[hunginator]

Hello,

My two good friends and I are planning a trip to Europe this September. We'll probably be there for around 1-2 weeks.

The goal of this trip is for us to each rent a fun car (BMW M2, Porsche, etc.) and complete some EPIC drives throughout Europe.

Has anyone done this before? If so, can you please give me some tips on trip planning - rental car agency to deal with, routes, etc.?

Thanks!

[M4_GTS]

Sixt or Europcar got high end cars for rent.

[Red Bread]

Yep, Sixt is who I used to rent a Cayman S. Worth noting that if you're going to be on the Autobahn, most BMWs and MBs are governed to 250kph or 155mph, while Porsches aren't. You'll come across many quicker cars than a Cayman S, but being able to pass them because they're governed is pretty fun. Provided you do some longer trips trough less congested areas and can stretch it out.

[hunginator]

Great info! Thanks for the tips.

What about route planning? Any tips there?

[Dackelone]

Sixt and Europcar are the big rental companies. Avis and Budget to a lesser extent. At the Frankfurt or Munich airports you can rent just about anything cool and fast. You just have to be over 25 years old and have a cc.

https://www.sixt.com/car-rental/Germany

https://www.europcar.com/location/germany

https://www.avis.com/en/locations/de

https://www.budget.com/en/home


http://www.autoeurope.eu/luxury.cfm

[FD3S]

If you looking up to the level of Cayman you can rent it from these kind of companies that the guys mentioned above. If you are looking to rent something more exotic you have to search for more exclusive companies. If you could tell us which countries are you planning to visit, we could help you more specifically.

Avoid Switzerland if you are planning to go fast, they have speed cameras everywhere and they fines are ridiculous.

[hunginator]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

Sixt and Europcar are the big rental companies. Avis and Budget to a lesser extent. At the Frankfurt or Munich airports you can rent just about anything cool and fast. You just have to be over 25 years old and have a cc.

https://www.sixt.com/car-rental/Germany

https://www.europcar.com/location/germany

https://www.avis.com/en/locations/de

https://www.budget.com/en/home


http://www.autoeurope.eu/luxury.cfm

Thanks for the info. Do you know if it's more expensive just by renting from airport location or does it even make a difference? If it's cheaper to rent from an agency located outside of airport premises, I'm sure that I could do that too.

Originally Posted by FD3S

If you looking up to the level of Cayman you can rent it from these kind of companies that the guys mentioned above. If you are looking to rent something more exotic you have to search for more exclusive companies. If you could tell us which countries are you planning to visit, we could help you more specifically.

Avoid Switzerland if you are planning to go fast, they have speed cameras everywhere and they fines are ridiculous.

We haven't decided on which countries we plan to visit yet. We're only in the preliminary stages!

However, will definitely note down that Switzerland is bad for speeding!!!

[Don Molina]

Hertz in Switzerland will rent you stuff like i8, F-Type R, Maserati GranCabrio, and recently the Giulia QV.

Regarding speeding in Switzerland, it's generally a no-go. You can do it if you know when and where, and if you've made recon drives to make sure no cameras (mo-fos move them around all the time).

Swiss autobahns don't even think about it, but other roads are doable. The problem is the country is quite small so when you're in an A or B road, villages are quite close together, so even if you find nice and safe stretches of road it's only very few Km before you hit the next village.


That's why I go to Schwarzwald to have fun

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by hunginator

Thanks for the info. Do you know if it's more expensive just by renting from airport location or does it even make a difference? If it's cheaper to rent from an agency located outside of airport premises, I'm sure that I could do that too.

Yes, when you rent from any airport or trainstation location... you will pay 20% more "fee". But these are mostly the only places you will find the "nice cars" at. So your stuck. Maybe you can get a "city location" to order you a special car to rent... but I think that will be hard to do.

Also... when you rent for say two or three weeks... your daily rental fee will be quite low as compared to renting a car for say a week. By a lot! So even IF you only need a car for a short time... I always rent the car for three weeks... and then return the car early. Normally you have to keep the car for three or four days minimum, then each day after that is only a few euros until the end of the rental contract.

Switzerland is nice to visit... but I always prefer to stay/sleep in Italy or France or Austria for the night. The Swiss are crazy about catching & fining speeders. Last week I saw that a guy from Munich drove 200 kph in a 120 kph tunnel.... then afterwards drove 280 in a 120 autobahn area... the Swiss TOOK his car and gave him 30 months in prison!! (Well this guy was too extreme case). IF the Swiss Polizei catch you speeding more than +40kph... they can TAKE your car, for good! And the fines are rediculous. Even speeding a few kph(less than +5 kph) will cost you 140 euros in most cases.

The speed limit is 120 on the Swiss Autobahns and 80kph in most autobahn tunnels. The speed limit is constantly changing up/down when you go hru a tunnel. And on the back roads... the max speed limit is only 80 kph.

Switzerland(CH)...

[hunginator]

Originally Posted by Don Molina

Hertz in Switzerland will rent you stuff like i8, F-Type R, Maserati GranCabrio, and recently the Giulia QV.

