Been in Sicily since Saturday, Marina di Ragusa. Today I picked up my hire car, so we could start our self guided pre researched Inspector Montalbano tour.
It's a Fiat Panda Hybrid Manuel. It's a perfectly likeable basic wagon, nice gear change, pokey, roomy for its size, handles well, ride a bit lumpy over the potholes that pass for roads round here, gets a bit noisy at 90kmh, perfectly happy with it. No idea where the hybrid bit comes in, seems to be a normal petrol car to me
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? Es Manuel de Barcelona?
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We were in Zakynthos last week and had probably the worst hire car for a very long time. I don't know how old it was, but it had 65,000kms on the clock.
A Hyundai i20 diesel. To be fair the engine and gearbox weren't bad. But the rest f the car was. Manual central locking (no remote?!?!?), a rear hatch whose struts had long given up the ghost, meaning the hatch had to be held up. Trying doing that and lugging a heavy suitcase in/out of the boot!
The recoil on both front seatbelts and long since slunk off for a Greek siesta. The seatbelts themselves had nothing to stop the buckle dropping all the way to the floor (no plastic button or loop of fabric), so every time you tried to put the belt on, having automatically closed the door first, it was a case of trying to prise the seatbelt buckle from a gap between the seat and door that seemed about 5mm thick.
Dents galore, paint flaking off the bonnet from a poor re-spray, temperamental indicators. And I suspect a non-functioning fuel gauge. It stuck resolutely on full. Unless it really was that economical;??
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>> The seatbelts themselves had nothing to stop the buckle dropping all the way to the
>> floor (no plastic button or loop of fabric), so every time you tried to put
>> the belt on, having automatically closed the door first, it was a case of trying
>> to prise the seatbelt buckle from a gap between the seat and door that seemed
>> about 5mm thick.
>>
>>
I had that on a Pug 208 curtsey car a local garage lent me a couple of times. It is probably the most annoying fault I've ever had on any car.
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>> I had that on a Pug 208 curtsey car a local garage lent me a
>> couple of times. It is probably the most annoying fault I've ever had on any
>> car.
One of our cars, probably a BX. had that issue. A button on the belt, supposed to stop the clip dropping was made of soft Brie!!!
Replacement clips across width of belt little better.
Mrs B has a padded thing on the belt as otherwise it rubs her neck. That has the opposite effect as it stops the belt retracting.
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>> We were in Zakynthos last week and had probably the worst hire car for a
>> very long time. I don't know how old it was, but it had 65,000kms on
The Panda has 47k Kms on the clock, seems in excellent nick, everything works, body in good shape, a transition whine on overrun(regen?) and the gear lever gaiter springs in the air when pulling the collar up for reverse.
Bemused by the hybrid bit tho, there is an electrical urban range guage, and a battery recharging thing that pops up on overrun, but no idea if or what the hybrid bit is doing, or not.
Think it uses the fiat 500 platform, parked next to one and the wheelbase is mm identical, the panda tho is much more practical and comfortable
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I've been in Portugal since 21 Sep, back home on 8 Nov. I normally split the rental into two, primarily because booking a car for more than a month goes massively expensive. However as I booked the car before the flights this year and the return flight on the date booked would have been much more expensive we decided to stay a few extra days, so I had to add a third booking for the last 3 days.
It quite often happens that the bookings are at different companies. They are all off-airport (about 45 minutes awa0) but fairly close so often drop the car at one then a 5 minute walk to pick up the next.
This time all three bookings are at the same location. When this happened previously with a different company they were happy for me to just record and mail then the mileage at changeover day, and a new contract arrived on email.
This lot (who I've used a few times before, and twice they have found "new" damage on return which I was able to show them the video which proved them wrong) insist on me going back each time, even though I have the same car booked. It feels a real waste of time and fuel but for an average of €5.45 a day (obv excluding their insurance) I mustn't grumble too much.
The car is a Citroen C3. Unexciting, a bit noisy and an awful dog poop colour but it's big enough for our needs yet small enough such that parking it, which is a real nightmare round here, is easier than a larger car would be. We barely use it anyway - when we arrived we managed to bag the spot right outside our apartment so it didn't move for 8 days! It's now about 8 minutes walk away.
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It can run on the battery only in stop start traffic. The electric motor supplements the petrol engine at higher speeds. As you note it has regenerative braking to recharge the small battery.
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If there’s a Panda on the list I always opt for it at the hire desk. I just love the simplicity of the design. Simple, practical and good fun. SWMBO doesn’t share my enthusiasm however, preferring something larger and posher.
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It's much better than the other common offering, the C3
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Is a Vauxhall Grandland while our Superb is in the insurer's body shop. As damage was hit/run I'm paying, booked with Enterprise as they're actually in town and not up a back jigger on a commercial/industrial place on the outside of the ring road.
Petrol and described as an auto but behaviour and rev counter indications suggests its a hybrid.
