Top Gear Driving Holiday

[djdowlz]

Hi everyone, my first post on finalgear.

I am interested in undertaking a 12 day "best of top gear" driving holiday during May 2007. So far, my vague route is looking to be:

Paris
Gorges du Tarn
Millau Bridge
Gorges du Verdon
Monaco
Turin
Geneva
Munich
Nurburgring
London

Can anyone suggest a car company that rents decent cars to under 25's (doesn't have to be located in Paris, as I'm flexible on my route)? I'm hoping I might be able to get something decent like a new 3 series. Any suggestions on other places to visit?

[MPowered]

Any of the major car rental companes, Hertz, Avis etc. should have 3-series cars to rent. Not sure how much it'll cost though. The German Avis site, http://www.avis.de rents out Audi RS4s and Porsche 911s for about 200 EUR a day. I imagine a 3-series is less than that.

You can also try European specific car rental companies like Sixt http://www.sixt.com and Europcar http://www.europcar.com, although I don't have any experience with them.

[Soundsession]

Wow, I didn't know, that you can rent Porsche 911 and Audi RS4 at avis
Thanks for the hint (although they want the driver to be at least 25 and have their license for 3 years)...

[bone]

last time i went to avis, the most exclusive thing they had ... was a 206

[MPowered]

Originally Posted by Soundsession

Wow, I didn't know, that you can rent Porsche 911 and Audi RS4 at avis
Thanks for the hint (although they want the driver to be at least 25 and have their license for 3 years)...

Check out this thread:

http://forums.finalgear.com/general-automotive/so-yesterday-i-rented-an-audi-rs4-16359/

[RomanF]

Originally Posted by djdowlz

Hi everyone, my first post on finalgear.

I am interested in undertaking a 12 day "best of top gear" driving holiday during May 2007. So far, my vague route is looking to be:

Paris
Gorges du Tarn
Millau Bridge
Gorges du Verdon
Monaco
Turin
Geneva
Munich
Nurburgring
London

Can anyone suggest a car company that rents decent cars to under 25's (doesn't have to be located in Paris, as I'm flexible on my route)? I'm hoping I might be able to get something decent like a new 3 series. Any suggestions on other places to visit?

that's a very good idea! my suggestion is to avoid Turin -- go for Alba and the Langhe region instead, they're truly wonderful... and i guess you could jump Munich as well. I would extend the trip to the Netherlands (remember the SLR race? Zuider zee is a beautiful place) and eventually approach even Sweden, through the Oresund tunnel/bridge. But only if you have more than 12 days, of course. The views you are going to get in France will be astonishing...
Oh, and don't forget to have a blast on those autobahns in Germany as well!

[Alok]

PM Klutch, I bet he knows how to get a GTI

[GraemeH]

If you're going to be in Geneva you might as well hit up Verbier to retrace the road up the mountain. If you look at the road itself in Autoroute or something similar, it sure looks fun.

As for renting, im not sure how European rental companies will be, but in the UK 9/10 companies refused to rent me anything, the 1 out of ten would only offer a Corsa or a Ka... And that's staying in the country. So good luck renting a decent car.

[jona]

if you want to rent car and your not over 25... they will charge you alot more than they say on their site... wanted to rent a car once and it was very very expensive... forgot the price...

[djdowlz]

Woohoo. I found a place that will rent us a BMW 325i. At an exorbitant price of course....

Verbier sounds like a great addition to our trip.

Day 1 Geneva to Montreux
Day 2 Montreux to Verbier to Montreux
Day 3 Montreux to Innsbruck
Day 4 Innsbruck (need to find out where exactly they did the BMW 335i release)
Day 5 Innsbruck to Munich (afternoon at BMW factory)
Day 6 Munich to Nurburgring
Day 7 Nurburgring
Day 8 Nurburgring to Paris
Day 9 Paris to Marseilles (via Millau)
Day 10 Marseilles to Monaco (via Gorges du Verdon)
Day 11 Monaco
Day 12 Monaco to Geneva

I am considering removing some of our alpine stage and heading up to Denmark.

[BlitzR]

You might want to check out the rental company's policy on driving on the ring or on track. Any way sounds like an awesome trip.

[M3lover]

Wauw, that will be alot of driving. Just out of curiosity, why Denmark? I must warn you our scenery is kinda, well, flat. Not that much to look at unless you love windmills. But the Copenhagen area can be interesting.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by RomanF

I would extend the trip to the Netherlands (remember the SLR race? Zuider zee is a beautiful place)

Zuiderzee, wait..what? That would be the reaction you'll get from 95% of the people on the streets here.

