power of auto required for Tuscany Hills
 

There will be 2 persons with minimum luggage traveling from Pisa to Lake Como then down to explore the Tuscan hill villages. We would like to keep the auto as small as possible for budget reasons but want to be sure it is powerful enough. Seems to me the Ford KA, Panda and Peugeot 107 would be too small. Would the Peugeot 207 or Citron be acceptable or do we need to go all the way up to a medium size auto. We drive a Prius here in the mountains of NC with no problem but I am unfamiliar with the Euro cars and their capabilities.

The " compact" car size is the best value--like the 207.

European cars are just fine and can all climb steep hills....

Hi,

We've driven "compact class" cars with 1.4 liter engines (manual transmission) all through the Dolomites and over the Dolomite Passes. No problems at all. Last year our "compact class" car wound up being a Ford Fiesta.

Paul

took 850cc engine through morroco mountains. 1100 and 1400 cc is big enough. If you want diesel (and more than half of italian cars are diesel) and you want great performance then ask for a turbo. But since every one else will be burbling along in normal cars then you will only end up in a line.

My only reason for chosing a car in Italy is to make sure I can hide stuff away as this will limit how often the car gets broken into. Do not leave stuff on a seat, put it away!

Any of the compact class cars will have adequate power---as long as you have a manual transmission. Just drop down a gear when necessary. The compact size is an advantage in the parking lots and general driving.

I always rent economy cars and never had a problem. I've never seen a real "hill" in Tuscany - more rolling hills. Nothing is steeper than the hills in Portugal - they make Tuscan "hills" seem like molehills!

Hi, I've worked in the car rental industry for 17 years now, here's my advice-

A Peugeot 207 should be ok if you don't have too much luggage otherwise I would suggest a compact car as you probably don't want to drop the rear seats and have your luggage on display.

Cars in Europe have smaller engines than compared to the US however they are very well tuned so getting around the hills should be no problem at all, you can always try to book a diesel if possible, the extra torque of a diesel engine will easily pull you through those hills. You can always shop around and see who offers diesel vehicle on their fleet or try to request one when you arrive at the counter, the gas savings will be well worth it.

Happy travels!

Do they still produce Diesel cars without a turbo?
Imho, the HDI engines from PSA (Peugeot) are the best "smaller" Diesel engines that exist. The 110hp / 1.6l common engine is used in most Diesels from Peugeot, Citroën and even the Mini.
I'd go for that.

Any car should be able to get you up to a Tuscan hill town - the hilss aren;t that big. Also - mostly you have to park the cars outside the towns - center centers may be pedestrian only.

I would be more concerned about amount of luggage and comfort of the car (some are truly minute).

We always get a mid size of larger - but then we are both tall with long-legs - and find smaller cars very uncomfortable. Also we always go for high-powered cars (usually separate class) since we like high-speed european style driving. (We've always wanted to rent a Ferrari but haven;t been able to figure out what to do with the luggage.)

As we've gotten older, we've usually taken compact (vs economy) cars. Last Fall, when we flew in to Barcelona and picked up our rental, we'd rented an Economy car. A friend offered us their flat for a MONTH and it was a spur of the moment trip we hadn't budgeted for, hence the economy car. But the rental company upgraded us to a compact. (I think it was Hertz, through AutoEurope.)

After a week of visiting Cathar strongholds high in the mountains and coming back to a cheery flat in a pleasant beach town, we were happily tooling towards Montpellier for a weekend adventure, when my cell phone rang. It was Hertz. They wondered if we could return the car! I told them we were scheduled to have it for another three weeks and we were currently in France. Why did they need the car back? Oh. The fellow seemed to be having conversation with his boss(?) He finally replied that it needed an oil change. I asked if we could take it to a location in Montpellier for that...and he finally replied that it really didn't matter that much. It could wait until we turned it in. Ha! I think they made a mistake when they gave us the upgrade and wanted it back. C'est la vie!

Tuscan hills aren't that big. I've driven teensy little cars, including a Clio, all over mountainous regions in France and Italy without a problem - except on really windy days up in mountain passes and on the Autoroute du Sud, when I've been bounced around a bit. But Tuscan hills - not a problem for any size car.

On our most recent trip to Italy, April '10, we stayed in the hilltop village of Montone, Umbria, and made excursions to other hilltop towns, as well as to the mountain sanctuary of La Verna. We had the compact class. I usually avoid economy, but we find the compact class of rental just fine, and often end up with something bigger, just because that's what the rental agency gives us.

On our most recent trip to Italy, April '10, we stayed in the hilltop village of Montone, Umbria, and made excursions to other hilltop towns, as well as to the mountain sanctuary of La Verna. We had the compact class. I usually avoid economy, but we find the compact class of rental just fine, and often end up with something bigger, just because that's what the rental agency gives us.

Power is not a function of the size of the car.
There are very powerful small cars - and many larger ones may be equipped with the same engine as a smaller variant and thus suffer from a worse power/weight ratio.
So ultimately you should be concerned about the engine more than about the size of the car as long as the car will be large enough to accommodate you and your luggage.
However, as others have pointed out any car that you can rent will be powerful enough.

To add to my previous remark: I indeed think that a Ka, Panda or 107 would be tight for 2 people plus luggage.
Unless your suitcases are really large a 207 could suffice.

Try driving a 36 horsepower VW van through Switzerland with 4 people aboard! If that machine could do it anything can handle Tuscany! LOL

We got a VW Golf because of the hatchback to accommodate luggage. Worst car ever driven. It would stall out regularly at crucial times when you let off the gas. My son thought that it was driver error, that I was just rusty at my manual driving skills. That is, until he took over the driving and the car behaved the same way with him. That was two years ago, but even now I would recommend to stay away from that car as an option.

VW Golfs are great cars...clutch was probably just set higher than you are used to.

You're welcome, Letia