Did anyone have any interesting experiences with holiday hire cars? I'll tell you about mine:
HJ now has me so paranoid about Renaults that I was a bit taken aback when our Seat Ibiza hire car turned out to be a Clio! But I have to report what a pleasant experience it was. After the surprise of it's arrival and my initial fears about having a long journey ahead of us and WILL IT GET US THERE.... I then spotted we had the new 1.5 common rail diesel dCi model and my interest was roused.
The highlight had to be traveling for extended periods with no discernible movement from the fuel gauge. My wife who did most of the driving (while I was sampling the local alcoholic beverages) has a rather heavy right foot, but we still achieved nearly 60mpg. Perhaps I've got latent green tendencies but there was something immensely satisfying about using so little fuel.
The air conditioning seemed particularly efficient and in all other respects it was a car that either of us could have comfortably lived with on a daily basis. Sadly the Clio lacks sufficient luggage space for my wife's work and sufficient passenger space for mine, otherwise we'd be tempted to buy one.
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Yup! BMW 318i, but only for 24 hours (Frankfurt to Cologne and return) Had only 11 kilometres on the clock on collection. Weather on the Autobahns ranged from disgusting to fine, and I really enjoyed the idea of (speed limits permitting) being able to choose a safe speed to drive at. Wonderful tool for driving with, and would now like a new one! Liked climate control, didn't like lack of CD player (single slot would have done) Does anyone still buy casette tapes?
Wife, however, has just picked up an elderly diesel megane for her solo 11 days in France : I'll let you know what she thinks!
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Definitely buy cassette tapes, me. I get originals for around eqiv of 1.80-2.00 pounds vs. the 8 pounds equiv we have to pay for a miserable piece of plastic that costs Sony or someone mere pennies to produce! I understand they are even more expensive in UK.
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Just had 2,000km in a week with a Peugeot 307 fitted with the 2.0 HDI engine. It was the second time I had driven a hire 307 in France and I detest those wide and steeply raked screen pillars that block so much of the driver?s view when cornering on sharp bends on hilly roads. Spacewise it was fine and it went pretty well too although I did manage to stall the engine a few times at low speeds, probably because it?s a year or two since I had a regular diesel to drive. Range was very impressive with nearly 600 miles before I filled up and consumption varied from about 38 mpg to around 42 mpg on hilly cross-country roads with few motorway miles at all.
Overall, I found it rather dull although everything worked, bar the remote locking which may have been down to me. The aircon had only freeze settings, the steering wheel radio controls were handy, and any roughness in the engine disappeared not long after start-up. Back home though, it was joy though to get behind the wheel of SWMBO?s 14-year-old Honda Legend and enjoy the smoothness of the engine, truly comfortable leather seats, highly adjustable driving position, switches to hand, and variable climate control. It brought home that the 307 is worthy and economical but ultimately boring.
Likewise, the Renault Megane auto I hired in Glasgow the week before. It was effective for getting around but awfully slow and returned about 32 mpg from a 1.6 motor against 28 mpg for the Legend?s 2.9 V6 on similar non-motorway routes.
Best hire story? A 2CV I hired in Corsica was inadvertently piloted into a rock bending the front left chassis member so the front was hitting the ground on bumps. A very large boulder was liberated from a hotel car park and needed two of us to shove it into the boot raising the front end enough to drive it back to the airport rental site. I owned up to the accident but as I had full accident cover nobody looked at the car before my flight left. I still wonder how they got that rock out of the boot where it jammed completely solidly into the wheel well.
David
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Many moons ago my cousin hired a Ford Anglia and took it from Kent down to Cornwall.
He particularly liked the little green light that came on to tell him to change gear as the revs dropped on the hilly bits.
Until he realised it was the low oil pressure warning light.
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Just got back from a week in France; £151 got a week's hire of a 1.4 Megane, multiple airbags, trip computer, radio/single CD with steering wheel controls and very effective a/c. Drove well although not marvellous at overtaking and very economical about 33 litres for 500 miles. Not a bad car at all and very good value for the hire charge.
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