I'm not familiar with european cars - and drive on the other side in Australia.
Which car should we choose for a 60ish couple, small baggage, driving style normal to sporty, economy is good factor but should be able to make it up Tuscan hills and narrow streets too?. It'll have to be manual too. We drove a Renault Clio in Turkey last year but could go smaller....

"|>>Which car from Autoeurope rentals? <<

Just to clarify a bit -- Autoeurope doesn't rent/have cars. It is a broker that deals w/ several different rental agencies. So which models you get can vary widely. When' traveling alone or w/ one other person, I usually get one or two classes up from the cheapest/smallest. Just for the added comfort/power.

Thanks Janice...we are fairly small people but I don't know if a Fiat Panda would be comfortable enough....

We're about to rent for the third time in as many years, and have always ended up with a compact Mercedes 180. Small, cute, handles well, plenty big for 2 people, and stylish! Oh, and the main reason we opt for that is because it's an Automatic.

The Clio or the Peugeot 206 would be fine since you are driving a manual shift. You can always downshift to get a little more power. On rentals, the cars usually do not come much smaller than that.

Your choices with AutoEurope will depend on which locations you select for pick-up/drop-off. If you are dropping off in a different location, you must select matching company addresses or AutoEurope will says cars are not available (you can't select a Hertz pick-up address and an Avis drop-off address). AutoEurope seems to use Hertz and Avis. You can look at the Hertz.it or Avis.it for car info.

I had a Fiat Panda (Hertz) last year. Trunk area is very small and only really holds one suitcase. The other one had to go in the back floorboard. If you are visiting places while changing hotels/locations, you might not like leaving luggage visible while your car is parked. The Fiat does fine on the hills though.

I typically rent a compact car (four doors, manual transmission, fits 2 medium bags and a few backpacks in trunk). Supposed to seat 5 people but I don't travel with that many people so I'm OK. 5 would be too many in a compact.

If I'm only renting for a day or so, I go with an economy size car.

Try Kemwel.com

Well our 2 cases are only 600x400 (2ft x 1ft4") and yes we prefer not to have cases showing - but that's pretty small.

We had a VW Golf in Croatia this past March - it had a great trunk and handled the roads really well.

The "compact" class is what you want, but the actual car model will depend on what is there thta day.

>>>Well our 2 cases are only 600x400 (2ft x 1ft4")<<<

A Panda trunk won't hold both of those. It really doesn't have a trunk. It has a hatch like area that is small. It might hold two 21", but not two 24".

Why go any smaller than the Clio size you had last time and seemed happy with? Smaller will cost marginally less, the fuel saved will be miniscule and you will be less comfortable on longer drives.

If you want to see car specs and trunk sizes see http://www.parkers.co.uk They have photos of the luggage areas for most models.

Hi T,

My Lady Wife and I prefer the "compact" range. We wouldn't go smaller than the Clio in hilly country.

Have you checked prices at www.kemwel.com? They are an AE associate and usually have lower prices.

You are aware that you will need an IDP in Italy?

Yes, we checked with Kemwel but mentioned AE and the reply was "we do not quote against our parent co." My mistake I guess.
I think we will move up a step to Compact size, though there is quite a price difference....
IDP is fine thanks.
Maybe I'll try Kemwell again....

Made a decision.....Ford Fiesta (or..?) from AutoEurope one week Florence to Orvieto Eu 243. Did we do good?

You did well if compared to EconomyCarRentals.com, which in any case has no drop-off location in Orvieto.