"E. Julius" (soonerfrommi)
12/14/2014 at 14:11 • Filed to: Help
2
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"E. Julius" (soonerfrommi)
12/14/2014 at 14:11 • Filed to: Help | 2
| 18 |
So my girlfriend and I have decided we're going to take a trip to Switzerland in January. After duurtlang's recommendation that I rent a car and drive the Alps in my last help post, I've also decided that this would be a fun way to see Switzerland.
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First, I'm wondering how possible this will be in mid–January. I know the highways will be clear, but I'd like to do some smaller roads as well. Will this be possible? I have a good amount of winter driving experience, and I've driven in mountains before. The cars come with snow tires and chains, but those won't do any good if the roads aren't clear.
Second, what type of vehicle should I rent? The options within my budget are as follows:
VW UP or similar
Seat Ibiza 1.2 or similar
VW Polo 1.2 or similar
VW Golf 1.4 or similar
Both me and my girlfriend can drive stick so this won't be an issue. Looking forward to hearing your recommendations!
My citroen won't start
> E. Julius
12/14/2014 at 14:14 |
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I'll be in Switzerland too. I ended up renting a V40 (it was an E-Class initially but I will no longer share it, so I can't afford that alone). Get the Golf.
TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
> E. Julius
12/14/2014 at 14:23 |
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Where in Switzerland are you going? I've been to Basel a few times to visit my cousin but Lucerne is my favourite city.
BJ
> E. Julius
12/14/2014 at 14:26 |
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I drove a Polo some years ago (2006) and although it struggled to get up to 160 km/h it was a pleasant and easy car to drive. In any case, remember not to speed in Switzerland - they're serious about the speed limits and the ticket amount may be based on your income: http://jalopnik.com/the-eight-bigg…
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E. Julius
> BJ
12/14/2014 at 14:31 |
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Thanks! Fortunately my girlfriend has quite the dampening effect on my occasionally leaden foot.
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E. Julius
> TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
12/14/2014 at 14:34 |
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Haven't completely nailed down the itinerary yet, but it looks like we'll be taking the train to Zurich from Paris, staying there a night, and then driving to Zermatt in the South. We'll stay there a couple nights because my girlfriend is really into the nature/mountains thing (as am I). Then the plan is to drive to Geneva where we'll finish off the trip, and take the train back from there to Paris. Still open for modification though.
BZiel
> E. Julius
12/14/2014 at 14:39 |
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I like Sixt. You can get into some decent cars for under about $40/day USD.
And, as mentioned, do not speed in Switzerland whatsoever. There is nothing "neutral" about their traffic enforcement policies.
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TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
> E. Julius
12/14/2014 at 14:51 |
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Took the train from Paris to Basel, beautiful trip. Lucerne is right at the base of Mt Pilatus and you take a ferry ride around the mountain then you take a funicular up the mountain (one of those funky geared track trains). Once up there you can walk around and there is even a hotel you can say in on top of the mountain (very beautiful). You take a series of cable cars back down over the ski areas (again very beautiful). It's only 60 miles from Zurich and actually along the way to Zermatt so it's worth looking into it.
When I have time I'll post some of the pictures I took on top of the mountain.
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E. Julius
> TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
12/14/2014 at 15:00 |
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Thanks for the recommendation!
Too many M's
> E. Julius
12/14/2014 at 17:25 |
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Go for the Golf. Just about every agency should have the Mk7 which is fantastic and as fun as the Polo is, I welcome the slightly bigger footprint of the Golf.
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E. Julius
> Too many M's
12/14/2014 at 17:29 |
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We did end up going with the Golf : )
duurtlang
> E. Julius
12/14/2014 at 17:37 |
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I wouldn't take the UP. Great city car, but not a long distance vehicle.
The Ibiza and Polo are subcompacts. They're roughly identically sized, same chassis too if I'm not mistaken because SEAT is a VW in drag. Choosing between these two is moot.
The Golf is larger and more comfortable. Is the extra expense over the Ibiza/Polo worth it to you?
Do keep in mind you need a tax vignette for Switzerland (and a different one for Austria), assuming your car won't have Swiss plates. You can buy these in lots of places, including at gas stations close to the Swiss border.
The picture below has vignettes for Austria (the top two), for Switzerland (the third) and a 4th one I don't instantly recognize. The 09 in this picture means 2009. If I'm not mistaken the '14 vignette is valid from December 1st 2013 until January 31st 2015, so if your car already has one of those you won't need another one. The Austrian ones are usually only valid for a short period of time (but cheaper), if you want to go to Austria you will need an Austrians one.
Svend
> E. Julius
12/14/2014 at 19:37 |
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Of the four. Go for the Golf 1.4. The 1.4TSi is the same as the one fitted to my Skoda and is a very good engine. Low down the rev range it can struggle (slightly) on steeps hills at low speed but drop it down a gear and it'll be fine. On regular highways and motorways it's great, loads of power coming from the turbo makes keeping up with the rest of the traffic a breeze and will happily sit at 100mph for long journeys.
If it's just you and the girlfriend go for the 3 door and 5 door if you anticipate taking friends or guests out for meals, walks, etc...
If however you want something different to what you usually see stateside the SEAT Ibiza 1.2TSi won't let you down and looks nice.
As the rental place seems to offer a range of VAG cars. Maybe enquire as to a VW Scirocco 1.4TSi.
Pros: Beautiful styling, same great engine from the Golf.
Con: Reduced rear visibility when reversing (only an issue if not great at parking or manoeuvring in small areas.
Buick Mackane
> E. Julius
12/14/2014 at 20:19 |
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Whenever I rent a car here in the USA the rental company never will guarantee that I will get the specific model I requested.
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E. Julius
> Buick Mackane
12/15/2014 at 01:30 |
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Hence the inclusion of the rental company's "or similar" next to each vehicle. Those are broad categories which don't overlap, although I could be bumped up/moved down against my will due to to inventory constraints.
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E. Julius
> duurtlang
12/15/2014 at 05:28 |
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Thanks for the advice. I was wondering about the Ibiza and the Polo too. I knew they were very similar cars (if not platform mates), but the rental company offers them as two separate categories on their site for some reason. I think we're going to go with the Golf category, since it's only like €15 more.
If I'm renting the car and picking it up in Switzerland, will it already have the Swiss vignette?
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E. Julius
> Svend
12/15/2014 at 05:30 |
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We're going with the Golf category, but since it includes "or similar" I assume the chances are fairly likely we could get the Seat twin or something like that. I'd definitely love the chance to drive some euro models we don't get in the states.
Also, a Scirocco would be sweet.
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duurtlang
> E. Julius
12/15/2014 at 06:10 |
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Probably. You could just ask the rental agency. These things are about €35 or so, so it's not that much of a problem. You just don't want the Swiss police to catch you if you don't have one.
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E. Julius
> duurtlang
12/15/2014 at 06:11 |
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Alright, I'll be sure to grab one. Thanks for the tips!