What car did you hire today?

[Stephenite]

When hiring a car in Norway (or anywhere cold) make sure it's petrol (bensin) and not diesel. Two reasons: you turn on a petrol car, and turn on the heater and it will almost straight away blast warm air about the coupe; turn on the diesel and you will have to wait twenty minutes before any air blown in your direction is about ambient temperature. Reason number two: In Norway the local Green party have taken control of the council (Oslo) and want to ban diesel vehicles from the city. Five years ago the Labour Party were in charge and encouraged everyone to buy Diesel vehicles. Cars in Norway are, perhaps, the most expensive on earth on a normal day. Bugger it, hire a bike. One of mine.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Today's car waiting for me in Zurich ....

All for the price of a Focus .... I'm a very good customer .....

 

[fossyant]

Today's car waiting for me in Zurich ....

View attachment 117672

All for the price of a Focus .... I'm a very good customer .....

Any good !?

 

[DaveReading]

Had an Astra too at the weekend, 15 plate. Couldn't believe how huge the front corner door pillar was, amazed I managed to avoid hitting anything.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Any good !?

Well yes and no. It's very accomplished, but so is the new Passat at a fraction of the cost. It's bloody huge too and the hotel had to find me a special parking place. This is Switzerland so it's performance is unusable. Ultimately it's just a bit flash and boring. A luxobarge.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I'm riding a Mercedes wave at the moment. Picked up this little beauty in Paris yesterday E220, waaaay better than the S class. In fact a car I would quite like to own .... I just can't justify one, the Dacia is just fine for my needs.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

[QUOTE 4107320, member: 45"]65 plate Astra.

Very comfortable bucket seats.

Incredibly underpowered. Dropped right off on hills in 5th with cruise on on the motorway.

Power steering a bit hard.

Rear view too small.[/QUOTE]

My mother's got one
It's the 3-cylinder version, thus it sounds absolutely terrible, & as you say, very underpowered - it wouldn't pull a (small) Dog away from a lamp-post
Driving position is all wrong for me, as I drive quite upright, no 'laying down', looking through the steering wheel, but then the lumbar support is wrong, & the head-restraint pushes my head slightly forward

And, as you say, rear visibility is atrocious

Her 1997 (mark 1?) Corsa that preceded it was better in all aspects

 

[Markymark]

He dropped me off at the heliport and it's a short walk from my helipad to Chateau Vernon but Fenton insisted on ferrying me in the Morgan that he uses as a runabout.

You still go to places? How quaint. I have everything come to me.

 

[Fab Foodie]

[QUOTE 4139004, member: 45"]I'm in the wrong job. I went to pick up a car once and they congratulated me that I'd been given a free upgrade because the (horrible, horrible. current) Micra was automatic.[/QUOTE]
Ha!
Do you have a Gold card or similar for your hire company? That helps. I find it also varies from country to country and a bit of luck thrown in!
But I also hire a lot of cars in a year and that certainly helps.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

When hiring a car in Norway (or anywhere cold) make sure it's petrol (bensin) and not diesel. Two reasons: you turn on a petrol car, and turn on the heater and it will almost straight away blast warm air about the coupe; turn on the diesel and you will have to wait twenty minutes before any air blown in your direction is about ambient temperature. Reason number two: In Norway the local Green party have taken control of the council (Oslo) and want to ban diesel vehicles from the city. Five years ago the Labour Party were in charge and encouraged everyone to buy Diesel vehicles. Cars in Norway are, perhaps, the most expensive on earth on a normal day. Bugger it, hire a bike. One of mine.

Do you have a 'no-idling' rule in Norway?

 

[gavintc]

65 plate corsa. Seemed OK, but only a 1 HR drive each way to my meeting. Cruised at the legal speed, connected Bluetooth, hot seats, radio was reasonable. In sum, better than I expected for a base car.

 

[Stephenite]

Do you have a 'no-idling' rule in Norway?

Yes. Not allowed in built-up areas. Not even whilst scraping the windscreen, apparently. Paragraph 16 of the 'trafikkregler'.

 

[subaqua]

I bet nobody has admitted to Hiring a Volvo XC60 ..........

 

[Fab Foodie]

I bet nobody has admitted to Hiring a Volvo XC60 ..........

Not quite ... but I have had a Jeep Renegade and a Disco Sport recently ....

 

[Fab Foodie]

Today's good fortune was a rather sweet A3 Sportline ....