Needs a bit more adaptation after a Golf then a Karoq, both with a common VAG 'type rating.'
Lacks other cars' auto brake hill start set up and needs the handbrake switch flicked if it's not going to roll. It also has poxy lane departure thingy that seems impossible to switch off for more than current journey.
It got us from the hirer's office to the Caravan and Motorhome show and home again but I'm not enjoying it....
We also lost the flippin thing on the NEC car park and took a bit of footslogging to find. Memory of East car park was right but a combination of misremembered zones and different, but nearly identical, entrances and shuttle drop offs wasted a good hour.
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Well back home now, Enjoyed the panda, (superbly simple unfussy and capable on its home turf) and driving in Sicily generally. No real Italian agression on view, mostly light traffic away from Palermo, did 450 km* on a mix of roads from autostrade to Noto, to ragging it up and down the bendy hill roads around Ragusa Ibla, Modica and Scicli.
*4.1 litres per 100km.
Like Sicily a lot, never had a bad holiday there.
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Did a rugby tour in sicily some years ago.
I was introduced to grappa...
Holy moley!
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Is that the Italian equivalent of French eau de vie, or is it even rougher?
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I don't know, but someone once said to me, if you are offered the choice of a glass of grappa, or a glass of urine, take the urine!
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A quick Google tells me the French grape equivalent is Marc.
Eau de Vie being more of a fruit distillate/infusion.
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Had it in Sardinia . It’s quite nice after a meal. It’s good in a an espresso too. Not something you want to drink if you are driving though! Have a small bottle of it in the sideboard together with a number of other drinks that somehow don’t seem so attractive in cold dank English as they did by the Med!
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>>Have a small bottle of it in the sideboard together with a number of other drinks
>> that somehow don’t seem so attractive in cold dank English as they did by the
>> Med!
Mrs B and I have ling theorised that there's a line mid Channel were various products that seem delicious on France lose all their charm.
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>> that somehow don’t seem so attractive in cold dank English as they did by the
>> Med!
Yeah, Limmoncello is a prime example, can only be enjoyed, ice cold after an italian meal or in a Granita, back home it loses all its autenticità
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I thought eau de vie was just perfume. Apparently not.
We had some amazing brandy in Cyprus. 9 star according to the label. That somehow went off on the way home.
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>> We had some amazing brandy in Cyprus. 9 star according to the label. That somehow
>> went off on the way home.
>>
In the rear footwell of Sofia Suzuki is both 5 & 10yo Soberano brandy. That will not deteriorate en route north :-)
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arrived ALC Monday evening. The usual rental company, OK Mobility, €161 for 25 days. As a ‘regular’ i declined all expensive upgrades and we spent time chatting about the Spanish coal mining industry around Ponferrada.
Newish Seat Ibiza FR with 30k kms on the clock, scratches on every panel, duly noted, then a fast dash north up the AP7 before Lidl & Carrefour closed at 21:30. ubiquitous 1.0 3cyl engine. Fine around town but I wouldn’t want it on my Spain road trips…needs to be thrashed ( don’t all hire cars) and drop two gears on uphill sections of motorways. Otherwise ok.. lots of bells & whistles.
Weather very ok. Walking in the mountains fantastic, as per normal.
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Well I'm shortly leaving Portugal after having had a Citroen C3 for 7 weeks. Unfortunately it has acquired some surface damage (paint, not down to metal) and also a bent rubber bumper thing which I'm guessing from their menu of damage will be something over €500. That's what comes of reversing into inanimate objects.
I've booked some dental work here which 3 years ago was quoted at £7k in the UK - €5.6 here - so I'm back for two separate appointments a week or so apart in Dec - one overnight and one here and back same day - with final fitting during my 7 week March trip. The car rentals for the Dec days are under € a day - I think one was a C3 the other an Ibiza.
The flights were pretty cheap as I can travel light, and the one night will be in the apartment which we rent for 14 weeks of the year at low/no cost so the expensive bit is the Gatwick parking - I think both instances will be £30 ish. each ( - why won't SWMBO get me to the airport for an 06:20 flight and pick up just after midnight I wonder???)
Last edited by: smokie on Thu 6 Nov 25 at 23:36
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A friend joining me later this month for 12 days has bagged a Pug 208 ( or similar) with OK for €3.50 per day..,another friend had expensive dental work in Dpain two years ago. Far cheaper than the uK and he is delighted with the result.
personally i’m terrified of dentists so clean the pegs 3 or 4 times a day to try to avoid visits apart from inspections.
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i’m terrified of dentists so clean the pegs 3 or 4 times a day to try to avoid visits apart from inspections.
Definitely NOT a good idea
www.philips.co.uk/c-e/pe/oral-hygiene/ohc-tips/overbrushing-teeth.html
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Arrived on Fuerteventura yesterday four hours from a wet and cold Birmingham Airport.
Hire car is a petrol VW Taigo.
