Don't mean to be "excessive" in concern. The roads in the States are wider, and I live in Virginia with a lot of narrow dirt roads. Most of the small town or country roads I have been on in Europe are narrower than ours, of course many having been built in times before cars.

Having driven now in England, Wales, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, I found it most difficult in Wales and England. One's perception of where your car "is" on the road is different. I also read somewhere, I think on this board, that it is difficult when driving on the left to know where the left (passenger) side of the car is. I usually drive as my husband is the superior navigator, and I kept hearing sharp intakes of breath from the passenger side as I was consistently too close to the edge of the road on his side.

Won't stop us from driving those back roads, just want to be as safe and comfortable as possible. Will certainly look into tying on the hubcaps!

The specs on the Toyota Corolla have it as narrower than the Nissan Micra ( 66.9 inches for the Corolla vs. 73.2 inches wide for the Micra) Over 6" more of breathing room!

For British and Irish travellers, the ecnomics of taking your own car to continental Europe compared with flying are quite different to those experienced by people who live in Germany.

If you live in Munich, it is quite straightforward to drive to Milan in a day. If you live in Dublin, driving requires a much greater mileage, two ferry crossings and maybe two overnight stays. You are consequently more likely to fly, especially for a short trip. Then you will hire a car, which will have local licence plates.

For the British and Irish, taking your own car is more attractive when going on family self-catering holidays. As you have noticed, these are more common in France and Spain.

chartley wrote: "If you live in Dublin, driving requires a much greater mileage, two ferry crossings and maybe two overnight stays."

We do have direct ferries between Ireland and France. They take about 18 hours, and cost a fortune in high season. I usually go off-season, when they cost only a small fortune. But the trip from Cherbourg to Athens seems rather long, so I tend to go to places like Brittany.

In 2001 we pre-paid through Hertz for our rental. I believe it was to be an Opal. They didn't have one, and gave us a free upgrade to a beautiful silver BMW. DH loved the driving experience and performance on the curvy roads. I don't particularly remember the roads being narrow, but we were there during the hoof and mouth scare so maybe didn't meet as many tour buses.

The roads were much narrower on our 1998 and 2000 trips to Cornwall.

The confusing thing about the roads is the sign that says "you may meet oncoming traffic in your lane".

We did, however, meet one couple who'd torn the mirror off their rented Mercedes.

When we turned our car in there was one there that had the whole side of the car smooshed in. Oops!

We came around corner on the Dingle Pen. and met a giant tour bus. We had to back up and they squeezed on by. Have your camera out at all times for those moments. It was funny after they got past.

And another comment about those harmless looking hedges on the roadsides. Under most of them are very thick stone walls so don't count on that as an escape route. In fact that is why the roads are so narrow. They would have to knock down the walls to widen them.

If you just have a good attitude about it and realize that you are going to have to go slower it is very fun to drive in Ireland.

The hubcaps come loose so much because of having the steering wheel on the other side of the car and spatial relations and all that. Basically, there will be a time where you will whack into a curb or two. (better the curb than the on-coming semi) I'm sure that is where we lost our hubcap.

And to all this stuff about "self-centered Americans" while it certainly might be true, Wrenwood was asking an innocent question and deserves just helpful advice.

In June 2002 we drove a Renault Clio. There were just 2 of us, nice and peppy but as the passenger weeds were constantly brushing my window and I tilted to the right the entire trip. We drove about 100- 120 miles a day while sightseeing and it was so stressful as the passenger and for my husband as the driver we did not have the energy to enjoy any evening entertainment. We are normally independent travelers but I wished we had taken a bus trip. There is no shoulder, only stone walls...scary. Norway last summer was a breeze driving compared to the roads we traversed in Ireland.

Yes, you need to use the average speed of 30 mph when planning your routes. So 120 miles would take four hours instead of less than two in the US.

I do agree about being tired. I did all the driving as I was pretty sure my mother-in-law or her cousin would get us promptly killed.

Those &quot;<i><b>Oncoming Vehicles in the Middle of the Road</b></i>&quot; signs tell you just about all you need to know :)

Oh Please.

&quot;<i>Oh Please.</i>&quot;

It WAS a joke - but that IS a common sign you will see all over. Does tend to freak folks out the first time they see it . . . .