After the 'Afsluitdijk' was built in 1932, this large lake (it's pretty much isolated from the North Sea and 'Waddenzee', only 2-3 opening remains) was called the 'IJsselmeer'.

[D-Fence]

Driving in the Netherlands is a pain in the ass......at least when you come from Germany

Speed limits, and speedtraps EVERYWHERE! As well as they drive like complete rednecks....They are scared to overtake you at a reasonable speed because of the speedtraps so they just cut you...They never look in their rear view mirrors as well

If you drive in the summer, watch out @ the Nurburgring for closed track, VLN is racing @ some weekends and many companies rent it....

And a few driving tips from me:

a) when on country roads in Bavaria, BEWARE! Speed limit is 100km/h, but usually they bash along with ~150km/h (quite scary driving they have (and I drive scary (at least many people say it ^^)!))

b) When on the Autobahn, always remember: There is always an even faster maniac coming from behind. If you are not used to it you tempt to underestimate the speeds we are driving.....you look in the rear view mirror and think plenty of space and in the next second you see a guy flashing ~5m behind you...and think of the Rechtsfahrgebot - always use the rightest possible lane (it´s for your own safety ^^)

c) Speed limits are meant to mean "100kmh +x ^^

[RomanF]

Originally Posted by Derek

Zuiderzee, wait..what? That would be the reaction you'll get from 95% of the people on the streets here.

After the 'Afsluitdijk' was built in 1932, this large lake (it's pretty much isolated from the North Sea and 'Waddenzee', only 2-3 opening remains) was called the 'IJsselmeer'.

uhm, yes.... i meant Afsluitdijk, of course! i checked some facts about this dyke on wikipedia but forgot the name.... 8)

[klutch]

Out of curiosity, who's going to rent you the 325? I did a lot of research for this before I did my trip, ended up renting two cars. Prices are going to be high for a 12 day tour, especially if they only offer limited KM's. They might say you can rent the 325 online, but I'd call ahead and confirm that so you don't end up with a Fiesta once they double check the insurance and find out you're restricted to sub-compacts. That Bimmer is going to cost you an arm and a leg too - under-25 surcharge is around $30 CAD a day with most of the agencies, and for the BMW, you're going to have to buy insurance, another $30 (or more for a "luxury") per day on top of that. Hope you've got some serious coin for this; I wouldn't expect to pay less than $3500-4000 (for the car and gas alone) for a 13 day roadtrip. Certainly worth it though, if you don't mind paying.
Most rental companies will specify whether you can pick up the car in one place and drop it in another; doing this between countries becomes difficult, especially when you consider renting to/from the UK - generally, they don't allow it.
Be careful on the racetracks though...no matter what anyone tells you, NO rental company will cover you if you stuff it on the 'ring. And yes, it is very dangerous; even on the mid-December day when I went, with very little traffic, there were 3 crashes.

[djdowlz]

Might give Holland a pass, as I've read in number of places that they have one of the world's highest density of speed detectors.

Thanks for the tips on the Nurburgring. Does anyone know if it's classified as a public or private road or racing track? I'm trying to look through my rental policy to find whether or not I'd be covered. May need to look at a day hire option at the Nurburgring.

The hire rate is EUR175/day + EUR0.9/km over 250km. It's going to be a pricey trip, but worth it! The insurance excess is EUR6500 by the way - ouch! Perhaps I should try what the Top Gear boys did in the latest episode and just buy a car.

[Cobol74]

It is most unlikely that they will permit you to track day their BMW - but good luck may be lucky.

[vRS]

Check here for rental cars on the Nurburgring dos and dont's.
http://nurburgring.org.uk/

[teeb]

Originally Posted by djdowlz

Thanks for the tips on the Nurburgring. Does anyone know if it's classified as a public or private road or racing track? I'm trying to look through my rental policy to find whether or not I'd be covered. May need to look at a day hire option at the Nurburgring.

From what I recall, having read Ben Lovejoy's site, unless your insurance small print specifically excludes the Nurburgring (or some wording like "private toll road"), then you are ok; but don't ring up and ask, as that just means they will exclude it in the future.

On the flip side, several people have been banned from ever renting Hertz or some other rental car company after being spotted lugging their rental car around the 'ring. And some people have crashed at the 'Ring, driven off the circuit, and said they crashed on a nearby road. Ahem

Perhaps you could consider renting a 'Ring toy for the day? Odds are, since it's specialised, it'd be a good laugh on the 'Ring, and there'd be less fuss about using it. list of Ring toy car hires.

edit - actually, read the link there anywho. It seems that since I last read it that car insurance firms have toughened up.