'Sporty' rental car options in europe (Zurich in early July)

[pontiff]

hey all,

A mate and I are flying into Zurich for some track days in july and want to head up to the nurburgring for a look while we are there and go for a few laps around it.

Has anyone done it before and can offer any insights into the best way to achieve this? (assuming it is open during our time there etc etc). I have been looking through all the main rental car players and have not really found anything that would fit the sporty bill without spending STUPID amounts of money (for 911's and what not). I reckon something like a golf GTI / mini cooper S would be perfect for the newbie to 'the ring, but I cant seem to find anyone who hires them...

anyone got any suggestions?

TIA!

[brad]

If you take a rental onto the ring you'll be in trouble and void insurance. The rental firms have people there checking.

I haven't had a chance to go yet (keep having family stuff over there getting in the way) but quite a few of my mates have gone.

You are better of going to rent-racecar START | RentRaceCar - Die Nr. 1 in RaceCars an der Nürburgring NordschleifeRentRaceCar – Die Nr. 1 in RaceCars an der Nürburgring Nordschleife and hiring their entry level vehicle (IIRC a Suzuki but they have VWs as well). Count on spending a couple of days to get the full experience. do lots of research beforehand.

http://www.nurburgring.org.uk/

http://www.ausringers.com/

Re: your rental car for getting around. We all have different personalities & wants but I prefer to get normal cars as they attract less attention & I can spend more money on other stuff. Most hire cars will cruise up around 180 anyway.

We had a MK3 Golf 1.6 and it cruised at 170kph no probs.
Volvo S40 diesel was happy at 190kph (happier than I was - it was too fast for me).
Even the Opel Zafira we had in 2013 cruised at 160kph with 4 people.

You can park them anywhere & don't have to worry too much about theives - especally in the poorer countries.

If you still want something "sporty" then most of the major hire firms have something on their list but be prepared to pay through the nose for it. eg: An Audi A8 will cost about $900 for 7 days a polo is about $250. If you pick up from a non-airport location you'll save about 30%.

you are over 25 I assume?

[pontiff]

Thanks for the advice.. as you can tell i have done little / no research on the subject but you have pointed me in the right direction so thanks for that. We are there for 3 days (July 8 - 11) so hopefully that will be enough time.

Thanks for the links, ill check them out, i have scoured the rings German site but will check out those two thanks.

In that case I think the best approach would be to grab something like a polo or there abouts for general travel from a down town rental site as you say, the rental sites at the airports charge premiums. We get in at 6:50pm so hopefully other rental locations are open at that time.

Then for the ring hire a car specifically for that purpose.

[brad]

Germany has the cheapest short term rentals. Switzerland is about 50% more; Austria almost double. For 3 days, price might not be a big issue.
Stay away from Buchbinder & Sixt - they tend to dissapoint in various ways.

Have a look at what insurance support your CC will give you

[pontiff]

Germany has the cheapest short term rentals. Switzerland is about 50% more; Austria almost double. For 3 days, price might not be a big issue.
Stay away from Buchbinder & Sixt - they tend to dissapoint in various ways.

Have a look at what insurance support your CC will give you

3 days is how long we are the ring, but we're going to need a rental for about 10 days as we fly into and out of zurich (we are travelling on reward / redemption flights so its not flexible in any way in that respect) so we may be stuck with getting a car in zurich unless are you saying it may be worth our while to travel into germany to hire the car?

insurance support? as in negating the need to pay for the numerous waivers that ultimately cost you more than the actual rental car cost?

thanks for those racecar links too.... looking at either an E46 M3 or even the smaller RS200 Clio, seems a much more appropriate way around it

[tassie devil]

here is another web site that has a lot of usefull advise from a pom who has lived there for long time
Renting a car at the Nürburgring

[brad]

3 days is how long we are the ring, but we're going to need a rental for about 10 days as we fly into and out of zurich (we are travelling on reward / redemption flights so its not flexible in any way in that respect) so we may be stuck with getting a car in zurich unless are you saying it may be worth our while to travel into germany to hire the car?

insurance support? as in negating the need to pay for the numerous waivers that ultimately cost you more than the actual rental car cost?

thanks for those racecar links too.... looking at either an E46 M3 or even the smaller RS200 Clio, seems a much more appropriate way around it

According to my mates, it's best not to go with too much car on your first visit. Get into a dialogue with the rental company - they will look after you.

