Pick a car!

[bhafc99]

In a fortnight I'm taking the girlfriend for a romantic weekend. It's all planned - swish hotel, flights etc, and now I want to hire a good car. However the choices from the hire company are a bit random, so to pass a Friday afternoon, please can NSC help me decide...

 

[Gully]

Go for the Range Rover, it is hardly a car that could label you as common, more of a statement of taste. The other three suggest geek, chav and tosser respectively. Mind you the choice is yours at the end of the day, how much do you want to impress her?

 

[eastlondonseagull]

I've driven the Impreza, 130mph on the M6 - it's certainly a thrill! Depends whether she'd prefer it long and slow or a quickie

 

[surrey jim]

Def go for the Subura Impreza.

they are so fun to drive

 

[aftershavedave]

the bmw....tell her that like the car you'll promise a firm ride

 

[Father Jack]

Range rover

 

[Vankleek Hill Seagull]

Chrysler 300C for me.

I hired one for a week over here last year, and it was superb.

It's an understated motor until you look under the bonnet at the 5.7 V8 Hemi, has plenty of room in the back (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) and the interior oozes class.

I think the other three motors would show you to be either a boy racer (Impreza), a ponce (BMW Z4) or a posh snob (Range Rover).

 

[bhaexpress]

Subaru for me, best of all worlds.

 

[Man of Harveys]

The Beamer, every time.

 

[Tooting Gull]

I hope you have better luck than my overseas car hire experience. I tried to hire a Chrysler Sebring convertible for a special holiday in the US last year. It had been booked over the internet for weeks, to be picked up at San Francisco airport.

When I got there, they said it was Father's Day weekend, a lot of people just hadn't brought them back, and had decided to keep them for a few extra days over and above the contract.

I 'politely' enquired why my booking, which was in completely in order, suffered as a result of some other people just not returning theirs, but they didn't see why that was a problem at all, which surprised me in the States. There weren't even any penalty clauses for doing that, just tough on other bookings.

I had to take something else with a hefty discount after a big argument, but if you're pushing the boat out to get something really nice for a one-off, it might be worth getting some guarantees about availability.

 

[Loft23]

Range Rover.

 

[bhafc99]

I hope you have better luck than my overseas car hire experience. ... might be worth getting some guarantees about availability.

It's Scotland, so technically not overseas, but definitely another world.

I've made very sure about availability. I quite fancied their Saab 9-3 convertible, but that wasn't available so they've offered me these four instead.

 

[Starry]

We have a Z4. And love it.

We had a range rover but it was the worst contraption we have ever owned.

 

[bhafc99]

Oh dear, this poll is becoming a dead heat which isn't helping me much!

 

[Gully]

Tooting, a couple of years ago I booked a car online for collection at Stanstead Airport. The car that I thought that I had booked was a golf, at the time I was thinking of buying one and just wanted to drive one around for a long weekend to see what they were like. On arrival at the airport I was informed that my car was in fact a Skoda Fabia, a good car maybe, but hardly the same as a golf. I explained to the very nice lady my reasoning behind reserving a golf, etc, etc, she then offered me a Rover 25 as an alternative. Remaining polite I told her that there was no way on Earth I would buy a Rover and would rather not drive one. She then suggested that I upgrade to the next group and offered me....yes you have guessed it, a Rover 45!

In the end I voluntarily upgraded at a price to a VW Passat, have to say it was an excellent car and contributed to a pleasurable stay in the Fatherland, I now have Golf so the Passat made a decent impression on me. I guess this just shows that if you order something over the internet you never know what you will get....now where did I put the web-address for Thai Brides?

 

[dougdeep]

None of the above.

 

[eastlondonseagull]

I hope you have better luck than my overseas car hire experience. I tried to hire a Chrysler Sebring convertible for a special holiday in the US last year. It had been booked over the internet for weeks, to be picked up at San Francisco airport.

I hired one of them for a week a few years back to do the San Fran - LA Pacific Highway. f***ing ace time, returned home with a one-sided sun-tan. The nicest convertible I've ever driven

 

[Tooting Gull]

I hired one of them for a week a few years back to do the San Fran - LA Pacific Highway. f***ing ace time, returned home with a one-sided sun-tan. The nicest convertible I've ever driven

Yeah, cheers mate, I feel a whole lot better now...

 

[bhaexpress]

I hired one of them for a week a few years back to do the San Fran - LA Pacific Highway. f***ing ace time, returned home with a one-sided sun-tan. The nicest convertible I've ever driven

I had its predecessor in the US which was a Chrysler LeBaron. The only good tging about it was the Mitsubishi drive train (a 3 litre V6) which made it pretty rapid. True to form the rest of the car was rubbish as it maintaind the Americans reputation for poor build quality.

I hired through the internet a Chrysler Sebring from Enterprise at Toronto airport. Having hired the same vehicle in Chattanooga I was less than impressed when I got there to find that they not only didn't have one but they were only able to offer me a poor little 4 cylinder Dodge Stratos. The bloke thought my annoyance was funny and was quite shocked when I flipped his desk over !

Needless to say I would not recomment them but would swear by Thrifty who are not only cheaper than anybody else but also a damn sight more helpful.

 

[B.M.F]

Don't go for the Impreza unless the missus is a metal head. If not she will just think you are as you say, a boy racer. As you are going to Scotland I would go Range Rover matey