Underhill

We haven't had any trouble yet, Mimi, but then one of our French friends says Bob drives like a Frenchman. Which he does! I'd love to try a Deux Chebeaux, myself.

flygirl

Underhill - it's Deux Chevaux, as in Two Horses. Whether that originally meant it was a 2 HP engine is speculation. yipes!

I did learn however that that same 2CV was used as a basis for the ironclad Citroen suspension - the 2CVs had to have a strong enough suspension to go through the farmer's bumpy fields without breaking the eggs. so they used what they learned on their other vehicules! nifty huh.

now, ask me about the Elk Test.

rex

<<And how did you find that out, Rex?>>

Well, if you're asking if I ever made that mistake - - no.

But isn't it obvious? If a diesel nozzle is too big to fir into a gasoline tank, then clearly a gazoline nozzle will fit into the larger opening required for a diesel nozzle to fit into a diesel tank.

Forgive me if all this discussion of nozzles fitting into tanks is a little too eroto-suggestive for this family-rated web site.

Underhill

Yes, of course it's Deux Cheveaux. I must work on my proofreading. Two-hair-power would probably not be worth much.

hopingtotravel

For those of you who do rent the smaller cars in order to park/navigate, etc, the narrow roads--do you drive these same cars on the autoroute? I assume there are lots of trucks on the main highways. I guess I'm going to try to strike a happy medium.

walkinaround

hoping to travel...yes small cars are driven on the motorway and the country/village roads. any car offered by a major hire firm will be fine on the motorway. don't worry about the trucks...locals drive small cars and have no problem on the motorway

justretired

The Citroen "Deux Chevaux" (2CV&quot:

Cars were (and perhaps still are, I don't know) classified in ranges of horsepower for tax purposes. These ranges were numbered, so a car might fall into category 10, which was called "10 chevaux fiscaux" (literally, ten fiscal horses).

The Deux Chevaux fell into the 2 fiscal horsepower category, which meant that it was low-powered, but it certainly developed more than two horsepower. The reason the category was important is that it determined your taxes on the car - the higher the fiscal horsepower category, the more you paid. Citroen deliberately designed the 2CV to be inexpensive to buy and operate - it was sort of the Model T of France. It had straight sides, and a canvas top that rolled back like the top of a tin of sardines.

By the way, we found this week-old thread to be quite interesting when planning a car rental for our upcoming trip to Provence.

- Larry

Carmen

<<There's no way you could get regular and diesel fuel mixed up here, as the diesel gas nozzle won't fit into a regular car's tank.>>

That may be true - - but the converse is equally UNtrue. A gasoline nozzle WILL fit into the larger opening of a diesel tank.

Rex may not have learned the hard way, but my husband did (get your mind back out of the gutter, now). We stopped dead on the exit ramp on our way to Pont du Gard. We hiked to the toll booth, rode IN the car on back of a two truck, got souvenir hats from the mechanic and lost a day of sight-seeing. As CigaleChanta says, it makes a funny story now...

jengoestofrance

Underhill,

You mentioned that you rented a Renault Scenic on past trips. We have rented one through AutoEurope for our trip this summer.

We've rented it because we will be travelling with our bikes and were told the bikes would fit in the back - would you agree? (We take the front wheel off and lower the seat if necessary in Canada and they fit in the back of a Golf with the seats down).

Thanks!