Regarding the "normal" rental, I've used rentalcars.com for my last 3 trips (UK, USA & Europe). It's all gone fairly smoothly - in the USA I even made a booking the night before when we made a quick decision to go to San Diego.

I know for a fact that Austria is twice as expensive as Germany. /looks... Zurich is about +25%. An UP! is about AUD320 for 10 days from Frankfurt, around $420 from Zurich. $100 might not be an issue for you but on our last trip (2013) we finished up changing from a Vienna landing to Munich as it saved $1k in hire car costs & about $1500 in airfares (4 adults).

If you want something fancy then AVIS do MB CLAs - no guarantee you'll get that exact car as all rentals are "Car X or similar".

If you are arriving in Zurich then make sure you detour to Mulhouse for the Schlumf Brothers Automotive Museum. I saw it in 1988 and it was pretty amazing and can only have got better.

If you've got a GPS, download the Europe maps. They really make navigation much easier.

[pontiff]

According to my mates, it's best not to go with too much car on your first visit. Get into a dialogue with the rental company - they will look after you.

Regarding the "normal" rental, I've used rentalcars.com for my last 3 trips (UK, USA & Europe). It's all gone fairly smoothly - in the USA I even made a booking the night before when we made a quick decision to go to San Diego.

I know for a fact that Austria is twice as expensive as Germany. /looks... Zurich is about +25%. An UP! is about AUD320 for 10 days from Frankfurt, around $420 from Zurich. $100 might not be an issue for you but on our last trip (2013) we finished up changing from a Vienna landing to Munich as it saved $1k in hire car costs & about $1500 in airfares (4 adults).

If you want something fancy then AVIS do MB CLAs - no guarantee you'll get that exact car as all rentals are "Car X or similar".

If you are arriving in Zurich then make sure you detour to Mulhouse for the Schlumf Brothers Automotive Museum. I saw it in 1988 and it was pretty amazing and can only have got better.

If you've got a GPS, download the Europe maps. They really make navigation much easier.

Thanks for everyones continued replies the information is greatly appreciated.

I did some research last night and are obviously going to do what is suggested with regards to the ring rental cars, given this is (both) our first trip to the ring, i think the clio cup / RS200 is a good way to enjoy the ring while keeping it as safe as possible as one does not want to get up close and personal with the barriers or such like

We have to fly into zurich as we are flying in first class and that was the availability of the award booking.

For $100 the convenience is worth the money but much more than that it starts to get to the point where you begin to wonder, but as i say, we are going into zurich either way, so it just comes down to ways of not paying the surcharge from the airport. possibly get public transport / taxi / whatever to the nearest outlet without the surcharge may be worth it. I'll research rental places and take it from there.

thanks for the rental car link, ill check it out!

[Bflat]

I did it two years ago. Caught the train to Frankfurt and hired what was originally meant to be a Peugeot RCZ. Ended up with an Audi TT, black 6spm FWD. Drove to Adenau/Nurburg. Found a bloke getting around in one of the Suzuki swifts you can hire and passengered with him for a lap before going out on my own. Took the first 1/3 cautiously and then just went for it. Bikes and Porsches/M3's were the only thing to worry about then as they come up really quick from behind. Drove the car back to where my sister lives an hour out of Frankfurt and returned the car to the tiny branch there. Used the brand Sixt and all up the day probably cost me in the vicinity of $700.
Best way to spend money ever.

[pontiff]

passengered with him for a lap before going out on my own

Thats actually a good idea really... there will be no doubt people there doing roughly the same thing, see if you can latch onto someone. slip them some euro and see if they would let you passenger for a lap or so. great idea