Regarding speeding in Switzerland, it's generally a no-go. You can do it if you know when and where, and if you've made recon drives to make sure no cameras (mo-fos move them around all the time).

Swiss autobahns don't even think about it, but other roads are doable. The problem is the country is quite small so when you're in an A or B road, villages are quite close together, so even if you find nice and safe stretches of road it's only very few Km before you hit the next village.


That's why I go to Schwarzwald to have fun

What do you mean by A and B roads? I don't think that is terminology we use in North America. Sorry for my ignorance!

Originally Posted by Dackelone

Yes, when you rent from any airport or trainstation location... you will pay 20% more "fee". But these are mostly the only places you will find the "nice cars" at. So your stuck. Maybe you can get a "city location" to order you a special car to rent... but I think that will be hard to do.

Also... when you rent for say two or three weeks... your daily rental fee will be quite low as compared to renting a car for say a week. By a lot! So even IF you only need a car for a short time... I always rent the car for three weeks... and then return the car early. Normally you have to keep the car for three or four days minimum, then each day after that is only a few euros until the end of the rental contract.

Switzerland is nice to visit... but I always prefer to stay/sleep in Italy or France or Austria for the night. The Swiss are crazy about catching & fining speeders. Last week I saw that a guy from Munich drove 200 kph in a 120 kph tunnel.... then afterwards drove 280 in a 120 autobahn area... the Swiss TOOK his car and gave him 30 months in prison!! (Well this guy was too extreme case). IF the Swiss Polizei catch you speeding more than +40kph... they can TAKE your car, for good! And the fines are rediculous. Even speeding a few kph(less than +5 kph) will cost you 140 euros in most cases.

The speed limit is 120 on the Swiss Autobahns and 80kph in most autobahn tunnels. The speed limit is constantly changing up/down when you go hru a tunnel. And on the back roads... the max speed limit is only 80 kph.

Switzerland(CH)...
Attachment 1621424

Wow! Sounds like they really are crazy with speeding over there. I would be scared that I'm speeding without even knowing if I'm not always paying attention to the posted speed limits!!!

[BEM-S4]

Be careful about speeding. Buddy got a $500 ticket the other day in Norway for 10 miles over posted limit. They are VERY harsh on any kind of driving infractions. DUI forget about it some countries will literally seize your car and take you to jail.

[Red Bread]

Yeah, and remember that Germany has speed cameras in cities and restricted areas of the Autobahn. They get charged directly to the credit card that you rent the car with. I got a pretty good one in Stuttgart, flashed bright as the sun and nearly caused me to hit the guardrail.

A friend got a 3k Euro ticket in Switzerland doing 200kph in a 120 zone. Also worth noting that petrol and diesel are much more expensive in CH than the EU. Fill up before crossing the border.

[FD3S]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

Yes, when you rent from any airport or trainstation location... you will pay 20% more "fee". But these are mostly the only places you will find the "nice cars" at. So your stuck. Maybe you can get a "city location" to order you a special car to rent... but I think that will be hard to do.

Also... when you rent for say two or three weeks... your daily rental fee will be quite low as compared to renting a car for say a week. By a lot! So even IF you only need a car for a short time... I always rent the car for three weeks... and then return the car early. Normally you have to keep the car for three or four days minimum, then each day after that is only a few euros until the end of the rental contract.

Switzerland is nice to visit... but I always prefer to stay/sleep in Italy or France or Austria for the night. The Swiss are crazy about catching & fining speeders. Last week I saw that a guy from Munich drove 200 kph in a 120 kph tunnel.... then afterwards drove 280 in a 120 autobahn area... the Swiss TOOK his car and gave him 30 months in prison!! (Well this guy was too extreme case). IF the Swiss Polizei catch you speeding more than +40kph... they can TAKE your car, for good! And the fines are rediculous. Even speeding a few kph(less than +5 kph) will cost you 140 euros in most cases.

The speed limit is 120 on the Swiss Autobahns and 80kph in most autobahn tunnels. The speed limit is constantly changing up/down when you go hru a tunnel. And on the back roads... the max speed limit is only 80 kph.

Switzerland(CH)...
Attachment 1621424

Last week they sent me 3 couriers that next time I if I do not pay the fine I will go in jail for 1 day for every ticket. All the tickets are in the range of +3 km to +15. The fines also ridiculous expensive... The rental company's charge you 35 euros for every ticket they have to send your data to the police. So 10 tickets is 350. Anyway driving in Switzerland can be a very expensive sport.

In your case I would do all the coastal line of Mediterranean sea or a specific part of it. For example Portugal, Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Greece. You can choose.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by hunginator

What do you mean by A and B roads? I don't think that is terminology we use in North America. Sorry for my ignorance!

^^I think this is a British term. A roads for nice smooth back country roads. And B roads for really poor, neglected paved country roads.

Here in Germany we have:

Autobahn = Autobahn (mostly no speed limit, although a 130 kph is recommended)Road signs are Blue.
Schnellstraße = looks like a Autobahn, but has a speed limit of 120 kph) Road signs are Blue. This road has a car in the sign/icon.

