We (two of us) will be off on our annual jaunt to Lancs in the spring via a couple of days in Wales. We intend to hire a car from Enterprise from their premium compact range. One cannot pick a particular car, but you can request one and if not available you get something similar. I guess this is the same with all companies.
However the likely candidates are BMW 320d. C class 220. Jaguar XE. All diesel and all auto.
Which would you choose and why?
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Jaguar XE
The BMW is the lowest of the low spec - common as muck, the C class is relatively not a very good car, but the Jaaaaaaag will at least look sexy and make you smile every time you go to drive away in it.
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>> The BMW is the lowest of the low spec>>
How do you know which trim level it is?
I'd be happy with an of them thougjh how much will tue hire cost?
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>> How do you know which trim level it is?
I was trying to be polite, but if you insist on the warts
"It's a poxy little 320"
There, happy now?
Last edited by: VxFan on Sun 21 Jan 18 at 19:38
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>> There, happy now?
You're a snob suddenly are you, when did that come along, hmm.
To help the OP, unless the spec is quoted, SE etc, then there's no way of telling the trim differences. The Jag and BMW are likely to be more entertaining to drive and the BMW engine is probably the most refined.
I would though be more than happy to spend a week with any of them - depending on the hire cost.
Last edited by: VxFan on Sun 21 Jan 18 at 19:38
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>> You're a snob suddenly are you, when did that come along, hmm.
>>
About the time I realised you only had 4
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Every BMW I’ve had from Avis (never booked, always an upgrade) has been an auto in M Sport trim with the Pro Media pack and leather as a minimum spec. I’ve also never had a diesel, they’re always 320i or 420is. They are often white though!
The Mercs do tend to be lower spec, with MBs rather unpleasant fake leather upholstery. They tend to be SE spec, not sport or AMG. But, there’s more room in the back than the BMW, which matters if you’re carrying passengers. In my experience it’s 50:50 if you’ll get a diesel or a petrol one.
Avis have never given me a Jag so I don’t know what they’re like to drive, but I’ve been the back of a bog standard 2.0D with black cloth seats and it was fine space wise. Didn’t feel particularly special, but I imagine that’s so you order the premium pack!
Edited to add, I’m not sure that they’ll guarantee the fuel type. Certainly not my experience...the ‘or similar’ phrase covers them :)
Last edited by: PeterS on Sun 21 Jan 18 at 11:13
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Let me know if you're in the Clwyd valley MD, I'll buy you a beer
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Or Giggleswick/Settle area... close enough to Lancs. I can see both Pendle Hill and Pen Y Ghent from chez LL.
Happy to advise on decent local B & Bs
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Now that sounds tempting. Currently our plan is to leave home on a Tuesday morning and arrive in Kirkham Thursday mid day / early afternoon, I.e spend two nights in Wales. Scenery and open roads is our wish along with a decent Inn at the end of both days. We did Langollen last year you may recall from my post, “To Chirkâ€. Harleyman kindly advised on that route and I may well seek his advice again. All thoughts and contributions gratefully received.
Oh! and thanks to LL too.
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Last time I got a C-Class in Glasgow it was petrol.
Edit: Replying to PeterS.
Last edited by: Hard Cheese on Sun 21 Jan 18 at 12:27
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Jaguar.
Who wants a humdrum German saloon as a treat? Might as well save £100 and get an Insignia.
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Tbh I thought insignia, but I don’t want a base 1.6 diesel. I’m not saying that that is what they are, but trying to get much detailed info from them is not too easy. It’ll be a bit of a treat so it needs to be right.
The base (161 bhp) diesel XE is not too lively I read.
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>> The base (161 bhp) diesel XE is not too lively I read.
>>
Yes, the BMW and MB will be more gutsy and the BMW and Jag would be more refined. The MB is supposed to be very economical though a bit gruff.
How much is a week's hire?
Reckon I would look for a Focus 1.0 Ecoboost 125 or 140 and dine out on the £200 ish saved.
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£316.00 pw. I can’t imagine those choices saving £200.00
However on top of the £316.00 one can choose to pay £25.00 a day to reduce the £1,400.00 per day excess to zero, except for £250.00 on the bodywork. May end up using own wheels!!!!!
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I'd have an A4 in front of any of them, partly because Audis suit my way of driving, and also the controls on VAG cars are where I expect them to be - useful when driving a long distance in something you don't normally drive.
Out of interest, what are your usual wheels?
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>> and also the controls on VAG cars are where I expect them
>> to be - useful when driving a long distance in something you don't normally drive.
Pedals on the floor, Wheel in front of you? gear lever between the seats? Pretty standard I have found.
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Hi Avant. My usual wheels are a big white van (Builder). The family car is a Mitsi Colt automated manual. Mrs. MD does barely 4K miles per annum so it fits the bill. Bought new. Serviced properly annually. It has the usual requirements of ABS, electric heated mirrors, air con etc. The only possible issue is that the seat squabs are too flat and although not soft, don’t provide sufficient support in my mind.
I would like to treat myself to something a little nippier and more comfortable so hiring seems the way to go as we cannot justify buying for so little miles. For 4K miles PA the Colt provides everything one needs.
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>>I would like to treat myself
What other excuse do you need!
Hope you and Mrs MD have a great time!
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£316 not bad though that's another £175 on insurance if a week.
