labrat

We've recently returned from a short business plus a-little-bit-of-tourism trip in Switzerland. We noted a number of RX-8's around, mostly where we were doing business in the north-east. Most had the discrete European-style lip spoilers, and none had rice wings on the back. Elegant people, the Swiss. Also with a bit of money, since "normal" lead-free petrol (95 RON) was around AUD1.60/L.

We saw relatively few 4WD's, with station wagon "variants" from Audi or BMW being popular family cars (sensible people, the Swiss). I had forgotten how narrow normal roads are, something which strikes home when you meet a convoy of Swiss army Hummers coming the other way. Although I appreciated the skill levels of most Swiss drivers, I was not really comfortable holding higher speeds on these roads (anway the scenery is drop-dead gorgeous, and you want to slow down when you can to enjoy it).

Autobahn max. speed is now 120 km/h, although the locals tell me that police road presence isn't huge and that many drivers still use the old 130 km/h as their limit. Unfortunately, tail-gateing seems an international problem.

We hired a Budget Mazda through an English website. It cost us around AUD500 for 10 days instead of approx. AUD800 if going direct to the hire car company. When we got to pick it up at the airport, they upgraded us from a Mazda 3 to a 6 station wagon. Nice car, and ideal to chuck all your luggage in.

We were lucky with the weather on the latter part of our trip when we were relaxing - sunny days around 30C. The weather brought the open cars out - Porsches and Mercedes mainly. What they do with them during winter is a bit of a puzzle. We stayed in Interlaken, which is a great starting point for the mountains. Anyone interested in a motel which offers clean, basic accommodation at a great rate (and a view of the Eiger as a plus!) can PM me.

timbo

Sounds like a great trip....yep, understand about those narrow roads...hence when I travel there and pick up a rental car (normal Australian profile with Avis gets me a Falcadore), I always ask for a downgrade -- Golf, Megane, 307 -- or in Italy, even smaller And diesel!

sco

LOL... A couple of holidays ago we went to France for a week and a half as a side trip from a UK holiday. After a few days in Paris we had a hire car lined up for a bit of a sortie around the countryside. Worried about narrow roads we'd hired a Mercedes A series which was the cheapest/smallest auto we could get (figured when driving on the wrong side of the road gears were the last thing we wanted to worry about too). So when we go to pick it up and the only auto they have is a tank - a Volvo V70 station wagon

So my better half can't navigate as she gets car sick easily so she gets to drive the thing out of Paris from Gare du Nord. Worse thing was I'd lost my passport that day so we had to drive out of Paris, and back in again the next day so I could get to the Aussie embassy. And then back out again. Amazingly we came out unscathed. The country roads weren't that bad but Paris is a different story.

(P.S. My passport had actually been handed in along with all the currency that was lost at the same time ... so I was one lucky tourist).