Auto fuel
 

I will be traveling to Germany and France and renting a manual car. I was wondering is it better to get a car for diesel fuel or car for regular gas. I've heard diesel is much cheaper. Also do you recommend train pass or renting a car for general touring. I know the trains are great but what do you do when you get off, you'd be restricted to the local area.

Missy, <BR>my wife and have recently returned from 5 weeks driving through Germany and France. <BR>Being Australians, we were unfamiliar with using diesel fuel as here it is only used for large trucks. <BR>Diesel or Gazoil as it is known in Europe was an absolute winner. Its 2/3 the price of regular gas and available at evey fuel stop we encountered. <BR>Apart from a little "engine rattle" when cold, we didn't notice any lack of performance compared to the petrol cars that we are used to. Despite being a little unsure of driving vs trains, in hindsight, we wouldn't have travelled any other way. We didn't need to rely on timetables or set routes and B&B or Farmstay accomodation was a lot cheaper and more character-filled a few miles out of town. <BR>regards <BR>Steve

Missy, <BR>Diesel is significantly cheaper in two ways - less cost per liter, more miles per liter. I'm not sure what you mean by "general touring" in trying to evaluate auto travel versus train. If your intent is to travel from city to city exclusively, use the train. If your intent is to mix cities with rural areas or small towns, rent the auto, but don't drive in or stay in large cities; their usually narrow streets, heavy traffic and limited parking spaces make city driving <BR>difficult. Drive to the suburbs and find accommodations there (usually far more cheaply than within the city), then use public transportation to get into the cities for sight seeing. Savings in accommodations will offset the cost of public transportation. <BR> <BR>Where, specifically, in Germany and France do you plan to travel?

Thank you Steve and Wes for your info on diesel gas. I am flying into Frankfurt and spending 5 days in that area then driving to Tours through Alsace Burgandy area and spending a few nights in Tours and then 3nts Paris. I am not much of a city person so want to see the countryside, chateaus, vineyards etc. I like biking and hiking did you do any?

It sounds like it might be a good idea to turn the car in at Tours, then take the high speed (TGV) train into Paris. Our diesel Ford does not have quite as much pick-up as a gasoline-powered car, but it does the top legal speed limit on the French autoroutes (130 kph!) easily.