Car rental: what models are diesel?

Old Aug 16th, 2004, 09:27 AM
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Car rental: what models are diesel?

Given that diesel is 25% less than gasoline in France, I'd like to rent a diesel, but all the models are unfamiliar to me. What would I request (in a compact category, ideally)?
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 09:35 AM
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As diesel models tend to more expensive to buy than their petrol equivalents it is not often you find diesel vehicles for rent - the fact that the petrol is more expensive isn't something the hire company's tend to worry too much about.

I think you'll struggle to find a major hire company that rents diesels, that is unless you were looking to hire a transit van, which if there is just two of you may not be crazy suggestion (plenty of space).
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 09:38 AM
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For compact cars, try a Renault Megane or Citroen Xsara. The Renault Scenic is based on a Megane chassis, but is a bit bigger. If you want something larger, there is the Renault Laguna (about the size of a VW Passat). The Renault Clio is really a sub-compact. I think you can get all of these in diesel, which is what I normally rent.
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 09:39 AM
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You may need to move up in car class to get a diesel. The last two trips I've made to Europe I was given diesels without specifically asking - once a Peugeot station wagon and this last year a VW minivan. We were a group of 4 adults, so needed a larger vehicle. (Both were a joy to drive, by the way) From Avis at Lyon airport.
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 09:41 AM
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Sorry, laverendrye's post jogged my memory - it was the Renault Laguna that we rented, not the Peugeot. Great car.
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 09:52 AM
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In my experience a NON-diesel car is the exception, not the other way around. Every car I've rented in the past 10 years or so has been a diesel, whether I asked or not. That includes cars as small as a Clio or as large as a Renault Espace van.
I agree the Renault Laguna is a great car - but not the Laguna stationwagon model; that was hard to maneuver.
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 09:54 AM
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We usually lease a car. The last time we leased a diesel Peugeot 307 and drove a LOT over about 2 months, when I checked out the difference in what we paid for fuel, but took into account that the diesel car costs more to lease, I'm not sure that we didn't pretty much break even. Unless you are really doing a lot of driving, it isn't a major issue.
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 09:57 AM
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Petrol is so cheap in France anyway (not the 80+ pence a litre one pays in the UK) why worry what the car takes? Furthermore, automatic rental cars are very very rarely diesel. Diesel smells unpleasant when you fill the car, take a petrol engine - the far superior fuel.
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 10:02 AM
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How funny that m_kingdom thinks petrol is "cheap". It may be less than in the UK, but still about three times as expensive as it is in the US. Doesn't seem cheap to us.
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 10:20 AM
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Petrol is far more polluting than diesel. That is why those of us who have company cars and are taxed on the pollution our cars cause have switched to diesel. The new diesel engines developed by VW / Audi are fantastic. My 1.9 litre audi has 150 bhp, easily does 55 miles to the gallon and with the variable servicing I get up to 20K between services. For years I was so anti-diesel until I was forced to make the switch - now i'm a convert.

Just so glad that the car renters are doing the same.
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 12:39 PM
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I second Walter_Walltotti on this one. Even though I still prefer the sound of a regular petrol (gas) car, modern Diesel engines really provide some good fun driving.
Audi and VW in particular have great TDI engines. So you might ask for a VW Golf TDI. The 1.9 l TDI engine is the most demanded engine in that model, so it should be available in rental cars (as the rental companies have to sell their cars in comparatively short intervals).
French car maker Peugeot and its 307 (might be 309, too, not sure) also should be in the compact class with a Diesel engine available.
BTW, in Germany the Diesel price is up to € 1.01 per litre (eqalling roughly $ 4.00 per gallon) today .
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 12:47 PM
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We have a diesel Laguna. It runs fine, I wouldn't call it a "great" car, but it is serviceable. It's a good size for driving around Europe, not too small to feel cramped on long trips but not too big to maneuver village streets (we found it pretty challenging to wind our away around the tiny streets of Sancerre in a Laguna, but one of the Vacherons of the Vacheron vintners had no problem barrelling up and down the streets in Jeep Grand Cherokee).
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 12:52 PM
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>Petrol is far more polluting than diesel. <

So what's that black stuff coming out of the exhaust pipe - Oxygen?
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 01:48 PM
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<<So what's that black stuff coming out of the exhaust pipe - Oxygen?>>
Soot! Or black carbon. A diesel car may be less polluting in terms of CO2 but the exhaust of soot is much higher than from a petrol engine. Which is bad for the global warming of our mother earth. That's why, in Belgium, we pay an extra tax for our diesel cars (150% of the tax for petrol cars).
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 01:51 PM
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Patrick,

The Peugeot 307 is one of the cars we are considering for our next trip to France, but we have some concerns about the size of the trunk.

With your leasing experience do you know if the trunk of the 307 is capable of containing 2 suitcases size 70x47x27 with the back seat in the normal position? We are also looking at the Renault Scenic which seen to have a larger trunk.

Any comments?
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 02:04 PM
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We drove a VW Golf diesel last month in France and were pleased. I believe it is considered an intermediate. We originally had a VW Bora diesel which is considered full size but had to return it because the a/c didn't work. My husband prefered the Golf of the two. Both were manual transmission. We rented through auto europe who used Europecar as the local agent in France and we opted for all the additional coverage. When we presented our Am Ex card to the agent, she said we didn't need all of the additional coverage we had pre-purchased because of the Am Ex card and took it off. That was a first! We paid approx. $478 US fo 9 days with different pick-up/drop off points and were happy with what we received.
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 02:08 PM
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Forgot to add that the cost to fill the Golf with diesel ran about 45 euros a tank. Considering I spend that in the US for gasoline to fill up my tank, that was costly. on the other hand, we drove from Reims, Verdaun, Loire valley, brittany, Normandy and Picardy of 4 tanks of gas (including the fill-up before we turnedin the car).
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 08:02 PM
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We are leasing a Renault Kangoo because it is diesel, gets good gas mileage (we do a couple thousand kms/trip) AND for the trunk space. Can give a report on it mid-October. Don't know if that's too late to be of help!
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Old Aug 16th, 2004, 10:38 PM
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Jet29, the Renault Scenic will have more trunk room than the Peugeot 307. Both are nice cars. The Scenic will ride a little higher than the 307. Taxi drivers tell me that the new model Scenic has just a little less trunk room than the old version, but still big enough for two suitcases. They are both very popular cars in France (and Belgium). Renault actually is having a good year financially--their new Megane has been a big seller and the Scenic sells quite well, too.
FYI, back to the Laguna diesel, it costs about 40 euros to fill the tank and it lasts a good long while. I would guess we get over 30 mpg, at least for autoroute driving. When we move to the UK next month, we will probably trade in the Laguna for an Audi A6, but for now, we're satisfied with it.
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Old Aug 17th, 2004, 12:04 AM
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There are differences in diesel engines. Le Monde had an article which talked about proposed legislation to add a surtax for purchasing a polluting car which would be rebated to purchasers of cars with clean engines. The example used was the VW Touareg taxed at a maximum vs. the Peugeot 206 diesel with a maximum rebate. Trucks might be seen emitting black smoke in Europe, but the new cars rarely do, and I suspect that most visitors are not aware that at least 45% of the cars sold there are diesel. I estimate the break even point between the extra cost of the diesel lease and the lower cost of the fuel compared to gasoline cars to be at about 5000 km.
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