Our travel agent Pam told me of a little car called a SMART car That I should look into for driving around the countryside for a few hour ourside of Paris. Do you knoe any place that rents them and have you ever driven one? Thank you

Mr.Dreamer,

this is the smart (lower case)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_%28automobile%29

Thank you but it doesn't say where to rent one around Paris? Have you ever seen a rental site?

>Thank you but it doesn't say where to rent one around Paris? Have you ever seen a rental site?

Can't help with that, sorry - I very rarely rent cars, and certainly not in Paris.
Have a look at http://www.sixti.com/cgi-perl/rental/el

They have pick-up places in France too...

There have been some mixed reviews about Sixt on TripAdvisor.

You can definitely get a smartcar if you use the rental wholesaler autoeurope.com or its sister company kemwel.com

If both of those fail then europcar.com would probably have yone but you'll probably get better rates if you use Autoeurope or Kemwel

It is a very small vehicle for urban use. If you're driving around the countryside, there's no reason not to get a larger, safer vehicle. And I would not drive one onto an autoroute (freeway).

Mr_Dreamer....smart cars are useful for city use where parking is difficult. I would not wish to drive one in the countryside. I hope your trip is a safe one but if one should have an accident and intermediate car would provide more protection.

Thank you all for the information. I am looking into renting a car for a few hours just to see the outskirts of Paris but my wife says "don't even think about it mister!"

We rented a Smart Car several years ago and liked it very much. Picked it up in Avignon and left it at CDG three weeks later. However, at that time, the instructions were only in German and I think we never did find one of the gears! I'd check to make sure they have English directions by now. We liked it a lot for driving in the countryside, and I think we rented it from Europcar.

>Thank you all for the information. I am looking into renting a car for a few hours just to see the outskirts of Paris but my wife says "don't even think about it mister!"

The outskirts of Paris, at least the areas that the Parisians themselves visit for recreation, are well connected by public transportation. If your bad luck in driving stays with you and you drive into the "bad" suburbs at the wrong time (some confrontation with the police again) you might have an explaining to do afterwards where all these scratches and dents come from.

As a follow-on. I am certain your TA is trying to be helpful but I suspect she has never driven a smartcar, much less in the suburbs of Paris.

I agree totally with Altamiro's assessment. And it may be time for you to do some further, beyond the TA, researcxh as to which suburbs would be of interest.

If you would like to do a real daytrip you might consider taking a train to somewhere like Chartres or even into the Loire Valley to visit one of the many chateaux there. An alternative to those would be to take a trip out to the Melun area for the Vaux le Vicomte chateau which served as the prototype for the larger Versailles.

I don't think that any of the major companies rent the Smart. However some of the off-brands that you can find on the internet do.

Interestingly enough, all of the Smarts on the road are built in France, in the village of Hambach.

There are several models of Smart - everyone is talking about the most popular one, the tiny fortwo, which is the ideal city car. You will see a lot of them on the streets of Paris. There is also a larger, four-seater, four-door smart called the forfour, which is an absolutely safe, comfortable car for city or country driving. I leased one here in Germany for the past year and absolutely loved it. It was just the right size for the roads here (it's the same size as a Mini Cooper).

With that said, I wouldn't suggest renting a car to drive around for a few hours outside Paris for first-time European travelers. If you have a specific destination in mind, you can probably use public transportation to get there.

Hi MD,

>...I am looking into renting a car for a few hours just to see the outskirts of Paris but my wife says "don't even think about it mister!"<

Your wife is very wise.

You should listen to her more often.

But the outskirts do have a number of attractions... Versailles, Malmaison, Fontainebleau, Auvers-sur-Oise, Moret-sur-Loing or even the thermal spa and casino just 10 km out of town, Enghien-les-Bains.

Thanks everyboody for the advice and information. Linda (My wife) said if I rent a car she hopes I have fun driving around in it by myself! needless to say, I won't be renting.

Am I missing something, or did Mr Dreamer just morph into Vacationwannabe?

hmmmm...

I was just thinking the same thing!

AND a quick search on vacationwannabe reveals that they've posted very similar questions to those that Mr Dreamer has posted - about American brand alcohol & cigarettes. INTERESTING!!!

There are 3 models of SMART car. The 4Two, 4Four and a very small 2 seater sportscar-like convertible roadster. You need to ask your travel agent which one. Most people think of the 4Two when they think of SMART car and the 4Two would be marginal for several hours of driving in the countryside, but by no means in the "don't think about catagory." Some might find it fun. I have rented both the 4Four, which is four passenger as the name implies. It is small but by no means too small. Four of us drove the Amalfi coast in one and it was smooth and comfortable. We all felt it too be a pleasant little car - too bad they are ending its production. I also rented the sportscar model in Germany and it was a blast but beware that luggage space is extremely limited. Two average sized backpacks would not fit in what is laughingly called a trunk. Maybe one gym bag might fit.

Cailin, I wonder does he live in Silver Lakes Texas or Pea Ridge Arkansas?

I really dislike feeling like we've been duped. Fodors is such a wonderful resource and it's a shame when posters play such games.