by "Master Cylinder" (mastercylinder28)
Published 03/08/2017 at 06:51
by "Master Cylinder" (mastercylinder28)
Published 03/08/2017 at 06:51
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STARS: 2
I’ll be in Paris next week for vacation and I’m thinking of trying to rent a car I wouldn’t be able to drive here in the States, just for a day or even an afternoon. I’m not sure our schedule even allows for such shenanigans, but I’m thinking about it just in case.
I figured I can probably get a normal rental Peugeot or Renault of whatever, but has anyone had experience with any places renting more fun cars? Any recommendations as to what to rent to get a proper “weird French car” experience?
Clio Sport V6 for your time.
"duurtlang" (duurtlang)
03/08/2017 at 06:56, STARS: 0
I remember there being a French equivalent to Turbo. Basically Airbnb for cars. I forgot the name though. I bet Google can help you out.
"pip bip - choose Corrour" (hhgttg69)
03/08/2017 at 06:58, STARS: 0
go for one of the car share cars, Bollore Bluecar.
"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
03/08/2017 at 07:01, STARS: 0
Been there, done that!
"pip bip - choose Corrour" (hhgttg69)
03/08/2017 at 07:08, STARS: 0
:P
"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
03/08/2017 at 07:20, STARS: 1
I know it’s a ‘normal’ car, but you could rent a current-gen new Twingo! Rear engined, rear wheel drive, not going to find anything remotely close in North America? :P
"Clemsie McKenzie" (thestirringcolumn)
03/08/2017 at 07:27, STARS: 2
You can rent privately owned cars on OuiCar, and they have a “collection” selection of cars:
https://www.ouicar.fr/car/search?analytics%5BdisableOnLayoutInit%5D=true&analytics%5Blist%5D=region&where=Paris&from=link&category%5B%5D=100100430
Some weird things you will enjoy, many 2CVs for example. Never tried it so I can’t give you any further details, but there you go.
One thing I have to say about renting a car in Paris, is that you have to really want it for fun, it isn’t actually practical at all. For starters, cars pre-1997 are banned from the city, except for those that have a collectible car ID. So you will have to check carefully when you rent.
And more importantly, if you plan to only visit Paris, traveling by car inside the city is highly impractical. It takes ages to get anywhere and people can drive like maniacs.
However, the public transports system is well developped, efficient and cheap, if a little smelly at times. I wouldn’t visit Paris any other way. Keep in mind that Paris is a very small city by American standards: it measures only 6 miles across. Most of the more famous and touristic stuff can be done by foot or via the cycle sharing system, Vélib’. If you want to move around, use the metro system.
I live in Paris, so if you want to get a drink at some point while you’re here it would be a pleasure! I also have a Clio with an Oppo sticker, so there’s that.
If you have any more practical questions, you can shoot me an email at c.raoulrea@gmail.com . I love to talk about my love/hate relationship of our beautiful/annoying city.
"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
03/08/2017 at 07:31, STARS: 0
Yeah, those cars are banned, but the fine if you get caught is 22 euros... Soooooo :)
Also travelling inside Paris is AWESOME! Place de la concorde a balle en Mini, suivi par 5 ou 6 tour de l arc de triomphe haha... Le tout aux alentours de 4pm, just avant le gros rush, mais avec assez de monde pour avoir a slalomer comme pas permis haha
"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
03/08/2017 at 07:32, STARS: 0
Turo ;)
"kanadanmajava1" (kanadanmajava1)
03/08/2017 at 07:51, STARS: 1
You can try to rent one...
I was in France couple of years ago with my friends to visit the Rétromobile. We decided to rent a car to see other places too. As I really dislike diesel cars, I wanted to make sure that we wouldn’t get one. So I realized that the ultra-mini category doesn’t have any diesel cars, so it seemed to be very likely to get the current Twingo.
So I booked an ultra-mini, and we went to pick it up quite close from our hotel. And as many of my finely laid out plans, this also failed. We got a free upgrade, as they didn’t have any ultra-minis in their yard. So we ended up with a boring Ford C-Max with a diesel engine.
