My husband and I are going to Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 3 weeks and have an Opel Corsa booked through Auto Europe. We will be driving through the Bavarian Alps (we will be based in Berchtesgaden for the majority of the time) and then heading over to Appenzell before flying home. I just read another post about driving through the Austrian Alps and having problems with the car. Will the Opel Corsa be okay to drive through the mountains or will we need something with a better engine? The Opel Corsa is obviously cheaper than some of their other models but I don't want to have problems while we are there. Any advice or suggestions?

Thanks!
Tracy

Hi tc,
The Corsa comes with 1.0 and 1.4 litre engines.

I would be concerned with mountain driving with less than 1.3 L.

The Corsa is a small, fairly low powered car, I think the base models have about 1 to 1.2 litre engines. It will get up the mountains but don't expect it to go very fast.

Thank you both for replying. I'm assuming that since its a rental it will be the basic model. I think I am going to e-mail or call Auto Europe and see if they can give me any advice on what kind of rental car would be good for the area. I'm concerned that the Corsa just won't be powerful enough.

Thanks again!
Tracy

If you get the Corsa with the smaller engine, look at the bright side: you'll have plenty of time to enjoy the scenery on the way up. (And I once owned an even punier, weaker Opel, an old Opel Kadett...top speed of 45 mph on level ground.)
The Corsa is a small car and not all that comfortable. At that category, I'd rather be in a Citroen C3.

Thanks again for your advice. Just an FYI and update that I just called AutoEurope and explained my situation. They offered me the advice that a more powerful car would be better for us, and they were able to get me a 2-car upgrade for the price of a one-car upgrade, so it's going to cost us only about $60 more than we paid for the Corsa. (btw, I have been very satisfied with their customer service, as this is the third time I have called and changed something.) We will now have a Opel Vectra, which they said would be much more powerful.

Thanks again!
Tracy