensure it was suitable for high-speed braking – and high-temperature highway patrol use – an upgraded sports brake package was fitted, with 360mm front and 320mm rear discs – sized between standard four-cylinder and AMG six-cylinder or V8 E-Class sedan variants.
There are also electronic control units for police computer systems, a “continuous engine operation feature”, and a system allowing for high-beam flashing during the day, the vehicles’ factory build sheets say.
Powering all E400d All-Terrains is a 243kW/700Nm 2.9-litre twin-turbocharged inline-six diesel engine also seen in Mercedes-Benz’s GLE, GLS and G-Class SUVs, driving all four wheels through a nine-speed automatic transmission.
With a claimed 0-100km/h time of 5.6 seconds, the Benz is about half a second slower than the former Holden Commodore SS and Ford Falcon XR8 highway patrol cars – but sips about half the fuel, with claimed consumption of 7.0 litres of diesel per 100 kilometres.
A 4Matic all-wheel drive system aids traction on slippery roads, while the 19-inch wheels are equipped with run-flat tyres in place of a traditional spare tyre under the boot floor.
The $142,471 plus on-road costs list price applicable to the Mercedes-Benz E400d All-Terrain compares to the $114,888 advertised when the Mercedes-Benz All-Terrain was last offered to the public in Australia, in less potent E220d trim in 2020.
It’s unclear how many of the original batch of pre-facelift E400d All-Terrain wagons delivered to Victoria Police in late 2019 remain in service.
Victoria Police also currently has possession of a BMW M3 Competition performance sedan – but while it is a fully operational police vehicle (rather than for community events only), it has been loaned to VicPol from BMW for a limited time.
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