"Clemsie McKenzie" (thestirringcolumn)
03/08/2017 at 07:54, STARS: 0
Fin juillet quand Paris est vide, ou de nuit, c’est vrai que ça vaut le coup ! Les Champs la nuit quand c’est un peu plus vide, c’est beau.
Mais après si t’es là en touriste pour une semaine, je suis pas persuadé que ça soit la bonne idée...
"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
03/08/2017 at 08:08, STARS: 0
Vide, c’est sympa aussi, mais a eviter les taxis, faire gaffe aux provinciaux paumes, et aux types en plaques diplomatiques qui savent pas ce qu’il se passe, c’est mieux niveau plaisir de conduite... ca donne un cote “balle au prisonnier” a un trajet :)
Et pas un flic pour te faire chier, vu que ca fait des annees qu’ils ont abandonne :)
(dsl au cas ou tu n’aurais pas remarque, je n’ai pas d accent sur mon clavier...)
"carzcarzcarz" (carzcarzcarz)
03/08/2017 at 08:27, STARS: 1
Great response, this is what Oppo is about.
"duurtlang" (duurtlang)
03/08/2017 at 08:29, STARS: 0
Correct. Autocorrect is a birch.
"duurtlang" (duurtlang)
03/08/2017 at 08:32, STARS: 2
Not anything remotely close in the US? What about the Smart? It’s almost identical, save for the number of doors.
"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
03/08/2017 at 08:37, STARS: 0
There she is... What a birch...
"Clemsie McKenzie" (thestirringcolumn)
03/08/2017 at 08:48, STARS: 0
Haha moi Paris quand c’est pas vide ça me stresse trop pour en profiter.
Ça (ha, boum, cédille !) fait 4 ans que je vis à Paris, j’ai pas encore perdu tout mon côté provincial :)
"Clemsie McKenzie" (thestirringcolumn)
03/08/2017 at 09:01, STARS: 0
I need to set aside an afternoon and do a proper drive of the thing one day.
"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
03/08/2017 at 09:11, STARS: 0
J’ai un petit soupçon que Flavien et Clemsie sont des Français...
"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
03/08/2017 at 09:12, STARS: 0
(dsl au cas ou tu n’aurais pas remarque, je n’ai pas d accent sur mon clavier...)
Just try finding ç...
"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
03/08/2017 at 09:16, STARS: 0
C’était une.....experience.
"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
03/08/2017 at 09:16, STARS: 0
Oh je suis pas parisien, j’y ai jamais habité lol... Je suis breton. Mais je sais m’amuser dans le trafic de Paris comme personne :) Ainsi que reconnaître les provinciaux tout perdu qui servent de chicane...
Sur mon téléphone j’ai les accents et les cédilles, mieux que mon PC :)
"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
03/08/2017 at 09:19, STARS: 0
Japanese laptop, a mess... I constantly switch between French AZERTY, American QWERTY, Japanese QWERTY and multilingual Canadian QWERTY, so I’ve just given up figuring out where the freaking accents are lol
"Master Cylinder" (mastercylinder28)
03/08/2017 at 12:26, STARS: 1
Thanks! I’ll be traveling with in-laws so I doubt I’ll get a lot of latitude to go off on my own without making my wife angry, but I figure while I’m there I might as well try out a car that’s not available at home if I can!
"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
03/08/2017 at 14:09, STARS: 0
True....maybe they are available in the US at rental counters, but I’ve never seen one rental counter here in Canada that had a Smart as an option.
Yes, they are built on the same platform as the Twingo though, so you are right....had forgotten about that!
"Clemsie McKenzie" (thestirringcolumn)
03/08/2017 at 15:30, STARS: 0
Ah, I see! Well in that case I’d try and rent a 2CV! Hard to get any frencher than that without going for the full DS/SM, which is going to be much more pricey.
Otherwise if you try a normal rental company, they’ll probably sort you out with something like a Captur, which of course is going to be much more boring but easier to find and arrange!