My husband and I also had a Nissan Micra. It was the perfect size for our luggage and us. We paid a little extra for an automatic because he was nervous about shifting with the opposite hand. I think it was a diesel. We didn't lose any hubcaps and rented through Budget Rental Car Ireland at the Dublin Airport. Check your credit card for insurance purposes, we used an American Express that included rental car insurance. Budget wasn't sure they still covered in Ireland, but we had brought the info from the card, they called and got the okay and we saved some money.

Folks - you wont find big cars like we have in USA. They are all little cars in Ireland because they only offer small cars in Ireland. My rentals have always been very comfy and I have a bad back. Just trust your travel agent.

What I want to know is - what does the yellow diamond shape sign mean -- where at the top, a car is careening on two wheels and debris flying away from it. And just below to the car, a stick figure is at a dead run. Not making this up, I've seen the sign many times.

Caution, pub's let out?? ;)

Anyway, I've driven in a few countries... only otherwise Hungary, Romania and Spain on the continent, with Thailand, Morocco, Australia, etc as well. So a mixed bag. For some reason Ireland really *does*, to me, feel like it has narrower roads of the same &quot;type&quot;, other than the primary roads which are fine. I haven't got and measured them though and do think on the secondary roads, it is more a matter of how close the rockwalls and vegetation crowds the edges and so more a psychological thing.

The road width seems to correspond to the color of the road on the map. The yellow highways are large, the smaller red roads are narrow, and the little white roads are even narrower. The gray roads are about one car width. Go slow in case someone else decided to use that road that day coming from the other direction.

Do make sure to rent an appropriate car for your size AND your luggage. For instance, compact or small cars won't do for us - my husband is 6'4&quot;, about 375#, so he won't fit into a small car. And if I want him to drive, it has to be at least a full sized, or intermediate car. 3 hefty people with their luggage will fit fine in an intermediate, but I wouldn't try 4 with their luggage :)

I have traveled to Ireland 11 times from '95 to this last fall. We have driven small and midsized cars, and automatic too. Our first trip we popped a tire and replaced it and then wacked a mirror but nothing major.
I think the main question here was what size car do you get? Not all the percentages and scared Americans on small roads and other cranky offsides. I'll admit the roads are narrower for the most part, but just caution and a little common sense are needed, as anywhere you drive.
I found the big cities to be my greatest driving challange, big car (Kia Sedona van) or a Nissan Micra, makes no difference if the signage isn't there whether North bound, south bound or whatever, if your not a local you get lost map or no. I have it from friends who will take the train to Dublin rather than try and drive and get back home in a decent amount of time, even they get lost.

Hudson - Next time we are bringing GPS with us to Ireland. We had an excellent map and it was still tricky sometimes!

We had a slight problem last time we rented in Ireland... actually, the travel consolditor that we got our plane tix and rental car thru accidentally made the car reservation for the wrong month (it was right on all of my documentation, but wrong on the doco they faxed to the rental company). They ended up making it right by telling me just to get a rental car from any agency their and send them the bill (which they wrote me a check for).

My only issue was that I wanted an automatic. The only two available were an E-series Benz and a well worn Toyota Corolla. Once we determined that all of the luggage (4 people) fit in the Toyota we opt'ed for it (didn't want to be greedy). The Toyota turned out to be perfect... it was the big engined version, so it handled the hills well. It also had dings on every corner, so there was no way that they could charge me for any damage (since you'd never notice anything that I did to).

Make sure your GPS has maps for Europe loaded in - ours does not, and there is no way to load them in, according to JVC. Also, the rental place we have a car reserved (in Edinburgh) doesn't have any GPS available for rental :(

I'm assuming we'll be able to get a GPS on a rental from Auto Europe, I think that is who we usually get our rentals from (DH does that part) However I guess I had better check, wondering if they usually come on the smaller cars, or just the larger ones?

Our one VISA has always included insurance, but we'll doublecheck to make sure it is the same in Ireland.

It WILL be an automatic w/GPS, and we will make sure the hubcaps are SUPERGLUED!

Stonewalls hiding behind vegetation, that explains a lot.......

And yes, &quot;Oncoming Vehicles in the Middle of the Road&quot; will now deserve a photo, and a look at my husband's face!

Is Dan Dooley rentals as reliable as Auto Europe? WIll they have GPS?