The Spanish National Police cars

I think almost all motoring enthusiasts around the world have that curiosity about different police cars, whether from another country, from other cities, or in general wanting to know which cars are used by the police. In Spain the Citroën Xsara Picasso is being used as a police vehicle, and in addition many other Citroëns (mainly the C4 and C3) have been added as road models without livery, among others.

But the renewal of the fleet of Z vehicles (that is how they call the marked road models) is starting to take place in some provinces, with plenty of novelties regarding the new National Police cars. The new model replacing the Xsara Picasso will be the Citroën C4 Picasso, equipped with the 2.0 HDI engine producing 136 CV and the CMP automatic gearbox.

Without a doubt, it represents an improvement over the Xsara Picasso, which had given so many problems to officers because of the seats and the driving position after the police adaptations, and which also gains in comfort since the C4 Picasso is a roomier car with more power. Let us remember that the previous Xsara Picasso had the 1.6 HDI engine producing 90 CV (which, from my point of view, is insufficient for the car it is). The novelty will also undoubtedly be the six-speed CMP robotised gearbox, which our officers will have to get used to, especially in terms of using the accelerator to get the most out of a fairly good gearbox, and avoiding the wear on the clutches that suffer a lot in city driving.

Another of the novelties of the new National Police cars is the exterior livery, which leaves behind the white colour characteristic of the previous units and adopts blue. For the moment these new cars have arrived in dribs and drabs in several Spanish provinces, but it is expected that in the short term they will spread to the rest of the cities where the National Police operates, and I think this is particularly a big change compared with the earlier Picasso models.

Finally, there will also be another curious model as a police car: the Seat Altea XL, of which you will probably see few units, because they are thought to be intended for senior officers. The truth is that this vehicle is curious as a police car because it is quite large, and to me it feels strange to see a Seat as a police car again (something they should have kept since the extinct Toledos, and even more so now that Seat has the Exeo, even if only for senior officers). The Altea XL is equipped with the 1.9 TDI engine producing 105 CV; I in particular had the chance to see one in Vigo, and they are interesting.

Photos | Foropolicia

Via | Hoy.es, elcomerciodigital.com, Diariomotor.com