Hello from Spain

[CJJH]

Hello all. Recently bought a RX400h . Traded my old car as Spain is now enforcing emission laws in cities.

Absolutely love the car.

[javadude]

Hello! They are so comfortable and quick. A bit on the wobbly side with handling but if you're not throwing it round corners its fine. I moved from an RX400h to an NX300h and the extra comfort features were good but the whinny 4 cyclinder engine was no where near as good as the V6 in the RX.

[dutchie01]

Hi Christian, what are the emission laws in Spain? Is this thesame all over the country or can it differ per city?

[CJJH]

They have been out a while in Madrid and Barcelona but since January of this year they are bringing it into affect in cities with over 50,000 people. There is a lot of contraversy about it as many people can't just buy a newer car. It is basically an emissions sticker you have to display on your windscreen which you register and purchase at the local post office. There are 4 catagories. Zero. Eco. Class C and Class B.

Zero being all Electric.

Eco is Hybrid.

C and B are to do with what "Euro" spec engine you have.

I think the minimum requirement is Euro 3 for petrol engines and Euro 4,5 for Diesels.

If you Google new emissions laws in Spain you will get more info.

Classic cars will also have problems unless they have a "Historic" registration plate. Which is a pain.

 

[CJJH]

https://www.visit-andalucia.com/low-emission-zones-andalucia/

[CJJH]

I am in San Pedro next to Marbella where traffic is horrendous in summer.

It will also affect people driving over to Spain from UK etc... on their native number plates. People will have to avoid emission zones otherwise they will get fined through an ANPR type system. Could be an expensive drive over.

They love to fine you in this country!!

[Malc1]

18 hours ago, CJJH said:

Classic cars will also have problems unless they have a "Historic" registration plate.

Christian hi  .  are you able to elaborate a little further on this please  ?

Thanks

Malc

[steve2006]

I’m guessing it’s a similar system to the UK Malc i.e. cars and motorcycles over 40 years old are classed as classics, don’t require an MOT and get free road tax.

Being Spain however it bound to be complicated and probably involve a lawyer, fees and 2 years processing.

[dutchie01]

On 6/18/2023 at 8:51 PM, Spacewagon52 said:

I think you do have to service a Tesla?

 

17 hours ago, CJJH said:

I am in San Pedro next to Marbella where traffic is horrendous in summer.

It will also affect people driving over to Spain from UK etc... on their native number plates. People will have to avoid emission zones otherwise they will get fined through an ANPR type system. Could be an expensive drive over.

They love to fine you in this country!!

Do you know what the fines are? And if you are from the UK so not Eu will they really send you the fine by post or not bother and what if you simply ignore?

[Malc1]

2 hours ago, dutchie01 said:

and what if you simply ignore

madame guillotine no doubt 🥶

Malc

[CJJH]

Hello. Not sure about how fines will be imposed. I will do some digging. They seem to be a lot better informed here now and access a database. 

As for classic cars. If they have a normal Spanish number plate there will be problems. If they are on Historic plates then it is ok.

To get historic plates you need to do quite a few things.

Be in a classic car club in Spain.

No modifications to the car, has to be all original to qualify. Then it needs assessing by a technical person etc...

Can only drive a certain amount of Kms yearly.

 

Lot of stuff.

I had a 1966 Merc W108 250se. I changed the tired engine for a 280 M110 and installed efi.

This was on a Madrid number plate so I wouldn't have been able to put on historic plates because of the engine swap.

I sold it.

Google historic number plates in Spain for more info.

[CJJH]

https://n332.es/changes-to-historic-vehicle-rules-2023/#:~:text=There are currently two types,have an active circulation permit.

[CJJH]

https://carinsurancespain.es/historic-vehicle-regulations-in-spain-2023/

[CJJH]

https://www.classiccarsimport.com/classiccarshistoricalplates.html

[Malc1]

what I'm just not understanding is the likely impact upon overseas tourists in their ordinary cars .......  wishing to travel around Spain and spending tourist euros to help bolster the Spanish economy ..............  or NOT

I  had a wonderful month a few years back, just pre covid, travelling around Spain and Portugal ......  and over very many years much of the rest of Europe too and NOW feel that me and my car(s) and my tourist spend just isn't welcome anymore .......  is that really so do you think  ??

Will I just have to spend my motoring holidaying and all my spare cash ££££  just around the UK and Ireland ...........  all glorious to drive around mind you  🤩

Are we effectively being banned from Europe driving around willy nilly?

I s'pose the same applies with certain cities in the UK penalising tourists and non-ULEZ UK cars too  ......  and Classics too maybe 

It's not good eh !

Malc