Bundesstraße = country back roads, speed limit is 100 kph. Road signs are in Yellow.

We also have "state roads" which look just like a Bundesstraße and have the same speed limit/100 kph.

Germany...


other lands...




Schnellstraße sign... telling you the speed limit is only 120 kph in Germany.

Wow! Sounds like they really are crazy with speeding over there. I would be scared that I'm speeding without even knowing if I'm not always paying attention to the posted speed limits!!!

The Swiss don't mess around!! Everything is expensive there. It's a nice place to visit... but I always try to stay out of the country - when I have to spend money on gas, food or hotels. But sometimes you can't do that. I'd still encourage you to explore Switzerland.

To give you an example... a 0.5 liter bottle of Coke will cost you around 5 euros in Swiss. A doner kabob in Geneva will set you back 20 euros. In Germany a Coke costs 1.60 euros on the Autobahn or gas station. A Doner kabob costs 4 euros. It's like this for just about everything in Switzerland.

I think Switzerland and the Nordic(Denmark, Sweden) countries are the worst for speeding fines. Germany is quite tolerant of speeding. Normally the German Autobahnpolizei will not bother you unless you are driving more than +30 kph over the posted limit. I try to drive not more than +20 kph - because you will get FLASHED(Blitz'd) by a camera. The fine for driving less than +20 kph over the limit on the Autobahn is in the 10 to 30 euro range. Over 21 kph, and the fines go up to 70 euros.

https://www.bussgeldkatalog.org/gesc...berschreitung/


AND everyone should know when you enter a construction zone on an Autobahn or when two Autobahns intersect... there is ALWAYS a reduced speed limit AND ALWAYS cameras there.

When you enter a Germany city of village... that cute yellow sign telling you the name of the city... is ALSO telling you the speed limit of 50 kph now begins. (unless otherwise posted). When you see the red diagonal line telling you you are leaving that city/village... it is also telling you the speed limit is now 100 kph (unless otherwise posted).

See my post #6 here in this thread...

Places to visit near Munich while on ED...
http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1170588


Also for more of what the Blitzer's look like in Germany... take a look at this thread. Those Germans are crafty people.

Achtung! Polizei...
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7053631




And for your viewing pleasure...

Btw... Italy is very friendly to drive fast in. I've never gotten a ticket there... but they do have up to ONE YEAR to send you your infraction!! I do love Italy. Well... Northern Italy and the Tirol area of Austria/Italy. You just have to watch your speed in the cities... bc they have those orange speed camera boxes and they move them around. It also helps to have a Blitzer app on your handy/cell phone or GPS Navi - even though its not allowed.


.

[hunginator]

Love all your replies! Minimizes the amount of research I need to do. Thank you so much - very appreciated!

What do you guys suggest for season/months to visit with good driving weather in mind? My friends and I are currently thinking about September but we're open to going any other time especially if you believe there's a better time to do this type of trip.

[FD3S]

September is the best month. The seas have the highest temperature and the weather is not cold but not too warm too. The best things with September is that nothing is overcrowded and you can have much much better prices...

[M-Sport Wagon Funnnnnnnnn]

I'm going to post what no one else has yet... rent the most awesome car you want for a drive on the Nurburgring. http://www.nuerburgring.de/en/drives...r-rentals.html

I just did it with my F31 and can only imagine what it would be like in a Porsche or Ferrari or something like that.

Make it a part of your trip to Germany if you are a fan of cars.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by M-Sport Wagon Funnnnnnnnn

I'm going to post what no one else has yet... rent the most awesome car you want for a drive on the Nurburgring. http://www.nuerburgring.de/en/drives...r-rentals.html

I just did it with my F31 and can only imagine what it would be like in a Porsche or Ferrari or something like that.

Make it a part of your trip to Germany if you are a fan of cars.

^^Good point!

I think I would visit Misha Charoudin aka Boosted Boris at APEX Nuerburg. They are opening a new Ring rental place and have some nice cars. They also have the cheapest Ring rental which is a VW Polo for 45 euros. But they also have nice cars like a M2 and McLaren 650GT. Apex will also have a hotel and hang out area for any 'Ring freaks in the area of Nurburg.

rental rates...
http://www.apex-nuerburg.com/wp-cont...Car-Rental.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/m.g.charoudin


@07:52 Misha talks about their two new Polos ring rentals.

[M-Sport Wagon Funnnnnnnnn]

Not sure there is a replacement for the Nurburgring. Again, make the sacrifice in your schedule to do it. A Polo rental? Fun, maybe. Memorable, not a chance.

[Housekeeping]

SixT

[Jbrown7403]

Just rented from Sixt for 9 days in September (Germany, Austria and Italy) and they were great. Did a BMW 320d Touring and it was beyond perfect for 4 adults and lots of luggage. Very peppy even when fully loaded and the MPG was ~ 50.0!

[chassis]

Agree on Sixt. Rented a 540d Touring in Germany, Austria, Italy and Slovenia last year with four adults and full load of luggage. It was a great car with more than reasonable performance with a full load of passengers and luggage.