Try www.arguscarhire.com, they are a broker so offer hire via the usual companies, they are competitive though their key benefit is a policy that covers all losses and excesses. I have hired through them many times for UK Europe and North America.
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Thanks HC. I’ll have a look.
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Or do a search for annual excess insurance policies.
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Ye Gods Bobby. That’s helpful. Ta..
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Had an early night though can't sleep so just had a look at Argus on my phone out of interest.
Don't know where you're based MD though from Heathrow in April you can get an A-Class or similar with Avis for £295 and cover-all insurance for £53 or an E-Class or similar from Europcar for £465 and cover-all insurance for £62. Just two examples.
How the insurance works is your credit card secures the car, if the hire company charges anything to your card other than the hire cost, fuel and traffic/parking fines then you claim it through the policy. So if you have an accident and there is a £1000 excess then the policy pays the £1000 etc.
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MD ... the D is Devon. So Heathrow probably not on route. He probably wants a car to start his holiday and not leave the builder's van at Heathrow.
I'd have to lookup the excess insurance I had in 2006... car written off and I paid the excess to Holiday Auto. Claimed it back via the policy without a problem. Excess was of course did not match the excess because of the £/€ exchange rate at the different points in time.
Holiday Auto was a decent company to deal with in 2006... I'd not hire with them now. Thought I should add that comment. They are not the same company.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 22 Jan 18 at 01:12
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Has anyone used ‘Thrifty’ car hire?
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In Spain, but I suspect thats not the answer you are after.
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>> Has anyone used ‘Thrifty’ car hire?
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Reckon I have, booked through Argus.
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I popped into the local branch this morning on the off chance. They seem quite a bit cheaper than enterprise. A Jaguar XE booked today for a week was £145.00 !!!
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I've used Thrifty twice.
They are the cheap brother of Hertz, who shift their older cars here
In Malaga, about 4 years ago, I hired an A3 which was decidedly scruffy. The Office is not in the main Car Hire complex in the airport, but inside the multi storey car park. At least it's not offsite. A long wait behind a dozen or so hires with not enough seats. I did ding it lightly a couple of times, even touching a column with a rear bumper in front of the inspector at return. I don't take the CDW insurance since I have a policy with Insurance4carhire, however, they didn't say aword, and there was no extra charge.
In Italy last October, I used them from Rome Ciampino. Here there is a Car Hire "Village, about a ten minute walk from the terminal. There is a shuttle, but it's every half hour. This time only one in front of me, at the main Hertz desk. Got a nice Ford Cmax.
Unfortunately misjudged a narrow access at the hotel, and hit a wing mirror - just the plastic.
On return took about thirty minutes to settle.
They charged 63 euro for a new one, and 61 euro administration. I recovered this from the insurance policy, but it did take eight weeks. Altogether not bad.
THrifty at Malaga are getting poor reviews, so for february's trip, i'm using Hertz for a better quality car, and hopefully shorter queues.
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Thrifty in N. Devon had some very nice kit today. Didn’t look like anyone’s cast offs.
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>> I did ding it lightly a couple of times, even touching a column with a rear bumper in front of
>> the inspector at return.
>> Unfortunately misjudged a narrow access at the hotel, and hit a wing mirror - just the plastic.
You're not borrowing any of our cars ;-)
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Thrifty are well known and as respected as the other main rental companies in the US. Used them a number of times.
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>> You're not borrowing any of our cars ;-)
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I don't think I'm alone on here in damaging wing mirrors!
8o)
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>> I don't think I'm alone on here in damaging wing mirrors!
I didn't think cars had them any more? All the modern ones have door mirrors ;)
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I've used Thrifty multiple times over the years, never found their cars to be scruffier or inferior to the other rental companies.
Got a Thrifty rental for 2 days next week for free! A one-way rental that gets the car back up the country where they need it 🙂
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Slightly off tangent as it concerns overseas car hire.
We are in Spain for 6+weeks departing 11/02 and it is cheaper to book 2 x 3 weeks blocks than a single 6 week rental. Prices from Alicante reduce nearer the time and on Monday we could have rented a ‘mini’ courtesy of the Broker ‘DoYouSpain’ for €31. That’s 3 weeks, full to full fuel, two drivers ( one aged 74 ) so dirt cheap. My pal booking it thought it might reduce even further.... it doubled overnight so yesterday he booked an i10 c/o DoYouSpain/Thrifty @ €71!
We’ll probably book the second 6 week period whilst we are out there.... we used Thrifty from Alicante in October. The Fiesta we booked turned into a new Zafira, but I’m happy with an i10 for pottering around.
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>> I popped into the local branch this morning on the off chance. They seem quite
>> a bit cheaper than enterprise. A Jaguar XE booked today for a week was £145.00
>> !!!
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Good price! Though make sure you are insured to cover the four figure excesses that apply if you don't take supplementary insurance.
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the website Doyouspain mentioned above feels exactly like rentalcars (aka carhire3000), which is my favoured broker. Prices aren't dissimilar too, though not identical (however when I booked for 3 weeks hire in Portugal in April the prices were different for the exact same hire under Chrome and Edge).
I am sure they are the same company, and they just re-skin the website to look different.
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My b-i-l just booked a car for our trip to Ireland for st paddy’s day.
Pick up and drop off from Dublin airport. 4 days. Corsa sized car.
£13.76 for four days through Thrifty!!
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Its a Corsa, Id expect to be paid more than that to drive one
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Car hire - Zero