Not a model I was aware of before. Wiki tells me it's based on the underpinnings and mechanicals of a Polo but taller and with a bigger boot. Some similarity with my old Fabia estate in that way.
It's a petrol automatic not earth shattering but perfectly acceptable for overtakes etc.
Layout similar to various VW/Skoda models I've driven before; I think of them as like Airbus models with a common type rating.
Historically I was wary of autos but having driven a few VAG models and 2 pedal hybrids I'm warming. Found the manual Fiat 500 we had in Gran Canaria last year mildly problematic when working out what gear it was in and fumbling too many changes.
Drove out of the airport and managed it fine. Coming up to roundabouts just hit the go pedal and off it toddles.
Beeping for speed limits is irritating and as I've said before I hate lane keeping assist. Turned both off but I've a suspicion they'll revert to on next time we're out.
Seems to connect OK to my phone's Bluetooth but for some reason it won't connect to Android Auto. While my phone has this it doesn't seem accessible as an App.
Off out in a minute and I'll have another try.
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Likely the car doesn't have Android auto but could be it needs to be wired rather than wireless. A charging cable usually suffices but often needs to be in the correct USB port - often if there are two, only 1 does "data". And sometimes only needs be there for the initial set up.
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It has Android auto as did my current and previous Skoda, the problem seems to be between Android Auto in the car and that on my phone.
It's picky at home with Seoras the Superb and drives us nuts by choosing Mrs B's Motorola phone over mine.
Have a suitable USB cable in my kit but left it in the hotel room.
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probably same 1.0 3 cyl VAG engines my Ibiza FR. Perfectly ok around town, but when we car share, 4 up, it struggles going up
steep minor roads in hill country. As expected.
Friend is currently en route at 33,000ft, same hire company as me, paid €3.50 a day so interesting to see what OK car hire give him when he arrives ALC
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Android Auto in my Superb is equally hopeless. Often have to reboot my phone to get them to speak to each other, even when hard wired. No such problems in my Leaf, it works first time, every time. It's one of very few dislikes I have with the car. The other one is the speedo disappearing from the instrument binnacle every time I start a navigation route through Android Auto, replacing it with routing directional arrows. Have to scroll through the display options to recover the speedo every time. Mind blowing stupidity, and no way of fixing the binnacle display in one preferred mode to overcome this.
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Home again now.
Car did have Android Auto and with my phone plugged in with the right USB C to C cable it worked just fine.
No cruise control, just a speed limiter, but once I'd relearned using it - Fabia was the same - it was pretty good. Don't know whether it's a Spain thing or Canaries but speed limits are up and down like a fiddler's elbow with a particular liking for 60 limits round the mildest of double bends.
Road up over the mountains was limited to 40; probably sensible given how narrow.
Returned it yesterday having done a bit over 600 kilometres.
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Layout similar to various VW/Skoda models I've driven before
I am convinced the VAG cars with manual rotary heating controls are the same controls that were in my wife’s 1983 Polo!
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>>manual rotary heating controls
I think Ford came up with that originally, 3 knobs for temperature, fan speed, and direction. It hasn't been bettered.
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>> I think Ford came up with that originally, 3 knobs for temperature, fan speed, and
>> direction. It hasn't been bettered.
If it works don't mess.
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>> I think Ford came up with that originally, 3 knobs for temperature, fan speed, and
>> direction. It hasn't been bettered.
>>
Ford were early in bringing in good car heating. I used to drive a 67 mkII Cortina that had a surprising amount of control over heating & ventilation. Sliding controls for screen/foot/temperature controls and then pull controls for each face vent where you could separately select a different temperature for each face vent. At the time this was amazing. I used to like a warm cabin but cool air to the face.
The biggest problem was it acquired extra cold ventilation via the floor - rust holes!!!
Last edited by: smokie on Mon 17 Nov 25 at 08:37
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T Roc for 8 days in Portugal from next Tues.
€13.64 (£12ish)
I have my own insurance :-)
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Strictly speaking a courtesy rather than hire but we've got a hybrid Toyota Yaris while a faulty accident repair to Seoras the Skoda is sorted.
Skoda was hit by something very low that damaged the n/s front door and cill. I suspect something in a supermarket intended to move trolleys. Nobody owned up so it's my loss.
Since it was repaired we'd noticed that the door wasn't always unlocking and needed to be opened from inside. Then last night when I checked it was locked the relevant door was not. Alarm went off if it was opened.
I'm already thoroughly hacked off with lack of contact from the admin at LV's repair contractor but this morning they finally leapt into action. Lot of to/fro over how/by whom the car was to be collected and whether we needed a hire car from Enterprise. Eventually sorted that guy from the local workshop would drop courtesy car and take ours back.
The workshop guys are pretty good but let down by hopeless admin.....
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Neither of us actually drove the Toybota as Seoras was returned mid afternoon.
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This year's hire car - carmalade
